Nadine brushed back a thick strand of hair. “Strange dreams? No, no strange dreams. You know, I mean no stranger than any dreams. Just regular dreams.”
“What kind of ‘regular’ dreams do you have?”
“Well, you know, like when you dream that you’re little again, and lost in the woods, and none of the trails lead you where you know they should, or like when you dream that you can’t find all the right ingredients for a pie, and so you go to a cave and borrow them from a bear that can talk. Things like that. Just dreams. Dreams that you can fly, or breathe underwater. Crazy things. But just dreams. Like I’ve always had. Nothing different.”
“Have they changed recently?”
“No. If I remember them, they’re the same sort of things.”
“I see. I guess that all sounds pretty normal.”
Nadine pulled a cloak from her bag. “Well, I guess I’d better get a start. With luck, I’ll be home for the spring festival.”
Kahlan frowned. “You’ll be lucky to make midsummer festival.”
Nadine laughed. “I should think not. It can’t take longer back than here. Just two weeks or so. I only left just after the moon’s second quarter; it’s not yet full.”
Kahlan stared dumbly. “Two weeks.” It had to have taken Nadine months to travel all the way from Westland, especially in the winter when she would have had to have started, and especially across the Ring’Shada mountains. “Your horse must have had wings.”
Nadine laughed, then it died out as her smooth brow puckered. “Funny you should mention that. I don’t have a horse. I walked.”
“Walked,” Kahlan repeated incredulously.
“Yes. But since I’ve left, I’ve had dreams of flying on a horse with wings.”
Kahlan was having to work at keeping track of the shifting pieces of Nadine’s story. She tried to think of how Richard would ask questions. It had made her feel foolish when Richard put words to all the questions she should have asked Marlin, but never thought of. Though he had taken the sting out of it by telling her that she had done the right thing, it still embarrassed her that she had found out next to nothing important from Marlin when she had had her chance.
Confessors didn’t need to know much about questioning people; once she had touched a person with her power, a Confessor simply asked the criminal to confess if they had truly committed the crimes they had been found guilty of, and if the answer was yes—which it always was, except in a couple of rare instances—then to recount the details.
There was no art to it, and none needed. It was an infallible way of seeing to it that political dissenters weren’t falsely accused and found guilty of crimes they didn’t commit, simply to have them eliminated through a convenient execution.
Kahlan was determined to do a better job of asking Nadine questions. “When did Shota come to see you? You still haven’t told me that part.”
“Oh. Well, she didn’t exactly come to see me. I came across her up in the mountains. She had a lovely palace, but I never had the chance to go inside. I wasn’t there long. I wanted to get to Richard.”
“And what did Shota tell you? What were her words? Her exact words?”
“Let’s see…” Nadine pressed her first finger to her upper lip as she recollected. “She welcomed me. She offered me tea—she said that I had been expected—and had me sit with her. She made Samuel leave my bag when he tried to drag it away, and she told me not to be afraid of him. She asked where I was traveling, and I told her that I was going to my Richard—that he needed me. Then she told me things about Richard, things about his past that I would know about. It astonished me that she would know so much about him, but I thought that she must know him.
“And then she told me things about me that she would have no way of knowing. Like longings and ambitions—being a healer, using my herbs, things like that. That’s when I realized she was a mystic. I don’t remember her exact words about any of that part.
“She told me that it was true about Richard needing me. She said that we were going to be married. She said that the sky had told her it was so.” Nadine looked away from Kahlan’s eyes. “I was so happy. I don’t think I’d ever been that happy.”
“The sky. What else?”
“Then she said that she didn’t want to delay my journey to Richard. She said the wind hunts him—whatever that means—and that I was right that he needed me, and I should hurry and be on my way. She wished me luck.”
“That’s all? She must have said something else.”
“No, that’s all.” Nadine buttoned her bag closed. “Except she said a prayer for Richard, I think.”
