The Third Kingdom

“Greatness demands the kind of dedication to purpose that I have shown, that has brought me to stand in the world of life again today. I let nothing distract me from my goal. You as well have shown great dedication to the purpose of rule.

“But for those who would be great, there is no room for distracting fixations. Such distractions drain away your energy of purpose. That is why I asked what is most important to you—dragging this man along with us, or ruling the world.”

Hannis Arc’s mood was getting as dark as the overcast. “There is no reason why I can’t do both.”

“You would be ruling one man, when you should be properly devoted to the effort of ruling all men.”

“You’re saying that Richard Rahl is a distraction that could keep me from succeeding?”

The spirit shrugged. “The world is full of distractions. It is the task of a great ruler to keep them to a minimum. Distractions drain time and energy from your primary goal.”

Hannis Arc glanced back at the milky half people, killers all, spread silently out across the landscape behind them. He turned back to the spirit watching him.

“Since the day my parents were killed at the orders of a Rahl, I have been planning my revenge, so that I—”

“And why do you suppose that the House of Rahl killed your parents, your father, the ruler of little, insignificant, far-off Fajin Province?”

Hannis Arc paused a moment, feeling the sparkle of mist against the tattoos on his face as he let his anger cool a bit. “To eliminate the possibility that he might rise up and challenge for rule.”

The spirit smiled. “That is why the House of Rahl has ruled D’Hara for so long, and the House of Arc has ruled little Fajin Province. The House of Rahl was focused on ruling, not on humiliating your father by making him watch them rule. They simply eliminated the potential for a challenge to their power. If your aim is to rule, then you should rule.”

“I believe I can do both.”

“So did Richard Rahl’s father. He kept the distraction of Richard Rahl around for too long, and in the end it cost him his life. A number of men like him have failed because they were stopped by someone who would never have been a problem had they been killed in the first place. Richard Rahl is the leader of the D’Haran Empire because he is strong and determined and because Darken Rahl didn’t kill him when he should have.

“Richard Rahl is an incredibly dangerous man. He is, after all, fuer grissa ost drauka. He is not a man to be trifled with.

“If you think too much of yourself, if you think you can control him every moment, if you think that your power is strong enough to best him and keep him down, then you underestimate him. You underestimate him at your peril. You may have him captive at the moment, but every moment he is alive he will be thinking of how to kill you.

“He did not get to be Lord Rahl, the leader of the D’Haran Empire, the man who defeated Emperor Jagang and the might of the Old World, without being very good at what he does, and what he does well is to take down those who try to subjugate him. Right now, you are making yourself his target, his primary goal, and I can assure you, he will not be distracted from that goal by anything.

“If he is dead, then you don’t have to worry about any of that, and you can go on to rule the world.”

Hannis Arc’s mouth twisted. “I hate to admit it, but you may have a point. The man has proven how determined he is.”

The spirit king turned back to look Hannis Arc in the eye. “Rule is the revenge, Lord Arc. Kill your enemy now, while you have the chance, and then you can go on to rule. Ruling will be your vengeance.”

“As your return to this world is yours?”

Sulachan smiled a dark, vindictive smile. “I will now be the one who in the end has triumphed over all those who would think to take my rule and banish me to the infinite recesses of the underworld while at the same time banishing all those that I created”—he lifted an arm around at the desolate landscape—“to this forsaken place. In the end, they could not contain any of us with barriers or even death itself. Now, we will each have our way and our revenge.”

Being from tiny Fajin Province, Hannis Arc had no means to raise an army to fulfill his ambitions of conquest. He commanded small numbers, really, and he would need vast might to take his objective, the People’s Palace, and rule from the House of Rahl’s traditional seat of power. To take that objective, he was going to need an army.

And now, through Sulachan, he had what he needed. He not only had the Shun-tuk nation of half people, he had at his disposal an endless army of the dead.

Hands clasped behind his back, he finally looked over at the wise spirit king. A spirit Hannis Arc controlled.