Soul of the Fire (50 page)

With the chimes in the world of life, Du Chaillu’s magic, whatever its extent, would fail, if it hadn’t already. He waited until she had her drink and had handed back the waterskin before he began.

“
Du Chaillu, I need—”

“
Ask how are our people.”

Richard glanced up at Kahlan. Kahlan rolled her eyes and gave him a nod.

Richard set down the waterskin and cleared his throat.

“
Du Chaillu, I rejoice to see you are well. Thank you for considering my words of advice to keep your child. I know it is a great responsibility to raise a child. I am sure you will be rewarded with a lifetime of joy at your decision, and the child will be rewarded by your teachings. I also know my words were not as important in your decision as was your own heart.”

Richard didn’t have to try to sound sincere, because he truly was. “I’m sorry you had to leave your other babies to make this long and difficult journey to bring me your words of wisdom. I know you would not have undertaken such a long and arduous journey were it not important.”

She waited, clearly not yet content. Richard, patiently trying to play her game, let out a breath and went on.

“
Please, Du Chaillu, tell me how the Baka Tau Mana fare, now that they are returned at last to their ancestral homeland?”

Du Chaillu smiled at last with satisfaction. “Our people are well and happy in their homeland, thanks to you,
Caharin
, but we will talk of them later. I must now tell you of why I have come.”

Richard made an effort to school his scowl. “I am eager to hear your words.”

She opened her mouth, but then scowled herself. “Where is your sword?”

“
I don’t have it with me.”

“
Why not?”

“
I had to leave it back in Aydindril. It’s a long story and it isn’t—”

“
But how can you be the Seeker if you do not have your sword?”

Richard drew a breath. “The Seeker of Truth is a person. The Sword of Truth is a tool the Seeker uses, much like you used the whistle to bring peace. I can still be the Seeker without the sword, just as you can be the spirit woman without the gift of the whistle.”

“
It doesn’t seem right.” She looked dismayed. “I liked your sword. It cut the iron collar off my neck and left my head where it was. It announced you to us as the
Caharin
. You should have your sword.”

Deciding that he had played her game long enough, and considering the vital matters on his mind, he leaned forward and let his scowl have its way.

“
I will recover my sword as soon as I return to Aydindril. We were on our way there when we met you here. The less time I spend sitting around on a good traveling day, the sooner I will arrive in Aydindril and be able to recover my sword.

“
I’m sorry, Du Chaillu, if I seemed in a rush. I mean no disrespect, but I fear for innocent lives and the lives of ones I love. It is for the safety of the Baka Tau Mana, too, that I am in a hurry.

“
I would be thankful if you would tell me what you’re doing here. People are dying. Some of your own people have lost their lives. I must see if there is anything I can do to stop the chimes. The Sword of Truth may help me. I need to get to Aydindril to get it. May we please get on with this?”

Du Chaillu smiled to herself, now that he had given her the proper respect. Slowly, she seemed to lose her ability to hold the smile, losing with it her bluster. For the first time, she seemed unsure, looking suddenly small and frightened.

“
My husband, I had a troubling vision of you. As the spirit woman, I sometimes have such visions.”

“
Good for you, but I don’t want to hear it.”

She looked up at him. “What?”

“
You said it was a vision.”

“
Yes.”

“
I don’t want to hear about any visions.”

“
But—but—you must. It was a vision.”

“
Visions are a form of prophecy. Prophecy has yet to help me, and almost always causes me grief. I don’t want to hear it.”

“
But visions help.”

“
No, they do not help.”

“
They reveal the truth.”

“
They are no more true than dreams.”

“
Dreams can be true, also.”

“
No, dreams are not true. They are simply dreams. Visions are not true, either. They are simply visions.”

“
But I saw you in a vision.”

“
I don’t care. I don’t want to hear it.”

“
You were on fire.”

Richard heaved a breath. “I’ve had dreams where I can fly, too. That doesn’t make it true.”

Du Chaillu leaned toward him. “You dream you can fly? Really? You mean like a bird?” She straightened. “I have never heard of such a thing.”

“
It’s just a dream, Du Chaillu. Like your vision.”

“
But I had a vision of this. That means it is true.”

“
Just because I can fly in my dreams, that doesn’t make it true. I don’t go jumping off high places and flapping my arms. It’s just a dream, like your vision.

“
I can’t fly, Du Chaillu.”

“
But you can burn.”

Richard put his hands on his knees and leaned back a little as he took a deep and patient breath.

“
All right, fine. What else was there to this vision?”

“
Nothing. That was all.”

“
Nothing? That was it? Me on fire? Just a little dream of me on fire?”

“
Not a dream.” She held up a finger to make her point. “A vision.”

“
And you journeyed all this way to tell me that? Well, thank you very much for coming such a distance to tell me, but we really must be on our way, now. Tell your people the
Caharin
wishes them well. Good journey home.”

Richard made to look like he was going to get up.

“
Unless you have something more to say?” he added.

Du Chaillu melted a little at the rebuff. “It frightened me to see my husband on fire.”

“
As well as it would frighten me to be on fire.”

“
I would not like it if the
Caharin
was on fire.”

“
Nor would the
Caharin
like to be on fire. So, did your vision tell you how I might avoid being on fire?”

She looked down and picked at the blanket. “No.”

“
You see? What good is it, then?”

