Confessor: Chainfire Trilogy Part 3

"We thought you would know, and that you could tell us. We were asked to have a gathering for you. We were told that it was a matter of life or death."

Richard frowned as he carefully stepped out of the collection of skulls of ancestors. "Who asked you to have a gathering?"

Chandalen cleared his throat. "Well, at first we thought it might be a spirit."

"A spirit," Richard said as he stared.

Chandalen nodded. "But then we realized it was a stranger."

Richard tilted his head toward the man. "A stranger?"

"She flew here on a beast, and then-" He stopped when he saw the look on Richard's face. "Come, they will explain it."

"They?"

"Yes, the strangers. Come."

"I'm naked."

Chandalen nodded. "We knew you were coming, so we brought clothes for you. Come, they are just outside, and you can talk to the strangers. They are eager to see you. They feared you would never come. We have been in here for two nights, waiting."

Richard wondered if it was Nicci and maybe Nathan. Who but Nicci could have known to do such a thing?

"Two nights . . ." Richard mumbled as he was funneled out the door among all the elders as they touched him, patted his shoulder, and jabbered greetings. Despite the unexpected circumstances, they were pleased to see him. He was, after all, one of them, one of the Mud People.

It was dark outside. Richard noticed the slender crescent of the moon. Attendants waited with clothes for all the elders. One of the men handed Richard buckskin trousers, and then a buckskin pullover shirt.

Once Richard was dressed, the group of men swept him through the narrow passageways. Richard felt as if he had awakened in some past life. He remembered all these passageways through the buildings.

Richard was eager to see Nicci. He couldn't wait to find out what had happened, how she knew to help him escape. It was probably the prophet who had known of the problem he would face, and she must have figured a way to help him by providing a way for him to step back into the world of life. He couldn't wait to tell her what he had managed to do in the underworld.

The Bird Man laid an arm around Richard's shoulder and spoke in the words Richard didn't understand.

Chandalen answered him, and then spoke to Richard. "The Bird Man wants you to know that he has spoken with many ancestors in a gathering, but in all his life he has never seen one of our people return from the spirit world."

Richard glanced over at the smiling Bird Man.

"It's a first for me as well," he assured Chandalen.

In the open center of the village large fires were burning, lighting the crowds attending the feast. Children ran through the legs of adults, enjoying the festivities. People were gathered on and around the platforms.

"Richard!" a girl shouted.

Richard turned to the sound and saw Rachel jump off a platform and run toward him. She threw her arms around his waist. She seemed a head taller than the last time he'd seen her. As he embraced her, he couldn't help laughing with the joy of seeing her again.

When he looked up, Chase was standing there as well. Chase made the largest among the Mud People look the size of children.

"Chase, what are you doing here?"

He folded his arms, looking unhappy. "It's too incredible. You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

Richard gave him a look. "I just came back from the underworld. I think I have you beat for incredible."

Chase thought it over. "Maybe. I was at camp. I'd been searching for Rachel. My mother visited me."

"Your mother? Your mother passed away years ago."

Chase made a face as if to say he knew that better than Richard. "That kind of thing gets your attention."

"Well," Richard said, trying to grasp what was going on, "it obviously wasn't your mother. Didn't you think to ask who she really was?"

Chase, his arms still folded, shrugged. "No." He glanced off into the darkness. "It was a rather emotional experience. You would have had to have been there."

"I imagine you're right," Richard said. "Did she tell you why she had come to visit you?"

"She told me that I had to come here as fast as I could. She said that Rachel would be here, and that you needed help."

Richard was dumbfounded. "Did she tell you what sort of help I needed?"

Chase nodded. "Horses. Fast horses."

"My mother came to me, too," Rachel said.

Richard looked from the girl back up at Chase. Chase shrugged as if to say he had no answer.

"Your mother?" Richard asked Rachel. "You mean Emma?"

"No, not my new mother. My old mother. My mother who gave birth to me."

Richard didn't quite know what to say. "What did she want with you?"

"She told me that I had to help you by coming here. She said that I needed to tell these people that you were in the spirit world and they had to have a gathering so that you would have a way to get back."

"Really" was all Richard could think to say.

Rachel nodded. "She said I had to hurry, that there was little time, so she had a gar fly me here. His name was Gratch. He was real nice. Gratch told me that he loves you. But he had to go home after we came here."