Confessor: Chainfire Trilogy Part 3

Cara frowned and gave Verna a puzzled look. She didn't know quite what the old wizard was doing. Verna knew. He was using his ability to sense beyond the stone. He was using his gift to search for life. Verna could do a similar thing, although not with the same level of success as a wizard, but she couldn't do it at all in the palace. In the People's Palace any gift but a Rahl's was suppressed. Verna had tried to sense beyond the wall when they had first been told of the place by the crypt staff, but she hadn't been at all successful.

Cara returned to stand beside Verna. She leaned close, speaking in little more than a whisper.

"What do you think?"

"I think Nathan will tell us when he knows anything."

General Trimack leaned in. "How long?"

"Not long," Verna told him.

As Verna watched, Nathan's face suddenly went white. He staggered back a step.

Seeing his reaction brought Cara's Agiel up into her fist. Berdine and Nyda spun their weapons up to hand as well.

Nathan staggered back another step. His hand went to his face in shock. He turned to them, his mouth agape.

In a rush of movement, being as quiet as possible, he raced back to them.

"Dear spirits." He ran his fingers back through his hair as he looked back at the face on the wall.

"Dear spirits, what?" Cara growled.

Nathan, his face nearly as white as his hair, turned his azure eyes on the Mord-Sith.

"There are hundreds of people on the other side of that wall."

Cara was speechless for only an instant. "Hundreds? Are you sure?"

He nodded vigorously. "Maybe thousands."

Verna finally recovered her own voice. "What people? Who are they?"

"Don't know," Nathan said, his head swiveling back and forth between their faces and the face in the marble wall. "I can't begin to imagine. But I can tell you that they have a lot of steel with them."

General Trimack leaned in. "Steel?"

"Weapons," Verna said.

Nathan's expression was grave. "That's right. Down here there isn't much steel, so it stands out when I use the gift to sense what is beyond the wall. There are a lot of people and they have a lot of steel with them."

"They can only be armed men," the general said as he quietly drew his sword. He signaled to his men. They all did the same. In a heartbeat they all had weapons to hand.

"Any idea who they could be?" Berdine asked in a whisper.

Nathan, looking as worried as Verna had ever seen him, shook his head. "None. I can't tell who they are, only that they are back there."

Cara started across the corridor. "I say we find out."

The general gave quick hand signals to all his men. They quietly started moving in from both sides.

"Just how do you think you can find out?" Verna asked, following on Cara's heels.

Cara paused and looked back at her a moment. She turned to Nathan.

"Can you use your gift to, to, I don't know-knock the wall down, or something."

"Of course."

"Then I think we-"

Cara fell silent when Nathan held up his hand. He cocked his head, listening.

"They're talking. Something about light."

"Light?" Verna asked. "What do you mean?"

Nathan's brow lowered as he concentrated as if trying to hear. She knew that he was listening with his gift, not his ears. It was frustrating in the extreme that she couldn't do the same.

"The light went out for them," he said in a low voice. "Their lamps all of a sudden went dark."

Everyone turned to the wall when muffled voices came from beyond. There was no gift needed to hear them. Men were complaining about not being able to see, wanting to know what was happening.

Then they heard a scream. It lasted only an instant before abruptly going silent. Muffled shouts rose in dismay and growing panic.

"Break it down!" Cara called to Nathan.

Suddenly shrieks erupted from the other side of the wall-men crying out now not only in terror but in shock and pain.

Nathan lifted his arms to cast a web that would bring down the wall.

Before he could act, the white marble exploded out toward them. Fragments of stone blew apart with a deafening noise. A big man, bloody sword in hand, came crashing shoulder-first through the wall at a dead run from the other side. He fell sliding across the floor.

Pieces of white stone of every size and shape sailed through the corridor. Large sections of marble broke free and came crashing down. Beyond the chaos of flying stone shards and boiling dust Verna saw snatches of darkly armored men with weapons in hand. They looked to be in a state of bewildered battle, fighting an unseen enemy. Their roar of voices rose in anger, confusion, and terror.

Through the cloud of dust and debris Verna could see that there was a dark corridor beyond filled with a massive jumble of Imperial Order soldiers.