The Third Kingdom

She arched an admonishing eyebrow. “And if you break a leg in a badger hole while moving swiftly, who is going to help you? I’m going with you, Lord Rahl, and that’s all there is to it.”

Richard let out a long sigh. “You make a lot of sense, Samantha, you really do, but I know a lot more about these kinds of things than you. I’ve fought for years in the war with the Old World. You’ve never had to face anything remotely like the dangers out there.”

“Those dangers came here, into my home, looking for me, remember?” She shrugged with one shoulder as she looked away from his eyes. “Not only that, but my mother may be held captive with your friends. You said so yourself. If there is any way for me to help rescue her, too, then I want to go to make sure we get her away from those unholy cannibals.”

Richard had thought that might have had something to do with it. “I know how you feel. I really do. I promise you that if she is being held captive, I will fight to get her safely out the same as I will fight to get my people out. But I’ll handle it. I can’t allow you to come along.”

She stood and faced him.

“All right. You are the Lord Rahl. You do what you think best.” She planted her small hands on her narrow hips and cocked her head with a serious look. “But you know, of course, that if you don’t let me go with you, I will simply follow you. You can’t stop me from following you. Being separated like that, each of us alone rather than traveling together, will only be more dangerous for both of us. It would be better if we were to travel together. You could do what you can to protect me that way, and in turn I could do what I can to protect you.

“But one way or another, with you, or following in your footsteps, I’m going. That’s all there is to it.”

Richard pressed his lips tight as he appraised the determination in her dark eyes.

“You are one stubborn little girl.”

“Not a girl,” she said with conviction. “Samantha, sorceress serving the Lord Rahl.”

Richard couldn’t help but to smile. “So you are. Well, I guess you give me no choice in the matter, and what you say does have some good points.” He shook his head to himself. “All right, I’ll take you with me.”

Samantha smiled. “You won’t be sorry, Lord Rahl.”

“I hope not, and I hope you won’t be sorry. Let’s hurry and get supplies together for the two of us, then. And I want someone to watch over Kahlan while we’re gone.”

“Ester will watch her.”

Richard nodded. “Why don’t you go get her. Before we leave, we need to tell Ester a little bit of what we learned so that she can warn the others and then tell Kahlan when she wakes.”

CHAPTER

35

“I’ll get Ester,” Samantha said on the way across the room. She turned back from the doorway, looking a bit suspicious. “Don’t forget, if you leave without me, I will simply follow you. I hope you know better than to try to trick me.”

“I told you that you could come with me,” Richard said in an earnest tone. “I keep my word.”

“All right, then.” She looked just a bit sheepish for floating the accusation.

He didn’t want to put her young, inexperienced life in such terrible jeopardy, but he knew that she was right about her potential value to him. With the touch of death lurking within him, he didn’t know how long it would be before it might start to become a real problem that could slow him down. If he didn’t succeed, then everyone was going to be at the mercy of whatever could now escape from the third kingdom.

He could already feel the drag of that sickness making him feel unusually drained and weary. He could feel himself being inexorably drawn toward the darkness of death within. The inevitability of dying had always existed in the background of his mind, but it was a distant reality that most of the time went unnoticed. Now, death felt close, and coldly real.

In a way, that darkness trying to draw him in was beginning to feel appealing, inviting him to cross the veil of life into the unfeeling eternity of nothingness. It offered the comforting release of all effort, all cares, all fears.

Richard might very well need Samantha’s help before their journey was over. Even if she was a small help, it might be enough to make a difference.

Richard remembered his grandfather once telling him that wizards had to use people. He didn’t like the feeling that he was using Samantha, even though he knew she was willing, and even if she was not really giving him a choice. He knew in his own mind that it was really by his choice, not hers, and that she very well might lose her life on such a dangerous journey. They both might.

“I’ll need a pack as well,” he told her. “I don’t have any supplies with me. Most everything I had, except my sword, was in the wagon.” He checked in his pocket. “Wait, I’ve got a flint and steel for starting a fire, at least.”

Samantha nodded. “I’ll tell the men that we need just about everything else, then.”