Richard frowned. “You live in the remote village of Stroyza. What were you doing at the citadel in Saavedra?”
The woman looked flustered to be questioned about her reasons. “Well, after my sister Millicent and her husband had been at the abbey for a time, I feared for them. I had heard that people taken to the abbey were usually never seen again. We don’t get much news in Stroyza, so I don’t know what goes on there. But I had heard of relatives going to the abbey to plead for their loved ones to be released from service to the abbot.
“Knowing that such pleas never worked, and since I am a sorceress, I went instead to the citadel in Saavedra to plead directly to the bishop to try to get my gifted sister and her husband released because they were needed for our important duty at Stroyza. I thought that perhaps I could appeal to him as one of the gifted in his service and get him to order their release.”
“What did Hannis Arc have to say?” Richard asked.
Irena rubbed the palms of her hands on her knees. “I met with the bishop’s scribe every morning, asking for an audience. One was never granted. The scribe told me the bishop was a busy man. I asked him to relay the request, but I never got an audience so I never was able to petition directly to the bishop for the release of my sister.
“But while I was there, waiting every day in hopes of an audience being granted, pacing or sitting around the citadel’s grand entrance, the guards got used to me being around. They had heard me speak with the scribe every morning and so they knew what I wanted, but they could do nothing to help me.
“One day the captain of the guards who felt sorry for me asked, since I was a sorceress in service, if I would like to have a tour of the citadel to help pass the time while I awaited word on my petition. Being from a very tiny village, it was a rare opportunity. Even though I was distraught, I accepted the offer. During that tour, he showed me the containment field. It was deep down underground.”
“Why would he show you a containment field?” Nicci asked. “They are usually heavily guarded and often shielded.”
Irena’s gaze roamed as she tried to recall the event. “Well, the guard told me that the area around it gave people gooseflesh, so they stayed well away from the place. He said that being a sorceress, he thought I would appreciate seeing it.
“Since I’m from Stroyza, I don’t know what is commonly done elsewhere to protect such places. While he stood outside I briefly went into the stone room. It was pretty plain, old, and covered with dust. There were shackles on one wall. I was more concerned about speaking with the bishop than inspecting the room. There really wasn’t anything to see, anyway, so I left.
“But the point is, it was a containment field—I could feel the power of the shields as I walked through the doorway—and it’s a lot closer than the People’s Palace. We can make it there in time. We can heal Richard and Kahlan there. It’s their only chance.”
Zedd and Nicci stared at each other. They both smiled.
“We’re fortunate that Hannis Arc is no longer at the citadel to interfere,” Richard said. “Unfortunately, he is headed to the People’s Palace. I had planned to push and get around them so we could reach the palace first. We need to alert the people there. But at least Hannis Arc will not be at the citadel.”
CHAPTER
45
Irena leaned in. “If as you say, Hannis Arc has deserted the citadel, then that makes it all that much easier to borrow the containment field so that we can heal the two of you.”
In the back of his mind, Richard remembered Zedd’s frequent admonition, Nothing is ever easy.
He looked over at his grandfather. “What do you think?”
Zedd’s hazel eyes turned to look from under his brow at Irena, and then back at Richard. “Desperate times call for desperate measures.”
Richard wasn’t surprised that Zedd was thinking the same thing he was: the palace was a known quantity; the citadel wasn’t. He looked over at Nicci. He noticed that she had not eaten much of her stew.
“Well?”
“Well,” she said, “if there really is a functioning containment field there, it’s your only chance to live. I just hope Zedd and I can keep you and Kahlan alive until we can get there.”
Richard nodded before looking to Kahlan’s green eyes. “What do you think?”
“I want to live, and I want you to live. I don’t really see that we have any alternative.”
Richard didn’t see one, either, but that didn’t mean he had to be happy about it. A lot of other lives were at stake. He needed to get to the palace.
He let out a deep sigh as he gazed up at the darkening sky. All the leaves had stilled as the light breeze had died out. Night was closing in around them. Their time was running out. Kahlan’s time was running out. The palace was too far.