Wizard's First Rule - Terry Goodkind [223]
“Richard. Listen to me. Darken Rahl has put the boxes of Orden in play. If he succeeds, there will be no one with the power to restrain him. Ever. A great many people will die. You. Me. It’s in my own interest to help you because you are the only one who has a chance to stop him. How, or why, I don’t know, but I can see the flow of power. You are the only one with a chance.
“That does not mean you will succeed, only that you have the chance. No matter how small, it is within you. Know also that there are forces to defeat you before you could bring your chance to bear. The old wizard does not have the power to stop Rahl. That’s why he gave you the sword. I do not have the power to stop Rahl. But I do have the power to be of aid to you. That’s all I wish to do. In so doing I help myself. I do not want to die. If Rahl wins, I will.”
“I know all this. That’s why I said you would answer my question without my having to use the wish.”
“But there are other things I know, Richard, that you do not.”
Her beautiful face studied him with a sadness that hurt. Her eyes had the same fire in them that Kahlan’s had; the fire of intelligence. Richard felt the need in her, the need to help him. He feared suddenly what it was she knew, because he realized that it wasn’t meant to hurt him, it was simply truth. Richard saw Samuel watching the sword and became aware of his own left hand, resting around the hilt, aware of how tightly he was gripping it, and how the raised letters of the word Truth were pressing painfully into his palm.
“Shota, what are these things you know?”
“The easiest first,” she sighed. “You know the way you stopped the wizard’s fire with the sword? Practice the move. I gave you that test for a reason. Zedd will use the wizard’s fire against you. Only the next time, it will be for real. The flow of time does not say who will prevail, only that you have a chance to beat him.”
Richard’s eyes widened. “That can’t be true.…”
“True,” she said, clipping off his words, “as a tooth given by a father to show the keeper of the book, to show the truth of how it was taken.”
That rattled him to his bones.
“And no, I don’t know who the keeper is.” Her eyes burned into him. “You will have to find him yourself.”
Richard could hardly draw a breath, could hardly make himself ask the next question. “If that was the easy part, then what is the hard?”
Auburn hair tumbled off her shoulder as Shota looked away from his eyes, to Kahlan, who stood stone still while the snakes writhed on her. “I know what she is, and how it is she is a threat to me.…” Her voice trailed off. She turned back to him. “It is obvious you do not know what she is, or perhaps you would not be with her. Kahlan has a power. Magic power.”
“That much I know,” Richard offered cautiously.
“Richard,” Shota said, trying to find the words for something she found difficult, “I am a witch woman. As I said, one of my powers is that I can see things as they will come to pass. It is one reason fools fear me.” Her face drew closer to his, uncomfortably close. Her breath smelled of roses. “Please, Richard, don’t be one of these fools; don’t fear me because of things I have no control over. I’m able to see the truth of events that will come to be; I do not dictate or control them. And just because I see them, that does not mean I’m at all happy about them. It is only by action in the present that we can change what otherwise will come to pass. Have the wisdom to use the truth to your advantage, don’t simply rail against it.”
“And what truth do you see, Shota?” he whispered.
Her eyes had an intensity that halted his breath, her voice the sharp edge of a blade.
“Kahlan has a power, and if she isn’t killed, she will use that power against you.” She watched his eyes carefully as she spoke. “There can be no doubt of the truth of this. Your sword can protect you from the wizard’s fire, but it will not protect you from her touch.”
Richard felt