"This could ruin everything! We've worked years at this, carefully cultivated the relationship, sown the seeds, pulled the weeds that have sprung up, and just when we're about to finally reap the harvest of our lives, she comes riding in with that-that-that D'Haran bastard Lord Rahl!"

Hildemara folded her arms. "Well that really solves the problem, throwing a fit. I swear, Bertrand, sometimes you have less sense than a drunken fisherman."

"And the sort of pompous wife who drives him to it!"

He ground his teeth and pulled aside his chair, no doubt preparing to launch into an extended tirade. Dalton could almost see her back arch, fur lift, and claws lengthen.

Dalton was usually ignored, like a piece of furniture, when they started in on each other. This time, he had better things to do than wait for it to broaden into a worse argument that would only waste valuable time. He had to issue orders, depending on what was decided. He had to get people in place.

He thought about Franca, wondering if she might have recovered her power. He hadn't seen much of her lately, and when he had, she seemed distracted. She had been spending a lot of time in the library. It would be valuable at a time like this to have Franca's assistance. Her true assistance.

"The Mother Confessor and the Lord Rahl are riding hard, and my men only just made it ahead of them," Dalton said, before Bertrand could lay into his wife, or she could throw something at him. "They should be here within the hour- two at most. We should be prepared."

Bertrand glared a moment before pulling his chair close and sitting. He folded his hands on the table. "Yes, you're right, Dalton. Quite right. First thing is to get Stein and his men out of sight. It wouldn't do to have-"

"I've already taken the liberty of seeing to it, Minister. I've sent some of them on an inspection of grain storage facilities, and others wanted to look over the strategic routes into Anderith."

Bertrand looked up. "Good."

"We've worked too many years to lose it all, now, when we're this close," Hildemara said. "However, if we just keep our heads, I don't see any reason we can't proceed with everything as planned."

Her husband nodded, having cooled considerably, as he did when he put his mind to difficult matters. He had the odd ability to be in a fit of rage one moment, and smiling the next.

"Possibly." He turned to Dalton. "How close is the Order?"

"Still quite a distance, Minister. Stein's 'special Ander guard troops' who arrived the day before yesterday told me four weeks at least. Probably a bit more."

Bertrand shrugged and arched an eyebrow, a sly smile coming to his lips. "Then we will simply have to stall the Mother Confessor and the Lord Rahl."

Hildemara put her fists on his desk and leaned toward her husband.

'The two of them, the Lord Rahl and the Mother Confessor, will be expecting our answer. They've long since explained to our representatives in Aydindril the choice we have, and sent them back with the offer of joining the D'Haran Empire, or facing the probability of conquest and the resulting loss of standing in our own land."

Dalton agreed with her. "Ours would be a land they would turn their forces to if we don't agree to the terms of surrender. Were we some small, unimportant land, they would no doubt ignore us as we stall, but we will be an immediate prime target should we refuse to join them."

"And they have forces somewhere down in the South, from what I've heard," Hildemara put in. "The Lord Rahl is not a man to be denied, or played for a fool. Some of the other lands-Jara, Galea, Herjborgue, Grennidon, and Kelton, among others-have already fallen or joined willingly. Lord Rahl has considerable forces of his own from D'Hara, but with those lands his army is formidable."

"But they aren't all down here," Bertrand said, for some reason suddenly quite calm. "The Order will be able to crush them. The Dominie Dirtch can hold off any force from the D'Haran Empire."

Dalton thought the confidence unfounded. "From what my sources tell me, this Lord Rahl is a wizard of formidable talent. He is also the Seeker of Truth. I fear such a man may have ways of defeating the Dominie Dirtch."

Hildemara scowled. "Besides, the Mother Confessor, the Lord Rahl, and perhaps a thousand troops are already inside the line of Dominie Dirtch. They will demand our surrender. We 'would be stripped of power if that happens. The Order won't be here for weeks-by then too late."

She shook her finger at her husband. "We've worked too many years to lose it all now."

Bertrand tapped his thumbs as he smiled. "Then we will just, as I said before, have to stall them, won't we, my dear?"

The D'Haran troops were a dark ribbon on the road behind them as Richard and Kahlan led them toward the Minister of Culture's estate. A dark ribbon bristling steel. The sun was not an hour from setting behind scattered clouds, but at least they had arrived.

Richard pulled his damp D'Haran shirt away from his chest as he watched a curious raven circling overhead. With raucous calls, it let its lordly presence be known, as was the way with ravens.

It had been a warm and humid day. He and Kahlan both wore extra clothes the soldiers brought so their own would be clean and fit for the meeting they both knew would soon come.

Richard glanced back over his shoulder and received a murderous look from Du Chaillu. He had made her ride a horse so they could make the distance and not take another day. Their journey had taken far too long as it was.

The Baka Tau Mana did not like riding horses. As often as not, Du Chaillu would simply have ignored him when he told her to ride. This time, she knew if she ignored his request she would be left behind.

It had apparently taken Cara some time to locate General Reibisch's forces and send an escort of troops. Richard, Kahlan, and the Baka Tau Mana had been on foot, slogging through late-spring deluges, for far too long. They hadn't made a lot of distance on foot before the D'Haran troops finally arrived with horses.

Du Chaillu had also slowed their journey, although not purposely. She endlessly protested that riding would harm her baby before it was born-the baby Richard had suggested she bear. Because of her unborn child, Richard was reluctant to force her to ride.

He hadn't wanted her along in the first place. After the D'Haran troops had arrived with supplies and extra horses she refused to return home, as she had previously promised she would.

To her credit, she never complained about the difficulty of the journey. But when Richard made her ride, it put her in a vile mood.

Kahlan, at first cool about having the Baka Tau Mana's spirit woman along, had warmed to the situation ever since the day Richard fell from his horse. Kahlan credited Du Chaillu with saving his life. Richard appreciated Du Chaillu's eagerness to help, but didn't believe it was her doing that kept him alive.,

He wasn't at all sure what had happened. Since seeing the Dominie Dirtch, and hearing how they had chimed on their own at the same time he felt the crippling pain, he knew the whole thing had to be tied together somehow, and he didn't believe Du Chaillu held much sway over it. This was something much bigger than she realized, — and more complex than Richard could understand.

Richard hadn't slowed for anything since he saw the Dominie Dutch, even her pregnant condition. Since being close to those stone bells and feeling some of what he felt, she had been more cooperative about his hurry.

Richard lifted a hand when he spotted the rider trailing a plume of dust. He could hear orders being relayed back through the ranks in response to his signal, bringing the entire column to a jangling halt. Only when it had stopped, in the sudden silence, did he realize how much noise it made when they were on the move.