Phantom (44 page)

“When you told Richard Rahl your plan, that you wanted to swear loyalty to him in exchange for someone he cared deeply about, well, I could hardly believe that you just assumed it would work.”

For some reason, Kahlan felt a pang of sadness to hear that Richard Rahl had someone he cared deeply about. She guessed that ever since that day she had been in his beautiful garden, she had come to feel a connection to him on some deeply personal level, even if it was only a shared appreciation for the beauty of growing things, an appreciation of nature, and thus the world around them, the world of life. But now she was hearing that he was dealing with Sisters of the Dark, and that he had someone he cared deeply about. It made her feel all the more like a forgotten nobody. She wondered what she could have been thinking.

“But…but,” Sister Ulicia stammered, “it worked…”

Jagang shook his head. “Fidelity on your terms, fidelity even though you would continue to work for his destruction, even though you would continue to work for everything he stands against, fidelity even though you would continue to be sworn to the Keeper of the underworld, fidelity concocted of your selected, selfish wishes is just that—wishes. Wishing doesn’t turn your desires into reality just because you want it to.”

Kahlan felt at least a small level of relief to hear that the Sisters were continuing to work for Lord Rahl’s destruction. Maybe that meant that he
wasn’t really an ally of the Sisters. Maybe, in some way, he was like her, being used against his will.

“I could hardly believe it as I listened to you dictating the terms of your loyalty to him,” Jagang was saying, gesturing in a grand fashion, “claiming that such fidelity was subject to the moral filter you, not he, would apply. I mean, if you were going to contrive beliefs out of thin air, Ulicia, why didn’t you just save yourselves some trouble and decide that by sheer willpower alone your mind had been rendered impenetrable to a dream walker? That would have been just as effective a shield.”

He shook his head. “My, my, Ulicia. How cruel of the nature of existence not to allow you your irrational desires.”

He swept an arm out. “And, just as amazing, the rest of your Sisters believed it too. I know; I was there in their minds as well, watching as they were overcome with glee that they were to be free of my ability just because you claimed you could tap into the bond to the Lord Rahl with your own form of loyalty.”

“But you allowed us to do it,” Sister Ulicia said, still overwhelmed with astonishment. “Why would you not strike us down then?”

Jagang shrugged. “I had plenty of Sisters under my thumb. This was an interesting opportunity. I learn a great deal from the knowledge others possess. Learning things gives one power one would not otherwise have.

“I decided to see just what you could accomplish if left to your own devices, see what you could learn for me. After all, I could have dropped any of you at any time if I grew weary of my little experiment. There were times when I was greatly tempted, such as the time not long ago when Armina said ‘I’d love to string Jagang up and have my way with him.’”

He arched an eyebrow. “Remember that, Armina? Not to worry if it has slipped your mind. I will be reminding you of it from time to time, just to refresh your memory.”

Sister Armina lifted a hand, as if in supplication. “I, I was only…”

He glared at her until she fell silent, unable to conjure an excuse, and then went on.

“Yes, I was there all along. Yes, I saw everything. Yes, I could have struck you down at any time. But I have something you don’t have, Ulicia. I have patience. With patience you can move mountains—or go around them, or climb over them.”

“But you could have had Richard Rahl right there, when we offered him our terms. Or you could have had him at his camp.”

“You could have had him at camp as well. You spelled him, and had him down. You could have ended it. Then why didn’t you? Because you had a grander plan, so you left him be, thinking that your bond to him was your protection, while you went on to pursue something of greater worth to you.”

“But you didn’t need him,” she pressed. “You could have taken him.”

“Ah, but while killing people as punishment is useful, it’s not nearly as beneficial as what you can do with them when they are alive. Take you three, for example. Death brings no great punishment, only the reward of the afterlife if you have served the Creator in this one. You three, however, will be denied the Creator’s Light. What use is that to me? But if a person is alive I can make them suffer.” He leaned closer. “Don’t you agree?”

“Yes, Excellency,” Sister Ulicia managed to say in a strangled voice as blood began to trickle from her ear.

“I liked parts of your plan,” he said as he straightened. “I find them very useful for my own purpose—things such as the boxes of Orden. Why should I kill Richard Rahl; I have the opportunity to do so much more than simply kill him. I want him to be alive to endure inconceivable suffering.

“By letting him live that day at his camp, the same as you did when you ignited your Chainfire spell, I knew that I would be able to use this new opportunity to take everything from him. Since I was in your minds, I, too, was protected from the Chainfire spell, the same as you.

