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“This gives us a good place we can watch from,” Richard said as he stood in his saddle, checking in every direction, gazing down on the expanse of forest spreading out below. “It’s getting dark fast. Let’s stop here on the road and set up camp for the night.” He pointed behind. “There is a lot of grass for the horses growing to the sides, right there.”
“You think it best to stop out in the open where half people could spot us?” Cassia asked.
“I’d rather be in a place where we can see them coming from a long way off. They can’t get to us going cross-country through the woods, and if they use the road they can only come from ahead or behind. There is no other way to get to us, here. That makes this spot which might seem like it’s out in the open actually much easier for us to defend.” He gestured to the rock wall at the apex of the curve around the prominence in the side of the mountain. “We can put some tarps there and be protected against the weather if it starts to rain.”
“It looks like it will be a damp and miserable night,” Commander Fister said. “What about fires to keep warm?”
Richard’s mouth twisted. “I’m not liking the idea of starting fires that could be seen or smelled for miles. It wouldn’t attract anything good and might tip off anyone searching for us.”
“I can use my gift to heat rocks,” Nicci offered. “At least they will keep us all warm.”
Richard nodded as he swung down out of his saddle. “Post watches in both directions.” He held the reins up close to the bit. “No man stands watch alone. Double the men and keep watches short. We have enough men for us all to get some sleep.”
“You heard the man,” Commander Fister said as he swung down out of his saddle.
Everyone else dismounted and set about the task of stringing up some small tarps to shelter them from the rain and gathering material to keep them up off the wet ground as they slept.
Kahlan smiled to herself. She was finally going to get to cuddle up to Richard for at least a few hours’ rest. As good a rest as she could expect, anyway, with the Twilight Count marking the time until the end of the world while the half people hunted for souls.
Richard circled his big arm around her waist and smiled at her. “What do you say we get something to eat?”
CHAPTER
34
Richard gently drew back on the reins, slowing his horse to a stop. It was an unexpectedly compliant animal that wanted to please and had willingly taken to his directions, but now its nostrils flared as it tossed its head, snorted, and stepped about nervously. The other horses were just as unsettled.
Richard patted the animal’s shoulder. “I smell it too,” he murmured in a comforting voice. “I don’t like it any better than you.”
Everyone had come to a halt all around him. The three Mord-Sith had closed in to get as close to him and Kahlan as they could get. Mord-Sith always wanted to be the closest layer of protection. Richard had long ago learned not only that they were capable and worthy of being in such a position, but it was a lot less trouble if he let them protect him in the way they thought best. The soldiers formed an outer ring surrounding the three women in red leather. They wanted to be the first to encounter any attacking enemy and stop them. So, the Mord-Sith and the soldiers of the First File were both content that they had their way.
Before one of the horses could panic and bolt or throw their riders, Richard signaled everyone to dismount.
“What do you think?” Nicci asked as she leaned closer to him after she was down on the ground.
Richard’s gaze moved across the shadows back in the woods among the trees and rock outcroppings, checking for any sign of threat.
“Well, there is no mistaking that something is dead up ahead,” he finally told her. “The only question is what, or who.”
“And who did the killing,” the sorceress added.
Richard glanced over at her. “There is that.”
Even at the distance they were from whatever it was that was dead, the smell was repulsive. He supposed it could be dead animals, but the hair standing on end at the back of his neck told him otherwise.
Commander Fister held on to the reins to his horse as he stepped closer so he could whisper. “Are we close to the village?”
Richard nodded. He was on familiar ground, now. From the protection of the forested foothills, they all gazed across the open fields toward the cliff face in the distance. The mountain, thick with clinging vegetation, towered over the rough, raw rock face of the cliff.
“I don’t hear anything,” Richard said in an equally quiet voice as he leaned toward Nicci. “Can you sense anything? You should be able to sense all the people from here, shouldn’t you? You should at least to be able to sense the livestock, right?”
Nicci’s blue eyes turned from staring into the distance to look up at him. “If there were any people or animals still alive, I would be able to sense it.” She gestured to the thick trees towering over them to each side. “I can sense small animals here–some birds, a squirrel just out of sight over there, things like that. There are mice hiding down in holes under the leaf litter where we can’t see them.” She flicked a finger, gesturing out toward the fields. “There are small living things like that in the fields, but on the other side, toward the village, I don’t sense anything.”
Richard wasn’t at all surprised. That was what his intuition was telling him. Nicci’s words were all the confirmation he needed.
He drew his sword.
In the dead silence the ring of steel echoed out across the fields, announcing the arrival of the Sword of Truth in the damp late-day air.
“All right, we’re going to have to go have a look. Horses don’t like the smell of death. If we take them any closer they may panic and bolt.” He gestured with his sword. “Let’s picket them back here. Tie the leads so they can get away if they have to.”
One of the men stepped in and took the reins from Richard as he peered out across the field, scanning for any movement, any sign of life. One of the other men took Kahlan’s horse. Nicci and the three Mord-Sith handed over the reins to their horses when another man came to get them.
The rest of the men drew their weapons.
Kahlan stroked the neck of her bay mare. “Take good care of her,” she said with a smile to the soldier. “She has given me an easy ride.”
He smiled back with a nod before leading the horse back to a small open area in the woods.
Richard was already in the grip of the anger from the sword. The smell of death only served to make that rage flooding into him from the sword more urgent, joining with his own anger. Together, those twin storms of rage spiraled through him, filling him with fury to prepare him for the fight. With the power of the sword in his hand, there was no mistaking the threat that hung in the air along with the stench of death. The magic of the sword wanted to meet that threat.
Even though he didn’t really know how to command his gift, it was always there, and it always responded to his rage. He was left with a strange emptiness when his gift was out of reach. The sword served to fill that void and more.
With the sword and its power flooding through him, he felt alive with purpose.
He shared a meaningful look with Kahlan, a look they had shared before when facing unknown dangers. He wanted to see her beautiful green eyes one last time before he began the dance with death. She touched his arm in silent answer.
“If you sense anything I need to know about, speak up,” he said in a low voice as he leaned toward Nicci before starting down the path between the green fields. She hurried to step in behind him. Kahlan took up a position beside her, both knowing enough to stay out of the way of his sword. Cassia and the other two Mord-Sith followed them. The soldiers guarded the rear, protecting them from anything that might swoop out of the woods.
Richard wasn’t sure exactly what Nicci was able to sense with her gift, but he was sure that had his own gift been working he would have been able to see the aura of power crackling around
her. Even without being able to see it, it was not at all difficult for him to tell that she was on alert and would respond in a blink with withering force if need be. Kahlan was no less ready for trouble. The three Mord-Sith always expected trouble and were only surprised when there wasn’t any.
So far, though, nothing was emerging out beyond the fields–no people, no animals, and no threat.
In the distance, across the slightly rolling ground spread out before them, in the face of the rock wall rising up from the far side of the fields, Richard could make out the dark opening into the cave village of Stroyza. He didn’t see anyone standing in that opening.
When he’d left Stroyza the last time he had told the men to post a watch at all times so that no half people or walking dead could sneak up on them again. The people of the village were humble farmers who raised some livestock. They were not warriors. Even so, from up on the face of that sheer cliff, it would have been easy to repel any attackers climbing up the treacherous trail. All it would take was throwing some rocks down at any threat trying to come up to attack the village.
