Naked Empire

"We will speak of it with the Wise One and see what he has to say."

"No! The Wise One will not see you! Never! You are all denied!

You must all leave!"

CHAPTER 52

One of the men came forward and angrily seized a fistful of Richard's shirt, trying to push him out. "You are the cause of this! You are an outsider! A savage! One of the unenlightened! You have brought profane ideas among our people!" He did his best to shake Richard. "You have seduced our people to violence!"

Richard snatched the speaker's wrist and wrenched his arm around, talcing him to his knees. The man cried out in pain. Without letting up, Richard leaned down toward him.

"We have risked our lives helping your people. Your people are not enlightened, but people the same as anyone else. You are going to listen to us. This night, the future of you and your people will be shaped."

Richard released the man with a shove, then went to the door and stuck his head out. "Cara, go ask Tom to help you get all the rest of the men to come down here. I think they had better all be part of this."

As Cara ran to spread the word that Richard wanted all the men to gather into the basement of the "palace," he ordered the speakers back against the wall.

"You have no right to do this," one protested.

"You are the representatives of the people of Bandakar. You are their leaders," Richard told them. "The time has come for you to lead."

Behind, men started filing into the candlelit room. It wasn't long before they were all quietly assembled. The basement was large enough that Owen's men took up only part of the available space. Kahlan saw other, unfamiliar people straggle in as well. Knowing the nature of these people, and since Cara was letting them in, Kahlan didn't think that they presented a threat.

Richard gestured toward the quiet gathering watching the speakers.

"These men from the town of Witherton have faced the truth of what is happening to their people. They will no longer tolerate such brutality. They will no longer be victims. They wish to be free."

One of the speakers, a man with a narrow, pointed chin, huffed dismissively. "Freedom can never work. It only gives people license to be self-centered. A thoughtful person, dedicated to the welfare of an enlightened mankind, must reject the immoral concept of 'freedom' for what it is-selfish."

"That's right," another agreed. "Such simplistic beliefs can only provoke a cycle of violence. This silly notion of 'freedom' leads to viewing things as black or white. Such uninspired morals are obsolete. Individuals have no right to judge others-especially in such authoritarian terms. What is needed is compromise among all sides if there is to be peace."

"Compromise?" Richard asked. "A cycle of violence can only exist if you grant all people, including those who are evil, moral equivalence-if you say that everyone, including those who decide to harm others, has an equal right to exist. That is what you do when you refuse to crush evil-you give moral standing and power to those who murder.

"Devotion to compromise in such arenas is a sick idea that says you must cut off a finger, and then a leg, and then an arm to feed the monster living among you. Evil feeds on the good. If you kill the monster, the violence ends.

"You have two choices before you. Choose to live in cringing fear, on your knees, apologizing endlessly for wishing to be allowed to live as you struggle to appease an ever-expanding evil, or eliminate those who would harm you and free yourselves to live your own lives- which means you must remain vigilant, ever ready to protect yourself."

One of the speakers, his eyes going wide, lifted an arm to point at Richard. "I know you, now. You are the one who was named in Prophecy. You are the one that Prophecy says will destroy us!"

Whispers carried the accusation back through the crowd.

Richard gazed back at his gathered men, then directed a withering glare at the speakers. "I am Richard Rahl. You're right; I am the one named in the Prophecy given to your people so long ago. 'Your destroyer will come and he will redeem you.

"You're right; this Prophecy is about me. But if I had not come along, it would eventually have been another who would have fulfilled those words, whether in another year, or another thousand years, because these words are really about man's honorable commitment to life.

"Your people were banished because they refused to see the truth of the world around them. They chose to close their minds to reality. I have ended that blindness."

Richard pointed back at the men with him. "When the truth was put before these men, they chose at last to open their eyes and see it. Now, the rest of your people must meet the same challenge and make a choice as to how they will live their future.