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The man’s red eyes went to Richard’s hand gripping the hilt of his sword still sitting in its scabbard, before returning to look into Richard’s eyes, as if he were looking into his soul.
“Lord Rahl,” the man said in a voice that was as unsettling as his flesh, “how kind of you to visit my land of Fajin Province.”
Richard’s brow twitched. “Bishop Hannis Arc?”
Hannis Arc was the leader of Fajin Province.
The man bowed his head. “Actually, it’s Lord Arc.”
CHAPTER
60
“Lord Arc,” Richard said in a flat tone. “I was told that it was Bishop Hannis Arc.”
The man smiled insincerely. “My previous title.” He dismissed it with an annoyed flourish of a tattooed hand. “I am now Lord Arc, soon to be … well, it’s of no concern at the moment. We have more important business that awaits us.”
The shadow behind the man finally stepped forward to stand beside him.
Richard was stunned to see that it was a Mord-Sith in red leather—a tall, very attractive, and a very dangerous-looking Mord-Sith.
He was more stunned to see that the blond-haired woman was not a Mord-Sith that he recognized—and he knew them all. At least, he thought he did. This one, he thought, must have been hiding under a rock. A rock in the dark lands.
Hannis Arc held out an introductory hand as he smiled in satisfaction at Richard’s surprise. “This is Mistress Vika.”
Not only did he not recognize her, Richard had never heard any Mord-Sith mention the name Vika.
Hannis Arc turned to the woman. “You see, Vika? You worry for nothing. It is as I said. I leave the bread crumbs, and Lord Rahl follows them.”
She smiled in response but held Richard’s gaze with her steely blue eyes. “Yes, Lord Arc.”
Hannis Arc turned back, also looking Richard in the eye as he spoke. “He is but a little pet, thinking he is going when he chooses, when he wants, and where he wants, when someone else is actually holding his leash.”
“What’s this about?” Richard asked as calmly as he could, reminding himself not to lose his temper.
He needed to think, to figure out what was going on. He knew that he couldn’t do that if he gave himself over to a fit of rage, as satisfying as that might be. Better to stall for time and find out all he could. Better to find out exactly what kind of danger he was really up against. He knew that the more questions he could ask, and the more he let these two talk, the more time he would gain himself to try to think of a way out of the trap he found himself in.
“Well, you see, Lord Rahl, everything was going along as I wanted, but then the Hedge Maid nearly spoiled my plans. Seems as though she had an obsession with that blood lust that so overpowers her kind. But I guess that you have already learned all too much about that.
“Because of her failure to carry out my perfectly reasonable and carefully thought out requests, it became necessary to change my plans. In the end, however, I saw to it that it worked to my advantage, as all things eventually do.
“You see, I always take into account the alternate paths that others might choose to take because of their more limited nature so that if need be I am able to alter my own plans. Because of that, I was prepared and able to take advantage of the situation as it presented itself. You were only too accommodating and as a result it worked to my advantage even better than I could have dreamed up in the beginning.
“You see, in the beginning, I was wondering how I would deal with your well-known and quite dangerous abilities, but now, thanks to the obstinate nature of that filthy little Hedge Maid, that hazard has been taken care of as well.”
Richard wasn’t sure exactly what the man was talking about. When he didn’t respond, Hannis Arc, as Richard expected, leaned forward a little to elaborate.
“I am referring to the touch of death she planted within you that prevents your gift from functioning. Its presence within you interferes with the function of the Grace.” The sly smile reappeared. “Yes, I know about that. Seems she did me a favor by defanging you for me. Knowing her nature I allowed her to play out her own needs in order to serve mine. I knew what she would try to do, and I knew you would have to stop her.”
Richard wondered what part prophecy had played in that.
Hannis Arc straightened, pleased with himself. “You see? My patience serves me well and it all works to my advantage in the end.”
Richard saw that back in the shadows figures were beginning to appear as if materializing out of the rock itself. At first he saw only a few, but within moments there were hundreds emerging from behind the rock. They all looked the same.
Shun-tuk.
“So what is this grand plan of yours, anyway?” Richard asked as offhandedly as he could, still stalling for time. “What’s your little scheme all about?”
“All in good time.” He couldn’t seem to keep himself from adding “And not so little.”
“Really? You expect me to believe that from the dark recesses of Fajin Province in your dark little domain, you have cooked up some elaborate grand plan that the world is going to care about?”
Fajin Province had contributed soldiers to the effort of stopping the Imperial Order. Some of those men even served in the First File back at the palace. It was disheartening to realize that this place that had fought with them was never really on their side. Or, at least, their leader wasn’t. He had only pretended loyalty.
Richard wondered how many other leaders of other lands who smiled so pleasantly to his face really wanted to stab him in the back.
They had won the war, won the peace. Richard found such treachery not only infuriating, but disheartening. He had thought that there was going to be peace. Zedd had warned him that there was nothing so dangerous as peace. Richard should have taken his grandfather’s words more seriously.
Hannis Arc smiled, as if trying to decide whether he wanted to kill Richard on the spot for disparaging his revelation of a carefully planned grand scheme, or continue to torment him to some purpose. In the end, he turned and bowed a little as he held an arm out in feigned, polite invitation.
“Come with us, if you please, Lord Rahl, and we will show you a bit of my grand plans. Then you can decide for yourself if you think the world will care.”
The green walls of death still stood to the sides and behind, preventing any escape.
“Do I have a choice?” Richard asked.
Hannis Arc smiled in a way that made Richard’s blood run cold.
“Not really.”
“Well, even so, I’m sorry,” Richard said. “I’m afraid that I have other plans, and they don’t include you.”
The shadow of a dark look came across Hannis Arc’s tattooed face. The man lifted a finger in Richard’s direction.
Sudden pain knifing through Richard’s skull took him to his knees in a heartbeat. His eyes bulged as his hands went to the sides of his head. It felt like bolts of lightning were crackling in through his ears. The sound of it inside his head was deafening, the pain withering.
Hannis Arc withdrew the pointed finger, and the pain lifted with it. Richard fell forward onto his hands as he gasped a breath.
“I can do this all day,” the man said. “Can you?”
Richard struggled to return to his feet, still panting to catch his breath.
“I think I can, Bishop,” Richard said, deliberately using the man’s lower title. “Please continue.”
“Let me have a few minutes with him, Lord Arc,” Vika said with menacing impatience. “I will teach him to be more respectful.”
He dismissed her suggestion with a wave. “Later.”
