Stone 26

Chapter 26
And now we meet a new character: Queen Cyrilla of Galea, who is being marched down a corridor by “brutes,” but who is determined to be dignified and show no fear. We learn that someone has killed nearly 2,000 of the Galean guard on what was supposed to be neutral ground. We also learn that Cyrilla's captor is one Prince Fyren, who was mentioned briefly a few chapters back. Cyrilla hopes her brother, Prince Harold, escaped alive.
We get an infodump/flashback, where Lady Bevinvier, the stoneheaded seer from chapter 3, warned Cyrilla to leave Aydindril at once. It develops that Galea, which bore the brunt of the fighting against Darken Rahl's armies, was recently invaded by the neighboring land of Kelton, which had fared better. Cyrilla came to Aydindril to plead her case before the Midlands council. Blah blah blah, Kahlan is Cyrilla's half sister but shows her no favoritism, Kahlan is twelve years younger (twelve years younger than what age?)
There's a rather sickening bit where we learn that Cyrilla and Harold's mother, Queen Bernadine, taught her children that it was an honor to have her husband King Wyborn kidnapped and mindraped by the Confessors. At least, I think kidnapping, brainwashing, effective rape (since there was no way Wyborn could refuse) and magical lobotomization are sickening. The Galean royals, however, are pleased as punch to be related to the Mindrapists. \~/
Cyrilla muses on how she was loved as a queen, while Kahlan was hated as a Mindrapist, and how she wished they could have been more like real sisters. More angsting on Kahlan's behalf about the hard lives of the poor, poor Confessors, no one understands them, wah wah. \~/ This appears to be...angsting by proxy? Second-hand angst? It's really quite peculiar.
We learn that Kahlan becoming Mother Confessor at such a young age (which is what???) “spoke of both the strength of her power and of her character.” Because becoming a ruler automatically means you have a strong character. \~/ “Since the selection was made in secrecy, Cyrilla knew little about the succession of Confessors, except that it was done without animosity or rivalry...” Because Mindrapists are not human; they are actually a form of social insect distantly related to ants. \~/
We get a flashback within the flashback (ye gods...I've only seen this before in terrible movies). In brief, Cyrilla was holding a grand ball and Kahlan stormed in and demanded to mindrape Cyrilla's advisor, a man she was in love with. He turned out to be an assassin sent by Kelton to kill Cyrilla. Kahlan mentions that her father “taught me that the Keltans will strike for only two reasons. First out of jealousy, and second when they are tempted by weakness. He said that either way, they will always first test by trying to kill the strongest, highest-ranking, of their opponents they can. Galea is now the strongest it has ever been...
“My father also said that you must always keep an eye to the Keltans, and never offer them your back. He said that if you thwart them in the first attempt, it deepens their hunger for your blood, and they will always lie in wait for any weakness so they may strike.”
Okay, first off, that's a near-Eddings level of “nationality equals personality,” but I'll let it go for now. More importantly, let's examine what Keltans are apparently like.
*They will attack you if you ignore them.
*They will attack you if you show weakness
*They will attack you if you show strength.
And when they inevitably attack you, if their first attempt fails, they will “always” be waiting for another chance to strike.
The Keltans are psychotic maniacs who should have been obliterated by their neighbors long ago. Either that, or King Wyborn (and therefore Kahlan, the fair, neutral ruler of the Midlands) was wildly exaggerating – nay, demonizing – the Keltish character. Either way, that's a drink for sheer stupidity. \~/
Kahlan mentions that Wyborn taught her all sorts of horrible things, including “Whom to kill, when to kill, and how to kill.” Perhaps Kahlan's sociopathy is hereditary. 
We come out of the secondary flashback and return to the primary flashback as Cyrilla thinks about how D'Hara (wisely) sentenced all the Confessors to death, and how they “fiercely fought the hordes from D'Hara.” I find this rather unlikely, given than we've been told a handful of Confessors could conquer a fortified castle in a matter of days. If they wield this kind of power, I would expect a much more vigorous defense than the implied, off-screen one that's briefly mentioned. More likely they all killed each other in vicious infighting after Kahlan disappeared.
Anyway (still in the flashback), Cyrilla got to the council only to find Prince Fyren sitting in the High Mindrapist's chair and no wizard in sight. The lack of a wizard seems to have greatly disturbed her, though I'm not sure why. Fyren accused Galea of invading Kelton, and claimed that Kelton was merely defending itself. He then revealed himself as an Eval Sexist Pig as he “lectured them on the evils of women in positions of power.” Because Cthulhu forbid a villain should have any redeeming features whatsoever. \~/
The rest of the council “took his word for everything,” refused to allow Cyrilla to present any evidence, and immediately ordered her beheaded. This seems pretty...well...stupid. We're not told how many people are on this council, but I have a hard time believing that every single one of them is an evil, power-hungry bastard who's willing to defy all law and convention to support a demonstrably-bloodthirsty leader. Oh, and never think that some council members might be reluctantly forced to follow Fyren; remember, in Goodkind's world you're either Good or Evil. There is no in between. \~/
As the sentence is pronounced, Cyrilla's 2,000 unarmed (!!) guards are attacked and slaughtered. They're outnumbered “five to one,” meaning that they were surrounded by about 10,000 armed soldiers and never suspected a thing. If bloodlust is a Keltish trait, stupidity would seem to be a Galean one.
We finally exit Flashback Prime and return to the present. Cyrilla is marched down to the dungeons and presented with a cell in the floor, accessible via trapdoor, and inhabited by a bunch of convicted rapists and murderers. I do not like where this is going. Cyrilla demands first her own cell, and then to be beheaded at once. Fyren mocks her and spouts some more Misogynistic Pig rhetoric, lest anyone doubt his status as a Bad Guy. This consumes two whole pages. Finally, Cyrilla is thrown into the pit and the implied gang rape begins. \~/\~/
That was unpleasant, and also rather pointless.
Drinks: 9
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