“
It is good to know such things,” she said as she rolled a little fuzz ball across the blanket. “It might help.”

Richard scratched his forehead. She was working up her courage to tell him something more important, more troubling. The vision was a pretext, he reasoned. He softened his tone, hoping to ease it out of her.

“
Du Chaillu, thank you for your warning. I will keep it in mind that it might somehow help me.”

She met his eyes and nodded.

“
How did you find me?” he asked.

“
You are the
Caharin
.” She was looking noble again. “I am the Baka Tau Mana spirit woman, the keeper of the old laws. Your wife.”

Richard understood. She was bonded to him, much like the D’Harans—like Cara. And like Cara, Du Chaillu could sense where he was.

“
I was a day south of here. You nearly missed finding me. Have you begun to have difficulty telling where I am?”

She looked away from his eyes as she nodded. “I could always go and stand looking out at the horizon, with the breeze in my hair and the sun or stars upon my face, and I could point, and say, ‘The
Caharin
is that way.’”

She took a moment to again find her voice. “It has become harder and harder to know where to point.”

“
We were in Aydindril until just a few days ago,” Richard said. “You would have had to start on your journey long before I came to this place.”

“
Yes. You were not in this place when I first knew I must come to you.” She gestured over her shoulder. “You were much, much farther to the northeast.”

“
Why would you come here to find me if you could sense me to the northeast, in Aydindril?”

“
When I began to feel you less and less, I knew that meant there was trouble. My visions told me I needed to come to you before you were lost to me. If I had traveled to where I knew you were when I started, you would not be there when I arrived. I consulted my visions, instead, while I still had them, and journeyed to where they told me you would be.

“
Toward the end of our journey, I could feel you were now in this place. Soon after, I could no longer feel you. We were still a goodly distance away, so all we could do was to continue on in this direction. The good spirits answered my prayers, and allowed our paths to cross.”

“
I am pleased the good spirits helped you, Du Chaillu. You are a good person, and deserve their help.”

She picked at the blanket again. “But my husband does not believe in my visions.”

Richard wet his lips. “My father used to tell me not to eat mushrooms I found in the forest. He would say he could see me eating a poison mushroom and then getting sick and dying. He didn’t really mean he could see it was going to happen, but that he feared for me. He was warning me what might happen if I ate mushrooms I didn’t know.”

“
I understand,” she said with a small smile.

“
Was yours a true vision? Maybe it was a vision of something that’s only possible—a vision of a danger—but not a certainty?”

“
It is true some visions are of things that are possible, but not yet settled in the fates. It could be that yours was that kind.”

Richard took up her hand in both of his. “Du Chaillu,” he asked in a gentle voice, “please tell me now why you have come to me?”

She reverently smoothed the little colored strips running down her arm, as if reminding herself of the prayers her people sent with her. This was a woman who bore the mantle of responsibility with spirit, courage, and dignity.

“
The Baka Tau Mana are joyous to be in their homeland after all these generations separated from the place of our hearts. Our homeland is all the old words passed down said it was. The land is fertile. The weather favorable. It is a good place to raise our children. A place where we can be free. Our hearts sing to be there.

“
Every people should have what you have given to us,
Caharin
. Every people should be safe to live as they would.”

A terrible sorrow settled through her expression. “You are not. You and your people of this land of the New World you told me about are not safe. A great army comes.”

“
Jagang,” Richard breathed. “You had a vision of this?”

“
No, my husband. We have seen it with our own eyes. I was ashamed to tell you of this, ashamed because we were so frightened by them, and I did not want to admit our fear.

“
When I was chained to the wall, and I knew the Majendie would come any day to sacrifice me, I was not this frightened because it was only me, not all my people, who would die. My people were strong and they would get a new spirit woman to take my place. They would fight off the Majendie, if they came into the swamp. I could die knowing the Baka Ban Mana would live on.

“
We practice every day with our weapons, so none may come and destroy us. We stand ready, as the old laws say, to do battle for our lives against any who come against us. There is no man but the
Caharin
who could face one of our blade masters.

“
But no matter how good our blade masters, they could not fight an army like this. When they at last put their eye toward us, we will not be able to fight off this foe.”

“
I understand, Du Chaillu. Tell me what you saw?”

“
What I have seen I have no way of telling you. I do not know how to tell you that you might understand how many men we have seen. How many horses. How many wagons. How many weapons.

“
This army stretches from horizon to horizon for days as they pass. They are beyond count. I could no more tell you how many blades of grass are on these plains. I have no word that can express such a vast number.”

“
I think you just have,” Richard murmured. “They didn’t attack your people, then?”

“
No. They did not come through our homeland. Our fear for ourselves is but for the future, when these men decide to swallow us. Men like this will not forever leave us to ourselves. Men like these take everything; there is never enough for them.

“
Our men will all die. Our children will all be murdered. Our women will all be taken. We have no hope against this foe.

“
You are the
Caharin
, so you must be told these things. That is the old law.

“
As spirit woman to the Baka Tau Mana, I am ashamed that I must show you my fear and tell you our people are frightened we will all perish in the teeth of this beast. I wish I could tell you we look with bravery to the jaws of death, but we do not. We look with trembling hearts.

“
You are
Caharin
, you would not know. You have no fear.”

“
Du Chaillu,” Richard said with a startled guffaw, “I’m often afraid.”