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He snatched a fistful of her dress and yanked her close. His red face twisted in anger. "Are you really going to throw away what might turn out to be your only chance to avenge your mother's murder? How would you feel if Richard Rahl really is crazy enough to be here? — Or if he has some plan we can't even conceive of? — And you just stand here arguing about it!"
Je
"There they are!" came a cry from far down the hall. It was Jagang's voice. She saw him among a distant clot of his soldiers, pointing his sword as they all scrambled to turn a comer. "Get them! Get them!"
Sebastian seized her arm, spun her around, and shoved her on down the hall. Je
As they ran past tall windows-the very windows where the Mother Confessor and Lord Rahl had only moments before been seensomething outside caught her eye. A collective groan went up from beyond the panes of glass. Je
"Look!»
Sebastian glanced impatiently toward the others racing away, then stepped closer to look out the window as she shook her hand, frantically pointing.
Tens of thousand of cavalry men had formed up into a huge battle line out across the palace grounds, stretching all the way down the hill, appearing to charge the enemy in a great battle. They all brandished swords, axes, and pikes as they rushed as a single mass, yelling bloodcurdling battle cries.
Je
But then, in the middle of the grounds, with a mighty shock all along the line, there was a resounding crash as they met the wall of an enemy that was not there.
Je
Where there had been battle cries, now there were piercing screams of appalling suffering and pain as men, hacked to pieces, limbs severed, mortally wounded, tried to drag themselves to safety. Out in that field, there was no such place, there was only confusion and death.
Horrified, Je
The blast roared down the hall, driving chunks of wood, whole chairs, and flaming drapery before it. Fragments of glass and metal shrieked by, slicing through walls.
As soon as the smoke and flames had rolled past, Je
Whatever questions or objections she had were forgotten-such questions were suddenly irrelevant. It only mattered that-somehow-Richard Rahl was there. She had to stop him. This was finally her chance. The voice, too, urged her on. This time, she didn't try to put the voice down. This time, she let it fan the flames of her burning lust for vengeance. This time, she let it fill her with the overwhelming need to kill.
They raced past tall doors lining the hall. Each of the deep-set windows that flashed by had a small window seat. The walls were faced with frame and panel wood painted a shade of white warmed with a bit of rose color to it. As they came to the intersection of corridors and rounded the corner, Jermsen didn't really notice the elegant silver reflector lamps centered in each of those panels; she saw only the bloody handprints smeared along the walls, the long splashes of blood on the polished oak floor, the disorderly tangle of still bodies.
There were at least fifty of the burly assault soldiers scattered haphazardly down the hall, each burned, many ripped open by flying glass and splintered wood. Most of the faces weren't even unrecognizable as such. Shattered rib bones protruded from blood-soaked chain mail or leather. Along with the weapons that lay scattered, the hall was awash with gore and loose intestines, making it look like someone had spilled baskets of bloody dead eels.
Among the bodies was a woman-one of the Sisters. She had been nearly torn in two, as had been a number of the men, her slashed face set in death with a fixed look of surprise.
Je
Once past the bodies, they followed a trail of blood down a maze of grand halls. The distant sound of men shouting drifted back to them. Je
"Sir!" a man called from far back through a doorway to the side. "Sir! This way!"
Sebastian paused to look at the man and his frantic hand signals, then pulled Je
"It's her!" the man called to Sebastian. "Hurry! It's her! I just saw her pass by!"
The hulking soldier, still trying to catch his breath, sword hanging in his fist, peeked out the doorway again. Just before they reached him, as he peered down the hall, Je
Je
Almost at the same time, from the way they had come, she heard the snapping hiss of something otherworldly. Jermsen dropped to the floor, stretching out over Sebastian, holding him against the edge of floor and wall, as if he were a child to be protected. She closed her eyes tight, crying out with fright at the thunderous blast behind her that shook the floor. A barrage of rubble shrieked through the room.
When it finally went still and she opened her eyes, dust drifted through the destruction. The wall around them was peppered with holes. Somehow, she and Sebastian were not hurt. It only served to confirm what she already believed.
"It was him!" Sebastian's arm shot out from under her to point across the room. "It was him!"
Je
Sebastian pointed again. "It was Lord Rahl. I saw him. As he ran past the door he cast in a spell of some kind-a pinch of sparkling dust-just as you pushed me against the wall. Then it exploded. I don't know how we survived in a room filled with such flying debris."
"I guess it all missed us," Je
The room had been turned inside out. The draperies were shredded, the walls holed. The furniture that only moments before had been so beautiful was now a wreck of splinters and ripped upholstery. The rumpled carpet was covered in white dust, pieces of plaster, and splintered wood.
A hanging chunk of plaster broke away and crashed to the floor, raising yet more dust as Jermsen made her way through the wreckage of the room, toward the door they had come through, the door where Sebastian had pointed, the door where only moments before Lord Rahl had been. Sebastian retrieved his sword and quickly followed her out.
The hall, its woodwork so tastefully painted, was now smeared with blood. The body of another Sister lay crumpled not far away. When they reached her, they saw her dead eyes staring up at the ceiling in surprise.
"What in the name of Creation is going on?" Sebastian whispered to himself. Je
A glance out the window showed a killing ground littered with thousands of bodies.
"You have to get the emperor out of here," Jermsen said. "This isn't the simple thing it appeared."
"I'd say it was a trap of some kind. But we might still be able to carry out our objective. That would make it a success-make it worth it."
Whatever was happening was outside her experience and beyond her ability to comprehend. Jermsen only knew that she intended to carry out her objective. As they raced down halls, chasing the sounds and following the trail of bodies, they worked their way deeper into the mysterious Confessors' Palace, away from any outside windows to where the air was hushed and gloomy. The deep shadows in the halls and rooms, where little light penetrated, added a frightening new dimension to the terrifying events.
Jermsen was well past shock, horror, or even fear. She felt as if she were watching herself act. Even her own voice sounded remote to her. In some distant way, she marveled at the things she did, at her ability to carry on.