"If you choose to side with me in this struggle," Richard said with deliberate care, "you will be called upon to kill men of the Order, evil men. If you once thought that I enjoyed killing, let me assure you that you are very wrong. I hate it. I do it to defend life. I would never expect you to relish killing. It is a necessity to do it, not to enjoy doing it. I expect you to relish life and do what is necessary to preserve it."

Richard picked up one of the items, lying off to the side, that they had made while waiting for Tom and Owen to bring the men up into the pass.

It looked like little more than a stout stick. It was in fact made of oak limbs. It was rounded at the back to fit the hand, narrow at a point in the middle, and pointed at the other end.

"You men don't have weapons. While we waited for you to arrive, we've made some." He waggled his fingers, requesting Tom to come forward. "The men of the Order won't recognize these as weapons, at first, anyway. If questioned, you should tell them that they're used to make holes in the ground to plant crops."

With his left hand, Richard seized Tom's shirt at his shoulder, to hold him, and demonstrated the weapon's use by slowly showing how it would be thrust upward, toward a man's middle just under his ribs, to stab him. Some faces among the men twisted with revulsion.

"This can most easily be driven up into a man's soft part, up in under his ribs," Richard told them. "Once you thrust it in, give it a quick sideways twist to break it off at the narrow point. That way, the man won't be able to pull it out. With such a thing lodged in his insides, if he can even stand, he won't want to be running after you or trying to wrestle you.

You'll be better able to get away."

One of the men lifted a hand. "But a piece of wood like that will be wet and wouldn't break. Many of the wood fibers will just bend over, leaving the handle end attached."

Richard tossed the weapon to the man. After he caught it, he said, "Look at the middle, where it's cut to a narrow neck. You'll see that it's been held over a fire and dried for that very reason. Notice the pointed end, too. You'll see that it's been cut and split into four sections, with the points bent open, like a flower bud, so that as it's thrust into an enemy it has a good chance to break open, the four sides going in different directions to do more damage. With that one thrust, it will be like stabbing him four times.

"When you snap it off in him, he won't be able to fight you because every move he makes will wrench those long oak splinters through his vulnerable insides. If it doesn't hit something vital and kill him immediately, he's certainly likely to die within the day. While he's dying, he'll be screaming in agony and fear. I want such evil men to know that the pain and death they inflict on others will be coming for them. That fear will cause them to begin to think of running. It will make them lose sleep, wear them down, so that when we do get to them they'll be easier to kill."

Richard picked up another item. "This is a small crossbow." He held it high for the men to see as he pointed outi ts features."As you can see, the bowstring is locked back on this nut. A stout bolt is laid in this groove, here. Pulling this lever rotates the nut, releasing the string and firing the bolt. It isn't fancy, and you men aren't experienced at using such weapons, but at close, range you don't have to be all that good a shot.

"I've started a number of crossbows and have a whole pile of stocks and parts made. With the items that you men brought back, we can finish making them. They're rather 0rude, and, as I said, they won't be good at much of a distance, but they are small and you can hide them under a cloak. No matter how big and strong the enemy is, the smallest of you can kill him. Not even his chain-mail armor will protect against such a weapon fired at close range. I cah promise you that they will be very deadly."

Richard showed the men hardwood clubs they would stud with nails. Such weapons could also be concealed. He showed them a simple cord with a small wooden handle at each end trjat was used to strangle a man from behind when stealth was paramount.

"As we take these men, we'll be able to get other weapons-knives, axes, maces, swords."

"But, Lord Rahl," Owen said, looking beside himself with worry, "even if we were to agree to join you in this, we are not fighters. These men of the Order are brutes who are experienced at such things. We would stand no chance against them."

The others voiced their worried agreement. Richard shook his head as he held up his hands for them to be quiet.

"Look at those fingers you hold. Ask yourselves what chance those little girls had against such men. Ask yourselves what chance your mothers, your sisters, your wives, your daughters have. You are the only hope for these people. You are the only hope for yourselves.

"Most likely, you men would not stand a chance against such men, either. But I have no intention of fighting them as you're thinking. That's a good way to get killed." Richard pointed at one of the younger men. "What is it we want? The reason you came to get me?"

The man looked confused. "To get rid of the men of the Order?"

"Yes," Richard said. "That's right. You want to be rid of murderers.

The last thing you want is to fight them."

The man gestured at the weapons Richard had shown them. "But these things…"

"These men are murderers. Our task is to execute them. We want to avoid fights. If we fight them, we risk being hurt or killed. I am not saying that we won't have to fight them, but that isn't our goal. There will be times when there may be limited numbers of them and we can be sure that with surprise we can take them out before a fight has a chance to erupt. Keep in mind that these men have been conditioned to none of your people putting up any resistance. We hope to kill them before it occurs to them to draw a weapon.

"But if we don't have to face them, all the better. Our goal is to kill them. To kill every one of them we can. Kill them when they sleep, when they are looking the other way, when they are eating, when they are talking, when they are drinking, when they are out for a stroll.

"They are evil. We must kill them, not fight them."

Owen threw up his hands. "But, Lord Rahl, if we were to start killing them, they would take revenge on all the people they have."

Richard watched the men, waiting until he was sure everyone was paying attention.

"You have just recognized the reality that they are evil. You're right; they will probably start killing captives as a way to convince you to surrender. But they are killing them now. Over time, if left to do as they will, the killing they do will be on a vast scale. The faster we kill them, the sooner it's over and the sooner the murder will stop. Some people will lose their lives because of what we do, but in doing it, we will free all the rest. If we do nothing, then we condemn those innocent people to the mercy of evil and evil grants no mercy. As I've said before, you can't negotiate with evil. You must destroy it."

A man cleared his throat. "Lord Rahl, some of our people have sided with the men of the Order-believed their words. They will not want us to harm the men of the Order."

Richard let out a heavy breath. He turned away for a moment, gazing off into the gloom, before turning his attention once more to the men. "I've had to kill people I knew my whole life because they sided with the Order, much the same as you are saying. They came to believe the men of the Imperial Order, and because I was opposed to the Order, they tried to kill me. It's a terrible thing to have to kill someone like that, someone you know. I believe the alternative is worse."

"The alternative?" the man asked.