Faith of the Fallen

"I have a better way." Cara flashed a sly smile. "We'll go where I know the country-D' Hara. We will go east from here and cross over the mountains, then go south down through D'Hara-through mostly wide-open country were we can make good time-down through the Azrith Plains, to eventually join the Kern River far to the south. After the river valley clears the mountains, we will cut southeast into the heart of the Old World."

Zedd nodded his approval of the plan. Kahlan curled her fingers lovingly around the old wizard's thin arm.

"When will you go to the Keep?"

"Adie and I will leave in the morning. I think it best not to dally here any longer. Today we'll settle matters of the army with the officers and the Sisters. I think that as soon as the people are out of Aydindril, and when the snow quickly deepens to insure the Order won't be going anywhere until spring, then our men should begin slipping out of this place to make their way over the mountains to the safety of D'Hara. It will be slow going in winter, but without having to fight as they travel, it won't be as difficult as it otherwise would be."

"That would be best," Kahlan agreed. "It will get our men out of harm's way for now."

"They won't have me to be the magic against magic for them, but they will have Verna and her Sisters. They know enough by now to carry on protecting the army from magic."

At least for a while. The words hung in the air, unspoken.

"I want to go see Verna before I leave," Kahlan said. "I think it will be good for her to have other people to worry about. Then I want to see General Meiffert; and then we'd best start riding. We have a long way to go, and I want to be south before the snow hobbles us."

Kahlan embraced Zedd fiercely one last time.

"When you see him," Zedd whispered in her ear, "tell the boy I love him dearly, and I miss him something awful."

Kahlan nodded against his shoulder, and told him a bold lie.

"You'll see us both again, Zedd. I promise you."

Kahlan stepped out into the early light of winter's first breath.

Everything was dusted with snow, making it look as if the world were carvedfrom white marble.

CHAPTER 63

In one long fluid motion, with his fingertips adeptly guiding the far end of the file, Richard glided the steel tool down the fold of cloth held forever crisp in white marble. Concentrating on applying steady pressure to cut a precise, fine layer, he was lost in the work.

The file held hundreds of ridges, row upon row of tiny blades of hardened steel, which did the work of cutting away and shaping the noble stone. These were blades he wielded with the same commitment with which he wielded any blade. He blindly reached back and set the file down on the wooden bench, careful to put it on the wood and not to let it clang against other steel, lest he dull it prematurely. He exchanged the file for another, with even finer teeth, and took out the roughness left by the correction accomplished with the one before.

With fingers as dusty-white as those of a baker laboring with flour, Richard examined the surface of the man's arm, testing it for flaws. Until polished, the minor flaws and facets were often easier to see with the fingers than the eye. Where he found them, he used a smaller file in one hand, while his other hand followed behind, riding the swell of muscle, feeling the subtle difference in what the tool had done to the stone. He was removing only paper-thin layers of material, now.

It had taken him several months to arrive at this final layer. It was exhilarating to be so close to the flesh. The days had passed, one upon another, in an endless procession of work, carving death in the day down at the site, and life in the night. Carving for the Order was balanced by carving for himself-slavery and freedom in opposition.

Whenever one of the brothers inquired about the statue, Richard was careful to hide his satisfaction with what he was creating. He did it by recalling the model he had been commanded to carve. He always bowed his head respectfully and reported his progress on his penance, assuring them that his work was on schedule and would be done on time to install in the palace plaza for the dedication.

Stressing the word «penance» helped to direct their thoughts to that issue and away from the statue itself. The brothers were invariably much more satisfied with his weariness from his toil at his work of contrition that they were interested in yet another dreary stone carving. There were carvings everywhere; this was but one more manifestation of the irredeemable inadequacy of mankind. Just as no one man in their cosmos was important, no one work mattered. It was the sheer number of carvings which was to be the Order's overpowering argument for man's impotence. The carvings were merely background props for the stage upon which the brothers moralized on sacrifice and salvation.