Stone of Tears

He didn’t look happy. The Bird Man says you are Mud People, too, and must be protected, so I wear these. It is my duty.”

He stroked his grandfather’s bone again. “My grandfather taught my father, and my uncle, Toffalar, the man you killed, to be protectors of our people.” He touched his father’s bone. “My father taught me. I will teach my son, when he comes, and someday he will carry my spirit with him as he protects our people.

“Since the time we killed the Jocopo, we have not let many come onto our land. Our ancestors” spirits teach us that to invite others to come as they wish is to invite death. The spirits speak true. You brought Richard With The Temper to us, and because of him, Darken Rahl came and killed many of our people.”

So it came down to this. Chandalen was supposed to be a protector of his people, but they had been killed and he hadn’t been able to stop it. The ancestors” spirits helped us to save the Mud People, Chandalen, and countless others. They saw that Richard’s heart was true, that he was risking his life, the same as you, to save others who did not want war.”

“He stayed in the spirit house while Darken Rahl killed our people. He did not try to stop him. He did not fight. He let our people die.”

“Do you know why?” She waited as he stood stone-faced, but when he didn’t reply, she resumed. The spirits told him that if he went out to fight Darken Rahl, he would be fighting the way Darken Rahl fought, and Richard would die, never to help anyone. They told him that if he wanted to defeat Darken Rahl and save the rest of the Mud People, he must not fight the way Darken Rahl did, but wait and fight his own way, later, just as the spirits told your grandfather.”

He regarded her skeptically. This is his story.”

“I was there, Chandalen. I heard them say this. Richard wanted to fight. He wept with frustration when the spirits told him he must not. There was nothing that could have been done to stop Rahl just then. It was not Richard’s fault, nor was it yours. You could have done nothing to stop it, the same as Richard could have done nothing. If he had tried, he would be dead, and Darken Rahl would have won.”

He leaned a little closer. If you had not brought him, it would not have happened. Darken Rahl would not have come looking for him.”

She drew herself up straight. “Chandalen, do you know what I do? What my specialty is?”

“Yes. Like all Confessors, you make people afraid of you, so you may tell them what to do, and because they are afraid, they will do as you say.”

“In a way. I lead the Council of the Midlands. I represent all the people and protect their rights. I make it possible for those like the Mud People to live as they wish.”

“We protect ourselves.”

She gave him a sober nod. “You think so? For every one of the Mud People, there were five Jocopo. Your grandfather was brave, and defeated an enemy that outnumbered him. But for every man, woman, and child of the Mud People, there are over a hundred dead soldiers here, and this is only one city of this land. They were defeated as if they were nothing. One hundred fighting men for every Mud Person, and they fought bravely, you said so. What chance do you think you would have against an army that could defeat this many? Against an army half that size?”

Chandalen shifted his weight without answering.

There are lands, Chandalen, that have no say, like the Mud People, and the Bantak. They are not represented on the council. The larger lands, like this one, and the one that defeated them, are very powerful, yet Darken Rahl conquered them. I speak for the lands that have no voice on the council. I protect your wish to be left alone, and forbid others to come onto your land.

“Without me to make them afraid, and tell them what to do, they would take your land for themselves. You have seen the country we have traveled through. Much of it is difficult to plant. People would take your land for farms, and to raise animals. Your sacred grasslands would be burned and tilled and planted with crops to trade for gold.

“As brave and strong as you are, you would not be able to protect your people. These outsiders would blacken your land with their numbers. Just because you are brave, and strong, does not mean you will win. The soldiers here were brave, and strong, and a hundred times your number, and look what happened to them. And this is only one city. There are many larger.

“Being brave does not mean you have to be stupid, Chandalen. You saw what was done here. How long do you think you could fight against an army like that which did this? Even if every one of your men killed fifty, they would hardly notice. You would be like the Jocopo, gone. Every last one of you.”