“Now, with everything you have given me, I can strip Richard Rahl of his power, his land, his people, his friends, his loved ones. I can take everything from him in the name of the Fellowship of Order.”

Jagang drew his hand into a tight fist before him as he gritted his teeth. “For opposing our rightful cause, I intend to crush him down to his soul, and then, when I have wrung everything out of him, given him every kind of pain there is in this world, I will extinguish the flame of that soul. And you have made it all possible.”

Sister Ulicia nodded tearfully at all that was lost to her. She seemed resigned to her new duty.

“Excellency, we can accomplish none of it without the book we came here for.”

Jagang lifted a volume off the table and held it up for them to see. “
The
Book of Counted Shadows
. The book you came here to find. I thought to search for it while I waited for you to complete your journey here.”

He tossed the book back on the table. “An exceedingly rare book. This, of course, is one of the few copies that were never supposed to be made and so it was hidden in this place. Of course I was there, in your mind, when you found all of this out.

“You even brought me the means of verification.” His unsettling gaze moved to Kahlan. “And you have a collar around her neck by which I can control her.” He turned a condescending smile on Sister Ulicia. “You see, since I’m in your mind I have but to command it and through you I control her every move—just as easily as you do.”

Kahlan’s hope for a chance to escape evaporated. If the Sisters were cruel masters, this man was something far worse. Kahlan didn’t yet know what his intentions were, but she held no illusions that they were anything but vile.

An inkling of something else began to well up in her. For some reason she was of value to the Sisters and now just as valuable to Jagang. How could she be the means of verification of some ancient book hidden away for thousands of years? She had always been told that she was a nobody, a slave, and nothing more. She was beginning to understand that the Sisters had been lying to her. They only wanted her to think she was a nobody. It appeared, instead, that she was, somehow, pivotally important to all of them.

Jagang flicked a hand at Jillian. “Besides the collar, I have her to help me convince Kahlan here to do as she is told. Tell me, my dear, have you ever been with a man?”

Jillian pushed up against Kahlan. “You said you would free my grandfather. You said that if I did exactly as you said, and brought the Sisters here, you would set him and the others free. I did what you told me to do.”

“Yes, you did. And you really were quite convincing. I was there, in their minds, the whole time, watching your performance. You followed my instructions flawlessly.” His voice turned as threatening as his glare. “Now answer the question or your grandfather and the others will be vulture food by morning. Have you ever been with a man?”

“I’m not sure what you mean,” she said in a small voice.

“I see. Well, if Kahlan doesn’t do everything I tell her to do, you will be given over to my soldiers for their amusement. They like getting their
hands on young things like you who haven’t before experienced…desires such as theirs.”

Jillian’s fingers tightened on Kahlan’s shirt. She pressed her face against Kahlan’s arm as she stifled a sob. Kahlan squeezed the girl’s shoulder, trying to comfort her, trying to let her know that she wouldn’t let anything bad happen to her if she could help it.

“You have me,” Kahlan said. “Leave her be.”

“Tovi has the third box,” Sister Ulicia said. It was clear to Kahlan that she was trying to stall, to buy time, as well as ingratiate herself with Jagang.

He glared at her. “It was stolen from her.”

“Stolen? Well…I can help you find it.”

Jagang leaned his backside on the table as he folded his massive arms. “Ulicia, when are you going to learn that not only do I stand in front of you, but I am in your mind as well. I know everything you’re thinking. But do keep coming up with your schemes. They’re quite inventive.

“And did you ever conceive some grand plans,” he said with a satisfied sigh as he strolled closer. “You got farther with them than I thought you would ever be able to.”

His voice took on an edge that ran shivers up Kahlan’s spine. “And look at what my patience has netted me,” he said as he turned to her, fixing her in the gaze of his terrible, inky eyes. “You wanted to know why I let you wander around free, doing as you wished? Here is the answer. Letting you cast about on your own, Ulicia, has netted me the prize of prizes.”

Kahlan knew now that she had been correct. She was for some reason valuable. She wished she knew why. She wished she knew who she really was.

Kahlan could do nothing but watch as Jagang closed the distance to her. There was nowhere to run. Just in case she might have had that thought, though, she felt a shock of pain blaze down her spine and burn through her legs, locking them in place. She knew it was the collar causing the painful paralysis, because the Sisters had done that very thing before. He, of course, would know that, because he had been in their minds all along to see it done. She could see in his merciless expression that, this time, he was the cause of the pain.

