More than anything else, he could not bear the thought of Kahlan dying. He would do anything he had to do—anything—to keep her alive and out of the clutches of what Sulachan had waiting for her in the underworld. While he feared his own fate there, he feared any harm coming to Kahlan far more.
“All right,” he said with finality to all the people watching him, “we go to the citadel. That means a change of other plans, though.”
“What do you mean?” Zedd asked.
“No one at the People’s Palace has any idea what is coming their way. Hannis Arc and Emperor Sulachan have an army of half people and all the dead they could possibly need. The palace is built to withstand a siege from an army, but this is something different. Everyone at that palace needs to understand the nature of what is headed there so they can prepare.”
“Prepare?” Irena exclaimed. “The people there have no chance. If they stay they will be trapped there and slaughtered. Hannis Arc and his forces will kill anyone who resists.
“The situation is hopeless. The palace has to be evacuated. It’s the only chance those people have.”
Richard regarded her alarm calmly. “Accepting that a situation is hopeless ensures that it is. Defeat is not an option I accept. We need to figure out a way to win.”
Zedd cleared his throat. “While I don’t agree with Irena that the situation is hopeless, I don’t see how we can fight this threat. A number of painful lessons have shown us that magic doesn’t work against many of the half people. Hannis Arc and Emperor Sulachan have powerful occult abilities. Perhaps even more frightening, they and many of the half people can raise the dead to send against us. I don’t need to remind you that it’s pretty hard to kill someone who is already dead.”
“You’re right,” Richard said. “Magic doesn’t work all that well against most of the half people, and weapons don’t work well against the dead they send at us. But our small force here has proven that we can fight against great numbers of the half people. We also know that, as difficult as it is, we can defeat their dead warriors. They can be stopped with any kind of fire, for one thing, and they can be hacked to pieces.
“The spirit king, risen from the dead, is from that ancient time when people wielded powers that no longer exist. In the world the way it is now, I doubt he has any equal. Hannis Arc, too, is able to wield powerful occult sorcery. After all, Hannis Arc did bring Sulachan back from the world of the dead. I can’t even imagine the two of them working together.”
“That’s what I mean,” Irena insisted. “Trying to fight such occult powers is hopeless!”
“If you accept that it’s hopeless, then you are doomed to that fate.”
Irena spread her arms in frustration. “How do you propose we fight such powers? Magic doesn’t work against them!”
“Really? Well, despite their frightening occult powers, and their numbers, little Samantha, here, proved all by herself that they are vulnerable in some ways to what can be done with magic if you are not willing to accept failure.”
Samantha silently beamed with pride.
“I’m not saying it will be easy,” Richard told them. “I’m saying that it must be done. We can’t let them take the world into the nightmare they envision.”
Everyone looked grim.
“The people at the palace don’t stand a chance unless they understand the true nature of what’s coming and are prepared,” Kahlan said with quiet resignation. “We need to warn them.”
Richard nodded. “Exactly.”
“But warn them to do what?” Zedd asked. “I certainly don’t think we should give up hope, or abandon the palace as Irena suggested, but how can the people there fight what’s headed their way? Out on the Azrith Plain there are no cliffs we can bring down on top of them.”
“There are gifted there,” Richard said. “There are Sisters of the Light there. Nathan is there. Most of his life has been spent studying prophecy, history, and all sorts of forgotten matters having to do with magic. He often knows about things we’ve never even heard of before. He may be able to provide valuable information on what we can do. If nothing else, he can lay down wizard’s fire on the legions of walking dead.
“Also, the palace has natural defenses. As long as they know what is coming, they can shut the great inner door, and they can seal off the tombs so that Sulachan can’t raise the dead within the palace. The First File is there and they have special weapons, remember?”
Nicci frowned. “Special weapons?”