There wasn't the slightest doubt in his mind that these things were part of the magic of this valley, and that that magic had at last found an intruder. Him.
"Verna!" he screamed.
She scowled down to him. "I told you, Richard, I am to be addressed as Sister Verna..."
"Is that what you do to your charges! Hurt them with your power!"
She looked startled. "But I..."
"Is this your eternal Paradise! Quarreling with people! Hurting them!" He rushed to his knees, eying the drifting forms about them. "Sister, we have to get out of here."
"I wish to stay with Him. I have found my bliss."
"This is your idea of Paradise? Giving pain? Answer me, Sister Verna! Is that what your Creator wishes of you? To hurt the people you are responsible for!"
She gapped at him, quickness suddenly coming to her movements as she rushed to him. "Did I hurt you?" She gripped his shoulders. "Oh child, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to."
He came the rest of the way to his feet and shook her. "Sister, we have to get out of here! I don't know how! Tell me how to get out of here before it's too late!"
"But... I wish to stay."
"Look around Sister Verna! What do you see?"
She jerked her head woodenly about, from one dark form to another, then to him. "Richard..."
Richard angrily pointed skyward. "Look, Sister! That's not the Creator! It's the Keeper."
She peered where he directed. With a gasp, her fingers flew to her mouth.
The red glow in the eyes of one of the dark, shifting forms intensified into burning embers. The sense of danger flamed through Richard's very soul. The sword was out in a blink. The vaporous wraith solidified into solid bone and muscle, claws and fangs, into a frightening beast covered with a dark, cracked, leathery hide dappled with hideous, suppurating sores. It descended upon him in a terrifying rush.
With the sword gripped in both hands, Richard screamed with unleashed fury, driving the sword through the beast's chest as it rushed at him. Soft flesh and hard bone hissed at contact with the blade. The monster slid from the sword and hit the ground like of bucket of slop, its hide not entirely able to contain its contents. A drop of blood splattered on Richard's arm, burning through his shirt and into his flesh. From the inside, the beast boiled and frothed. Worms wriggled from the abscessed sores.
Sister Verna stared wide-eyed at the bubbling, smoking mass. He grabbed her curly hair in his fist and twisted her head to look at the forms that were closing in. "Is this your idea of Paradise! Look! Look at them!"
He dragged her backwards with him as the dark, watery blood running from the beast ignited, sending acrid, oily black smoke curling from the flames. Richard halted when he remembered what she had told him before, about backing into worse danger. He smelled burning flesh, and realizing it was his own, spat on the painful, smoking spot of the beast's blood on his arm.
He took in a quick sweep of the area. There were more of the forms behind. Another of them solidified into a beast, this time with cloven hooves and a broad snout. Razor sharp tusks sprouted, growing into long, curved weapons.
Snorting, it charged them. Richard drove his sword downward through the thing's skull as it tried to gore him. With a squeal, the beast collapsed heavily. By the time the bulky body hit the ground, it had mutated to a writhing mass of snakes. They tumbled and rolled as they hit, the tangled pile of them wriggling apart. Hundreds of hooded, red eyes glowered up at him. Red tongues flicked the air as the yellow and black banded bodies slithered toward the two of them.
Richard didn't think they were mere incorporeal illusions; the place on his arm where the drop of blood had splattered burned painfully. The snakes hissed. Some coiled to strike, revealing dripping fangs.
"Richard, we have to get out of here. Come child."
They turned and ran, the floating, red-eyed forms following. Richard felt the thick air as he went through. The air around him sparkled.
Sister Verna cried out. He turned to see her on the ground before the snakes. She sprang to her feet and tried again, but could not pass through. To her, the air was solid.
She stood silently a moment, going calm. She clasped her hands. "Richard, I am trapped in this spell. I cannot leave it. It is me the spell captured, and recognizes. It is too late for me. Save yourself. Run. Without me, you may have a chance. Hurry. Go."
There seemed to be a lot more snakes than Richard had seen at first. The ground was alive with them. They were surrounding him. He struck as they did, and beheaded three that came too close.
The headless bodies writhed and then disassembled into hundreds of huge, glossy, black and brown banded bugs. They skittered in every direction. Some ran up his pant leg. He frantically shook his legs trying to get them out. Each bite felt like a hot coal on his flesh. He stomped his feet to get them off. From the ground where he had killed the snakes, more of the bugs poured out, their hard-shelled bodies tumbling over each other, rustling like the sound of dry leaves blowing across parched earth.
