Stone of Tears

In a moment more, the fire would consume Richard. Before she realized what she was doing, Kahlan had her fist out toward the Sister. Blue light crackled all around her wrist and hand. Little threads of blue lightning escaped from the sides as she struggled to restrain herself from releasing the bolt of power. Wisps of blue fire sizzled forth, throughout the spirit house, up the walls, across the ceiling and floor, everywhere except where the other two stood. She shook with the strain of holding back the power.

“Stop it!” The threads of blue lightning sucked the fire into them. “There will be no more killing today.” The blue light extinguished.

Silence again filled the room as Sister Verna stared at Kahlan. A hard edge of anger stole into her eyes. Richard settled to the ground and took his hand from the woman’s throat.

“I wouldn’t have harmed him. I only meant to frighten him into releasing me.” She turned her glare to Richard. “Who taught you to break a web?”

“No one taught me. I taught myself. Why did you kill Sister Elizabeth!”

“You taught yourself,” she mocked. “I told you. This is no game. It must go by the rules.” Her voice lost its edge. “I have known her for many years. If you had ever turned that sword of yours white, you would understand what it took for me to do as I did.”

Richard didn’t tell her he had turned the sword white. “You would expect me to put myself in your hands, after what you have done?”

“Your time is running out, Richard. After what I have seen today, I would be surprised if the headaches don’t soon kill you. I don’t know why it is that the pain hasn’t already put you down. Whatever is protecting you won’t last much longer. I know you don’t like to see anyone die. Neither do we, but please believe that what is done is done for you, to save you.”

She turned to Kahlan. “Be very careful with that power of yours, Mother Confessor. I doubt you have the slightest idea how dangerous it is.” Sister Verna pulled her hood up as her brown eyes turned to Richard. “You have been offered the first and second of three chances, and refused. I will return.” She leaned a little closer. “You only have one chance left. If you refuse it, you will die. Think on it carefully, Richard.”

After the door closed behind Sister Verna, Richard squatted next to the dead Sister. “she was doing something to me. Magic. I could feel it.”

“What did it feel like?”

Richard shook his head a little. “The first time they were here, I thought I felt something pulling me to accept their offer, but I was so afraid of the collar, I paid it no attention. This time, it was much stronger. It was magic. The magic was trying to force me to say yes, to accept the offer from the Sisters. I just thought about the collar until the force left and I was able to say no.”

He looked up at her. “You have any idea what’s going on? What she was doing, and what Sister Verna did, with the fire, and the rest of it?”

Kahlan’s hand still tingled from the blue lightening. “Yes. The Sisters are sorceresses.”

Richard rose smoothly to his feet. “sorceresses.” He watched her eyes for a long moment. “Why would they kill themselves when I said no?”

“I think it is to pass their power on to the next Sister, to make her stronger for when they try again.”

He looked down at the body. “Why would I be so important, that they would kill themselves to get me?”

“Maybe it is as they say. To help you.”

He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. “They don’t want one man, a stranger, to die, yet two of them have already died trying to get me to accept their help so a life wouldn’t be lost? How does that add up?”

“I don’t know, Richard, but I’m so scared it hurts. I’m afraid they could be telling the truth: that you don’t have much time, and the headaches are killing you. I’m afraid you won’t be able to control them much longer.” Her voice broke with emotion. “I don’t want to lose you.”

Richard slipped his arms around her. “It will be all right. I will bury her. The gathering will be in a few hours. Tomorrow we will be in Aydindril and then I will be safe. Zedd will know what to do.”

She could only nod against his shoulder.

Chapter 16

Kahlan sat naked in the circle with eight naked men. Richard was to her left, painted, as were she and the elders, with the black and white mud except in a small circle in the center of his chest. In the dim light coming from the small fire behind her, she could see the wild jumble of lines and swirls sweeping diagonally across his face. They all wore the same mask, so that the ancestors” spirits might see them. She wondered if she looked as savage to him as he looked to her. The unfamiliar, acrid smell from the fire made her nose itch. None of the elders scratched their noses; they only stared at nothing and chanted sacred words to the spirits.

The door slammed shut by itself, making her jump.

The Bird Man’s distant eyes came up. “From now, until we are finished, near dawn, no one may go out, no one may come in. The door is barred by the spirits.”