"Richard With The Temper has had a vision from our enemy. Have each of your men gather ten others. We must not allow the Bantak to harm our people. You will stop them before they reach the village."
Chandalen's eyes flashed to Richard, and then back to the Bird Man. "We will see if his vision is true. I will lead our men east. If they are coming, we will stop them."
"No!" Richard screamed when Kahlan translated. "They will come from the north!"
"North!" Chandalen glared at him. "The Bantak live to the east, not the north. They will come from the east."
"They will expect you to defend to the east. They think the Mud people want to kill them. They expect it. They will flank you and come from the north!"
Chandalen folded his arms. "The Bantak are not fighters. They do not know of such tactics. If they are going to attack us, as you say, they will simply come straight in. As you said, they will hear the banquet; they will know we will be unprepared. They have no reason to go all the way around and come in from the north. It would only slow them down for no reason."
Richard glared at him. "They are coming from the north."
"Was this part of your vision?" the Bird Man asked. "Did you see this too, from eating the meat?"
Richard forced out a breath and looked down. "No. I didn't see it with the rest of the vision." His head snapped back up. "But I know it's true. I don't know how, but I know. They are coming from the north."
The Bird Man turned to Chandalen. "Perhaps you could split the men. Take some to the east, and some to the north."
Chandalen shook his head. "No. If the vision proves true, we will need all our men together. One strike, with surprise, with all our men, and with luck, will end it. If there are enough of them, as he seems to think, then they might defeat a number that small, and then they would be upon our people before we could turn them back. Many women and children would be killed. The whole village could fall. It is too dangerous."
The Bird Man nodded. "Chandalen, a vision has been presented to us. It is your job to keep our people safe. Since the vision did not say which way they would come, only that they would come, I leave it to you to protect us as you see best. You are the smartest fighter among us, I will trust your fighting judgment."
He frowned and leaned closer to the man. "But know that it had better be a fighting judgment, and not a personal one."
Chandalen gave a nod. "It is my opinion the Bantak would attack from the east." He glanced at Richard. "If they really come."
Richard put a hand on Chandalen's folded arm. "Chandalen, please listen to me." His voice was quiet and worried. "I know you don't like me. Maybe you are justified in your feelings. Maybe you are right that I have brought trouble to our people. But trouble is coming now, and it is coming from the north. Please, I beg you, believe me. The lives of all our people depend on this. Hate me all you want, but don't let any of them die because of that hate."
Richard drew the Sword of Truth and held out the hilt. "I will give you my sword. Go north. If they come from the east, and I am wrong, you may kill me with it."
Chandalen looked down at the sword, and back up to Richard's face. A small smile spread on his own. "I will not let you trick me. I will not let our people be devastated, just for a chance to kill you. I would rather let you live among us, than let my people be killed. I go to the east." He turned and strode off, shouting instructions to his men.
Richard stood watching him go, then slid the sword back into its scabbard.
"That man is a fool," Kahlan said.
Richard shook his head. "He is just doing what he thinks best. He wants to protect his people more than he wants to kill me. If I had to pick one man to fight beside me, as much as he hates me, it would be him. I am the fool, for not being able to make him see the truth." He turned to her. "I have to go north. I have to stop them."
Kahlan looked around. "There are some other men here. We will gather all we can and—"
He shook his head, cutting her off. "No. There wouldn't be enough. Besides, we need every man able to hold a bow or spear here, to defend the village if I fail. The elders must go on with the banquet. We must have the gathering. That is what is most important. I will go alone. I am the Seeker. Maybe I can stop them. Maybe they will listen to one man, see that he isn't so much of a threat."
"All right. Wait here. I'll be right back."
"Why?"
"I have to put on my Confessor's dress."
"You're not going!"
"I have to. You can't speak their language."
"Kahlan, I don't want..."
"Richard!" She snatched a fistful of his shirt. "I am the Mother Confessor! There will be no war under my nose while I have a say in it! You will wait here!"
She released his shirt and stormed off. The Mother Confessor didn't wait for answers to her instructions, she expected them to be carried out. She suddenly regretted yelling at Richard, but she was furious at Chandalen for not listening.
She was furious, too, at the Bantak. She had been to their village before and always found them to be a gentle people. Whatever their reasons, as long as she was around, there was going to be no war. The Mother Confessor was supposed to stop wars, not sit by and watch them start. This was her responsibility, her job, not Richard's.
At Savidlin and Weselan's home, in the dark with all the noise going on outside, she slipped into her white Confessor's dress. All Confessors wore a dress cut the same, square at the neck, long, simple, free of embellishment, and satiny smooth, but of black fabric.
Only the Mother Confessor's was white. It was a mantle of power. In the dress, she was not Kahlan Amnell; she was the Mother Confessor, a symbol of the power of truth. With all the other Confessors now dead, the weight of defending the Midlands, those without power, was upon her shoulders.
It made her feel different now to wear the dress. Before, it had seemed the normal thing to do. Now, since she had met Richard, it seemed a heavier responsibility. Before, she had always felt alone in her job, but now, with him, she felt more of a connection to the people of the Midlands, more one of them, more responsible to them. She knew now what it was to love someone, and to fear for him. She was not going to allow anyone to start a war, not as long as she was the Mother Confessor. She grabbed their heavy cloaks and went back through the passageways to the festivities.
The elders were standing in front of their platform, where she had left them. Richard was still waiting. She tossed his cloak to him and addressed the elders.
"Tomorrow night is the gathering. It must go on. We will be back well before then." She turned to the wi
ves. "Weselan, we wish to be married the next day. I'm sorry there isn't more time to prepare, but we must leave as soon as it is done. We must go to Aydindril. We must stop the threat to the Mud People and everyone else."
Weselan smiled. "Your dress will be ready. I wish we could give you a big wedding feast, but we understand."
The Bird Man put a hand on her shoulder. "If Chandalen is wrong... Be careful. The Bantak are peaceful, but maybe things have changed. Tell them we wish their people no harm. We do not want war with them."
Kahlan nodded and flung her cloak around her shoulders as she started off. "Let's go."
15
He fell in beside her without objection. Without speaking, they left the village and went north out onto the flat, open grasslands. As they walked, the sounds of the people and boldas and drums faded steadily into a night. The moon wasn't near full, but it gave them enough light to see by as they walked through the waist high, dry grass. Hopefully, it was dark enough to make them poor targets.
Richard finally glanced over. "Kahlan, I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"For forgetting who you are. That you are the Mother Confessor, and that this is your job. I was just worried for you."
She was surprised by his apology. "I'm sorry I yelled at you. I shouldn't have done that. I just don't want there to be any fighting. I'm supposed to keep the people of the Midlands from fighting. It makes me angry when they insist on killing one another. Richard, I'm so tired of seeing people killed. I thought it was over. I can't bear it anymore. I swear I can't."
He put an arm around her. "I know. Me, too." He gave her shoulder a squeeze as they walked. "The Mother Confessor will put a stop to it." He looked over. She thought he was frowning, but it was too dark to be sure. "With my help."
She grinned. "With your help." She leaned her head against him a moment. "From now on, always with your help."
They walked a long way from the village without seeing anything but the black ground and starlit sky. Richard would stop once in awhile to watch the surrounding grassland, and take out a few of Nissel's leaves to chew. Sometime past the middle of the night they came to a slight depression in the landscape. He looked around again and then decided they should wait where they were. It would be better for the Bantak to come upon them, he said, than for the two of them to walk into a surprise.