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The demands for Jagang to destroy the heathens that the people of the Old World believed were the cause of all their troubles served Jagang’s ends. He also needed to destroy a free and prosperous people because their very existence put the lie to the Order’s beliefs and teachings. The truth would ultimately threaten his rule.
The distraction of blaming others for the people’s misery came full circle, being the means to turn attention elsewhere, and to let the people themselves demand of him that he go off to fight this battle against evil. Who could complain about the cost and sacrifice of a war they themselves demanded?
Ja’La, too, was a distraction that served his ends. In the cities the somewhat more civilized games were a focal point that funneled the emotions and energy of the populace into rather meaningless events. It helped give his people a common cause to rally around, to cheer for, promoting a mentality that steeped people in the concept of being joined in opposition to others.
In his army, Ja’La served to distract his men from the misery of service in the army. Since the audience of soldiers was made up of aggressive young men, those games were played under a more brutal set of rules. The violence of such games gave frustrated, combative, hostile men an outlet for their pent-up passions. Without Ja’La, Jagang understood that he might not be able to maintain discipline and control over such a vast and unwieldy force. Without Ja’La they might turn their idle hostility inward, among themselves.
Jagang had his own team, which served to demonstrate the indomitable supremacy of the emperor. They were an extension of his power and might, an object of awe. They reflected that awe onto the emperor. His Ja’La team connected the emperor to his men, made him like them, while at the same time stressing his superiority.
Having spent so much time with him, as his Slave Queen, Nicci knew that despite all of those calculated factors, Jagang, like his men, had actually become caught up in the game. For Jagang, combat was the ultimate game. Ja’La dh Jin was a kind of combat he could enjoy when he was not engaged in actual combat. It kept his own aggressive juices flowing. Since assembling his new team of unbeatable men, a team universally feared, he had come to feel that he, personally, was the master of Ja’La dh Jin.
It had become more than a game to Jagang. It had become an extension of his persona.
Nicci turned away from the sight of the Imperial Order forces gathered below. She could no longer endure the sight, or the thought of the bloody games she so hated. The muffled roars washed over her, a building blood lust that would eventually be turned loose on the People’s Palace.
Once back inside, Nicci waited until Nathan pushed the heavy door closed against the cold night descending on the outside world.
“I need to go down to see Panis Rahl’s tomb.”
He looked back over his shoulder as he forced the latch into place. “So you said. Let’s go, then.”
As they started away, Ann hesitated. “I know how much you hate going down in that tomb,” she said to Nathan as she caught his arm, bringing him to a halt. “Verna and Adie will be waiting. Perhaps you could see to that while I take Nicci down to the tomb.”
Nathan cast her a suspicious look. He was about to say something when Ann gave him a look of her own. He seemed to grasp her meaning.
“Yes, that’s a good idea, my dear. Cara and I will go speak with Verna and Adie.”
The leather of Cara’s outfit creaked as she folded her arms. “I’ll stay with Nicci. In Lord Rahl’s absence it’s my job to protect her.”
“I really think that Berdine and Nyda would like to talk over some issues of palace security with you,” Ann said. When Cara didn’t look at all inclined to agree to the plan, Ann hastily added, “For when Richard gets back. They want to be certain that everything is being done to insure his security when he returns to the palace.”
Nicci thought that there were few people as wary as a Mord-Sith. They seemed to be constantly suspicious and to assume the worst. Nicci could tell that Ann simply wanted to speak with her alone. She didn’t know why she didn’t just tell Cara that. She guessed that Ann probably wasn’t convinced that such an approach would work.
Nicci placed a hand on the small of Cara’s back and leaned toward her. “It’s all right, Cara. Go on with Nathan and I’ll join you shortly.”
Cara looked from Nicci’s eyes to Ann’s. “Where?”
“You know the dining room between the Mord-Sith quarters and the devotion square beside the small grouping of trees?”
“Of course.”
“That is where Verna and Adie are to meet us. We’ll catch up with you there after Nicci has had her look at the tomb.”
Only when Nicci gave Cara a nod did she finally agree.
CHAPTER 18
As they started away, Nicci just caught a parting look that Ann gave Nathan. It was an intimate gaze warmed by a childlike smile, a look of shared understanding and affection. Nicci almost felt embarrassed to be witness to such a private moment. At the same time, it revealed a quality of both Ann and Nathan that she found captivating. It was the kind of simple thing that almost anyone who saw it would understand and appreciate.
The brief glimpse into their feelings gave Nicci a sense of comfort and peace. This was not just the prelate she had feared for so much of her life, but a woman who shared the same feelings, longings, and values as most anyone.
As they made their way back along the hallway while Nathan and Cara vanished down a stairwell, Nicci glanced over at Ann.
“You love him, don’t you?”
Ann smiled. “Yes.”
Nicci stared, unable to think of what to say.
“Surprised that I would admit it?” Ann asked.
“Yes,?
?? Nicci confessed.
Ann chuckled. “Well, I guess there would have been a time when I would have been surprised as well.”
Nicci loosely intertwined her fingers. “When did all this happen?”
Ann stared off into memories. “Probably centuries ago. I was just too foolish, too caught up in being the Prelate, to recognize what was right there before me. Maybe I thought I had a duty which came first. But I think that’s just an excuse for being a fool.”
Nicci was struck dumb by such a frank admission from this woman.
A look of amusement overcame Ann when she saw the look on Nicci’s face. “Shocked to find me human?”
Nicci smiled. “That’s not a very flattering way to put it, but I guess that must be the heart of it.”
They turned down a long flight of stairs with evenly spaced landings in the square stairwell descending through the palace. The railing all the way down was vinelike wrought iron, held in place by masterfully worked iron made to mimic leafy branches.
“Well,” Ann sighed, “I guess that I, too, was shocked to find out that I was human. At the same time, at first anyway, it made me quite sad.”
“Sad?” Nicci frowned. “Why?”
“Because I had to admit to myself that I had thrown away most of my life. I’ve been blessed by the Creator with a very long life, but I realized only as I approach the end of it that I had lived very little of that life.” She looked up at Nicci as they reached a landing. “Doesn’t it make you feel remorse to realize how much of your life you wasted without ever realizing what was really important about that life?”
Nicci swallowed back a pang of regret of her own as they reached the edge of a landing and started down the next flight of stairs. “We have that in common.”
Together they listened in silence to the whisper of their footsteps as they made their way down the rest of the stairs. When they finally reached the bottom they took a broad hallway leading straight ahead rather than one of the passageways branching off to the sides. The hallway carried the spiced scent from the evenly spaced oil lamps.