“What do you mean? What did she say? Her exact words.”
“Well, when she turned away, to go back to her palace as I was getting up to leave, I heard her whisper, real solemn-like, ‘May the spirits have mercy on his soul.’”
Kahlan felt her arms under the white satin sleeves of her dress prickle with gooseflesh. She only remembered to take a breath when she felt her lungs burning for want of air.
Nadine hoisted her bag. “Well, I’ve caused you enough grief. I’d best be on my way home.”
Kahlan spread her hands. “Look, Nadine, why don’t you stay here for a while.”
Nadine paused with a bewildered look. “Why?”
Kahlan desperately searched for an excuse. “Well, I wouldn’t mind hearing stories about Richard when he was growing up. You could tell me about all the trouble he got himself into.” She made herself smile encouragement. “I’d really like that.”
Nadine shook her head. “Richard wouldn’t want me here. He’ll be angry if he comes back and I’m still here. You didn’t see the look in his eyes.”
“Nadine, Richard isn’t going to throw you out on your ear without letting you have a chance to rest up for a few days before you start back. Richard isn’t like that. He said ‘anything she needs.’ I think you could use a rest for a few days, more than anything else.”
Nadine shook her head again. “No. You’ve already been more kind to me than I’ve a right to expect. You and Richard belong together. You don’t need me around.
“But thank you for the offer. I can’t believe how kind you are—it’s small wonder Richard loves you. Any other woman in your place would’ve had me shaved bald and sent out of town in the back of a manure wagon.”
“Nadine, I’d really like you to stay.” Kahlan wet her lips. “Please?” she heard herself add.
“It might cause hard feelings between you and Richard. I don’t want to be the cause of that. I’m not that kind of person.”
“If it was a problem, I wouldn’t have asked. Stay. At least for a few days. All right? You could stay right here in this room you like so much. I’d… really like you to stay.”
Nadine studied Kahlan’s eyes for a long moment. “You really want me to stay? Really?”
“Yes.” Kahlan could feel her nails digging into her palms. “Really.”
“Well, to tell the truth, I’m not in a hurry to go home and confess my foolishness to my parents. All right, then, if you really want me to, I’ll stay for a while. Thank you.”
Despite having important reasons for asking Nadine to stay, Kahlan couldn’t help feeling like a moth flying into a flame.
8
Kahlan forced a smile. “Good, then. You’ll stay. It will be… nice, to have you stay for a visit. We’ll talk, you and I. About Richard. I mean, I’d like to hear your stories about him growing up.” She realized she must sound like she was babbling, and made herself stop.
Nadine beamed. “I can sleep in the bed?”
“Don’t be silly. Of course in the bed. Where else?”
“I have a blanket, and could sleep on the carpet so as not to—”
“No. I won’t have it. I’ve invited you to stay. I want you to feel at home, just like other guests who use this room.”
Nadine giggled. “Then I’d be sleeping on the floor. I sleep on a pallet on the floor in the back room above o
ur shop.”
“Well,” Kahlan said, “here you will sleep in the bed.” Kahlan glanced at Cara before going on. “Later, I’ll show you around the palace, if you’d like, but for now, why don’t you just unpack some of your things and have a rest while Cara and I go see to some important business.”
“What business?” Cara asked.
The woman is as silent as a stone through all this, Kahlan thought, and now she has to ask questions.
“Marlin business.”
“Lord Rahl told us to stay away from Marlin.”
“He’s an assassin sent to kill Richard. There are things I need to know.”
“I want to come, too, then,” Nadine said. She looked back and forth between Kahlan and Cara. “I can’t imagine anyone wanting to kill a person, much less Richard. I want to see what such a person looks like. I want to look into his eyes.”
Kahlan emphatically shook her head. “It’s not something you want to see. We need to question him, and it isn’t likely to be pleasant.”
“Really?” Cara asked, her voice brightening.
“Why?” Nadine asked. “What do you mean?”
