Wizard's First Rule - Terry Goodkind [231]
She spun at him, her chest heaving. “Richard, please! Just let me go? I don’t want to be with you! Just let me go!” It was the first emotion she had shown since leaving Agaden Reach.
It was his turn to hide his emotions. “No.”
She glared at him with tire in her green eyes. “You can’t watch me every minute. Sooner or later…”
“Every minute… if I have to.”
They stood glaring angrily at each other; then the emotion on her face was gone, and she turned back to the road, walking on.
They had only stopped for a few minutes, but it had been enough for the thing that followed them to make another mistake, a rare one. It had let its guard down briefly, and let itself get too close—close enough for Richard to see its fierce yellow eyes again, if only for an instant.
He had been aware that they were being followed since the second day out of the Reach. Years spent alone in the woods made him aware when he was being followed, tracked. It was a game he and the other guides had played sometimes in the Hartland Woods, seeing how far they could follow each other without being detected. Whatever followed now was good at the game. But not as good as Richard. Three times now, he had seen the yellow eyes, when no one else would have.
He knew it wasn’t Samuel; the yellow was different, darker, and the eyes were closer together—and it was smarter. It couldn’t be a heart hound; they would have been attacked long before now. Whatever it was, it only watched.
Richard was sure Kahlan hadn’t seen it; she was too far lost in her own dark thoughts. Sooner or later, the thing would make itself known, and Richard would be ready. But with Kahlan the way she was right now, he had his hands full, and he didn’t need more trouble.
So he didn’t turn and look, to show it that he suspected, didn’t backtrack, and didn’t snap a circle, as he and the other guides had called the maneuver, but rather, he let his eyes catch the glimpses when they did, without forcing a glance. He was reasonably sure the thing that followed didn’t know he was aware of it. For now, that’s the way he wanted to keep it. It left the advantage with him.
He watched Kahlan as she walked with her shoulders slumped, and wondered what he was going to do in a few days, when they reached Tamarang. Whether he liked it or not, she was winning this slow battle, simply because things couldn’t go on like this. She could fail time and again; she had only to succeed once. He had to win every time. To slip just once would let her end her life. In the end, he knew, he couldn’t win, knew he was going to lose, and could think of nothing to change that.
Rachel sat on the short footstool in front of the tall chair that was covered with red velvet and buttons and gold carving, waiting, knocking her knees together. Hurry, Giller, she kept saying to herself, hurry, before the Princess comes. She looked up at the Queen’s box. She hoped that when Princess Violet came to try on jewelry, she didn’t touch the box again. Rachel hated it when she did that; it scared her.
The door opened a little. Giller poked his head in.
“Hurry, Giller,” she whispered loudly.
The rest of him came in. He stuck his head back out, looking up and down the hall, then he shut the door. He looked down at her.
“Did you get the bread?”
She nodded. “I got it here.” She pulled the bundle out from under the chair and set it on the footstool. “I took a towel and wrapped it around the bread so no one would see.”
“Good girl.” He smiled as he turned around, away from her.
She smiled up at him, then frowned. “I had to steal it. I never stole anything before.”
“I assure you, Rachel, it’s for a good cause.” He was looking at the box.
“Giller, Princess Violet is coming here.”
He turned back, his eyes big. “When?”
“She said after she has the fitting for her new dress. She’s pretty fussy, so it may take a while, but maybe not. She likes to try jewelry on and look at herself in the mirror.”
“Curse the spirits,” Giller whispered, “nothing is ever easy.” He turned around again and snatched the Queen’s box off the marble