Terry Goodkind - Phantom - Chainfire Trilogy Part 2

It was Zedd who finally spoke, bringing Richard out of his private thoughts. “What ever happened to Queen Cyrilla?”

The room was dead still for a time before Jebra answered. “It was as it had been in my vision. She was handed over to the lowest of the soldiers to use as they wished. They were eager to get at their prize. It went very badly for her. Her worst fears came to pass.”

Zedd cocked his head, apparently believing that there was more to the story. “So that was the last you saw of her?”

Jebra folded her hands before herself. “Not exactly. One day, as I was rushing to deliver a platter of freshly roasted beef, I came upon a raucous group of men playing a game that the Imperial Order troops were very fond of watching. There were two teams with the gathered men shouting and yelling them on. The men were all betting on which team would win. I don’t know what the game was—”

“Ja’La,” Nicci said. When Jebra turned to look at her, Nicci said, “The game is called Ja’La. In theory it’s a game of athletic ability, skill, and strategy; in practice, under the rules the Order plays it by, Ja’La is all of that and in addition it’s quite brutal. Ja’La is Jagang’s favorite sport. He has a team of his own. I remember once when they lost a game. The whole team was put to death. The emperor soon had a new team of the most skilled, toughest, most physically imposing players to be found. They did not lose. The full name of the game is Ja’La dh Jin. In Emperor Jagang’s native tongue it means ‘the game of life.’ ”

Jebra frowned in recollection. “Yes, I guess I do recall hearing it called Ja’La. I always saw it played with a heavy ball. A ball heavy enough to on occasion break the bones of the players.”

“The ball is called a broc,” Richard said without turning.

Nicci glanced over at him. “That’s right.”

“Well,” Jebra said, resuming her story, “on this particular day, as I was taking the platter to the commanders, I had to go to the place where the game was being played. There were thousands of troops gathered to watch. I was directed to a small stand for the commanders and had to make my way through the cheering throngs. It was a terrifying journey. The men saw the iron ring of a slave in my lip so none dared to pull me away to their tents, but that didn’t stop their hands on me.” Jebra’s gaze sought the floor. “It was something that I had to endure often enough.”

She finally looked up. “When I reached the commanders, down close to the playing field, I saw that the men starting up a new game weren’t using the ball that they usually used.” She cleared her throat. “They were using Queen Cyrilla’s head for the ball.”

Jebra sought to fill the uncomfortable silence. “Anyway, life in Galea had been changed forever. What was once a center of commerce is now little more than a vast army camp from where continuing campaigns against some of the free areas of the New World are launched. The farms out in the country, run by forced labor, don’t produce as they once did. Crops fail or are poor. The needs of the vast armed forces in Galea are huge. Food is always scarce but the supplies that regularly come up from the Old World keep the soldiers fed well enough to carry on.

“I worked day and night as a slave to the needs of the Imperial Order commanders. I never again had any visions after the one about Queen Cyrilla. It seemed odd to me to be without my visions. I’d had them my whole life, but after that terrible vision about Queen Cyrilla a couple of years back, no more came. My gift as a Seer seems to have vanished. My vision has gone dark.”

By the glance from Nicci, Richard knew that she suspected what he was thinking.

“Eventually,” Jebra said, “I was one day snatched away from the middle of all those troops. It was Shota who somehow got me out. I’m not entirely sure how it happened. I just recall that she was there with me. I started to ask something but she told me to keep my mouth shut and to start walking. I remember turning back once to look and there was the army spread out across the valley and up into the hills, but they were a great distance behind us. I don’t know how it had happened, really, that we were so far away.” She frowned into her dim memories. “We were just walking. And here I am. I’m afraid, though, that because my visions have gone dark I can no longer be of any help to you.”

Richard thought she should know the truth, so he told her. “Your vision probably went dark because several years back the chimes were in this world for a time. They were banished back to the underworld, but the damage was done. I think that the presence of the chimes in the world of life began the disintegration of magic. It must be that it disrupted your ability. Your gifted vision is probably lost, or, even if it returns in part or for a time, it will eventually be completely extinguished.”

Jebra looked dazed by the news. “My whole life I have frequently wished that I had never been born with the vision of a Seer. In many ways it made me an outcast. I often wept at night, wishing to be free of my visions, wishing they would leave me be.

“But now that you tell me that my wish has been granted, I don’t think that I ever really meant it.”

“That’s the problem with wishes,” Zedd said as he sighed. “They tend to be things that—”

“The chimes?” Shota interrupted. By her tone of voice as well as her frown, Richard knew that she wasn’t interested in hearing about wishes. “If such a thing were true, then why has there been no other evidence of it?”

“There has been,” Richard said with a shrug. “Creatures of magic, such as the dragons, have not been seen in the last couple of years.”

“Dragons?” Shota coiled a long wavy lock of hair around a finger as she appraised him silently for a moment. “Richard, people can go for a lifetime and never catch a glimpse of a dragon.”

“And what of Jebra’s visions going dark? After the chimes were in this world her visions ceased. Like other things of magic, her unique ability is flickering out. I’m sure that we aren’t even aware of most of them.”

“I would be aware of them.”

“Not necessarily.” Richard raked his hair back off his forehead. “The problem is, Chainfire—which I first heard about from you—is a spell that was ignited by four Sisters of the Dark to make everyone forget Kahlan. That spell is contaminated by the chimes, so besides Kahlan, people are forgetting other things as well, such as dragons.”

Shota looked anything but convinced. “I would still be aware of such things because of the way they flow forward in time.”

“And what about this other witch woman, Six? I thought that you said that she was masking your ability to see the flow of time.”

Shota ignored his question and pulled the finger free of the skein of auburn hair. As she folded her arms. Her almond-shaped eyes remained fixed on him.

“If the shadow of the Order darkens mankind, none of it will matter, now, will it? They will put an end to all magic, as well as all hope.”

Richard didn’t answer. Instead he turned to the still waters, to his brooding thoughts.

Shota tilted her head, gesturing toward the steps as she spoke quietly to Jebra. “Go up there and see Zedd. I need to talk to Richard.”

As Shota glided closer to Richard she cast Nicci a threatening glare. He wondered why Shota hadn’t also told Nicci to go back up the steps with Jebra to talk to Zedd. He surmised, though, that the witch woman probably knew that Nicci wouldn’t follow any such orders. He certainly didn’t want to see them in a test of wills. He had enough to worry about without those on the same side battling among themselves.