Soul of the Fire (Sword of Truth 5)

He merely smiled at her suspicion of his impaired judgment. “You should go eat. Take your new husband. I will send someone for you when I find the chicken that is not a chicken.”

It did sound like a good idea, and she saw Richard heading in their direction. Kahlan clasped the Bird Man’s arm in mute appreciation.

It had taken the whole afternoon to gather the chickens. Both structures reserved for evil spirits and a third empty building were needed to house all the birds. Nearly the entire village had joined in the grave cause. It had been a lot of work.

The children had proven invaluable. Fired by responsibility in such an important village-wide effort, they had revealed all the places the chickens hid and roosted. The hunters gently gathered all the chickens, even though it was a Barred Rock the Bird Man had at first pointed out, the same striated breed Richard chased out when they went to see Zedd, the same breed Richard said had waited above the door while they’d been in to see Juni.

An extensive search had been conducted. They were confident every chicken was housed in one of the three buildings.

As he cut a straight line through the chickens, Richard smiled briefly in greeting to the Bird Man, but his eyes never joined in. As Richard gaze met hers, Kahlan slipped her fingers up his arm to snug around the bulge of muscle, glad to touch him, despite her exasperation.

“The Bird Man says he hasn’t yet found the chicken you want, but he will keep searching. And there are still the two other buildings full of them. He suggested we go get something to eat, and he will send someone when he sees your chicken.”

Richard started for the door. “He won’t find it here.”

“What do you mean? How do you know?”

“I have to go check the other two places.”

If she was only annoyed, Richard looked frantic at not finding what he wanted. Kahlan imagined that he must feel his word was at stake. Back near the door, Ann and Zedd waited, silently observing the search, letting Richard have the leeway to look all he wanted, to do as he thought necessary.

Richard paused, combing his fingers back through his thick hair. “Do either of you know of a book called Mountain’s Twin?”

Zedd held his chin as he peered up at the underside of the grass roof in earnest recollection. “Can’t say as I do, my boy.”

Ann, too, seemed to consider her mental inventory for a time. “No. I’ve not heard of it.”

Richard took a last look at the dusty room packed with chickens and muttered a curse under his breath.

Zedd scratched his ear. “What’s in this book, my boy?”

If Richard heard the question over the background of bird babel, he didn’t let on, and he didn’t answer. “I have to go look at the rest of the chickens.”

“I could ask Verna and Warren for you, if it’s important.” Ann drew a small black book from a pocket, drawing, too, Richard’s gaze. “Warren might know of it.”

Richard had told Kahlan that the book Ann carried and was now flashing at him, called a journey book, retained ancient magic. Journey books were paired; any message written in it appeared simultaneously in its twin. The Sisters of the Light used the little books to communicate when they went on long journeys, such as when they had come to the New World to take Richard back to the Palace of the Prophets.

Richard brightened at her suggestion. “Please, yes. It’s important.” He started for the door again. “I’ve got to go.”

“I’m going to check on the woman who lost the baby,” Zedd told Ann. “Help her get some rest.”

“Richard,” Kahlan called, “don’t you want to eat?”

As she was speaking, Richard gestured for her to come along, but was through the door and gone before she finished the question. Zedd followed his grandson out, shrugging his perplexity back at the two women. Kahlan growled and started after Richard.

“It must be like a fanciful children’s story come to life for you, for a Confessor, to marry for love,” Ann commented while remaining rooted to the spot where she had been for the last hour.

Kahlan turned back to the woman. “Well, yes, it is.”

Ann smiled up with sincere warmth. “I’m so happy for you, child, being able to have such a wonderful thing as a husband you dearly love come into your life.”

Kahlan’s fingers lingered on the lever of the closed door.

“It still leaves me utterly astonished, at times.”

“It must be disappointing when your new husband seems to have more important things to attend to than his new wife, when he seems to be ignoring you.” Ann pursed her lips. “Especially on your very first day being his wife.”

“Ah.” Kahlan released the lever and clasped both hands loosely behind her back. “So that’s why Zedd left. We are to have a woman-to-woman talk, are we?”

