“Richard is the only chance we all have. He is the only one with the potential to save the world of life. Even the first Confessor, Magda Searus, saw that three thousand years ago and did what she could to help him. Now, you are the last Confessor. It has come full circle. It is up to you to make sure he has that chance to fulfill his potential.
“You must kill Nicci before she can kill Richard.”
Kahlan folded her arms and stared back at the witch woman’s piercing blue eyes with a look of her own. “If you think she needs killing, then why don’t you just kill her yourself?”
Red straightened. “Wise is the witch woman who knows when not to interfere with events in the flow of time.”
“That’s an easy excuse. You are already interfering with events in the flow of time. You brought me here and now you are asking me to do your killing for you. It’s the same thing.”
“No, it’s not. This is different. This is a matter between you and Richard and Nicci, between the three of you and fate. You three are caught up in that tangled flow of time. I can’t interfere. That fate is yours and in your hands alone.
“The hard reality is that I know for certain that if she is still alive when the time comes, Nicci is going to kill Richard Rahl. I also know for certain that she will do so because she loves him.
“That is why you must kill her first.”
In frustration, Kahlan ran her fingers back through her hair, gripping it in her fists. “Red, I’m telling you, I know the woman. I know that she is in love with Richard. But I also know that Nicci wouldn’t do that to him. She wouldn’t do that to me.”
“To you?” The witch woman gave Kahlan a somber look as she slowly shook her head. “I am sorry, Mother Confessor, but I can see in the flow of time that she will. If she is not killed first, she will kill him.”
Kahlan couldn’t make any sense of it. She could tell that Red was absolutely convinced of it, but Kahlan couldn’t make it make any sense in her own mind. She got the feeling that there was something the witch woman was holding back.
“When?” she finally asked. “When do you see Nicci doing such a thing?”
For a long moment the woman regarded Kahlan with the kind of chilling look that could only be summoned by a witch woman.
“That is a question you really should not ask, Mother Confessor. Please take my word for it, and do not ask that question. You will not like the answer.”
Kahlan’s blood ran cold at the look in Red’s eyes. “I’m in the middle of this. I don’t like any of this, but you told me that the context is vital. I need the complete context.
“So I’m asking. When will Nicci kill Richard?”
Red was silent for a long time as she stared into Kahlan’s eyes. She finally spoke in a soft, but unwavering voice.
“I can’t say when, for certain. I can only tell you that it will be after you have already been murdered.”
Kahlan blinked, then frowned, not certain that she had heard correctly. “What?”
“When Nicci kills Richard, it will be sometime after you have been murdered.”
“After I’ve been murdered? As in dead?”
“Yes. You have very little time left before that happens. That is why you must kill the sorceress as soon as possible. You cannot afford to delay. It must be done today, or tomorrow when you arrive at the citadel, or the following day at the very latest. I don’t see you having any more time than that before you are murdered.”
“And who is it that is going to murder me?”
“Please believe me, if I knew, I would tell you. I have sought that answer, but the flow of time hides it from me. There must be some reason.
“It is the same with the old wizard. I tried to find out who murdered him so that I could tell you, because his murder and yours are connected, but I wasn’t able to pull an answer from that river of time.”
“His murder is connected to … to what will happen to me? How? How are the two connected?”
Red folded her arms in frustration as she looked away. “I wish I knew, but I don’t. I can only see that there is a connection of some kind. It could be that the same person who murdered Zedd will murder you, or it could be some form of interconnected cause and effect. I only know that the two are connected.”
Red’s gaze returned to meet Kahlan’s. “What I do know is that you must kill Nicci, now, before you are murdered, or it will be too late and the rest will come to pass. Nicci will kill Richard Rahl, and with him the only hope for the world of life.”
Kahlan could feel a tear running down her cheek as she stared at the witch woman. The thought of Richard being killed was too much for her. The thought of her being murdered was crushing, terrifying. It was all too overwhelming to take in.
“There must be a chance that you could be wrong.”
“I am sorry, Mother Confessor,” she said softly as she reached up, gently cupped her hand under Kahlan’s chin, and brushed the tear away with a thumb. “The truth is, either way, whether you kill Nicci or not, every possible branch in the flow of time shows that you are soon going to be murdered.
“I have seen you pass through on occasion as I have looked into the river of time. I saw your integrity, your virtue, your commitment to truth. I saw in the choices you made that you were brave, courageous, compassionate, and cared about others. I have admired you.
“It is a tradition of my kind to paint our lips black in mourning when we see the death of someone we care about. My lips are painted black today for you, Mother Confessor.
“I understand what this means for you, but you need to put your precious life into the context of what is going to happen to everyone else. This is bigger than you alone. You will never have another life, but neither will any of the other innocent people everywhere whose lives will be snuffed out. You need to put all that into perspective.
“Without Richard, they all die. Without you saving his life by killing Nicci, they all die. You have killed before to save the lives of those you care about. This is one of those times. The fate of everyone is in your hands, Mother Confessor.
