Confessor: Chainfire Trilogy Part 3

"To this day, they even feared to come and tell me things. Once, there had been a leak staining a wall. They never said a word, probably because they feared they would be put to death for the stain tainting the tombs of the ancestors of Lord Rahl. I only found out about the stain because one night I went to see them in their quarters and they were gone. I found them down here, all working feverishly to scrub the stain away before anyone saw it."

"What a way to live," Cara murmured to herself.

"What are they doing, anyway?" Verna asked as she watched several of the staff running their hands along the wall, as if feeling for something hidden in the smooth, white marble.

"I'm not sure," Dario said. "Let's ask them."

Some distance back down the corridor a force of the First File waited. Some of them had their crossbows loaded with the special red-fletched arrows that Nathan had found for them. Verna didn't like being anywhere near those wicked things. Their deadly magic made her sweat.

The crypt staff, made up of both women and men, was gathered in a clutch, inspecting the walls and every intersection along the way. They had all been down in the various tomb levels most of the day and Verna was tired. She was usually in bed by this time. That was where she wanted to be. As far as she was concerned, the meticulous inspection of nothing at all could wait until the next day.

Cara didn't look tired. She looked intense. She had this "problem down in the tombs" bone in her teeth and she wasn't going to let go for anything.

Verna would have left Cara to it, except that when they had searched out Dario Daraya, the man in charge of the crypt staff, to ask what he could tell them, he had not dismissed the inquiry, as Verna had expected. He seemed nervous that they had even asked the question. It turned out that he shared Cara's uneasy suspicion but as of yet hadn't mentioned it to anyone. He told Verna and Cara that he strongly suspected that the members of his staff were also aware of something being amiss.

Verna had learned that among the vast force that was the palace staff, the members of the crypt staff were considered the lowest of the low. Those with responsibility over important sections of the palace dismissed the work down in the tomb areas as simple, menial work for mutes. The crypt workers were also shunned because they spent their existence working among the dead, thus carrying the invisible taint of superstition.

Dario had explained that such attitudes had left them a shy and withdrawn lot. They didn't eat in the common areas with other people on the staff. They kept to themselves and kept their own counsel.

Verna watched them down the corridor a ways, conversing among themselves in their strange language of signs. Having developed the language among themselves, no one else understood them except, perhaps, for Dario Daraya.

As much as Verna, and especially Cara, wanted to question the staff directly, they were forced to allow Dario to do it. The mere close proximity of an outsider-especially a Mord-Sith-sent the silent group into trembling and even tears. These were people who had been treated very badly by the last Lord Rahl, and probably the one before that. Many of their number, no doubt close friends and loved ones, had been put to death for allowing the petal of a white rose to lie too long on the floor of the tomb of Darken Rahl's father. They had lived and died by the decree of a madman.

These people were, understandably, quite terrified of authority.

Verna had cautioned Cara that if she really wanted to get answers then she had to stay back and let Dario get those answers for them.

Verna watched Dario, standing in their midst, quietly asking questions. The people surrounding him became excited at certain points, pointing this way and that, and making signs to him. Dario nodded from time to time and gently asked more questions, which drew more of the silent language from some of the staff.

Dario at last returned. "They say that there is no problem in this corridor. Everything here is fine."

Cara spoke through gritted teeth. "Well then if they don't-"

"But," Dario interrupted, "they say that in that corridor there"-he pointed ahead to the right-"there is something wrong."

Cara studied the man's face for a moment. "Come on, then, let's have a look."

Before Verna could hold her back, Cara marched in long strides right up to the knot of a dozen and a half people. Verna thought that several of them might faint of fright as they cringed back, fearful of what she was going to do to them.

"Dario says that you think there is something wrong in that corridor up there." Cara gestured to the intersection ahead. "I think there's something wrong, too. That's why I wanted to have all of you come show me what you think. I'm the one who called for you. I called for you because I know that you people know more about this place than anyone."

They looked uneasy about her intentions.