Ann chuckled. “Oh, but how I do love it when men I respect marry smart women. Nothing marks a man’s character better than his attraction to intelligence.”

Kahlan sighed as she leaned a shoulder against the wall. “I know Richard, and I know he’s not trying my patience deliberately… but, this is our first day married. I somehow thought it would be different than this… this chasing imaginary chicken monsters. I think he’s so worried about protecting me he’s inventing trouble.”

Ann’s tone turned sympathetic. “Richard loves you dearly. I know he is worried, though I don’t understand his reasoning. Richard bears great responsibility.”

The sympathy evaporated from her voice. “We all are called upon to make sacrifices where Richard is concerned.”

The woman pretended to watch the chickens.

“In this very village, before the snow came,” Kahlan said in a careful, level tone, “I gave Richard over to your Sisters of the Light in the hope you could save his life, even though I knew doing so could very well end my future with him. I had to make him think I had betrayed him in order to get him to go with the Sisters. Do you even have any idea…”

Kahlan made herself stop, lest she needlessly dredge up painful memories. Everything had turned out well. She and Richard were together at last. That was what mattered.

“I know,” Ann whispered. “You do not have to prove yourself to me, but since it was I who ordered him brought to us, perhaps I must prove myself to you.”

The woman had surely picked the peg Kahlan wanted pounded, but she kept her response civil, anyway. “What do you mean?”

“Those wizards of so very long ago created the Palace of the Prophets. I lived at the palace, under its unique spell, for over nine hundred years. There, five hundred years before it was to happen, Nathan the prophet foretold the birth of a war wizard.

“There, together, we worked on the books of prophecy down in the palace vaults, trying to understand this pebble yet to be dropped into the pond, trying to foresee the ripples this event might cause.”

Kahlan folded her arms. “From my experience, I would say prophecy may be far more occluding than revealing.”

Ann chortled. “I am acquainted with Sisters hundreds of years your senior who have yet to understand that much about prophecy.”

Her voice turned wistful as she went on. “I traveled to see Richard when he was newborn life, newborn soul, g

limmering into the world. His mother was so astonished, so grateful, for the balance of such a magnificent gift come of such brutality as had been inflicted upon her by Darken Rahl. She was a remarkable woman, not to pass bitterness and resentment on to her child. She was so proud of Richard, so filled with dreams and hope for him.

“When Richard was that newborn life, suckling at his mother’s breast, Nathan and I took Richard’s stepfather to recover the Book of Counted Shadows so when Richard was grown he might have the knowledge to save himself from the beast who had raped his mother and given him life.”

Ann glanced up with a wry smile. “Prophecy, you see.”

“Richard told me.” Kahlan looked back at the Bird Man concentrating on the chickens pecking at the ground.

“Richard is the one come at last: a war wizard. The prophecies do not say if he will succeed, but he is the one born to the battle—the battle to keep the Grace intact, as it were. Such faith, though, sometimes requires great spiritual effort.”

“Why? If he is the one for whom you waited—the one you wanted?”

Ann cleared her throat and seemed to gather her thoughts. Kahlan thought she saw tears in the woman’s eyes.

“He destroyed the Palace of the Prophets. Because of Richard, Nathan escaped. Nathan is dangerous. He is the one, after all, who told you the names of the chimes. That perilously rash act could have brought us all to ruin.”

“It saved Richard’s life,” Kahlan pointed out. “If Nathan hadn’t told me the names of the chimes, Richard would be dead. Then your pebble would be at the bottom of the pond—out of your reach and no help to anyone.”

“True enough,” Ann admitted—reluctantly, thought Kahlan.

Kahlan fussed with a button as she began to imagine Ann’s side of it. “It must have been hard to bear, seeing Richard destroying the palace. Destroying your home.”

“Along with the palace, he also destroyed its spell; the Sisters of the Light will now age as does everyone else. At the palace I would have lived perhaps another hundred years. The Sisters there would have lived many hundreds of years more. Now, I am but an old woman near the end of my time. Richard took those hundreds of years from me. From all the Sisters.”