Blood 8

**Chapter 8**

The Aryan Boys set Richard down in the alley, so he dives to the side and goes invisible. As he catches his breath, the Mysterious Cloaked Figures approach, and Richard sees that they are four women wearing brown leather that *“covered their shapely forms from ground to neck.”* Uh-oh, it's the Dominatrices! Each one has *“a yellow star between the cusps of a crescent moon”* on their stomach.

Oh, no.

No you didn't, Goodkind. You *didn't.*

This section originally had a screed about the symbol on the right, which I had erroneously assumed was emblematic of Islam. A Muslim friend of mine corrected me that it's more a general symbol of many Middle-Eastern cultures, not associated with any one specific religion. I therefore retract my previous complaints, although I do think it's pretty disturbing that the *only* Middle East-inspired imagery in this series is associated with the Dominatrices – the all-female cadre of highly-sexualized magical torturers, whose training is so unspeakably brutal and I refuse to even spork it.

Taking a drink and moving on. \~/

Richard recognizes the symbol of the Dominatrices and starts to freak out until one of them pulls her hood down. She proves to be the blonde-haired blue-eyed Dominatrix who helped Richard at the end of the last book, Ilsa, She-Wolf of the SS Cara. This startles Richard into breaking his concentration and he becomes visible again, just as Gratch drops out of the sky.

Gratch goes for the Aryan Boys and the Dominatrices, and they draw weapons. Richard throws himself in between them and tells everyone to chill out. We learn that the D'Harans are here to protect Richard, since they consider him their *“Lord Rahl;”* we also learn that the Aryan Boys are Egan and Ulic, while the other three Dominatrices are Hally, Berdine and Raina. Hally is also Aryan-blonde and blue-eyed, while Berdine has brown hair and Raina black, in case you care. They lead Richard to an abandoned house, which is apparently their current headquarters.

We finally learn where Richard was going when all this started: he was heading for the D'Haran headquarters. Richard then asks how the Dominatrices and the Aryan Boys found him, and is told *“You are the Master Rahl.”* Richard demands a more in-depth explanation, then immediately starts interrupting Ulic as he starts to explain. The short version is: thousands of years ago, the wizards of the House of Rahl created a magical bond between themselves and the scum commoners of D'Hara. The bond allows any given D'Haran to sense the existence of and direction toward the Master Rahl. However, the D'Haran must first accept Lord Rahl as his legitimate ruler. As Richard puts it, *“you must believe.”*

The point of all this business seems to be that the commoners provide the *“steel against steel”* so their Master Rahl can be the *“magic against magic.”* I would assume that's how it would work whenever a wizard ruled a nation, without needing a mystical bond, but whatever.

Anyway, the Dominatrices and the Aryan Boys tell Richard how awesome he is for a while \~/, and we get another brief recap of the events of the last book. Apparently, Richard's *Sue ex machina* slaughter of all his enemies during the big finale was enough to bond everyone in the Peoples' Palace to him. Richard insists that he can't be their magic against magic when he doesn't even know how to use his own magic, but his new groupies pooh-pooh the idea and insists that he is Teh Awesumest. Richard says the bond sounds like slavery (which I kind of agree with), but Cara says that, while it was slavery with Darken Rahl, it's just terrific with Richard.

I am reminded of a scene fro The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, where Faramirsays that he would not be a slavemaster, *“not even a kind master of willing slaves.”* The implication being that slavery is inherently wrong and corrupting, even if the slaves seek it out.

Terry Goodkind apparently doesn't agree with this,

We learn that Richard intends to confront the leader of the D'Haran forces in Aydindril, General Reibisch, and demand his allegiance. The Dominatrices scoff at this, explaining that Reibisch hasn't formally accepted Richard as his Lord and Master, so he's not yet bonded. Also, he's of mixed blood; apparently the bond is strongest among the pure-blooded D'Harans . . . like blonde-haired, blue-eyed Egan and Ulic.

Nazier and Nazier.

Conveniently, however, Hally has brought along a letter from Commander General Major Captain Lieutenant Field Marshal Trimack, which she carried *“between her breasts.”* Well, of course she did. \~/ Said letter basically asserts that Trimack recognizes Richard as Master Rahl and that he and *“all the troops and field generals in D'Hara”* are ready and willing to back this up with steel.

Richard is so pleased with this (which, I admit, is logical and effective – a nice change) that he says *“Hally, I could kiss you.”* The Dominatrices, not understanding the concept of a “figure of speech” or a “metaphor,” interpret this to mean “Hally, I demand that you submit to me sexually.” Hally snaps at him, then says that if he wants her, of course she'll submit; he's the Lord Rahl, after all. Richard reassures the Dominatrices that, no, he's not going to rape them.

I'm not taking a drink for this, by the way, because it's been established that the Dominatrices are one and all the victims of horrendous sexual abuse. I think it's entirely believable that they would react poorly to phrases like *“I could kiss you.”*

Richard is all, Let's go!, but the Dominatrices explain that the letter is meant as an aid, and by itself I won't convince General Reibisch (who, incidentally, I keep wanted to call General Rei).

Apparently, in order to win General Rei's allegiance, Richard is expected to overwhelm him with some fantastic display of magic. As Cara says, *“The Master Rahl must be seen as a figure of awesome power and strength.”*

Richard decides that since he has four of the most feared women in Dickland here (barring the Mindrapists, of course), he might as well make use of them. He tells them to change into their red leather outfits (red being the Dominatrices' battle outfit, since it doesn't show blood). There's some Komedy! where Richard wants to wait outside with the Aryan Boys while the Dominatrices change, but they're having none of it and won't let him out of their sight. So they change clothes while the three men look the other way. Hee-larious. \~/

During all this, Richard says that he has plans, and Raina asks what those plans might be.. I shall quote Richard's response for you, verbatim:

*“What kind of plans would the Master Rahl have? I plan to conquer the world.”*

I can think of few concepts more terrifying.

Drinks: 4

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