The Omen Machine

CHAPTER 81

Richard stood staring through the soft haze of drizzle at the tunnel-shaped entrance of tightly woven sticks and branches. He thought that it looked just a little too welcoming. The whole, carefully maintained trail through the swamp of Kharga Trace was too easy, too simple, too enticing the way it encouraged visitors in.

He wondered where the spider was.

He knew that Kahlan had gone this way. He knew because he had tracked her there. He’d seen where she’d fallen from her horse and slid down the steep slope. He’d seen her footprints, staggering in a crooked line, wandering off the trail into boggy mud and then back again.

He could tell by the tracks that she was hardly able to stand anymore. He could see by the halting, unsteady prints she left just how sick and exhausted she was.

He would have caught up with her long before had his horse not been killed. It had happened after dark when a huge wild boar had charged out of the brush. It wasn’t rutting season but wild boars could be aggressive anytime, and this one certainly had been, charging in at the horse when they surprised it. As the horse went down, the boar’s razor-sharp tusks slashed the horse’s belly open. Richard ran the boar through with his sword, but it was too late. After killing the boar, he had no choice but to put the horse out of its misery. There had been nothing he could do for the poor animal.

With his horse dead, much of the last part of the race to catch Kahlan had been on foot. He had contemplated leaving her trail and going off to find another horse, but without knowing the area, he feared that even if he could manage to find a horse, the search would cost him too much time, so he had pressed on.

Because she was so sick and weak she hadn’t traveled as swiftly as she might have, so she didn’t get out too far ahead of him. But she had been going fast enough that he couldn’t catch her on foot.

As he stood at the tunnel entrance to the structure, he heard someone running toward him. By the stride and the weight of the footfalls, he thought it had to be an awfully small person.

In another moment, a boy came racing out.

He was wearing one of Kahlan’s shirts.

Richard went to a knee and swept an arm around the boy’s middle to catch him before he could escape. He felt hot with fever.

“Henrik?”

The boy, panicked tears running down his face, stopped fighting and blinked. “Lord Rahl?”

“What are you doing here?”

The boy’s chin wrinkled as fresh tears welled up. “The Hedge Maid, Jit, had me. She put me in the walls with the others—”

“Slow down. What do you mean, she put you in the walls?”

Richard could see that the boy was bloodied from wounds all over his arms and legs. The shirt had spots of blood as well.

“Jit’s familiars used branches and vines to tie me into the walls. They’re full of thorns.” Henrik pointed back into the tunnel. “The Mother Confessor came and saved me. She got me out. I told her to run, but I think maybe they got her.”

Richard’s mind raced, trying to understand what was happening as he tried to decide what to do. He had to get in there and help Kahlan, but he also knew that the Hedge Maid would be waiting for anyone walking into her lair. He couldn’t help Kahlan if he was captured as well.

Richard seized Henrik by the shoulders. “Will you do something for me?”

The boy wiped his nose with the back of his hand. “What?”

“Some other people will be coming this way. I need you to go to them and tell them—”

“But the hounds will get me!”

“The hounds?”

“The hounds that chased me here. They were after me, when I was at the palace with my mother. They came after me and I ran. I had to get away. I had to. The Mother Confessor said that they chased her here, too.”

Richard was beginning to understand. He shook his head.

“No, it only seemed that way to you. They weren’t real. It was some kind of magic that the Hedge Maid used to get you to come here. You scratched us, remember?”

Henrik nodded. “I’m sorry, but I couldn’t help myself.”

“I know. I understand. You visited the Hedge Maid before, when you were sick. Your mother brought you here. I think the Hedge Maid used some kind of magic to make you scratch us. Then you came back here afterward, right? The dogs chased you here.”

Henrik nodded again. “That’s right. The Hedge Maid took the skin from under my fingernails, from where I scratched you both, and used it with her magic, but she could only find some of it from the Mother Confessor. There was none from where I scratched you left by the time I got here.”

Richard was getting the picture. “Listen, no dogs are chasing you. It’s just a trick to get you to come back here. I don’t think you will see them again, not now that you came here. The Hedge Maid has no reason to chase you here anymore.”

Henrik looked skeptical. “If you say so, Lord Rahl.”

“You need to believe me. I know I’m right. Now, this is very important. I need you to go back the way you came and find my friends who are coming this way. I need you to bring them here. I’m going in there to get Kahlan out. But I’m going to need the help of my friends when I come out. I need you to tell my friends where I am and get them here right away. Can you do that?”

“Yes, Lord Rahl. I’ll do it. Will you forgive me then, for what I did to you and the Mother Confessor?”

“Of course. It wasn’t your fault. You were being used by an evil person. Now, hurry and get going. There isn’t a moment to lose.”

Henrik nodded and raced away back down the woven walk-way.

Richard stood and looked at the structure.

And then he started climbing up onto the top of it.