CHAPTER

       13

      Sammie glanced at the bleeding bite wound on Richard’s arm. “Just like the way they were starting to use their teeth when they attacked you, Lord Rahl.”

      “It would seem so,” Richard said, waiting for Henrik to gather his thoughts and go on.

      Richard knew that what he was hearing from Henrik about the bizarre attack fit with what he had overheard from the two men who had attacked him. As he had been waking up, he heard them talking about the Shun-tuk eating people. He remembered all too well seeing human bones and parts of D’Haran uniforms not far from the wagon. He didn’t know how many more such remains there might have been out in the darkness. He feared to imagine.

      From what Richard knew, as crazy as it sounded, the two men had thought they could somehow capture his soul by eating him. Had it not been for the people of Stroyza, they surely would have killed him in the attempt.

      “I saw more of our men going down,” Henrik said, his jaw trembling. “I heard some of those men scream in pain as they were pulled from their horses and torn apart while they were still alive and struggling.”

      “What about Zedd and Nicci?” Richard asked. “Weren’t they using their gift to try to stop this horde of people? I’ve seen Zedd use wizard’s fire on enemy troops. It’s devastating, even when the enemy was coming in great numbers like you describe. The two of them should have been able to do something.”

      Henrik wiped his nose on his sleeve. “Zedd was trying, Lord Rahl. As the charge of all those people got closer, more of our men joined the battle to try to fight them back and keep them away from you and the Mother Confessor in the wagon. The soldiers fought fiercely but the swarm of people were all howling like demons that had escaped the underworld and they just kept coming.

      “With all the yelling and screaming, it was hard to hear. But I did hear Zedd and Nicci talking. The two of them were pretty frantic to do something that would help keep the advancing people away. I don’t know much about such things and I didn’t hear all of what they were saying, but I could tell that they were both trying their best to conjure things and cast their power out to fight back the waves of people charging toward us. It seemed that nothing they were doing, though, was working the way they expected. I don’t know what was wrong, but I can tell you that as hard as they were trying, if their gift would have been working right they might have been able to stop the enemy.

      “Sometimes, though, something they did would work. At least, it worked to a degree. When nothing else seemed to work, I saw both Zedd and Nicci push their arms out together, with their palms raised, as if pushing against an invisible wall. When they did that, occasionally groups of people were thrown back and tumbled across the ground, knocking down others behind them. It blew them back like leaves in a gust of wind. While it did work, it only worked against small numbers at a time. It was taking them a lot of effort to do that much but it wasn’t nearly enough to cope with the endless numbers that were racing toward us across the open ground.

      “Zedd looked over at Cara, then, and told her what even I could see, that something was wrong with their abilities and it wasn’t going to be enough. The general said that above all else they had to protect you, Lord Rahl, and the Mother Confessor. He told Zedd, then, that if they all took a stand to defend the wagon, the people coming for them would know that we were protecting something important.

      “Nicci asked what he was proposing. The general said that they had to abandon the wagon.

      “I thought Cara might break his neck for saying that. She yelled at him, saying that as long as she was alive and could fight, she wouldn’t leave you for anything. He shouted her down, saying that if they left the wagon, like it didn’t mean anything to them, and instead made it look like they were running to try to escape, then the enemy would come after them and leave the wagon, thinking it was unimportant. He said that they appeared to want to attack and kill them. He said that they weren’t dying by the hundreds just to steal what looked to be nothing more than an empty wagon.

      “Nicci said that he was right. Zedd said that he hated to admit it, but he agreed. He also said that they had better hurry and decide or it was going to be too late for the plan to do any good.

      “Cara’s jaw was clenched so tight she couldn’t speak. Her face was as red as her leather outfit. Finally, she growled and leaped down into the bed of the wagon. She hurried to unfurl an old tarp that was shoved in the corner and with Nicci’s help pulled it out and along the wagon bed, covering up the both of you so that it looked like it was just a mostly empty supply wagon.”

      Richard finally understood the mystery of why he and Kahlan were all alone in the back of the wagon, unconscious, lying under a tarp.

      “I don’t know that I would have thought of doing that,” Richard said. “Ben is a general for good reason. So what happened next?”

      “Cara lifted me off the wagon seat and set me down in the bed of the wagon with her. While her husband, Zedd, and Nicci jumped to the ground, she bent close and pointed her Agiel at my face. She told me to listen, and listen close. She quickly glanced toward a spot in the woods to the other side from most of the attackers, to where I didn’t see anyone.

      “She leaned close again and asked if I saw the path into the woods. I didn’t see it, but I was afraid to say so. She said that she wanted me to run for that path and get away.”

      “Run?” Sammie asked. “If there was a place where there were no people, then why didn’t all of you go that way and try to escape?”

      “I asked her that. I begged her to come with me. She said that carrying Lord Rahl and the Mother Confessor would slow them down and not only that, but they couldn’t see to run fast enough in the woods. She said that with that many of them running to try to escape they would be spotted and chased. She said they would be caught in there, and then the enemy would have Lord Rahl and the Mother Confessor.

      “She said that above all, saving you, Lord Rahl, and the Mother Confessor was what mattered to D’Hara and to the future of everyone.

      “She told me that Benjamin was right, that this was the only chance they had to save you both, but they had to act fast. She said they would run in another direction making it look like they were trying to get away so that the people would chase after them and hopefully not even realize that the two of you had been left hidden in the abandoned wagon.

      “I asked what was going to happen to her and the general, and Zedd and Nicci, and all the rest of the men.” Henrik paused briefly to choke back a sob. “Cara gritted her teeth and said they were doing what they had to do to protect you.”

      Henrik dissolved into tears, choking back sobs. Sammie put a hand over his and softly told him that she understood. Her eyes, too, brimmed with tears. She told the boy that the same thing had happened to her father, and that her mother was missing. She told him that she knew what it felt like to hurt inside from losing people you loved.

      Henrik was surprised to hear about her parents. He told her that he was sorry. Sammie squeezed his hand and told him that there was grave trouble at hand, and they all had to be brave.

      When