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Kahlan glanced impatiently toward the southwest. “We have to get him to the containment field at the People’s Palace so you can pull the poison out of him.”
Nicci hesitated. “I think the palace may be too far away.”
By her answer and by the way the sickness felt, Richard knew that it was too far to make it there in time.
“There are horses here,” Kahlan said, not ready to give up so easily.
Richard nodded. “Yes, but Sulachan and Hannis Arc are heading there and they already have a big head start. Even if we race for the palace, getting past those forces won’t be easy. Worse, and more likely, if they beat us there then getting through the horde of them surrounding the plateau in order to get into the palace will not be at all easy.”
Kahlan folded her arms in frustration as she shook her head. “I don’t understand why you couldn’t have left the poison there, in the underworld, like you did with me. Why wouldn’t it work for you to leave it there?”
“Balance,” Red said into the drizzle.
“What?” Kahlan asked, turning to the witch woman.
“Many things had to be in balance for him to return to the world of life. This must have been one of the things that had to be.”
Kahlan was clearly not ready to concede this point, either. “Well, I don’t see–”
The witch woman suddenly grabbed Richard’s arm and pulled urgently. “You need to move.”
Richard frowned as she began dragging him away. “Why?”
“That guard tower is going to fall where you are standing.”
CHAPTER
22
Richard was at a loss as to why the witch woman so suddenly believed the tower was about to fall, but it was clear that she did. As he allowed her to lead him away he glanced back at the unassuming tower constructed of heavy stone blocks. Constructed back at the same time as the citadel, during the great war, it was as solid as the rock it was made from. It had stood on that spot for thousands of years, watching over the road up from Saavedra below. A couple of other towers on the other side of the citadel watched over the trackless dark forest beyond.
Like so many things in this part of the Dark Lands, it was part of the precautions having to do with the barrier to the third kingdom. This particular guard tower had been invaluable in alerting the men of the First File of the attack by the half people. No doubt that had been a part of its ancient intent. He had trouble imagining why the solidly built tower that had stood for so long would abruptly fall over. But he knew enough about witch women in general to take her seriously.
Richard didn’t really know much about this particular witch woman. Kahlan had gone without him to see Red before, so he had met her only after returning from the underworld. She had helped Nicci in that journey into darkness to come and help find a way for him to return.
“Hurry!” Red growled at them, not satisfied at how fast he was moving as she dragged him away. “Move back!”
When he saw that the soldiers were not moving, and looked confused, Richard signaled with his free arm. “Back! Everyone move back!”
Confused men finally scattered at his command.
“What is it?” Kahlan asked as she followed Richard and Red hurrying away from where they had been standing beside the funeral pyre.
Before Red could answer, Richard felt the ground beneath the cobblestones beginning to tremble. The delicate lacework of ash from the funeral pyre collapsed inward, sending sparks and smoke spiraling up into the damp air.
One of the stone blocks at the base of the guard tower suddenly exploded, sending shards of rock and debris out across the square. Pieces of rock tumbled and bounced across the cobblestones, narrowly missing Richard’s group as dust boiled up. Richard heard the distinctive sound of granite cracking, and another block at the base of the tower exploded. Fragments of rock whistled past them. A cloud of granite flakes and chunks filled the air, pelting them with small pieces.
“Get out!” Commander Fister yelled up at the two men in the tower. “Hurry! Get out now!”
Richard looked up just in time to see the tower begin to sway as the two men disappeared to race down the interior spiral stairs. With two of the blocks at the base shattered, the tower groaned as its great weight slowly began to keel over.
The two men dashed out of the narrow doorway as fractures crackled up from the corners of the opening. The men raced for their lives across the square.
Another explosion blew apart a third foundation block beside the first two and with a loud grating of rupturing stone the falling tower suddenly gathered speed and came crashing down. With a thunderous roar it toppled across the square right over the top of Cara’s funeral pyre. Many of the stone blocks the tower had been constructed from broke apart on impact. Pieces large and small tumbled and rolled away, but most of it disintegrated into a heap of rubble.
It had happened so quickly. One moment it was standing, the next the blocks exploded and the tower lay scattered across the square. Clouds of dust rolled across the ground and up through the damp late-day air.
Had they not moved in time, they would all have been killed. As it was, some of the soldiers had been cut by sharp fragments of flying rock. One man was on his knees, holding his hands over a bloody wound on his head. Had Richard not moved, he would have been directly under the falling tower and now buried under the debris
.
When he turned to her, the witch woman was looking into his eyes. “The flow of time.”
He knew enough about witch women and the flow of time they dealt in to understand what she meant. It had been a form of prophecy.
“It would be helpful,” he said, “if the next time you could look a little farther ahead in that flow.”
“It was an eddy that had only just swirled into existence. Events around you tend to be unpredictable and chaotic in that way.”
Commander Fister planted his fists on his hips. He looked perplexed as he peered at the rubble. “Lord Rahl, how did you know the tower was going to fall?”
Richard frowned at the question. “Red told me.”
The commander cocked his head. “Red?”
“The witch woman,” Richard said.
The commander glanced around. “Witch woman? What are you talking about?”
“The woman with the red hair.”
The commander’s frown drew tighter as he took another look around. “There was a witch woman here yesterday, but I’ve seen no woman with red hair.”
Richard looked for himself. The witch woman was gone. She had been quiet during the ceremony and as they watched the pyre burn. In fact, she hadn’t spoken all afternoon until she had told Richard to move because the tower was going to fall on him.
Richard frowned over at Kahlan. “She’s gone.”
She gave him a look as if to say that she had expected as much. “She told me that witch women have to stay out of events, lest they create havoc in those events. She’s leaving what must be done now to us.”
“What I want to know is who created that eddy,” Nicci said in a way that betrayed her sense of urgency and ignoring the commander’s confusion over the unseen witch woman.
Richard was already moving. He knew who had interrupted to create that disturbance in the flow at the last instant. He looked back over his shoulder when he heard boot strikes and saw the whole force of men following.
“Wait here. All of you, wait here.”