Kahlan held up a finger. “Enough. I say this for your own good; Marlin is dangerous and I don’t want you down there. You are a guest. Please respect my wishes while you are a guest in my home.”
Nadine studied the floor at her feet. “Of course. Forgive me.”
“I will tell the guards that you are a guest, and if you would like anything—to have some of your things washed, a bath, anything—just ask and they will see that someone from the staff helps you. I’ll be back after a while and we can have dinner. We’ll talk over dinner.”
Nadine turned to her bag on the bed. “Sure. I didn’t mean to meddle. I don’t want to be in the way.”
Kahlan hesitantly touched a hand to the back of Nadine’s shoulder. “I didn’t mean to sound like I was ordering you around. This business with someone trying to hurt Richard just has me on edge, that’s all. I’m sorry I nearly bit your head off. You’re a guest. Please enjoy our home as your own.”
Nadine smiled over her shoulder. “I understand. Thanks.”
She really was a beautiful young woman: attractive figure and face, and an innocent quality, despite what truths Kahlan feared she danced around. Kahlan could easily see why Richard would have been attracted to her.
She wondered at what random wisp of fate had matched Richard with her, instead of this one. Whatever the reason, she thanked the good spirits that it was so, and prayed fervently that it would remain so.
More than anything, Kahlan wanted this perfidious gift from Shota to vanish. She wanted this tempting, beautiful, dangerous young woman away from Richard, to just send Nadine away. If only she could do so.
After telling the guards that Nadine was a guest, and once Kahlan and Cara had descended the carpeted stairs at the far end of the hall and were alone on the richly appointed landing, Cara seized Kahlan’s arm and spun her around to a halt.
“Are you crazy!”
“What are you talking about?”
Cara gritted her teeth as she leaned closer. “A witch woman sends your man a wedding gift—it’s the bride, and you invite her to stay!”
Kahlan rubbed a thumb against the round, polished sphere of ironwood topping the newel post. “I had to. Isn’t it obvious?”
“What is obvious to me is that you should have done as the little strumpet suggested; you should have shaved her bald and sent her away in the back of a manure wagon.”
“She’s a victim in this, too. She is Shota’s pawn.”
“Her tongue has a distaste for the truth. She still wants your man. If you can’t see that in her eyes, then you aren’t the wise woman I thought you to be.”
“Cara, I trust Richard. I know he loves me. If there’s one thing at the core of Richard’s way of looking at things, it’s trust and loyalty. I know my heart is safe in his hands.
“How would it look if I acted like a jealous woman and sent Nadine away? If I don’t show my trust in him, then I’m not honoring his loyalty to me. I can’t afford to even appear to betray his trust in me.”
Cara’s scowl didn’t so much as soften. “That bucket won’t carry water for me. All that may be true, but that isn’t why you asked Nadine to stay. You want to strangle her as much as I do, I can see it in your green eyes.”
Kahlan smiled, trying to see herself in the dark, polished ironwood. She could only see a blur of a reflection. “Hard to fool a sister of the Agiel. You’re right. I had to ask Nadine to stay because there’s something going on, something dangerous. The danger won’t simply go away if I make Nadine leave.”
With a gloved hand, Cara wiped a strand of blond hair back from her face. “Dangerous? Like what?”
“Therein lies the problem: I don’t know. And don’t you dare even think of hurting her. I have to find out what’s really going on, and in order to do that I may need Nadine. I don’t want to have to go hunting her when I could have kept her at hand and in sight in the beginning.
“Look at it this way. Would it have been the right thing to do to simply send Marlin away when he arrived and announced he wanted to kill Richard? Would that have solved the problem? Why are we keeping him around? To find out what’s going on, that’s why.”
Cara wiped at the unguent on her cheek as if it were a smudge of dirt. “I think you are inviting trouble to your bed.”
