Blood of the Fold

Kahlan looked to her half brother. "But you have troops from other areas you can call in."

Harold nodded. "We sure do. At least sixty or seventy thousand, perhaps as many as a hundred thousand could be marshaled, though not all of those will be well trained or well armed. It'll take time to get them organized, but when we do, then Ebinissia will be a force to be reckoned with."

"We had nearly that many here before," Captain Ryan reminded them without looking up from his bowl, "and it wasn't enough."

"True," Harold said flourishing his bread. "But that's just for a beginning." He looked to Kahlan. "You can bring more of the lands together, can't you?"

"That's our hope," she said. "We must rally the Midlands around us, if we're to have a chance."

"What about Sanderia?" Captain Ryan asked. "Their lances are the best in the Midlands."

"And Lifany," Harold said. "They make a lot of weapons, and know how to use them."

Kahlan picked a soft pinch out of the center of her bread. "Sanderia relies on Kelton for summer grazing for their sheep herds. Lifany buys iron from Kelton, and sells them grain. Herjborgue relies on Sanderia's wool. I think they all might go where Keiton goes."

Harold stabbed his spoon into his beans. "There were Keltish dead among the ones who attacked Ebinissia."

"And Galeans." Kahlan put the bread in her mouth and chewed for a moment as she watched him clench his spoon as if it were a knife. He glared into his bowl.

"There were insurgents and murderers from many lands who joined them," she said after she had swallowed. "That does not mean their homelands will. Prince Fyren of Kelton had committed his land to the Imperial Order, but he's dead, now. We are not at war with Kelton; they are part of the Midlands. We are at war with the Imperial Order. We need to stand together. If Kelton joins with us, the others will almost have to, but if they go with the Order, then we will have trouble convincing the others to join us. We need to win over Kelton and bond them to us."

"I'd bet on Kelton joining with the Order," Ahern said. Everyone turned his way. He shrugged. "I'm Keltish. I can tell you that they'll go where the Crown goes; its the way of our people. With Fyren dead, then that would make Duchess Lumholtz next in line. She and her husband, the duke, will go to the side they think will win, no matter who that may be. At least that's my opinion from what I've heard about her."

"That's foolish!" Harold threw his spoon down. "As much as I don't trust Keltans — no offense intended, Ahern — and know their scheming ways, at the heart of it, they're Midlanders. They may want to grab whatever scrap of a farm lies on a disputed border and call it Keltish, but the people are still Midlanders.

"The spirits know that Cyrilla and I had our fights, but when it came to trouble, we stood together. Same with our lands; when D'Hara attacked last summer, we fought to protect Kelton, despite some of our disagreements. If it means the future of the Midlands, they'll go with us. The Midlands means more than what anyone come new to the crown has to say about it." Harold snatched up his spoon and waved it at Ahern. "What have you to say about that?"

Ahern shrugged. "Nothing, I guess."

Zedd's eyes moved between the two men. "We are not here to argue. We are here to fight a war. Speak what you believe, Ahern, You are Keltish, and would know more of it than we."

Ahern scratched his windburned face as he thought on Zedd's words. "General Baldwin, the commander of all Kellish forces, and his generals, Bradford, Cutter, and Emerson, will go where the Crown goes. I don't know the men, I'm just a driver, but I go a lot of places and I hear a lot of talk, and that's what's always said of them. People have a joke that if the queen tossed her crown out the window and it caught on a buck's antlers, the whole of the army would be grazin' on grass within a month."

"And from the talk you hear, do you really believe this duchess become queen will go with the Order just for a chance at power, if it means breaking with the Midlands?" Zedd asked.

Ahern shrugged. "It's just my opinion, understand, but I think it would be so."

As Kahlan spooned out a sweet root without looking up, she spoke. "Ahern's right. I know Cathryn Lumhollz, and her husband, the duke. She will be queen, and even though she takes counsel from her husband, she is of like mind anyway. Prince Fyren would have been king, and I thought he would have stuck with us no matter what, but someone from the Order won him to their side, and he betrayed us. I'm sure the Order will make Cathryn Lumholtz similar offers. She will see power in those offers."

Harold reached across the table and snatched up some more bread.”If she does, and Ahern's right, then we've lost Kelton. If we've lost Kelton, then we've got the first crack of ruin."