Wizard's First Rule - Terry Goodkind [28]
Richard watched as she looked away. “So what are they?”
Even though her head was turned, he could see her eyes close for a moment. She took the spoon from him and tasted the soup, which he knew wasn’t ready yet, then looked to him, as if asking if he really wanted to know. Richard waited.
Kahlan stared into the fire. “The boundaries are part of the underworld: the dominion of the dead. They were conjured into our world by magic, to separate the three lands. They are like a curtain drawn across our world. A rift in the world of the living.”
“You mean that going into the boundary is, what, like falling through a crack into another world? Into the underworld?”
She shook her head. “No. Our world is still here. The underworld is there in the same place at the same time. It is about a two-day walk across the land where the boundary, the underworld, lies. But while you are walking the land where the boundary is, you are also walking through the underworld. It is a wasteland. Any life that touches the underworld, or is touched by it, is touching death. That is why no one can cross the boundary. If you enter it, you enter the land of the dead. No one can return from the dead.”
“Then how did you?”
She swallowed as she watched the fire. “With magic. The boundary was brought here with magic, so the wizards reasoned they could get me safely through with the aid and protection of magic. It was frightfully difficult for them to cast the spells. They were dealing in things they didn’t fully understand, dangerous things, and they weren’t the ones who conjured the boundary into this world, so they weren’t sure it would work. None of us knew what to expect.” Her voice was weak, distant. “Even though I came through, I fear I will never be able to entirely leave it.”
Richard sat spellbound. He was horrified to think that she had faced that, that she had gone through a part of the underworld, the world of the dead, even with the aid of magic. It was unimaginable. Her frightened eyes came to his, eyes that had seen things no one else had ever seen.
“Tell me what you saw there,” he whispered.
Her skin was ashen as she looked back into the fire. A birch twig popped, making her flinch. Her lower lip began to quiver, and her eyes filled with tears that reflected the flickering flames, but she was not seeing the fire.
“At first,” she said in a distant tone, “it was like walking into the sheets of cold fire you see at night in the northern sky.” Her chest began heaving. “Inside, it is beyond darkness.” Her eyes were wide, wet. A small moan escaped with her breath. “There is… someone… with me.”
She turned to him, confused, seeming not to know where she was. It panicked him to see the pain in her eyes—pain he brought there with his question. She put her hand over her mouth as tears rolled down her cheeks. Her eyes closed as she gave a low, mournful cry. Bumps ran up Richard’s arms.
“My… mother,” she sobbed, “I haven’t seen her in so many years… and… my dead sister… Dennee…. I’m so alone… and afraid….” As she cried, she started gasping for air.
Somehow, he was losing her to the powerful specters of what she had seen in the underworld, as if they were pulling her back to drown her. Frantic, Richard put his hands on her shoulders and twisted her to face him.
“Kahlan, look at me! Look at me!”
“Dennee…” she gasped, her chest heaving as she tried to break free of him.
“Kahlan!”
“I’m so alone… and afraid….”
“Kahlan! I’m here with you! Look at me!”
She continued to cry convulsively, choking for air. Her eyes opened, but they didn’t focus on him; they were looking into another place.
“You’re not alone, I’m here with you! I won’t leave you!”
“I’m so alone,” she wailed.
He shook her, trying to make her listen. Her skin was white and dead cold. She struggled to breathe. “I’m right here. You’re