Jagang reached out and ran his thick fingers through Kahlan’s hair. She didn’t want him touching her, but she could do nothing to prevent it. He seemed to forget everyone else in the room as he stared at her.

“Yes, Ulicia, you surely did bring me the prize of prizes. You brought me Kahlan Amnell.”

Amnell.

So now she knew her last name. She had detected the slightest hesitation after her name, almost as if a title should have been added to her name.

Jagang leaned close with an obscene smile that carried meaning she didn’t want to consider. Kahlan stood her ground by her own will, even if she had no real choice. Jagang’s powerful, muscled body pressed up against her. It was like feeling the weight of a bull leaning against her.

With one finger, the man lifted her hair away from her neck. His stubble scraped her cheek as he put his mouth by her ear.

“But Kahlan doesn’t know who she is, doesn’t even know the true nature of the prize that she truly is.”

For the first time, Kahlan wished that she were invisible, that this man could not see her just as everyone but the Sisters and Jillian could not see her. This was not a man she wanted to recognize her. This was a man she didn’t want anywhere near her.

“You cannot begin to imagine,” he whispered intimately in a voice that seared her with hot dread, “just how extraordinarily unpleasant this is going to be for you.

“You were worth my patience, worth everything I’ve had to put up with from Ulicia. We are going to become quite close, you and I. If you think I intend the worst for Lord Rahl, then you cannot even begin to imagine what I have in mind for you, darlin.”

Kahlan had never felt so alone, so helpless, in her life. Against her will, she felt a tear run down her cheek even as she managed to hold back a sob deep in her throat.

Once Jagang turned away and was no longer looking at her, Kahlan at last allowed herself to swallow with silent relief to have his hands off of her, even if he had only touched her hair. Helpless dread shivered through her at him having been that close to her. She fully understood the meaningful look he’d given her. She knew that he could do anything he wanted to her, and she was completely at his mercy.

No. There was still breath in her lungs. She couldn’t give in to such a belief. She couldn’t allow herself to think she was helpless.

She had to think, instead of simply surrendering to panic. Panic could not help her accomplish anything. Maybe it would turn out to be true that she had no control of her own life, but she knew that she was lost to his will if she resigned herself to the blind guidance of panic. That’s what he wanted her to do.

Across the room, at the heavy table, Jagang pulled the book closer. He opened the front cover and then leaned on both hands as he silently peered down at it. The rounded brawn of his broad shoulders, heavily muscled back, and thick neck looked more like that of a bull than a man. The things he wore only served to enhance his less than human appearance. He, and his men, appeared to deliberately shun the mantle of the noblest ideals of mankind and instead embrace a base, animalistic aspect. The aspiration toward the lower form of existence, rather than a higher one, revealed an elemental dimension of the overt threat these men represented; they aspired to be not men, but something less.

Back not far in front of the doors, the two huge guards stood silently with their feet spread and their hands clasped behind their backs. Kahlan rested a hand on Jillian’s shoulder when the girl looked up in silent anxiety at being in the presence of such men, who, from time to time, cast dark gazes her way.

The two guards didn’t see Kahlan. At least, she didn’t think they did. She had minded their behavior and noticed that from time to time, besides
Jillian, they eyed the Sisters, but without much interest. When Jagang spoke to Kahlan the guards looked a bit confused. They said nothing, but Kahlan knew that, to them, it must have appeared that their leader was talking to himself. Like everyone but Jillian, the Sisters, and Jagang through his link to the Sisters, the guards forgot Kahlan before they knew they had seen her. She wished she could be just as invisible to their leader.

“What of your army, Excellency?” Sister Ulicia asked, still plainly trying to buy time by engaging him in conversation. She, too, was trying not to give in to panic.

Jagang looked over his shoulder with a wicked grin. “They are close.”

Bewildered, Sister Ulicia blinked. “Close?”

He nodded, still grinning. “Just over the horizon to the north, up into D’Hara.”

“The north—into D’Hara!” Sister Armina blurted out. “But that’s not possible, Excellency.”

He lifted an eyebrow, clearly enjoying their surprise.

“They must be wrong in their reports about their location,” Sister Armina said, sounding like she was grasping at an opportunity to ingratiate herself with the emperor. She licked her lips. “What I mean, Excellency, is that, we, well, we passed them long ago. They were still back up in the Midlands, still on their way south to get around the intervening mountains. They could not possibly have gotten…”

Her quavering words dwindled to nothing, as if looking upon Jagang drained her of all courage, even the courage to speak, until she was left a silent shell of dread.

