“My suspicion as well,” Irena said. “When we started hearing rumors about this Hedge Maid, Jit, as the country people called her, and the strange healing powers she was said to have, my sisters and I began to suspect that power leaking out through the barrier had something to do with it. We thought that it might even foretell that the barrier was getting close to failing.
“So, in the fall, when the water level was at its lowest, Martha and her gifted husband went into Kharga Trace to look into the rumors about the Hedge Maid. Martha was experienced and powerfully gifted, so she thought it best if she were the one to go investigate.
“We never heard from them again. Half the village searched for them for weeks. We didn’t know where in Kharga Trace to look for this Hedge Maid, and besides how vast it is, that foul swamp is dangerous. We feared more of our people might be hurt or killed, so we had to give up the search.
“Eventually, the spring rains came and the swamp overflowed, washing out remains in the overflow. The remains belonged to my sister and her husband.”
Nicci looked up from her bowl of stew. “What kind of remains?” she asked, obviously incredulous that much of anything could be left after all that time in a swamp.
“Bones.” Irena tapped her thigh with her spoon. “Just some of the larger, heavier bones, like these.”
Nicci frowned. “If Kharga Trace is so dangerous, and people went into the place to see the Hedge Maid for her healing powers, then a lot of people may have died in that swamp. The bones could have belonged to anyone. How did the people in your village know that they were your sister’s bones?”
Irena rested her hand with the spoon on her knee, looking off into the distant memories for a moment.
“I’m the one who identified my sister’s bones. They carried the telltale trace of the gift. I recognized those traces of the gift as belonging to my sister Martha.”
“I see,” Nicci said as she put her head down over her bowl and went back to eating her stew.
“Then, not long after that, soldiers came and took my other sister, Millicent, and her husband, Gyles, away to the abbey. I suspect that it was probably because Gyles was always boasting to people that he had the gift for prophecy. The abbey was where Abbot Dreier collected prophecy for Hannis Arc. The soldiers said that prophecy belonged to all the people.”
Irena stirred her stew as she stared down into it. “They never returned.”
“I know all about Ludwig Dreier,” Kahlan said, her expression darkening. “I have sworn that I will kill him.”
By the condition Kahlan had been in when Richard had shown up, just before Dreier and his Mord-Sith, Erika, had started torturing her in earnest, he knew that Kahlan was bound and determined to keep that vow. If Richard didn’t get to Dreier first.
“Anyway,” Irena said, “when I saw that the gates in the north wall were open, that the barrier had been breached, my husband and I left at once to inform the wizards’ council at the Keep.”
Zedd looked up from his bowl to share a look with Richard.
“There is no longer a wizards’ council at the Keep,” Zedd told Irena.
Her expression had turned grim. “I know that now. But at the time I didn’t. We didn’t make it far before the half people captured us.” She swallowed back the anguish. “Well, they captured me. They…”
“I’m terribly sorry about your husband,” Richard said. “And your father, Samantha.”
Samantha, looking dispirited, nodded her thanks.
“Lord Rahl says that in High D’Haran, ‘stroyza’ means ‘sentinel,’” Samantha told her mother.
“I guess that makes perfect sense. We were there to warn people if the north wall was ever breached.”
“And you never knew the meaning of all that writing in the passageway?” Richard asked. “That writing was left there to tell your people the whole story, to explain everything.”
Irena looked up into his eyes. “Richard, what difference does it make, now? All of that past history? The barrier is breached. We can’t afford to bother with history, supposition, and speculation right now.
“What matters now is healing you. We have to get that taint of death out of you or you will die.”
“And Kahlan,” Richard said.
Irena glanced over at Kahlan. “Yes, of course, and Kahlan.”
CHAPTER
44
“Believe me,” Richard said, “I know how badly we need to be rid of this deadly poison, but in the meantime there are still—”
“I don’t think you do.” Irena was finished with being patient. Her expression turned serious in the way sorceresses had of turning serious. “That poison is deadly. We need to get it out of you. That is what matters above all else. Everything else can wait.”