The Third Kingdom

Plot summary

Having survived their encounter with the Hedge Maid, Richard and Kahlan are stranded in the Dark Lands, and captured by two cannibals, whom Richard repels with the help of a group of villagers sent to help them by the boy Henrik. These people, led by a woman named Ester, hurry them to a village of caves, known as Stroyza. There, a young sorceress named Sammie tries to heal Kahlan, but becomes hysterical, and states that Kahlan contains an active morbid force or 'presence of death', which she finds equally in Richard. Henrik reveals that a mob attacked Richard and Kahlan's caravan, and that General Meiffert, Cara, Zedd, and Nicci concealed Richard and Kahlan and fled, to divert their attackers, while Henrik was ordered to find help. He also reveals that they need a containment field to be healed, at the People's Palace. They are interrupted by screams and other noises of struggle, and Richard conquers a number of reanimated corpses; but the exertion forces him into unconsciousness.

Sammie heals the minor wounds, but is unable to remove the death within. Though Richard awakens, Kahlan remains unconscious, and Sammie tells Richard the story of her family, including the disappearance of her mother, and of the duty of the gifted people of Stroyza (which Richard reveals is High D'Haran for 'sentinel'), to watch the north wall beyond which the world of life and the world of death are united. On the other side are a people devoid of souls, called the half people, created by the Emperor Sulachan in an ancient war, who seek to obtain souls by eating their enemies. To rescue Richard's party, he and Sammie travel to the north wall, fighting several mobs of half people on the way. While trying to find the half people holding Richard's friends, they are separated, and Bishop Hannis Arc captures Richard. Meanwhile, Kahlan wakes, and while getting information from Ester she is taken by Abbot Ludwig Dreier and his Mord-Sith Erika to Fajin Province, where he tortures people to the brink of death, to glean prophecy from them in their last moments.

In the half people's caves, Richard is imprisoned; but discovers Zedd, who tells him the half people bleed him in the hope that his blood will resurrect their dead emperor. The Bishop uses his Mord-Sith Vika to force Richard into following him, and uses Richard's blood to wake the dead Emperor Sulachan. The Bishop and Sulachan then lead the half people out of the third kingdom; but Sulachan convinces the Bishop to kill Richard and the Abbot to secure his rule; wherefore Hannis Arc sends Vika to kill Richard and a band of half people to the Abbey. Sammie frees Richard, who then frees his friends, the D'Haran soldiers, and Sammie's mother. While trying to escape, General Meiffert is killed, and Richard, Zedd, Nicci, Cara, and the D'Haran soldiers slaughter the half people. Vika returns to Hannis Arc empty-handed, and the Emperor sends his trackers after the group, and with an army of half people they head to the People's Palace. Richard and his friends save Kahlan from the Abbey just as Hannis Arc's half people arrive to kill the Abbot, who escapes. Later, Richard and Kahlan say goodbye to Cara as she leaves them to grieve alone.

Characters