Naked Empire

Magic was part of their world. Magic was what had saved them from the dream walkers. Magic had created the barrier that protected them from the horde from the Old World. Magic had ended the war. Magic healed people, found lost children, produced beautiful creations of art that inspired and brought joy.

Magic could help guide people in the course of future events.

"Some towns grew up around a gifted person who could serve people's needs. Many gifted people earned a living performing such services. In some things, magic gave people control over nature and thus made the lives of everyone better. Things accomplished with the aid of magic improved the living conditions of nearly everyone. Magic was a force of individual creation and thus individual accomplishment. Nearly everyone derived some benefit from it.

"This is not to say that magic was or is indispensable, but that it was a useful aid, a tool. Magic was like their right arm. Yet it's the mind of man, not his magic, that is indispensable-much like you could survive without your right arm, but you couldn't survive without your mind. But magic had become intertwined in the lives of everyone, so many believed that it was absolutely indispensable.

"The people came to feel that this new threat-the pristinely ungifted trait spreading through the population-would be the end of everything they knew, everything that they thought was important, that it would be the end of their most vital protection-magic."

Richard gazed out at all the faces, waiting to make sure that the men had grasped the essence of the story, that they understood how desperate the people must have been, and why.

"So, what did the people do about these new pristinely ungifted people among them?" a man in the back asked.

In a quiet tone, Richard said, "Something terrible."

He pulled the book from a leather pouch on his belt and held it up for all the men to see as he again paced before them. The clouds, laden with storms of snow, rolled silently through the frigid valley pass, bound for the peaks above them.

"This book is called The Pillars of Creation. That's what the wizards back then called these pristinely ungifted people-pillars of Creation- because they had the power, with this trait that they passed along to their offspring, to alter the very nature of mankind. They were the foundation of an entirely new kind of people-people without any connection to magic.

"I only just a short time ago came across this book. It's meant for the Lord Rahl, and others, so that they will know about these pristinely ungifted people who are unaffected by magic. The book tells the history of how these people came about-through those born to the Lord Rahl-along with the history of what was discovered about them. It also reveals what the people back then, thousands of years ago, did about these pillars of Creation."

Men rubbed their arms in the cold air as Richard slowly paced before them. They all looked caught up in the story.

"So," Owen asked, "what did they do?"

Richard came to a stop and stood watching their eyes before he spoke.

"They banished them."

Astonished whispering broke out among the men. They were stunned to hear the final solution. These people understood banishment, they understood it all too well, and they could sympathize with these banished people of so long ago.

"That's terrible," a man in front said, shaking his head.

Another frowned and held up a hand. "Weren't these pillars of Creation related to some of the other people? Weren't they part of the towns? Didn't the people feel sorrow at banishing these ungifted people?"

Richard nodded. "Yes. They were friends and family. Those banished people were intimately intertwined in the lives of nearly everyone. The book tells how heavy hearted the people felt at the decision that had been reached about these pristinely ungifted people. It must have been an awful time, a dreadful choice that no one liked, but those in charge at the time decided that in order for them to preserve their way of life, to preserve magic and all it meant to them, to preserve that attribute of man, rather than value the lives of individuals for who they were, they had to banish these pristinely ungifted people.

"What's more, they also decreed that all future offspring of the Lord Rahl, except his gifted heir, should be put to death to insure that no pillar of Creation ever again came among them."

This time there was no whispering. The men looked saddened by the story of these mysterious people and the terrible solution of how to deal with them. Heads hung as the men thought about what it must have been like back in such a grim time.

Finally, a man's head came up. His brow twitched. He finally asked the question Richard expected to be asked, the question he had been waiting for.

"But where were these pillars of Creation banished to? Where were they sent?"

Richard watched the men as other eyes turned up, curious about the historic mystery, waiting for him to go on.