The round entryway where they all gathered was easily large enough to hold several times their number. Black and white marble had been laid out to create a spiral design on the floor. At the center of the spiral sat a round mahogany table with five carved stone mountain lions for legs. A beautiful pale blue blown-glass vase, apparently meant for cut flowers, rested at the center of the table, but it was empty.
Kahlan had never been in this area of the palace before. But that wasn’t saying much, since it could take hours to walk from one end of the palace to the other. The palace was really a small city atop the plateau and home to thousands of people. There were public areas and service areas as well as areas and corridors that were for the exclusive use of the Lord Rahl, the master of the People’s Palace and leader of D’Hara. The soldiers and the Mord-Sith used all areas in their duty to protect and serve the Lord Rahl. The service halls were guarded, but the private areas were heavily guarded, all by the elite members of the First File, the Lord Rahl’s personal guard.
The soldier who had led them there tipped his lance to indicate the door. “This room is at the outer wall of the palace and is unoccupied, Mother Confessor.”
“How do you know about it?”
He blinked at the question, as if surprised she doubted his knowledge of the palace. “All members of the First File must learn not only the layout of the People’s Palace, but its security secrets. In times past the Lord Rahl would hold court in the great hall—the same one being used by you and Lord Rahl today. When a past Lord Rahl, Darken Rahl especially, didn’t want a visitor to leave, this room was nearby and one he relied on.”
“It’s a prison cell, then?”
“Yes, although a comfortable one as prisons go. It’s meant for higher-ranking people or dignitaries the Lord Rahl wanted held temporarily.”
“Until they were executed?”
The soldier smiled. “Usually, Mother Confessor.”
She marveled at how, despite all the changes, some things hadn’t altered.
Kahlan didn’t need to think it over. “It should do.”
The soldier opened the door for her. When she extended an arm in invitation, the two soldiers holding the heavy Nolo lugged him in ahead of her. One of the other men lit a long splinter on one of the dozen reflector lamps in the expansive entryway, then lit the lamps on the walls and small bedside table within.
As the lamps were lit one by one they gradually revealed a rather small room that, without windows, ordinarily existed in total darkness. The walls were made up entirely of limestone blocks. Heavy beams held up the plank ceiling. There was minimal furniture, the largest piece being a simple, unpainted pine wardrobe. Several reflector lamps on the walls as well as the one on a bedside table now provided plenty of light, as well as an oily smell.
Kahlan looked more closely and saw that messages had been scratched into the soft limestone walls. The few she took the time to read were prayers for salvation.
“Leave him,” she said to the men holding the Estorian. “Then I want you all to go back and protect Richard.”
The two men holding him finally let Nolo’s feet find traction on the floor. They were clearly reluctant to leave her alone with the man. Kahlan knew something was seriously wrong, but she was in no danger from a lone man. She was more concerned about the shapeless threat to Richard and the people in the great hall. Anything could happen.
Nolo had promised that she and Richard would be executed or assassinated. With all the private corridors heavily guarded to make sure that none of the thousands of guests slipped into them, no one could get to the private area where Kahlan was.
“I’m not so confident that would be what Lord Rahl would want, Mother Confessor,” the bearded commander said. “I think he would want us to protect you.”
“You’re right about that, but I’m not in danger from a single man,” she assured them. “You men know that, and no one else is going to get into this area. Richard has a great hall full of people all around him. For all we know, this man here could have brought assassins with him to carry out his promise. They could be anywhere among the gathered crowd. Richard is the one in danger at the moment. He must be protected. He is the Lord Rahl. He is everything to all of us.”
That spread alarmed looks among the soldiers. “Do you really think that this man brought assassins with him who could be planning to strike in the great hall, Mother Confessor?”
“Can you assure me there aren’t, and that my husband does not need more eyes watching over and protecting him?”
When none of them could offer any such assurance, she said, “Please see to my orders.”
These men knew her. They’d fought beside her. They didn’t need convincing.
After saluting with fists to their hearts, they left with new concern for possible trouble in the palace.
“You too,” Kahlan told Cassia, shooing her with a flick of her hand. Kahlan paused to point a finger back at Nolo when he started to follow. “You stay right where you are.”
The man didn’t look angry, curious, or the least bit afraid. He stopped where he was and waited.
Cassia hesitated. “I promised Lord Rahl that I would watch over you.”
“You can watch over me from the other side of that door,” Kahlan told the Mord-Sith.
“But I—”
“I would advise that you stand on the other side of the entryway, or better yet stay back a ways down the hallway. I wouldn’t want you to be hurt.”
While Cassia certainly did want to watch over Kahlan, she had also volunteered to watch over Richard’s beloved wife, a task of honor, but one that carried great responsibility. Even so, she knew the very real danger of a Confessor’s power to a Mord-Sith. She couldn’t protect Kahlan if she was unconscious.
“All right, Mother Confessor,” Cassia said as she cast a last glance at the man standing not far away.
Kahlan followed her to the heavy door and then, once she was out, drove the heavy iron bolt into place to make sure the Mord-Sith stayed on the other side. She didn’t want anyone interrupting her. Nolo waited calmly.
Kahlan had visited Estoria a few times, as had Confessors before her. Estorians were familiar with Confessors and their power. Like everyone else in the Midlands, they feared Confessors.
This man did not look afraid.
He should have.
“I believe you are the consul general?”
He bowed his head at being recognized. “We met once, years ago when I was in the diplomatic service. You were young, and not yet the beautiful woman you have become. You were with one of your sister Confessors at the time.”
All of Kahlan’s sister Confessors were long dead. She didn’t want to ask which of the other Confessors it had been for fear of it dredging up painful memories of those who had died horrific deaths at the hands of Darken Rahl. Kahlan was the last of the Confessors… and ironically enough now the wife of Darken Rahl’s son. Fortunately, the two men could hardly be more different.
“On whose behalf are you here to negotiate?”
His brow twitched. “I thought I had made myself clear. There is nothing to negotiate. You and your husband are to surrender your world unconditionally, at which time you will be humanely executed. Fail to follow those orders and you both will be brutally killed.”
Kahlan heaved a weary sigh. “To whom are we to surrender ‘our world’?”
“The goddess. I told you that.”
“That tells me nothing at all. I don’t know any goddess. Who is she?”
“She is the Golden Goddess,” Nolo said.
That froze Kahlan in place. It was a long moment before she could find her voice.