Severed Souls(158)

“Worse, it’s now only a matter of days at most until this poison kills me and Kahlan. Then, you would be defenseless against a man who would want to extract revenge.

“The ancient bond the people of D’Hara have with the Lord Rahl is meant to be balanced. It does not mean you are merely in service to the Lord Rahl; it means he is also in service to you. You are his protector, but he in turn is yours. The people are the steel against steel so that he can be the magic against magic.

“I’m dying. I can’t do my part to protect you.

“I admire your choice, I sincerely do, but I can’t fulfill my duty not only as your leader, but to be the magic against magic for you. So you see, I can’t accept your offer of service because it would be a fatal disservice to you.”

Cassia smiled, then. It was a beautiful, warm, wonderful, sad smile. Another tear ran down her cheek.

“That, Lord Rahl, was the right answer.”

With that, all three Mord-Sith went to their knees and bowed forward, putting their foreheads to the ground.

Together, with one voice, they recited the devotion, the bond, they had learned as young women, as did all D’Harans.

“Master Rahl guide us,” they said with reverence. “Master Rahl teach us. Master Rahl protect us. In your light we thrive. In your mercy we are sheltered. In your wisdom we are humbled. We live only to serve. Our lives are yours.”

When they finished, Our lives are yours echoed around the dungeon, dying out slowly.

When that echo had whispered away, they remained where they were, foreheads to the floor, and then together recited it a second time, and when the echo had again died out, they recited it a third time, as was the tradition.

Finally, when they had finished, they returned to their feet, sharing a last look among themselves. Laurin and Vale gave Cassia a nod for her to speak for them.

“Lord Rahl,” Cassia said for them all, “we would rather our lives end today, in service to you as our Lord Rahl, than to live another hundred years in service to monsters, as slaves to tyrants, as instruments of evil. To live only one day as we wish, as we choose, for our own purpose, for something good, is better than to live an entire life as slaves to hate.

“Please, Lord Rahl, we beg of you, accept our service, our bond to you. Be our Lord Rahl, even if it is only for your last day of life. It would honor us to uphold our side of the bond, even though you are unable to fulfill your part of it. To have your bond to us in your heart alone, even if you can do nothing to uphold it, is enough for us. It is everything to us.”

The three women pressed their right fists to their hearts and bowed their heads, awaiting his decision.

Richard swallowed back the lump in his throat. This was why he couldn’t quit. This was what he was fighting for—for those who needed hope, who needed to live for something good, who hungered for ideals in life, instead of living in savagery and hate.

“I accept,” he said, fearing to test his voice more than that.

All three women broke into wide grins. The smiles sparkled in their wet eyes.

The one in back, Vale, immediately ran to the door and ushered the shadowed figure into the room.

As he shuffled in, Richard recognized that it was Mohler, the old scribe.

“Lord Rahl,” the man said, “I feel the same. I have worked here my entire life. I have known Hannis Arc since he was but a boy. I have watched as he grew into a man driven by bitterness and envy. Now, Ludwig Dreier has taken his place, and he is no different. Like these women, I no longer wish to stand by and watch their kind destroy everything good in order to impose their will on everyone.

“I have known these four—now three—Mord-Sith, since they have been in servitude here at the citadel. We have all been enslaved by tyrants. I told them what I knew of you, what I have learned. I told them that I decided to help you, and I asked them to join me. I, too, Lord Rahl, am in your service.”

Without further word, he shuffled forward with a big ring of keys, the right one already selected. He undid the lock on the collar first, then the manacles.

When he was free, Richard collapsed to his knees, unable to stand. As Cassia and Vale helped lift him to his feet, Mohler immediately went to Kahlan, to unlock her restraints.

Richard was there for Kahlan when she was finally free. She fell into his arms and hugged him with all her strength.

“Thank you for not giving up on any of us,” she whispered in his ear.

“Never,” he said.





CHAPTER

79

“Do any of you know where the others are?” Richard asked the three Mord-Sith and the scribe, Mohler. “All the soldiers of the First File? There were a lot of men.”

“And my mother,” Samantha added.