Richard knew that with everyone evacuated from Aydindril, the Imperial Order would now turn its swords on D'Hara. Despite the competence of the D'Haran troops, they would be overwhelmed by the numbers that Jagang would throw at them. If the Order was not diverted from its cause, or at least divided into smaller forces, D'Hara would fall under the shadow of the Order. The D'Haran Empire, forged to unite the New World against tyranny, would end before it had really gotten started.
Richard had to get back to Victor and Nicci so that they could all continue what they had begun-devising the most effective strategy to overthrow the Imperial Order.
But they were running out of time to resolve another problem, a problem they didn't yet understand.
"I'm glad you found us, Sabar. You can tell Victor and Nicci that we need to see to something first, but as soon as we do, we'll be able to help them with their plans."
Sabar looked relieved. "Everyone will be happy to hear this."
Sabar hesitated, then tilted his head, gesturing north. "Lord Rahl, when I came to find you, following the directions Nicci gave me, I went past the area where she was to meet with you, and then I continued coming south."
Worry stole into his expression. "Not many days ago, I came to a place, miles wide, that was dead."
Richard looked up. He realized that his headache seemed to be suddenly gone. "What do you mean, dead?"
Sabar waved his hand out toward the evening gloom. "The area where I was traveling was much like this place; there were some trees, clumps of grass, thickets of brush." His voice lowered. "But then I came to a place where everything that grew ended. All at the same place. There was nothing but rock beyond. Nicci had not told me that I would come to such a place. I admit, I was afraid."
Richard glanced to his right-to the east-to the mountains that lay beyond. "How long did this dead place last?"
"I walked, leaving life behind, and I thought I might be walking into the underworld itself." Sabar looked away from Richard's eyes. "Or into the jaws of some new weapon the Order had created to destroy us all.
"I came to be very afraid and I was going to turn back. But then I thought about how the Order made me afraid my whole life, and I didn't like that feeling. Worse, I thought about how I would stand before Nicci and tell her I turned around rather than go to Lord Rahl as she asked of me, and that thought made me ashamed, so I went on. In several miles I came again to growing things." He let out a breath. "I was greatly relieved, and then I felt a little foolish that I had been afraid."
Two. That now made two of the strange boundaries.
"I've been to places like that, Sabar, and I can tell you that I, too, have been afraid."
Sabar broke into a grin. "Then I was not so foolish to be afraid."
"Not foolish at all. Could you tell if this dead area was extensive?
Could you tell if it was more than just a patch of open rock in that one place? Could you see if it ran in a line, ran in any direction in particular?"
"It was like you say, like a line." Sabar flicked his hand toward the east. "It came down out of the far mountains, north of that depression." He held his hand flat like a cleaver, and sliced it downward in the other direction. "It ran off to the southwest, into that wasteland."
Toward the Pillars of Creation.
Kahlan leaned close and spoke under her breath. "That would be almost parallel to the boundary we crossed not far back to the south. Why would there be two boundaries so close together? That makes no sense."
"I don't know," Richard whispered to her. "Maybe whatever the boundary was protecting was so dangerous that whoever placed it feared that one might not be enough."
Kahlan rubbed her upper arms but didn't comment. By the look on her face, Richard knew how she felt about such a notion-especially considering that those boundaries were now down.
"Anyway," Sabar said with a self-conscious shrug, "I was happy I did not turn back, or I would have had to face Nicci after she had asked me to help Lord Rahl-my friend Richard."
Richard smiled. "I'm glad, too, Sabar. I don't think that place you went through is a danger any longer, at least not a danger the way it was once."
Jennsen could contain her curiosity no longer. "Who is this Nicci?"
"Nicci is a sorceress," Richard said. "She used to be a Sister of the Dark."
Jennsen's eyebrows went up. "Used to?"
Richard nodded. "She worked to further Jagang's cause, but she finally came to see how wrong she had been and joined our side." It was a story he didn't really feel like going into. "She now fights for us. Her help has been invaluable."