“There is still a chance for Richard to live, but there is no chance to change what is going to happen to you.
“Only you can save the life of the man you love. If you care about him, about how precious his life is to you, if you care about the lives of everyone else, then you must kill Nicci.”
Kahlan felt as if the world was collapsing in on her. All her hopes and dreams were ashes.
All she had wanted was to ask if they could go on through the mountain pass.
She remembered what Zedd had told her once, that a witch woman never told you what you wanted to know without also telling you something that you did not want to know.
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Richard was at a loss. He had been following a good dozen paces behind Kahlan for over an hour after they had cleared the pass, and there was no improvement in her mood.
After they had been summoned by the blindfolded woman who said that the oracle had granted them safe passage, she led them through the pass without ever seeing the oracle. Richard had stopped the blindfolded woman back in the pass and asked to see the oracle. The oracle, the blindfolded woman had told them, had seen one of their party and she would see no more. She also said that the oracle had warned that if they wished to pass, they had to go right then or not at all.
Kahlan had not said a word the entire time about her meeting with the oracle. In fact, she hadn’t spoken to Richard about anything, not one word, since meeting up with them as they came through the pass. She had, however, taken up a lead position ahead of Richard, Nicci, Irena, and Samantha in their march and it was clear that she wished to be alone. Richard wasn’t used to that attitude from her, and it alarmed him in the extreme, but it seemed clear enough, so he hadn’t violated that wish.
What made it worse, though, was that she wouldn’t even look at him.
The entire time tears had slowly run down her face, despite how d
eeply her brow furrowed as she tried not to let them escape.
Richard didn’t know if he had done something wrong, although he couldn’t imagine what, but even if he had, he would never have thought that Kahlan would not want to speak to him. Even on those occasions when he had done something to upset her, she had at least been willing to talk to him about it, to tell him what was upsetting her. Whatever was troubling her this time, he would have thought that she would want to talk to him about it.
He was beside himself with worry for her. Although he couldn’t entirely shake the worry that he had done something wrong, he assumed that it had to be that the oracle had given Kahlan a prophecy that upset her. For some reason, that prophecy had gotten to her.
Kahlan knew better than to believe prophecy.
But that didn’t mean that this oracle couldn’t have said something that had been a dagger through her heart, and for some reason Kahlan was taking it seriously.
“What do you think?” he whispered to Nicci. “Should we try to talk to her?”
Nicci glanced over at him. “I think I know enough not to poke a hornet’s nest. My advice is to leave her be for now. Whatever it is, she will get over it or tell you when she is good and ready to tell you. Until then, leave her be.”
Samantha stuck her head between Richard and Nicci. “What do you think could be wrong?” she whispered.
“We don’t know,” Nicci told the young woman. “But a wise sorceress, or wizard, knows when to stay away from a person who wants room to think things through.” Nicci glanced down at Samantha. “It’s a lesson you need to learn.”
“Sorry,” Samantha whispered as she pulled her head back.
“She probably just doesn’t feel well,” Richard told Samantha, wanting to soften the sting of Nicci’s words. “The poison we both carry in us is as exhausting as it is frightening. It gets me down at times, too.”
Samantha nodded. “I know, Lord Rahl. I’ve felt it in you both. I know how frightening it is.”
He remembered how terrified Samantha had been when she had first encountered that touch of death in them. “I guess you do.”
She thought a moment. “If there is anything my mother or I can do to help, just ask. All right?”
Richard smiled briefly over his shoulder. “Thanks, Samantha.”
She nodded as she dropped back to walk with her mother.
“You’re too nice to her,” Nicci whispered.
“Nasty habit of mine,” he said, “trying to be nice to nice people. I’ll have to try to be more like you and hurt their feelings instead. That always seems to work.”
Nicci smiled a little. “Point taken.”
“Maybe you should talk to her,” he said.
“Who?”
“Kahlan.”
“I told you, I know better than to poke at a hornet’s nest.” Nicci shook her head. “You didn’t see the look she gave me.”
“What kind of look?”
“Well, if looks could kill…”
“What did you do to her to make her give you a look like that?”
“I didn’t do anything,” Nicci said, opening her hands in a gesture of bewildered innocence. “What did you do? She isn’t talking to you either.”
Richard sighed. “I wish I knew.”
Nicci rested a hand on his shoulder briefly as they walked close together. “She’ll be all right, Richard. I’m sure she just needs to work out some things the oracle told her and she doesn’t want us bothering her while she thinks it all through.”
“That makes sense,” Richard said. “I only wished I believed it.”
Nicci sighed, then. “Me too.”
Richard glanced off through gaps in the trees toward the mountains in the distance. They were growing a deeper shade of steel blue. After the sun dropped behind the towering mountains to the west, darkness descended quickly. The thick clouds would only hasten the approaching darkness.
Richard dropped back, waiting for Commander Fister to pick up his pace and catch up with him.
