The Third Kingdom

Henrik swallowed. “I was afraid. Really afraid. I think everyone kind of knew that we might be in some kind of trouble, but no one knew what to expect. I saw some of the soldiers get a better grip on their lances while others touched their swords, all of them making sure that their weapons were ready.

“Then, all of a sudden, we saw movement off at the tree line to the right. Even as dark as it was, there was still enough light that we were able to see masses of people as they poured out of the woods. None of them made a sound as they came rushing out of the trees. They weren’t yelling battle cries or anything. That silence from those people made it even more frightening to watch them coming. There were so many that it looked like the ground was moving. I was scared to death.

“Cara asked her husband if we shouldn’t try running with the wagon. Before the general could answer, Zedd spoke up to say that we couldn’t outrun them. He said that they were out ahead of us as well as behind. He said we were surrounded.

“The soldiers pulled their horses around to shield the wagon. All the lancers formed an outer ring and lowered their lances toward the advancing horde. It was hard to imagine anyone trying to run up on those lancers.

“At the same time, other men, in an inner ring behind the lancers, drew their swords. Yet others pulled battle-axes from hooks on their weapon belts. There weren’t a lot of soldiers with us and seeing how many people were rushing in toward us I wished there were more, but they were D’Haran soldiers, after all. Seeing all those big men draw their weapons made me think that maybe we had a chance.”

They would not have been regular D’Haran soldiers. Richard knew that the men who had come from the palace with Zedd, Nicci, and Cara would have been men of the First File. The First File, led by General Meiffert, were the Lord Rahl’s personal guards at the People’s Palace. They weren’t simply the biggest and best of the D’Haran troops, they were the elite fighters. They were disciplined, skilled in combat, and prepared to fight. They lived for just this sort of duty. They had competed all their lives to earn their place at the point of the spear.

“Zedd stood up in the wagon trying to see better,” Henrik said. “Nicci stood up too, growling in anger over having to stop working on healing you, Lord Rahl, saying that she needed more time. As people kept streaming out of the woods, all of them running toward us, Zedd told her that it looked to him like their time had run out.

“General Meiffert told his men that he didn’t want to stand and fight, but it looked like they were going to have to. Cara suggested putting you and the Mother Confessor over the back of horses. She said she and a couple soldiers could run for safety while the rest of the soldiers held the horde at bay. Zedd said in a low voice that it was a bad idea. When she asked why, he said that the worst thing you could do was run from predators because it excited them to chase. He said that there were people coming in from all directions and they would run down anyone who tried to get away.”

The room was dead silent except for the soft, sputtering hiss of the candle flames. Sammie sat frozen, wide-eyed as she waited to hear what had happened next. Even Ester had stopped working. Her hand, holding a poultice, floated frozen above Kahlan.

“Then Zedd threw his hands toward the sky, sending up a flare of light,” Henrik said. “At first, as it rose high up into the air, it was only a spark, but then it exploded into a bright, sparkling fire that lit the countryside all around.”

Henrik’s eyes brimmed with tears. “In that flare of light, we could finally see the thousands and thousands coming for us. I saw not only men racing toward us, but women, too. Most of the men had no shirts and were bare-legged. I didn’t see any of them with swords or spears or shields. A lot of them had knives, though. So did the women. Our men were on horseback and had much better weapons. I would have felt better about that were we not so overwhelmingly outnumbered.

“The fire that Zedd had sent up started to die out, and it was getting harder to see all the people racing toward us. As they got even closer, he tried to send up another flare of fire to replace the one that was fading, but nothing happened. Nicci asked what was wrong. Zedd looked confused. He stammered and said that he didn’t know. So Nicci tried then, but it didn’t work for her, either.”

Henrik swallowed again and looked down for a moment. Richard put a hand on the boy’s shoulder but didn’t say anything, instead giving him the time to find his words.

Henrik cleared his throat. “When they were close enough that they would be able to hear him, the commander of the cavalry stood in his stirrups and yelled at the people running in toward us, warning them to stop, to stay back, or they would die. It didn’t do any good.