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"Kahlan, I can do this. I can feel it."
"You did it once. What if it doesn't work this time? I'm not going to stand here and let you be killed."
"Kahlan, if we don't stop these people, here, now, both of us are going to be killed, and then the Keeper is going to escape. Tonight is the gathering; that is what's important. I'm using the Wizard's First Rule; the first step to believing is wanting to believe something is true, or being afraid it is. Up until now, they have been believing something because they wanted to. I have to make them afraid that what I am going to say is true."
"What are you going to say?"
"Hurry up. Translate before I lose their interest and they decide to kill us and then go after the Mud People."
She turned back to Ma Ban Grid and, reluctantly, translated. The men all started shouting that they wanted to be the one to shoot the arrow. Ma Ban Grid's eyes moved among them as they yelled and waved their arms.
He smiled. "All you men may shoot this evil one who has killed one of mine. Everyone! Shoot him!"
The bows came up. Richard glared. "Coward! Do you men see how foolish this old man is? He knows he listens to false spirits! He would have you listen to them also! He knows the good spirits protect me in my challenge. He is afraid to have you see he is a fool. This proves it!"
Ma Ban Grid's jaw tightened. He held his arm up for his men to halt. At last he turned to a man with a bow and snatched it from his hands. "I will show you the spirits I hear are true! You will die for killing one of mine! For saying our spirit brethren are false spirits!"
He drew a poison arrow back and in a blink shot it at Richard. A cheer rose from the men. Kahlan's breath caught in her throat. She went cold with fear.
Richard snatched the arrow out of the air right in front of his face.
The men gasped and then fell silent as Richard marched back to the spirit guide, the arrow in his hand, and fire in his eyes. He stopped before Ma Ban Grid and snapped the arrow in front of his face to the sound of fearful murmurs.
His voice was deadly. "The good spirits protect me, old fool. You listen to false spirits."
"Who are you?" Ma Ban Grid whispered, wide-eyed.
Richard slowly drew the Sword of Truth. The soft ring of steel filled the quiet dawn. He placed the sword's point at Ma Ban Grid's throat.
"I am Richard, the Seeker. Mate to the Mother Confessor." Worried whispers drifted through the cold air. "And, I am a wizard. Her wizard."
Eyes as far as she could see widened. Jaws dropped. Ma Ban Grid's face slackened a little. He glanced to the sword.
"Wizard? You?"
"Wizard!" Richard glided his angry eyes across the gathered men. "Wizard. I command the magic. The gift. It would seem, old fool, your false spirits have lied to you. They said the Mother Confessor had no wizard. They sent one of yours to start a war the Mud People do not want. They have used you for their own purposes. Perhaps a wise spirit guide would have known this, perhaps an old fool would not." Grumbling broke out among the men. "If you persist in this, if you disobey the Mother Confessor, I will use my magic to destroy you. I will use terrible magic to burn the Bantak's land to ashes and put a blight upon it for all time. Every last Bantak will die a horrible death; a death by my magic. This is what will happen to you if you choose to go against the Mother Confessor's instructions. If you choose not to listen to her, I will kill every last Bantak. Young, and old." His cold gray eyes returned to Ma Ban Grid. "But I will start with the old."
"Magic?" Ma ban Grid whispered. "You would kill us with magic?"
Richard leaned closer. "If you disobey the Mother Confessor, I will kill you all with magic more frightful than anything you can imagine." As the men all listened in rapt attention to her translation, Richard recited a litany of horrors he would bring to them. Most of the things she remembered Zedd telling a mob that had come to kill him when they thought he was a witch. Richard was using the same things now to scare the Bantak. The more he spoke, the wider their eyes became.
Ma Ban Grid's gaze left the sword and returned to Richard's face. He looked less sure of himself, but wasn't entirely ready to concede. "The spirits told me there was no wizard with the Mother Confessor. Why should I believe you are a wizard?"
