"What is this protection?" Cara asked. "How does it work?"

"The Dominie Dirtch is a string of defense not far in from their borders with the wilds. It's a line of huge bells, spaced far apart, but within sight of one another. They stand guard across the entire Anderith frontier."

"Bells," Richard said. "How do these bells protect them? You mean they're used to warn people? To call their troops?"

Kahlan waved her stalk of grass the way an instructor might wave a switch to dissuade a student from getting the wrong idea. Zedd used to wave his finger in much the same way, adding that impish smile so as not to give Richard a harsh impression as he was being corrected. Kahlan, though, was not correcting, but schooling, and as far as the Midlands were concerned, Richard was still very much a student.

The word «schooling» stuck in his head as soon as it crossed his mind.

"Not that kind of bell," Kahlan said. "They don't really look much like bells, other than their shape. They're carved from stone that over the ages has become encrusted with lichen and such. They are like ancient monuments. Terrible monuments.

"Jutting up as they do from the soil of the plains, marching off in a line to the horizon, they almost look like the vertebra of some huge, dead, endlessly long monster."

Richard scratched his jaw in wonder. "How big are they?"

"They stand up above the grass and wheat on these fat stone pedestals, maybe eight or ten feet across." She passed her hand over her head. "The pedestals are about as tall as we are. Steps going up the bell itself are cut into each base. The bells are, I don't know, eight, nine feet tall, including the carriage.

“The back of each bell, carved as part of the same stone, is round… like a shield. Or a little like a wall lamp might have a reflector behind it. The Anderith army mans each bell at all times. When an enemy approaches, the soldier, when given the order, stands behind the shield, and the Dominie Dirtch-these bells-are then struck with a long wooden striker.

"They emit a very deep knell. At least behind the Dominie Dirtch it's said to be a deep knell. No one attacking has ever lived to say what it sounds like from that side, from the death zone."

Richard had gone from simple wonder to astonishment. "What do the bells do to the attackers? What does this sound do?"

Kahlan rolled the heads of the grass in her fingers, crumbling them.

"It sloughs the flesh right off the bones."

Richard couldn't even imagine such a horrific thing. "Is this a legend, do you think, or do you know it to be a fact?"

"I once saw the results-some primitive people from the wilds intent on a raid as retribution for harm to one of their women by an Anderith soldier."

She shook her head despondently. "It was a grisly sight, Richard. A pile of bloody bones in the middle of a, a… gory heap. You could see hair in it-parts of scalp. And the clothes. I saw some fingernails, and the whorled flesh from a fingertip, but I could recognize little else. Except for those few bits, and the bones, you wouldn't even know it had been human."

"That would leave no doubt; the bells use magic," Richard said. "How far out does it kill? And how quickly?"

"As I understand it, the Dominie Dirtch kill every person in front of them for about as far as the eye can see. Once they're rung, an invader takes only a step or two before their skin undergoes catastrophic ruptures. Muscle and flesh begin coming away from bone. Their insides-heart, lungs, everything-drops from under the rib cage as their intestines all give way. There is no defense. Once begun, all before the Dominie Dirtch die."

"Can an invader sneak up at night?" Richard asked. Kahlan shook her head. "The land is flat so the defenders are able to see for miles. At night torches can be lit. Additionally, a trench extends in front of the entire line so no one can crawl up unseen through the grass or wheat. As long as the line of Dominie Dirtch is manned, there's no way to get past it. At least, it has been thousands of years since anyone has gotten past."

"Does the number of invaders matter?" "From what I know of-it, the Dominie Dirtch could kill any number gathered together and marched toward Anderith, toward those stone bells, as long as the defending soldiers kept ringing them."

"Like an army…” Richard whispered to himself. "Richard, I know what you're thinking, but with the chimes loose, magic is failing. It would be a foolhardy risk to depend on the Dominie Dirtch to stop Jagang's army."

Richard watched Du Chaillu off in the grass, her head in her hands as she wept.

"But you said Anderith also has a, large army." Kahlan sighed impatiently. "Richard, you promised Zedd we would go to Aydindril."

"I did. But I didn't promise him when." "You implied it."

He turned back to face her. "It wouldn't break the promise to go somewhere else first." "Richard-"

"Kahlan, maybe with magic failing, Jagang sees this as his chance to successfully invade Anderith and capture its stores of food."

"That would be bad for us, but the Midlands has other sources of food."

"And what if food isn't the only reason Jagang is going to Anderith?" He cocked an eyebrow. "He has people with the gift. They would know as well as Zedd and Ann that magic was failing. What if they could figure out it was the chimes? What if Jagang saw this as his chance to take a formerly invincible land, and then, if things change, if the chimes are banished…?"

"He would have no way of knowing it was the chimes, but even if he did, how could he know what to do to banish them?"

"He has some gifted people with him. Gifted from the Palace of the Prophets. Those men and women have studied the books in the vaults there. For hundreds of years they've studied those books. I can't imagine how much they know. Can you?"

The emerging possibilities and implications etched alarm into Kahlan's face. "You think they may have a way to banish the chimes?"

"I have no idea. But if they did-or went to Anderith and there uncovered the solution-think about what it would mean. Jagang's army, en masse, would be in the Midlands, behind the Dominie Dirtch, and there wouldn't be anything we could do to rout them.

"At their will, they could, where and when they wish, charge into the Midlands. Anderith is a big land. With the Dominie Dirtch in his control, we would be unable to scout beyond the border and so would have no idea where his troops were massing. We couldn't possibly begin to guard the entire border, yet his spies would be able to sneak out to detect where our armies waited, and then slip back in to report to Jagang.

"He could then race out through holes in a.net spread too thin and drive his attack into the Midlands. If need be, they Could strike a blow and then withdraw back behind the Dominie Dirtch. If he used just a little planning and patience, he could wait until he found a weak place, with our troops too distant to respond in time, and then his entire army could roar through gaps in our lines and into the Midlands. Once past our forces, they could rampage virtually unchecked, with us only able to nip at their heels as we chased after them. "Once ensconced behind the stone curtain of the Dominie Dirtch, time would be on his side. He could wait a week, a month, a year. He could wait ten years, until we became dull and weak from bearing the weight of constant vigilance. Then, he could suddenly burst out upon us."

"Dear spirits," Kahlan whispered. She gave him a sharp look. "This is all just speculation. What if they don't really have a way to banish the chimes?"

"I don't know, Kahlan. I'm just saying 'What if? We have to decide what to do. If we decide wrong, we could lose it all."

Kahlan let out a breath. "You're right about that." Richard turned and watched Du Chaillu kneel down. Her hands were folded, her head bowed, in what looked to be earnest prayer.