“Is the Mother Confessor all right?” the commander asked. The commander, like all of the men, could tell that something was wrong and was concerned about what it could be. Kahlan was in many ways their strength. Her spirit always seemed to buoy their spirits. Now, all of them wore somber expressions.
Richard forced a smile for the man. “Kahlan? Oh, she’s fine. It’s just that this sickness is really exhausting, both physically and mentally.”
“Oh,” he said, brightened by the solution to the puzzle.
The sickness was bad enough, but the worry of something more being the issue after speaking with the oracle had the commander concerned.
It had Richard even more concerned.
Richard gestured to the silhouette of the mountains to the west. “With the sun behind the mountains, it’s going to be dark soon. We’re going to need to set up camp.”
Commander Fister nodded. “Like the scouts told us, up ahead we’ll run into a road leading to Saavedra, but that won’t be until sometime tomorrow morning. We can’t make it that far tonight.”
“The good news, though,” Richard said, “is that the road will make for easier traveling and we should be able to reach Saavedra tomorrow. But for today, we’re going to need a place to set up camp before we get caught trying to do it in darkness.”
“Already ahead of you, Lord Rahl. I’ve had a report of a suitable spot not far up ahead.”
“Good,” Richard said. “Give the word for some men to go on then, and clear the area.”
The commander clapped a fist to his heart and trotted off to see to it.
As he watched Kahlan’s familiar, beautiful shape and fall of long hair as she walked all alone, Richard’s heart ached for her. He wished he knew what was wrong. He wanted more than anything to set it right for her and see her special smile, the one she gave only to him.
He hated to see her cry more than just about anything in the world.
After Zedd’s murder, Richard had seen her cry enough to last him a lifetime.
The thought of what had happened to Zedd again brought a fresh flash of anger mixed with the ache of grief. Richard forced the anger aside. At the moment it was more important for him to be there for Kahlan.
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Commander Fister spotted Richard and hurried over to speak with him. “All clear, Lord Rahl. The men who scouted the area report that there isn’t anyone anywhere. Not even any evidence of anyone having been in the area.”
“Likely because this place comes directly down from the pass,” Nicci said, “and you know what kind of trouble the chasms were, to say nothing of getting permission from the oracle. Not really any reason for anyone to want to head up in that direction, either.”
“That makes sense,” Richard said. “This is a pretty deserted back door into Saavedra. If it wasn’t, the people of straw would be used to seeing travelers, and they aren’t.”
The commander nodded his agreement. “And I don’t see any half people being able to follow us the way we came.”
Richard watched men spread out on the leafy forest floor among the thin growth of young hardwoods, laying out bedrolls, and gear, collecting firewood for the dozen small fires. The wood smoke drifting slowly through the camp offered a comfortingly familiar aroma to the quiet woods.
They could all see everyone in the light of those low campfires, and they could see a goodly distance off through the lightly wooded area. The ground wasn’t entirely level, with slight rises here and there, but it made for a good campsite. Most of the ground to the right began to rise as it went off to meet hills and mountains in the distance. The men would be able to get a good rest this night, for a change.
Richard had no idea what kind of defenses or orders Hannis Arc might have given at the citadel before he left, but they needed to be ready for anything. He didn’t think, though, that the home guard at the citadel would present a credible threat to these battle-hardened men of the First File. They
needed to get in to the containment field, and none of them were in the mood to put up with any foolishness. Anyone who had any notion of resistance would be wise to change their minds before they lost their heads.
Richard wondered why he was feeling so edgy. The citadel was part of Fajin Province, and Fajin Province was part of the D’Haran Empire. Everyone at the citadel was under his command.
Some of the men were already roasting rabbit, deer meat, and fish trapped in a nearby brook. They were all hungry and needed a good meal to keep up their strength. The next day was going to be critically important.
He supposed that the same went for him, but he wasn’t hungry. The roasting meats all smelled delicious, but Richard was too concerned about Kahlan to have much of an appetite. Besides that, the poison inside him was making his head pound, which made his stomach queasy. He had to struggle simply to remain conscious. Eating wasn’t high on his priorities.
Unexpectedly, Kahlan walked up on them. She pointed to an outcropping of rocks Richard could just see in the distance.
“Some of the men found a secure, private place where you and I can sleep. I laid out our bedrolls.”
“Sounds good to me,” Richard said, trying not to act surprised that this was the first time she had spoken to him since going off to see the oracle. “Would you like something to eat, first?”
“No,” she said before turning and making her way toward the spot she had pointed out.
Richard and Nicci shared a look.
“I think you had best go keep her warm and make sure she is comfortable,” Nicci said. “Just be nice and don’t try to be like me and hurt her feelings. I hear that doesn’t seem to work.”
Richard smiled at the sorceress. “You aren’t going to let me forget that, are you?”
“No,” she said, returning the smile. “Go tell her you love her, Richard.”
Richard nodded. “Thanks, Nicci. I will.”
He drew a deep breath, both eager to be with Kahlan and reluctant to find out what was troubling her. Mostly he wanted her to be back to being herself.
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