Chainfire: Chainfire Trilogy Part 1

"Not a great deal," Nicci admitted. "Only a few words whispered as one of my former fellow Sisters was leaving on a journey."

"A journey?"

"To the world of the dead."

By her tone of voice and the way she stared off, Richard didn't want to ask what had brought about the woman's travel plans. "So, what did she tell you?"

Nicci let out a weary sigh. "That Jagang, had been making things from the lives of captives and volunteers both. Some of those young wizards actually think they are sacrificing themselves for a greater good." Nicci shook her head at such a sad delusion. "The Sister was the one who told me that Nicholas was but a stepping-stone to His Excellency's true and noble ends." Nicci looked up again to make sure that Richard was paying attention. "She said that Jagang was on the brink of creating a creature similar to one he had found in ancient writings, but far better, far more deadly, and invincible."

The hair at the back of Richard's neck lifted. "A creature? What kind of creature?"

"A beast. An invincible beast."

Richard swallowed at the baleful sound of the word. "What's this creature do? Were you able to find out? What's its nature?"

For some reason, he just couldn't seem to bring himself to use the same word aloud right then, as if speaking it might summon it from out of the surrounding night.

Nicci's troubled eyes turned away. "As the Sister slipped into the arms of death, she smiled like the Keeper himself with a booty of souls, and said, 'Once he uses his power, the beast will at last know Richard Rahl. Then it will find him, and kill him. His life, like mine, is finally at its end. "

Richard made himself blink. "Did she say anything else?"

Nicci shook her head. "At that point, she convulsed in the agony of death. The room went black as the Keeper snatched her soul in payment for bargains she had once struck.

"The one thing that's been troubling me is how this creature found us. Still, I don't think the situation is as desperate as it may seem. There is really no conclusive evidence to make us believe that it really was this beast that attacked the men back there. After all, you haven't used your power, so there wouldn't have been any way for Jagang's beast to find you."

Richard looked down at his boots. "When the soldiers attacked," he said in a low voice as he rubbed a finger along the edge of the leather sole, "I used my gift to deflect the arrows. I didn't do so well with the last one."

"Lord Rahl," Cara said, "I don't think that's true. I think you used your sword to deflect the arrows."

"You weren't there right then so you didn't see what was happening," Richard said as he grimly shook his head. "I was using my sword on the soldiers; I couldn't use it to deflect the dozens of arrows as well. I deflected the arrows with my gift."

Nicci was now sitting up straight. "You used your gift? How did you summon it?"

Richard shrugged self-consciously. He wished he knew more about what he'd done. "Through need, I guess. I didn't know I would end up being responsible.»

She gently touched his arm. "Don't foolishly blame yourself. You had no way to know. Had you not done as you did you would have been killed. You were acting to save your life. You didn't know anything about the beast. More than that, though, you may not be entirely responsible."

Richard frowned at her. "What do you mean?"

Nicci sank back against the rock wall. "I fear that I may have contributed to its finding us."

"You? But how?"

"I used Subtractive Magic to get rid of your blood so I could heal you. While the Sister didn't say anything specific that I could point to, I still got the uneasy feeling that this creature may somehow be tied to the underworld. If that's true, then when I got rid of your blood with the use of Subtractive Magic I may have inadvertently given it a taste of your blood, so to speak."

"You did the right thing," Cara said. "You did the only thing you could do. To let Lord Rahl die instead would have been handing Jagang what he sought."

Nicci nodded her appreciation of Cara's words.

Richard let out the breath he had been holding. "What else can you tell me about this thing?"

"Nothing of any consequence, I'm afraid. The Sister told me that the Sisters who were experimenting with creating weapons out of people had only created Nicholas to work out some of the preliminary details before moving on to their important work. Even so, some of them died in the task of conjuring the Slide-and, with as many as have already died, Jagang is getting to the point where he has few to spare. He has used those he still has, while he still has enough, to accomplish his goal. Apparently, creating the beast was vastly more complex and difficult than creating a Slide, but the results were said to have been worth it. I suspect that along the way he may have directed that shortcuts be taken, shortcuts that involve the underworld.