Dancing among the clicking bugs and between the squirming snakes, he stepped back into the sparkling air. "Without you I don't have a chance. You're coming with me."
He enfolded her in his arms and threw himself sword first at the sparkling barrier. The wall seemed hard at first, but then the air about exploded in glittering flashes. Lines of light, like crazed glass, shot in every direction. The air erupted in a burst of sparkles and a crack of thunder. The darting sparkles slowed and then drifted to earth, like fat flakes of snow, their light extinguishing when they touched the ground. The two of them moved past the vanished barrier, free of the spell.
The dark forms followed. The snakes followed. Bugs popped and crunched under his boots.
Richard's grip tightened on the sword. "Let's get out of here."
She took two strides and then froze.
"What's wrong?"
"I can't feel the way," she whispered. "Richard, I can't feel the gaps." She turned to him. "Do you feel anything?" He shook his head. "Try! Richard, try to feel where there is less danger."
He stomped his feet to knock the bugs off his legs and swiped one off that had made it to his face. Snakes were still pouring from the ground where the monster had fallen. They boiled up like water from a spring. "I can't. I feel danger all about. It's the same everywhere. Which way!"
She clutched her skirt in a fist. "I don't know."
Richard heard a scream. The familiar voice wrenched his attention before he could stop himself. Kahlan was standing where the snakes poured from the ground. They slithered up and over her as if she were a rock in a living stream of snakes. She held her arms out to him.
"Richard! Help me! You said you would love me always! Please, Richard! Don't leave me to this! Help me!"
His own voice came in a shaky whisper. "Sister Verna, what do you see?"
"Jedidiah," she answered quietly. "There are snakes all over him. He wants my help. May the Creator have mercy on us."
"Why should he start now."
"Do not speak blasphemy."
He forced himself to turn from the vision. Gripping the Sister's arm, he led her away. They sidestepped as they watched the forms drifting around them. They avoided the snakes but it was impossible not to step on the huge bugs. He knew that moving anywhere without knowing where to go could be more dangerous that standing still, now that the magic had found them. Even so, he couldn't make his feet stop. Finally they reached ground that was clear of snakes and bugs, for the moment.
"We're running out of time. Do you feel anything yet? Do you feel the way yet?"
"Nothing. I'm sorry, Richard. I have failed in my duty, failed the Creator. I've killed us both."
"Not yet."
Richard whistled for the horses. They came at a trot, ignored by the dark forms. Bonnie nuzzled her head against him, forcing him back a step. Sister Verna took up the lead line and started leading Jessup away.
"No!" Richard leapt up onto Bonnie. He swatted two
clicking bugs from his pant leg. "Mount up. Hurry."
Sister Verna stared at him. "Richard, we can't ride the horses. I told you that. They are just dumb animals. They will be spooked and take us into a storm of spells. We can't control them without bits!"
"Sister, you told me you read The Adventures of Bonnie Day. Do you remember when the three heros were taking the injured people to safety, and they came to the poison river that couldn't be crossed? What did they say? They said that the people just had to have faith that it could be done. Bonnie, Geraldine and Jessup led them across the river. Have faith, Sister. Mount up. Hurry."
"You want me to do something I know will get us killed because of some fool thing you read in a book! We must walk!"
Bonnie tossed her head and danced about. Richard took up the slack in the reins to keep her in place. "You don't know the way. I don't know the way. If we stay we die."
"Then what good is riding going to do!" She had to give a sharp tug to keep Jessup still. He was roused by Bonnie's excitement.
"Sister, what have the horses been doing all day, whenever we let them?"
"Browsing on grass that isn't there. They are having visions!"
"Are they? Do you know that? What if what we are seeing is the illusion? Maybe they see what is really here. Now let's go!"
The dark forms were closer, their eyes glowing a brighter red. Sister Verna glanced at them, and then pulled herself up onto the saddle. "But—"
"Have a little faith, Sister." Bonnie pranced sideways, eager to be off. "I promised you I would save you, and I intend to. I'll lead. Don't hold back."
Richard gave his horse a sharp kick in the ribs with his heels while shouting the command. She leapt out into a dead run. The other two horses sprang to follow. He leaned forward over Bonnie's withers as she stretched into the gallop. He let her have free rein, without giving her any hint of direction. He focused on her ears, instead of what lay ahead, not wanting to influence her.