All of the anger left Richard's face. She had never seen him hold the sword without the fury of the sword's magic in his eyes. There did seem to be something in his eyes, but it wasn't hate, or rage; he looked at peace. Somehow, it was more frightening than the anger. It was the peace of a man committed to a course.
In the dim dawn light, the blade of Richard's sword changed. It began to glow white. White hot with magic. It brightened until no one could miss seeing the bright white luminescence.
Richard was using the only magic he knew and could depend on. The magic of the sword.
It was enough. Fear swept the crowd. Men fell to their knees, dropping their weapons, muttering for forgiveness, beseeching the spirits to protect them. Others stood frozen, not knowing what to do.
"Forgive me, old man," Richard whispered, "but I must kill you to save a great many more lives. Know that I forgive you, and regret what I must do."
As she translated, Kahlan put a hand on Richard's arm to keep him from doing anything. "Richard, wait. Please, give me a chance?"
He nodded slightly. "One chance. Fail, and I kill him."
She knew he was trying to scare the Bantak, to break the spell they seemed to be under, but he was scaring her too. He was beyond the rage of the sword, to something worse. She looked back to the spirit guide.
"Ma Ban Grid, Richard will kill you. He does not lie about this. I have asked him to wait, so I may grant you my forgiveness, if you will see the truth of what we say. I can ask him not to kill you, and he will do as I ask. But only once. After that, I will have no control over him. If you are insincere in your change of heart, there will be much death and suffering. Richard is a man of his word. He has made a promise to you, and if you try to trick him with your answer, he will keep his promise.
"I give you this one chance to hear the truth. It is not yet too late. The Mother Confessor does not want any of her people to die. Every life in the Midlands holds dear value in my heart. But sometimes, I must let a few lose their lives, so that many more may live. I will hear your answer."
The men all stood stooped and still. They looked as if they had gotten themselves into something they no longer wanted. The Bantak were a peaceful people and they seemed to regret their foray, even seemed confused by it. Richard had succeeded in giving them a bigger fright than whatever brought them to this.
The breeze fluttered the dry grass and in its passing pulled a stray wisp of hair across her face. Kahlan reached up and pulled it back as she waited. With eyes that seemed to have gone empty of passion, Ma Ban Grid searched her face. The spell had been broken.
His voice came soft and sincere. "I heard the spirits speak. I thought they were speaking the truth. It is as he says. I am an old fool." He looked around at his silent men. "The B
antak have never before sought to bring death to others. We will not start now."
He bowed his head and pulled his medallion over his wispy gray hair. He brought it up in both hands, offering it to her. "Please, Mother Confessor, give this to the Mud People. Tell them it is given in peace. We will start no war with them." He glanced over. Richard returned the sword to its scabbard. Ma Ban Grid looked back to her. "Thank you for stopping us, for stopping me, from listening to false spirits and doing a terrible thing."
Kahlan bowed her head to the old man. "I am thankful I was able to serve in time to prevent anyone from being hurt."
Richard glanced to her. "Ask him how the spirits convinced him to do something against the nature of his people."
"Ma Ban Grid, how did the spirits put the lust for war in your heart? The lust for killing?"
He stared off, unsure. "Their whispers came to me in the night. Made me feel the need. I have felt an urge to violence before, but never acted on it. This time, it seemed I could not hold it back. I had never felt this need so strongly before."
"The veil to the underworld, the spirit world, is torn." Whispers spread back through the men as she told them Richard's words. "False spirits may seek to speak to you again. Be on guard against them. I understand how you were tricked, and will hold no anger against you for it. But I expect you to be more cautious now that you have learned the truth and have been warned."
"Thank you, wizard," Ma Ban Grid nodded. "I will make it so."
"Did the spirits voices tell you anything else?"
The old man frowned in thought. "I don't really remember their voices telling me what must be done. It was more of a feeling that filled me with the need. My son," he looked up, "the one who died... he was with me, and heard them also. I felt that the spirits spoke differently to him, somehow. His eyes were wild with hate. Even more that mine. He went as soon as we were visited by the spirits." His eyes sank to the ground.
