Wizard's First Rule - Terry Goodkind [114]
Kahlan came out, and asked him if he was ready to come eat. He hadn’t even realized it was getting dark. After she left, he went to the well and poured a bucket of cold water over himself, washing off the sweat. Kahlan and Adie were sitting at the table, and since there were only two chairs, he brought in a log round to sit on. Kahlan set a bowl of soup in front of him as he sat down, and handed him a spoon.
“You have given me a wonderful gift, Richard,” Adie said.
“And what would that be?” He blew on a spoonful of soup to cool it.
She looked at him with her white eyes. “Without taking offense, you have given me the time to talk to Kahlan in my native tongue. You cannot know what joy that be for me. So many years it has been. You are a very perceptive man. You are a true Seeker.”
Richard beamed at her. “You have given me something very precious too. The lives of my friends. Thank you, Adie.”
“And your spice soup be wonderful,” she added, with a hint of surprise.
“Yes.” Kahlan winked at him. “It’s as good as I make.”
“Kahlan has told me about Darken Rahl, and about the boundary failing,” Adie said. “It explains much. She has told me that you know of the pass, and wish to cross into the Midlands. Now you must decide what you will do.” She took a spoonful of soup.
“What do you mean?”
“They must be awakened every day to drink, and they must be fed a gruel. Your friends be asleep for many days, five, maybe ten. You must decide, as Seeker, if you are to wait for them, or go on. We cannot help you; you must decide.”
“That would be a lot of work for you to do by yourself.”
Adie nodded. “Yes. But it not be as much work as going after the boxes, as stopping Darken Rahl.” She ate some more soup as she watched him.
Richard stirred his spoon around absently in his bowl. There was a long silence. He looked to Kahlan, but she showed nothing. He knew she didn’t want to interfere with his decision. He looked back down at his soup.
“Every day that passes,” he said quietly at last, “brings Rahl closer to the last box. Zedd told me he has a plan. That does not mean it is a good plan. And there may not be time to use it when he awakes at last. We could lose before we start.” He looked up into Kahlan’s green eyes. “We can’t wait. We can’t take the chance; too much is at risk. We must leave without him.” Kahlan gave him a smile of reassurance. “I wasn’t planning on letting Chase go with us anyway. I have a more important job for him.”
Adie reached across the table and put her weathered hand on his. It felt soft and warm. “It not be an easy choice to make. It not be easy to be Seeker. That which lies ahead be difficult beyond your worst fears.”
He forced a smile. “At least I still have my guide.”
The three of them sat in silence, considering what must be done.
“You both will have a good sleep tonight,” Adie said. “You will need it. After supper, I will tell you what you will need to know to get through the pass.” She looked to each of them in turn; her voice became even raspier. “And I will tell you how I lost my foot.”
CHAPTER 17
Richard placed the lamp on the side of the table, close to the wall, and lit it with a stick from the fire. The sound of gentle rain and night creatures drifted in from the window. The chirps and calls of small animals going about their nocturnal lives were familiar to him, comforting sounds of home. Home. His last night in his homeland, and then he was to cross into the Midlands. As his father had done. He smiled to himself at the irony. His father had brought the Book of Counted Shadows out of the Midlands, and now he was taking it back.
He sat down on the log round, across from Kahlan and Adie. “So, tell me, how do we find the pass?”
Adie leaned back in her chair and swept her hand through the air. “You already have. You be in the pass. The mouth of it anyway.”
“And what do we need to know to get through it?”
“The pass be a void in the underworld, but it still be a land of the dead. You be living. The beasts hunt