Naked Empire

"I don't think he's a man who would find any satisfaction in bragging about something he hadn't actually accomplished. I think he must be telling us the truth and wants to gloat over his accomplishment."

The general released his grip on the chair and turned as he considered Verna's words. Finally, he asked a question worse yet.

"Do you think he's telling the truth that this Slide has Lord Rahl and the Mother Confessor? Do you think this terrible creation, this Slide, will soon deliver the two of them to Jagang?"

Verna wondered if this was the reason for Ann and Nathan's headlong rush down through the Old World. Verna knew that Richard and Kahlan were down there, somewhere. There could be no more urgent reason for Ann and Nathan to race south. Was it possible that this Slide had already captured them, or captured their souls? Verna's heart sank. She wondered if Ann already knew that the Slide had Richard, and that was why she wasn't saying much about her mission.

"I don't know," Verna finally answered.

"I think Jagang just made a mistake," Captain Zimmer said.

Verna lifted an eyebrow. "Such as?"

"He has just betrayed to us how much trouble he's having with the passes. He's just told us how well our defenses are working and how desperate he is. If he doesn't get through this season, his whole army will have to sit out another winter. He wants us to let him through.

"D'Haran winters are hard, especially on men such as his, men not used to the conditions. I saw with my own eyes good indications of how many men he lost last winter. Hundreds of thousands of men died from disease."

"He has plenty of men," General Meiffert said. "He can afford the losses. He has a steady supply of new troops to replace the ones who died from the fevers and sickness last winter."

"So, you think the captain is wrong?" Verna asked.

"No, I agree that Jagang would like very much to get it over with; I just don't think he cares how many of his men die. I think he's eager to rule the world. Patient as he generally is, he sees the end at hand, the goal within his grasp. We're the only thing standing in his way, keeping his prize from falling to him. His men, too, are impatient for the plunder.

"His choice to split the New World first by driving up to Aydindril has left him close to his goal, but in some ways, even more distant from it. If he can't make it through the passes, he may decide to pick up his army and make a long march back south again, to the Kern River valley, to where he can then come over and up into D'Hara. Once his army takes to the open ground down south, there's no way for us to stop them.

"If he can't break through the passes now, it means a long march and a long delay, but he will still have us in the end. He would rather have us now and is willing to offer the lives of our men to close a deal."

Verna stared off. "It's a grave mistake to try to appease evil."

"I agree," General Meiffert said. "Once we opened the passes, he would slaughter every last man."

The mood in the tent was as gloomy as the sky outside.

"I think we should send him back a letter," Rikka said. "I think we should tell him that we don't believe him that he has Zedd and Adie. If he expects us to believe him, he should prove it; he should send us their heads."

Captain Zimmer smiled at the suggestion.

The general tapped a finger on the table as he thought it over. "If it's as you say, Prelate, and Jagang really does have them, then there's nothing we can do about it. He will kill them. After what Zedd did to Jagang's force back in Aydindril, to say nothing of all the havoc he caused the Imperial Order last summer when the Mother Confessor was with us, I know it won't be an easy death, but he will kill them in the end."

"Then you agree that nothing else can be done," Verna said.

General Meiffert wiped a hand across his face. "I hate admitting it, but I'm afraid they're lost. I don't think we should give Jagang the satisfaction of knowing how we truly feel about it."

Verna's head spun at the thought of Zedd and Adie being put to torture, of them being in the hands of Jagang and his Sisters of the Dark. She quailed at the thought of the D'Haran forces losing Zedd. There simply was no one with his experience and knowledge. There was no one who could replace him.

"We write Jagang a letter, then," Verna said, "and tell Jagang we don't believe he has Zedd and Adie."

"The only thing we can do," Rikka said, "is to deny Jagang what he wants most. What he wants is for us to give up."

General Meiffert pulled out the chair at the table, inviting Verna to sit and write the letter. "If Jagang is angered by such a letter, he just might send us their heads. If he did, that would spare them terrible suffering. That's the only thing we can do for them-the best we could do for them."