Temple of the Winds

"I'm glad, general, that we will all get a good night's sleep for a change. I hope, too, that your men have learned a lesson, and that in the future, when I tell them that the underworld isn't about to swallow us all, they will have a little more faith."

He smiled sheepishly. "Yes, Prelate. I believed you, of course, but some of these men are more superstitious than is healthy for their hearts. Magic scares them." She leaned a little closer to the man and lowered her voice. "It should." He cleared his throat. "Yes, Prelate. Well, I guess we better all get some sleep." "Your messengers haven't returned yet, have they?"

"No." He traced a finger down the lower part of the white scar running from his left temple to his jaw. "I don't expect they've even reached Aydindril yet."

Verna sighed. She wished she could have heard word first. It might have made her decision easier. "I suppose not."

"What do you think. Prelate? What's your advice? North?" She stared off, watching the sparks from the fire spiral up into the darkness, and feeling its heat on her face. She had more important decisions to make.

"I don't know. Richard's exact words to me were, 'Head north. There's an army of a hundred thousand D'Haran soldiers heading south looking for Kahlan. You'll have more protection with them, and they with you. Tell General Reibisch that she is safe with me. »

"It would have made things easier if he would have said for sure." "He didn't say for us to go north, back to Aydindril, but it was implied. I'm sure he thought that's what we would do. However, I take seriously your advice in matters such as this."

He shrugged. "I'm a soldier. I think like a soldier."

Richard had gone to Tanimura to rescue Kahlan, and had managed to destroy the Palace of the Prophets, along with its vault of prophecies, before Emperor Jagang could capture it. Richard had said that he had to return to Aydindril at once, and that he didn't have time to explain, but only he and Kahlan had the magic required that would allow their immediate return. He said he couldn't take the rest of them. He had told her to go north to meet up with General Reibisch and his D'Haran army.

General Reibisch was reluctant to return north. He reasoned that with a force this large already this far south, it would be strategically advantageous to blunt an invasion of the New World before it could drive into the populous areas.

''General, I have no argument with your motives, but I fear that you underestimate the threat. From the information I've managed to gather, the Imperial Order's forces are large enough to crush even an army of this size without losing stride. I don't doubt your men's ability, but by sheer numbers alone the Order will swallow you whole.

"I understand your reasoning, but even with as many men as you have, it won't be enough, and then we wouldn't have them to lend their weight to a gathering of a larger force that might have a chance against the Order."

The general smiled reassuringly. 'Prelate, what you say makes sense. I've listened to reasoned arguments like yours my whole career. The thing is, war isn't a reasonable pursuit. Sometimes, you simply have to take advantage of what the good spirits give you and throw yourself into the fray." "Sounds like a good way to be annihilated."

"Well, I've been doing it a long tine, and I'm still alive. Just because you choose to meet the enemy, that doesn't mean you have to stick your chin out and let him have a good swing at it." Verna squinted at the man. "What have you in mind?" "Seems to me that we're already here. Messengers can move a great deal faster than an army. I think we should move to a more secure location, one more defendable, and sit tight." "Where?"

"If we go east, into the high country of southern D'Hara, then we could be in a better position to react. I know the country there. If the Order tries to come up into the New World through D'Hara, the easy way through the Kern River valley, then we are there to stop them. We can fight on more equal terms in tighter country like that. Just because you have more men, that doesn't mean you can use them all. A valley is only so wide."

"What if they go more to the west as they move north, skirt the mountains and head up through the wilds?"

"Then we have this army to sweep in behind them when our other forces are sent south to meet them. The enemy would have to split their force and fight against us on two fronts. On top of that, it would limit their options by making it difficult for them to move freely."

Verna considered his words. She had read of battles in the old books, and understood the sense of his strategy. It seemed more prudent than she had thought at first. The man was bold, but he was no fool.