Wizard's First Rule - Terry Goodkind [345]
Richard glared. “That would be the biggest mistake you could make. You need her to confirm the truth of the book. If you harm her, you destroy your chance.”
Rahl shrugged. “So you say. How would I know you really do know what the book says? It could even be that this is the manner in which she will confirm the truth.”
Richard said nothing, his mind racing in a thousand directions at once. Think of the solution, he told himself, not the problem.
“How did you get the covering off that box, without the book?”
“The Book of Counted Shadows is not the only source of information about the boxes. There are other places that are of aid to me.” He looked down at the dark box. “It took a full day, and every talent I have, to get the covering off.” He looked back up, lifting an eyebrow. “It’s held on with magic, you know. But I did it, and I will be able to do it to the other two.”
It was discouraging that Rahl had managed to get the covering off. To open a box, the covering had to be removed. Richard had hoped that without the book, Rahl wouldn’t be able to figure out how to remove the covers, and not be able to open a box. That hope was now lost.
Richard stared blankly at the jeweled box. “Page twelve of the Book of Counted Shadows. Under the heading Shedding the Covers, it says: The covering on the boxes may be removed by anyone with the knowledge, not only the one who has put them in play.” Richard reached out and lifted the jeweled box off the granite. “Page seventeen, third paragraph down on the page. If not, however, in the hours of darkness, but in the hours of the sun, the covering may be removed from the second box in the following manner. Hold the box where the sun may touch it, and face north. If there be clouds, hold the box where the sun would touch it if they were not present, but face the west.” Richard held the box up in the late-day sunlight. “Turn the box that the small end with the blue stone may face the quadrant with the sun. The yellow stone is to face up.” Richard turned the box. “With the second finger of the right hand on the yellow stone in the center of the top, place the thumb of the right hand on the clear stone in the corner of the bottom.” Richard grasped the box as directed. “Place the first finger of the left hand on the blue stone on the side facing away, the thumb of the left hand on the ruby stone of the side closest.” Richard placed his fingers so. “Clear your mind of all thought, and in its place, put nothing but the image of white with a square of black in its center. Pull the two hands apart, taking the covering away with them.”
As Rahl watched, Richard cleared his mind, pictured white with black in the center, and pulled. The cover made a clicking sound, and came apart. He held the box just over the granite and pulled the cover away as if he were putting an egg in a frying pan. Two equally black boxes sat side by side, seeming as if they would suck the light from the room.
“Remarkable,” Rahl breathed. “And you know every part of the book this well?”
“Every word.” Richard glared. “What I have told you will be of no aid in removing the third cover, however. They each come off differently.”
Rahl gave a little wave of his hand. “No matter. I will get it off.” He held an elbow in one hand and touched a finger of the other to his chin, absorbed in thought. “You are free to go.”
Richard frowned. “What do you mean, I am free to go? Aren’t you going to try to get the book out of me? Kill me?”
Rahl shrugged. “It would do me no good. The ways I have of getting information from you would damage your brain. The information would be disjointed. If it were anything else, I would be able to put the pieces together, and figure it out, but I can see the book is too specific for that. The information would only end up being spoiled, and of no use to me. You, therefore, are of no use to me right now, so you may go.”
Richard was worried. There was something more to this. “Just like that? I may go? You must know I will try to stop you.”
Rahl licked his fingers. His