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The man lurched forward half a step, as if about to attack. Richard stood his ground, folding his arms as he finally looked up to stare into Jagang’s eyes.
The man halted. “That was you?”
Richard nodded. “What is your offer?”
“When we get in there—and we will get in—men like my young soldier, here, the pride of the people of the Old World come to crush the heathens of the New World, will be set free in the palace. I will leave to your imagination what such men will do to the fine people in the palace.”
“I already know how the pride of the Order treats innocent people. I’ve already seen the results of their collective wisdom. No imagining is necessary.”
“Well, if you would like that to be repeated here, only tenfold worse just because they’re angry at your bullheaded defiance, at having to sit down there building their own way in, then you have to do nothing. They will come, they will get in, and they will extract their vengeance for all that you have done to the people of their homeland.”
“I already know all that,” Richard said. “It’s pretty obvious, after all.”
“And would you like to spare your people that pain?”
“You know I would.”
The man straightened a little, taking on Jagang’s smile. “And do you know that I have your sister, Jennsen?”
Richard blinked in surprise. “What?”
“I have Jennsen. She’s quite nice on the eyes, actually. She was brought back after we visited a graveyard in Bandakar to pay our respects to the deceased.”
Richard was losing track of what Jagang was talking about. “What deceased?”
“Why, Nathan Rahl, of course.”
Richard’s eyes slid closed as he remembered that grave marker. “Dear spirits,” he whispered to himself.
“While they were paying our respects to the tomb of Nathan Rahl, my representatives came across the most interesting books. One in particular I believe you’ve heard of: The Book of Counted Shadows.”
Richard glared, but said nothing.
“Now, as I’m sure you are aware, there are five copies of that particular book. In fact, I have three of them. From what my good Sisters tell me, you have memorized another copy. I’m not sure where the fifth is, but I suppose that it could be any of a number of places.
“The thing is, it doesn’t really matter. You see, The Book of Counted Shadows that came into my possession, along with your beautiful little sister and a few of her friends, is not a copy.”
Richard puzzled at the man. “Not a copy? Then what is it?”
“It’s the original,” Jagang said in his deep voice, sounding quite amused with himself. “Because it’s the original, I don’t have to worry about which of the five is the one true copy and which four are the false copies. That no longer concerns me, since I now have the original.”
Richard heaved a sigh. “I see.”
“Besides that, I now also have all three boxes of Orden. My friend Six was kind enough to bring me the third.” The dark eyes turned toward Nicci. “She got it from the Wizard’s Keep. Just ask Nicci. Fortunately, Nicci recovered from the touch of the witch woman. I would have been so very displeased had she died.”
Richard folded his arms again. “So you have The Book of Counted Shadows, and now you have all three boxes. Sounds like you have Ja’La dh Jin well in hand. What is it you want from me?”
The soldier wagged an admonishing finger. “You know what I want, Richard Rahl. I want into the Garden of Life.”
“I suppose you do, but I don’t think it would be very healthy for me to allow that.”
“I suggest that you think about all those people in there, and ask yourself how healthy it will be for them if you don’t agree. You see, we are going to get in. It’s just a matter of when and what happens when we do get in. If you force me to fight my way in, then, as I said, I will have to let my men extract their revenge on every single person in there—every man, woman, and child. I expect that it will be terrifying beyond their wildest imagination.
“But, if you surrender—”
“Surrender!” Verna shouted. “Are you out of your mind!”
Richard silenced her by easing her back. He turned again to Jagang. “Go on.”
“If you surrender, I will not harm the palace.”
“If we were to surrender, why in the world would you spare it? I certainly hope you don’t expect me to believe that you have it in you to honor such a bargain.”
“Well, you see, we were planning to build a grand palace to be the headquarters of the Imperial Order. Brother Narev himself was overseeing the project. But you ended that dream for our people.
“We could start over and build such a palace….” The man gestured indulgently. “But it would be so much more fitting, since you took our palace, for us in the end to take yours and rule from it to show all who would defy the Fellowship of Order what comes of such foolish resistance. This seat of the Order would be a statement to all.
“Of course, after you witness the opening of the correct box of Orden I would have you put to death.”
“Of course,” Richard said.
“A relatively quick death, but not too quick. I would want you to pay for some of your crimes, after all.”
“How appealing.”
“Well, your people would live. Aren’t you concerned for them? Have you no compassion? They would have to bow to the beliefs of the Order, which is, after all, the moral law of the Creator Himself, but they would not be molested by my men.”
“Still doesn’t sound very appealing,” Richard said, his arms still folded.
The soldier shrugged, an awkward movement, like a puppet whose strings had been pulled. “Well, those are your only two choices. Either we eventually smash our way in on a river of blood, letting my men have what they want of your people and your palace while my Sisters and myself do what we must in the Garden of Life, or else you come to your senses and allow your people to live in peace, while my Sisters and myself do what we must in the Garden of Life.
“Either way, I will have the Garden of Life to use as I must. The only question is how soon, and how much blood and suffering it will cost your people.”
“You may never get in. You think you will, but you may not. I have that possibility to consider.”
“Not really,” Jagang said with a surrogate smile. “You see, I always have the additional option of Six helping us. She wouldn’t have to fight her way up through the palace. She can just…drop us in, as it were. Beyond that, if I grow too impatient I could always go ahead and do it the easy way by simply using the book the way it was intended to open the correct box.”
“You need the Garden of Life.”
The man gestured dismissively. “The boxes predate the Garden of Life. There is nothing that says they must be opened in such a place—a containment field, as my Sisters explained it. My Sisters, as well as Six, also advised me that while the Garden of Life was built as a containment field specific to the boxes of Orden, the boxes can still be opened from right where they are.”
Richard glared at the man before him. “Without the specific containment field offered by the Garden of Life it would be extremely dangerous to attempt to open one of the boxes. Any number of otherwise inconsequential errors would risk destroying the world of life.”
Jagang again smiled a very wicked smile. “This world, this life, is transient. It is the next world that matters. Destroying this vile, wretched world, this miserable life, would be doing the Creator a great service. Those of us who have served His cause through the Fellowship of Order will be rewarded in that eternal afterlife. Those of you who have opposed us will fall into the eternal darkness beneath the Keeper. Ending this wretched world in the cause of saving it would be a noble act worthy of great reward.
“So, you see, Richard Rahl, in this round of Ja’La dh Jin I am going to win it all, one way or the other. I am merely offering you the chance to decide how you wish it to end.”
The wind carried a sheet of dust past as Richard watched the man. He knew from the things he’d studied, and the things that Nicci had told him, that Jagang wasn’t bluffing about being able to open the boxes without the Garden of Life. He also knew how dangerous it would be. Unfortunately, he also knew that the Order didn’t really care if all life ended. They valued death, not life. Even if they could somehow eliminate Jagang it would make no difference, really. He represented the beliefs of the Order, he did not shape them.
In the end, he was hardly the most dangerous part of the Order. It was the evil beliefs the Fellowship of Order taught that were dangerous. Jagang was merely the brute who enforced those beliefs.
“I don’t know that I can make such a decision immediately.”
“I understand. I will give you some time to think it over. Some time to walk the halls of the palace and look into the eyes of those women and children under your care.”
Richard nodded. “This is the kind of thing I will have to think about. There is much to consider. It will take time.”
The man smiled. “Of course. Take your time. I give you a few weeks. I will give you until the new moon.”
The man started to turn away, but then turned back. “Oh, one other thing.” His dark gaze slid to Nicci. “You will have to surrender Nicci to me as part of the bargain. She belongs with me. She must be given back.”