Kahlan had to blink at the burning sensation in her eye. “I know. Me, too. The obvious thing to do, the thing I ache to do, is to send Nadine away on the fastest horse I can find. But no problem is that easily solved, especially one sent by Shota.”
“You mean what Shota told Nadine, about the wind hunting Lord Rahl?”
“That’s part of it. I don’t know what it means, but it doesn’t sound to me like it’s something Shota dreamed up.
“Worse, though, is Shota’s prayer: ‘May the spirits have mercy on his soul.’ I don’t know what she meant by that, but it terrifies me. That, and that I might be making the biggest mistake of my life.
“But what choice do I have? Two people show up on the same day, one sent to kill him and the other sent to marry him. I don’t know which is more dangerous, but I do know that neither can be simply dismissed. If someone is trying to stick a knife in your back, closing your eyes doesn’t make you safe.”
Cara’s face eased from that of a Mord-Sith to the softer features of a woman who understood another woman’s fears. “I will watch your back. If she crawls into Lord Rahl’s bed, I will throw her out before he ever finds her there.”
Kahlan squeezed Cara’s arm. “Thanks. Now, let’s get down to the pit.”
Cara didn’t budge. “Lord Rahl said he does not want you down there.”
“And since when have you started following orders?”
“I always follow his orders. Especially the ones I know he means. He means this one.”
“Fine. You can watch over Nadine while I go down there.”
Cara snatched Kahlan’s elbow as she started to turn away. “Lord Rahl does not want you in danger.”
“And I don’t want him in danger. Cara, I felt a fool when Richard asked me all those questions that we failed to ask Marlin. I want the answers to those questions.”
“Lord Rahl said he would ask them.”
“And he’s not going to be back until tomorrow night. What happens in the meantime? What if something is going on and it’s too late to stop it by then? What if Richard is killed because we sat on our hands following his orders?
“Richard is afraid for me, and that’s keeping him from thinking clearly. Marlin has information about what’s going on, and it’s foolhardy to let time pass while the danger grows.
“What was it that you said to me, before? Something about hesitation being the end of you? Or the end of those you care about?”
Cara’s face went slack, but she didn’t answer.
“I care about Richard, and I’m not going to risk
his life by hesitating. I’m going to get the answers to those questions.”
Cara smiled at last. “I like your thinking, Mother Confessor. But then, you are a sister of the Agiel. The orders were ill-advised, if not foolish. Mord-Sith only follow Lord Rahl’s foolish orders when his male pride is at stake, not his life.
“We will go have a little discussion with Marlin, and get the answer to every one of those questions, and more. When Lord Rahl comes back, we will be able to give him the information he needs—if we haven’t already ended the threat.”
Kahlan popped the palm of her hand against the round newel post. “That’s the Cara I know.”
As they went lower in the palace, below the levels with carpets and paneling, down to the narrow, low-ceilinged halls where light came only from lamps, and even lower, where only torches lit the way, the air went from light and spring-fresh to stale, and then to rank with the heavy smell of damp, moldy stone.
Kahlan had walked those confining halls more times than she wished to recall. The pit was where they took confessions of the condemned. She had taken her first there, from a man who had killed his neighbor’s daughters after committing unspeakable acts on them. Of course, each of those times she had been accompanied by a wizard. Now, she was going to see a wizard being held there.
When they had passed out of earshot of a squad of soldiers guarding an intersection with two stairwells, and before they reached the turn that would take them to the pit hall that would be crowded with all the soldiers she had stationed there, Kahlan glanced over. Cara was an attractive woman, but a woman with an air of menace about her as she swept the empty hall with vigilant gazes.
“Cara, can I ask you a personal question?”
Cara clasped her hands behind her back as she strode along. “You are a sister of the Agiel. Ask.”
“Before, you told me that hesitation can be the end of you, or those you care about. You were talking about yourself, weren’t you?”
Cara slowed to a stop. Even in the hissing torchlight, Kahlan could see that her face had paled.
“Now that is truly a personal question.”