“Oh but they have already rounded the mountains down here and turned north up into D’Hara,” Jagang said. “You see, I influenced your minds to direct you to go where I wanted you to go, when I wanted you to go there. It was my aim to have you think you were safe, to think you knew where I was. You never even heard my whispers, but those whispers still guided you without you even being aware of it.”

“But we saw your troops,” Sister Cecilia said. “We saw them and went around them. We left them far behind.”

“You saw what I wanted you to see,” Jagang said with a dismissive gesture. “You thought you were going where you wanted, but you were in fact going where I guided you—right to me and my main force.

“I sent you past a number of rear-guard divisions and then some units
going south to other areas in the Midlands. I was making you believe what I wanted you to believe, seeing to it that you all felt confident in your plans, while I saw to it that the main army proceeded with my plans.

“Our forces have made it a great deal farther than you thought. I want to finish this war and I can see that such a goal is finally within sight, so I adjusted my tactics accordingly. Marching the main force at such a grueling pace is something that I usually don’t do because it wears an army down and costs us a number of men, usually to no purpose, but the end is now in sight so it is worth the losses. Besides, they are there to serve the cause of the Order, not the other way around.”

“I see,” Armina said in a small voice, disheartened to learn yet more of their complete deception and of their helpless plight.

“Now, we have work.”

The three Sisters suddenly sprang forward, as if yanked closer by invisible leashes around their necks. “Yes, Excellency,” they all said as one. Apparently, Jagang had growled a silent order that only they could hear, probably just to remind them that he was there, in their minds.

It occurred to Kahlan that he could control her by the collar around her neck, through his control of the minds of the Sisters, but it didn’t appear that he was able to control her directly. Besides merely having some basic hatred for her, he also seemed to be trying to paralyze her with fear as one aspect of controlling her behavior by stopping her from thinking—in addition to using the collar and the Sisters. It would seem that while he was somehow within the minds of the Sisters, he was not in Kahlan’s mind.

Of course, she couldn’t be sure of that. After all, the Sisters had been deluded into thinking the same thing—that the dream walker was not there, in their minds, watching their every thought. So, while she had to assume that it was a possibility, she just didn’t think it was true that he was in her mind as well. There was more to it, though; he was treating her in a different way than he treated the Sisters. They were treacherous captives; Kahlan was a prize.

He had deceived them for a purpose. In essence he was spying on their thoughts. They were up to things and he wanted to surreptitiously eavesdrop on those plans so that he could turn them to his own advantage. He knew that Kahlan was not up to anything other than wanting to escape from the Sisters. She had no more plans beyond that. She didn’t even have a memory of who she really was. There was nothing for Jagang to spy on
within her mind. It had to be obvious that she didn’t want to be his captive, either, that she wanted her life back. So, there was nothing that he could really learn by secretly spying on her thoughts—at least, not yet, not unless she began to think rather than be blinded by panic.

But if he really wasn’t in her mind, then why not? He was a dream walker, after all, a man of such power that the Sisters had been trying to stay away from him—unsuccessfully, as it turned out, precisely because of his ability and power. He very much wanted Kahlan as his prize of prizes, as he’d called her. If he was in her mind he could have controlled her with the same invisible leash he used to control the Sisters and not have to go through their ability to do it. He didn’t seem like the sort of man who would resort to such a secondhand method of control if he didn’t have to. He wouldn’t need the Sisters to control her if he could enter her mind.

What would be the point, now, of not making his presence in her mind known, if he really could do it? Even more material, if she was that important to him, he would surely want to have that manner of control if it was possible, so why wasn’t he able to get into her mind and control her directly?

There was something more going on. She got the distinct impression that there were things he was being careful not to say.

“This is it, then,” he said to the Sisters. “This is
The Book of Counted Shadows
. This is what you came here for, what you needed. I want to get started right away.”

“But Excellency,” Sister Ulicia said, looking startled by the very idea, “we only have two of the boxes. We would need all three.”

“No you don’t. You only need to use this book to discover if one of the two boxes we have here is the one you really need. If the missing box is the one that would destroy us, or destroy all that exists, then why would we need it?”

Sister Ulicia looked like she had very good reasons why they would need it but she really didn’t want to argue the point.

“Well,” she said, searching for the right words, “I suppose that very well might be true. After all, we haven’t actually had the chance to study
The Book of Counted Shadows
yet, so we can’t know for sure. The other references could have been wrong. That’s why we were coming here, after all. We needed the book. It could be as you say, Excellency, that we don’t actually need the third box.”

