Naked Empire

"Wow," she said. "That sure is some dress." She looked Richard up and down again. "You two look like you should rule the world."

"Well," Richard said, "let's hope Owen's people think so."

Cara pushed a spruce bough aside as she ducked in under the limbs of trees. Dressed again in her skintight red leather outfit, she looked as intimidating as she had the first time Richard had seen her in the grand halls of the People's Palace in D'Hara.

"Lord Rahl once confided in me that he intended to rule the world,"

Cara said, having heard Jennsen's pronouncement.

"Really?" Jennsen asked.

Richard sighed at her awe. "Ruling the world has proven more difficult than I thought it would be."

"If you would listen more to the Mother Confessor and to me," Cara advised, "you would have an easier time of it."

Richard ignored Cara's cockiness. "Would you get everything together? I want to be up there with Kahlan before Tom arrives with Owen and his men."

Cara nodded and started collecting the things they'd been working so hard to make, stacking some and taking a count of others. Richard laid a hand on Jennsen's shoulder.

"Tie Betty up so that she'll stay here for now. All right? We don't need her in the way."

"I'll see to it," Jennsen said as she fussed with ringlets of her red hair. "I'll make sure she won't be able to bother us or wander off."

It was plainly evident how eager she was to see Tom again. "You look beautiful," Richard assured her. Her grin returned to overpower the anxious expression.

Betty's tail was a blur as she peered up at them, eager to go wherever the rest of them were going. "Come on," Jennsen said to her friend, "you're staying here for a while."

Jennsen snatched Betty's rope, holding her back, as Richard, with Kahlan close at his side, made his way out past the last of the trees and onto the open ledge. Somber clouds hung low against the face of surrounding mountains. With the towering snowcapped peaks hidden by the low, ominous clouds, Richard thought it felt like they were near the roof of the world.

The wind down at the ground had died, leaving the trees motionless and, by contrast, making the boiling movement of the cloud masses seem almost alive. The flurries of the day before had ended and then the sun had made a brief appearance to shrink the patches of snow on the pass. He didn't think there was much chance of seeing the sun this day.

The towering stone sentinel waited at the top of the trail, watching forever over the pass and out toward the Pillars of Creation. As they approached it, Richard scanned the surrounding sky but saw only some small birds-flycatchers and white-breasted nuthatches-flitting among the nearby stand of spruce trees. He was relieved that the races had remained absent ever since they had taken this ancient trail up through the pass.

The first night up in the pass, farther back down the slope in the heavier forests, they had worked hard to build a snug shelter, just managing to get it done as darkness had settled into the vast woods. Early the next day, Richard had cleared snow off the statue and all around the ledges of the base.

He had discovered more writing.

He now knew more about this man whose statue had been placed there in the pass. Another small flurry had since dusted snow over the writing, burying again the long-dead words.

Kahlan placed a comforting hand on his back. "They will listen, Richard. They will listen to you."

With every breath, pain pulled at him from deep inside. It was getting worse. "They'd better, or I'll have no chance to get the antidote to this poison."

He knew he couldn't do it alone. Even if he knew how to call upon his gift and command its magic, he still would not be able to wave a hand or perform some grand feat of conjuring that would cast the Imperial Order out of the Bandakaran Empire. He knew that such things were beyond the scope of even the most powerful magic. Magic, properly used, properly conceived, was a tool, much like his sword, employed to accomplish a goal.

Magic was not what would save him. Magic was not a panacea. If he was to succeed, he had to use his head to come up with a way to prevail.

He no longer knew if he could even depend on the magic of the Sword of Truth. Nor did he know how long he had before his own gift might kill him.

At times, it felt as if his gift and the poison were in a race to see which could do him in first.

Richard led Kahlan the rest of the way up and around to the back of the statue, to a small prominence of rock at the very top of the pass where he wanted to wait for the men. From that spot they could see through the gaps in the mountains and back into Bandakar. Out at the edge of the level area, Richard spotted Tom down below leading the men through the trees and up the switchback trail.

Tom peered up as he ascended the trail and spotted Richard and Kahlan.