“I am sorry, but while I do admit to wanting my kind to return to their ways and no longer be able to raid other worlds, the more important thing I am telling you is that this is the only way if you wish your kind here in this world to survive.
“As we speak, the Golden Goddess is right now preparing to send the largest number of Glee yet to come here to kill all the people of that place down the mountain. She wants none left alive to punish you for going into that place of magic to hide, rather than surrender. When that is finished, they will then be sent to other places in your world to hunt the people there until there are no more of your kind. This will not be attacks such as you have seen and fought against before. This will be mass attacks in many different places at the same time.
“The goddess knows of and fears your magic, and she also knows that when you retreat into this place of magic, here above us, she will not be able to reach out and take you, your mate, or your unborn children. But she also knows that with you hiding in there and not able to fight, or at least not able to fight in all the places of your world at once, there will be virtually no effective opposition to her and her forces. There will be the sport of some opposition of course, but the Glee enjoy some resistance. People in places all over your world will not be able to withstand the attacks. The resistance they put up will not be enough for your kind to survive.
“The goddess knows that your magic protects the magic of this world. If your offspring live, their magic will do the same.
“Yet, as you hide and protect them in this place, she will see that vulnerability and exploit it. With you stuck in there protecting your mate and offspring, it gives her and her followers an opening to come here to this world in mass to hunt and devour your kind until there are none left other than you and those few with you in this fortress of magic.
“Although you may in that way be able to preserve magic in your world, and the few people inside there with you, there will be no people left out in the rest of the world. They will all be dead. Your world will be a dead place.”
Richard looked over at Vika. When she realized the full extent of what was in store for their world, some of the color had left her face. What was coming was no less than the cataclysmic end of everyone and everything.
Sang was right; even if they stayed and fought, they couldn’t fight in every city, town, and village all over the world at the same time. He might be wildly successful against the Glee he faced, but he was only one man in one place and could not face nearly all of them.
“I am afraid that I am not offering you the ability to return to this place and the people you love,” Sang said. “Once you destroy the device, it will not be possible for you to return to your home. But what I am offering you is the possibility of destroying the threat that otherwise will hunt down and slaughter everyone in your world. You have seen what they have already done, how many they have slaughtered, and what they are capable of. They know no mercy and will grant none.
“They will not stop unless you come with me and stop them, and then destroy the device to prevent them from ever again coming to this world. You can only do those things in my world.
“What I am offering you is the possibility of saving the lives of those you love and everyone else in your world. I will not deceive you; that is all I am able to offer.
“I understand the sacrifice you will be making, but you must decide now because they will be coming soon and if you don’t come with me and stop them there, it will be too late.”
50
Richard stood unmoving, terrified at the thought of never being able to see Kahlan again. She was his world. He would never see their children, never be able to teach them and watch them grow. Never see them have the life he and Kahlan had fought so hard for them to have.
He would never see Kahlan’s special smile and her beautiful green eyes again.
Richard had never been so frozen in fear and uncertainty before.
Through that fear, though, he realized that if he didn’t do this, it would be the end of his world and the end of Kahlan and their children’s world. If he didn’t take this chance, how could he ever look Kahlan in the eye again once she knew he might have been able to stop the slaughter of everyone in their world, and he hadn’t tried?
Richard looked over at Vika. “What do you think?”
She arched an eyebrow. “You are the Lord Rahl. You care about everyone in this world or you would not have sacrificed everything you did to win freedom for everyone. You fought those long wars for those who depend on you, and because you care that they have a life.
“I know you are going, and I know that nothing I could say would stop you. So why are you even asking me?
“But I am going with you and that is final. I will fight beside you in the struggle you face there, in that world, no less than I have in this world.”
Richard swallowed as he nodded. She was right, of course. She would also be sacrificing everything she knew and the possibility of what the future might bring for her.
He had only entertained the idea of not going as he desperately tried to think of another solution, but deep down inside, just as Vika said, he knew that he had no choice. This was the only way of ending the threat. He had to go, no matter what it cost him, personally.
The lives of everyone in the D’Haran Empire were his responsibility. Not only that, but he cared that the people of his world could live their lives as they wished and in peace. The Grace told the story of each of their lives and it needed to live on. It was not simply a matter of being the Lord Rahl and it being his responsibility. He sincerely wanted people to be able to live their lives as they wanted, to achieve their hopes and dreams. If he didn’t do this, they would know only terror and death.
He was still filled with questions, though. Some, he knew, had no answer, but at least some did.
“How did you get here from your world? You had to have used this device you spoke of, but isn’t it guarded by the goddess or her followers? That device is their way to raid other worlds.”
“The device is in a high place that is very dry,” Sang said. “No one guards it because no one uses it except the goddess and her followers. Only they wish to go to other worlds, so there is no reason to endure such a dry place except when they use the device. They know that it cannot be destroyed, so there is no reason that they would need to guard it.
“Other than her followers, I am the only one who has used it. I went to other worlds they raided to try to find help but I could find none until I saw you fight. I needed to use the device to come here to observe you and see if I thought you could possibly be the one to help stop this. I finally came to know that you are the one.”
“So then you simply went up to where it is and used the device to come here?”
“Yes.”
As Richard considered it, he thought that it made sense. “But the device is not here, in this world, or any of the worlds the goddess collects for hunting grounds. So how do you return to your world without the device to send you back?”
“It is hard to explain.”
“Do your best.”
“You have seen my kind when they fear being killed and they simply vanish?” Sang asked.
“Yes. They sort of turn all scribbly and then they disappear. We all assume they are returning to their own world.”