It was obvious to Kahlan that Sister Ulicia didn’t believe such a thing. Jagang didn’t seem concerned by her doubt.

“And here it sits, waiting.” He gestured to the book lying on the heavy table. “Once you study this book, then you can tell which box is which—which one is the one we need. If it turns out that these two are the wrong boxes, perhaps by then the third will turn up.”

The Sisters hesitated at agreeing to his idea, but didn’t seem willing to offer an argument.

Finally, after glancing to the others, Sister Ulicia conceded the value of his suggestion. “None of us has seen this book before, so we will need to…to learn from it what we can. I think you are correct, Excellency. Studying the book would be in order.”

Jagang tilted his head toward the book lying on the table. “Then get to it.”

The Sisters crowded close and leaned over, reverently gazing for the first time upon the book they had so long sought. They read in silence, with Jagang keeping an eye on them as well as the book.

“Excellency,” Sister Ulicia said after only a brief examination, “it would appear that we can’t just…start, as you put it.”

“Why not?”

“Well, look here.” She tapped the page. “Right in the beginning, this confirms what we previously had reason to suspect, that there are safeguards against any eventuality. It says that you need…”

She fell silent as she glanced over her shoulder at Kahlan.

“Well,” she went on, “right here in the very beginning it says, ‘
Verification of the truth of
The Book of Counted Shadows,
if spoken by another, rather than read by the one who commands the boxes, can only be insured by the use of…
’ Well, Excellency, you can see yourself what it says.”

It was clear to Kahlan that the woman was avoiding saying something aloud. Jagang likewise read it in silence.

“So what?” he argued. “It
is
being read by the one who commands the boxes. It’s being read by me, through you. I control the boxes now.”

Sister Ulicia cleared her throat. “Excellency, I want to be perfectly honest with you—”

“I’m in your mind, Ulicia. It would be impossible for you to be anything but perfectly honest. I know you doubt my idea, but are unwilling to express such thoughts aloud. So, as you know, I would be aware if you were trying to deceive me.”

“Yes, Excellency.” She gestured to the book. “But you see, this is a very technical issue.”

“What is?”

“The verification issue, Excellency. This is an instructional book on implementation of profoundly complex matters. These things are not only profoundly complex, but profoundly dangerous—to all of us. So, for that reason, it is critical to pay strict attention to what this book says. This is not a matter to be approached casually. You can’t assume anything. The things this book says are exceptionally specific for good reasons. You have to think about every word, every sentence, every formula in it. You have to consider every possibility. Our lives all depend on the utmost caution in these matters.”

“What’s so technical about this? It says quite plainly ‘Verification, if spoken by another.’ It’s not spoken by another. We’re reading it directly.”

“That’s the precise point, Excellency. We are not reading it directly.”

Jagang’s face went red with rage. “What do you think we’re standing here doing, then!”

Sister Ulicia gulped air, as if an invisible hand had her by the throat. “Excellency, you command the boxes now. But you are not really reading
The Book of Counted Shadows
.”

He leaned toward her in a menacing fashion. “Then what is it I’m reading?”

“A copy,” she said.

He paused. “So?”

“So, in this case, you are not, technically, reading
The Book of Counted Shadows
. You are reading a copy of it. You are, in essence, reading something spoken by another.”

His frown deepened. “Who is the one reading it, then?”

“The one who made the copy.”

Jagang straightened as comprehension dawned in his expression. “Yes…this isn’t the original. In a sense I’m hearing it from the one who made the copy.” He scratched his stubble. “So it must be verified.”

“Exactly, Excellency,” Sister Ulicia, visibly relieved.

Jagang looked back over his shoulder at Kahlan. “Come here.”

Kahlan hurried to do as he ordered, not wanting to be given any pain in a fight she knew he would easily win. Jillian stuck close to her side, apparently not wanting to be left standing alone back closer to the two fierce guards.

Jagang’s big hand grasped the back of Kahlan’s neck. He forcibly pulled her forward and bent her down toward the book.

“Look at this and tell me if it is genuine.”

After he released her, Kahlan could still feel the painful, lingering impression of his powerful fingers where they had squeezed her neck. She resisted the urge to rub her throbbing flesh and instead picked up the book.

Kahlan didn’t have the slightest idea how to tell if a book that she had never seen before was genuine or not. She didn’t have any idea what would constitute authenticity. She knew, though, that Jagang would not accept such an excuse. He only cared about getting an answer; he wouldn’t want to hear that she didn’t know that answer.