Into Darkness

79

Breathe …

Richard had traveled with the sliph a number of times, and as was usually the case it was both breathtaking, in more ways than one, and utterly terrifying.

The only difference this time was that he didn’t need to be told twice to breathe when they arrived and the sliph pushed him to the surface. While the sliph could be an experience of profound wonder, his sense of urgency meant that he didn’t care about any of that. He simply wanted out.

He threw one arm over the side of the sliph’s well to hold himself up as he forced her fluid from his lungs, returning it to her, and then pulled in a deep breath. The shock of air made his body want to reject it. Despite the burning discomfort, he quickly pulled another deep breath as he grabbed a fistful of red leather as a limp Vika bobbed to the surface nearby.

He pulled her up from the churning silver liquid to the edge where he was holding on with one arm over the side of the stone well. Slipping his other arm around her, under her arms, he helped keep her head up above the sliph’s quicksilver surface. She was limp and unresponsive. The silver fluid sluiced off her hair and red leather.

“Breathe!” he yelled in her ear.

He knew from experience that the sliph would be telling her the same thing, but in her mind, much the same way the Glee had talked to them. She didn’t respond.

He put his mouth closer to her ear. “Vika! Breathe! I need you! Do it for me!”

She abruptly opened her eyes wide and exhaled the silver fluid as if she had just been surprised awake. She gasped a deep lungful of air and immediately winced in pain. The first few breaths after breathing the sliph were painful, not just physically but also mentally, because all your mind wanted was to stay in the velvety silver dreamworld.

She coughed, spitting up a little blood. In her mind, he knew, she didn’t want to breathe air again and at first had to force herself to do it. The quicksilver-like fluid of the sliph was an otherworldly, spectacular experience unlike any other. It was a release from the bounds of the world of life, a sensation of free-floating, flying, and drifting all at once. It was in a way like being with a good spirit in a different kind of existence, where the concerns of the world no longer mattered. Once in the sliph, breathing her silver fluid, you never wanted it to end.

Except this time Richard had been eager for it to end.

Richard threw a leg up and over the side of the stone well. He pulled Vika up, helping her to get her arms up and over the wall. She was still limp.

“Breathe, Vika.”

“I’m breathing,” she complained.

The silver fluid in the well swelled up in the center, pulling upward until it formed into a beautiful, shiny, reflective face.

“Were you pleased, Master?”

“Yes,” Richard said. “Very pleased.”

“I know how painful death was for you, but I am glad that your sword now knows death as well so you can take it with you when we travel again.”

“It is always a pleasure to be with you.”

“Then come. I can take you many places. Where would you like to go? You will be pleased.”

“I would like that very much. But I have some business right now. Maybe later.”

“When?”

“I’m not sure yet. But really, it was wonderful. I was pleased.”

The silver face smiled. “I am glad, Master.” A bit of a silver frown formed. “You are sure you were pleased?”

“Yes,” Richard said, nodding, as he hauled Vika’s upper body over the edge. As she finally got a leg over, he helped her down to the ground. “Very pleased. You may go back now and be with your soul. I will call on you again just as soon as I wish to travel.”

“Thank you, Master, for traveling with me. I enjoyed it. When you wish to travel again, I will be waiting for your call.”

With that, the silver face melted down into her churning silver waters. The reflective fluid began sinking down inside the well. Richard looked over the edge to see the choppy surface receding at an ever-increasing speed until in a blink it was gone down into the darkness.

When he looked back, Vika had her fists on her hips. “That was just plain weird.”

“I know, traveling in the sliph is a strange experience.”

“No, I mean that conversation was weird. Why were you talking to that thing like that?”

Richard waved off the question. “It’s a long story. Come on. Let’s go.”

They raced out of the sliph’s room and along the railing around the pit with the dark rock sitting in the center of dark water. Their sudden appearance caused small creatures on the rock to leap into the surrounding water.

The lower reaches of the Keep were dark and gloomy. Occasionally there was a long shaft that reached to the outside to let in light and fresh air.

Richard took them the shortest way he knew to get to the massive lower chamber that was kind of like a central hub. From there, one could go to any number of different places and levels in the Keep. The chamber was so long that he couldn’t recognize a person’s face from one end to the other. It wasn’t nearly so wide, but it was immensely tall. Up near the top there were long openings that let the Keep breathe, changing the air down deep in the place and letting it flow through the halls. It also let birds and bats come and go. Both came for the bugs.

It was a long climb from the lower Keep. They went up both narrow, dark stone stairs and more elaborate staircases. Together they raced down passageways and through elaborately decorated rooms.

Higher up in the Keep, when they finally rushed around a corner, Richard heard voices. He looked down a broad hall to see two women standing at a window, looking out and talking.

Richard trotted down the hall with Vika at his side. He slowed to a breathless stop near the women. Both stared with wide eyes as he and Vika caught their breath.

“Sister Phaedra, right?” he finally asked.

She curtsied. “Lord Rahl, it has been a very long time. I am surprised you remember me.”

Both women stared at the red leather. “This is Vika,” he told them as he held a hand toward her in introduction.

The Sister likewise lifted a hand out to the side. “This is Jana, one of the women from down in the city who come up here to help out at the Keep.”

Richard offered her a quick tip of his head in greeting.

She blushed, and then performed a shaky curtsy, too intimidated by the Lord Rahl to speak. It was something that he’d gotten somewhat used to. He didn’t have the time to talk her out of her mute fright.

“Where’s Kahlan?” he asked the Sister. “She is—was—pregnant. Did she have the babies yet? Is she all right? Where is she?”

The woman blinked at the burst of questions. She turned to the window and pointed out.

“She went down there. She said she wanted to have her children where she was born.”

“She went down to the Confessors’ Palace?”

Richard was astonished that she would take that risk before knowing that she would be safe from the Glee.

“That’s right,” Sister Phaedra said. “She has been down there for quite some time now.”