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"Why? If a rabbit jumped out of a bush, you could just burn it to ashes with your Han."
She giggled. "I'd still be frightened. I like the city better." She pulled some hair back from her face and looked at him as they walked. She had a funny way of wrinkling her nose. "Did you have a... well, you know, a girl, a love, or anything?"
Richard was taken by surprise at the question. His mouth opened, but no words came out. He snapped it closed. He was not about to discuss Kahlan with her.
"I have a wife."
Pasha missed a step. She hurried to catch back up. "A wife!" She considered a moment. Her voice now had an edge to it. "What is her name?"
Richard kept his eyes straight ahead as he walked. "Her name is Du Chaillu."
Pasha twisted a strand of hair around her finger. "Is she pretty? What does she look like?"
"Yes, she is pretty. She has thick black hair, a little longer than yours. She has attractive breasts, and the rest of her is shapely, too."
From the corner of his eye he could see Pasha's face glowing red. She picked at the end of the strand of hair. Her voice came quiet and cold, despite trying to layer indifference over it."How long have you known her?"
"A few days."
Her hand fell away from her hair. "What do you mean, a few days? How could you only know her a few days?"
"When Sister Verna and I went to the Majendie land, a few days ago, they had her chained up. They were going to sacrifice her to their spirits, and they wanted me to do the killing. Sister Verna said I was to do as the Majendie wished, so we could pass through their land.
"Instead, I disobeyed Sister Verna, and shot an arrow at their Queen Mother, pinning her arm to a pole. I told them that if they didn't let Du Chaillu go, and make peace with the Baka Ban Mana, I would put the next arrow through the Queen Mother's head. They wisely agreed."
"She is one of the savages?"
"She is Baka Ban Mana. A wise woman. She is not a savage."
"And she wed you because you were her hero? Because you rescued her?"
"No. Sister Verna and I had to go through her land, to come here. When we were there, I killed her five husbands."
Pasha snatched him by the arm. "They are blade masters! You managed to kill five of them?"
Richard started walking again. "No, I killed thirty of them." Pasha gasped. "Her five husbands were among the thirty. Du Chaillu is their spirit woman, and said I was now the leader of her people. She said that since she was the spirit woman, and I their leader, their Caharin, I was now her husband."
Pasha's smile crept back. "Then you are not really her husband. She was just telling you some of her savage... some of her Baka Ban Mana spirit babble."
Richard didn't say anything. Pasha's smile evaporated. Her scowl returned. "Then how do you know what her breasts, and the rest of her, looks like?" She looked the other way and gave a sniff. "I suppose she rewarded you for your valor."
"I know because when they sent me in to kill her, she had a collar around her neck and she was chained to a wall. She was held naked in that collar so that men could rape her whenever they wanted." Pasha swallowed and looked away again. "She is with child, now, by one of those men. I guess that because the people to be sacrificed are held in a collar, the Sisters never gave a thought to putting a stop to it. I don't guess the Sisters care much what happens to someone in a collar."
"The Sisters care," Pasha said in a small voice.
Richard didn't argue. He walked on in silence. Pasha looked cold as she folded her arms beneath her breasts. The sky was turning a deep purple, but it was not getting cold; it was still warm.
After a time, Pasha's step regained a bit of its bounce. She glanced over, the smile back.
"So, what about you? You have the gift. Did your father have the gift, too? Is that where it was passed down from?"
Richard's mood sank like a rock in a well. "Yes, my father had the gift."
She looked up hopefully. "Is he still living?"
"No. He was killed a short time ago."
Pasha smoothed the front of her skirt. "Oh. I'm sorry, Richard."
Richard's hand tightened on the reins. "I'm not. I'm the one who killed him."
She froze. "You killed your father? Your own father?"
Richard's glare locked on to her. "He had me captured, and put in a collar to be tortured. I killed the beautiful young woman who held the leash to that collar, and then I killed him."
She had no trouble mistaking the threat in his voice, his words, or his eyes.
Her lower lip began to quiver, and then Pasha burst into tears, turned, and ran. Holding her skirts up in her fists, she went around an outcropping of rock and ran off over the edge of the hill.
Richard let out a long sigh as he tied the reins to a slab of granite. He patted Bonnie's neck.
"Be a good girl. Wait here for me."
He found Pasha sitting on a rock with her arms wrapped around her knees as she cried. Richard came around to face her, but she turned her face away. Her shoulders shook as she gasped in racking sobs.
"Go away!" She put her forehead against her knees as she wailed. "Or did you come to slice me to bits?"
"Pasha—"
"All you care about is killing people!"
"That's not true. I want nothing more than to end the killing."
"Oh sure," she cried, "that's why you speak of nothing else!"
"That's only because—"
"I've been praying for this day nearly my whole life! All I ever wanted was to be a Sister of the Light. The Sisters help people. I wanted to be one of them!" She succumbed to her tears. "I'm never going to be a Sister, now."
"Sure you will."
"Not according to you! From what you keep telling us, you intend to kill us all! From the first moment, all you have done is threaten us!"
"Pasha, you don't understand."
Her tear stained face came up. "Don't I? We had a big banquet to make you feel welcome, bigger even than the harvest banquet. I had to go without you and tell everyone you were ill. They all stared at me! The other novices get boys who want to learn. My friends have come to me before, complaining that their young charge brought them a frog or a bug in his pocket. You bring me a mriswith!
"Sister Maren said we did well today. She hardly ever says that. It's not something she does unless she really means it.
"You were cruel to Sister Maren. She has been headmistress of the novices ever since I came here. She is strict, but that's because she cares about us. She watches out for us."
Pasha gasped back a sob. "When I was little, the first day I came to the Palace, I was scared. I had never been away from home. Sister Maren drew a little picture for me. She told me it was a picture of the Creator. She put it on my pillow and told me He would watch over me in the night, so I would be safe."
Pasha tried to stifle the tears, but couldn't. "I've always kept that picture. I wanted to give it to my boy on his first night, so he wouldn't be afraid. I had it with me yesterday. When I saw you, saw that you were grown, I knew I couldn't give it to you. I didn't want to embarrass you.
"And when I saw you, I thought, well Pasha, he's not a young boy, like all the other novices get, but the Creator has given me the handsomest man I ever saw. I was so glad I had on my prettiest dress, the one I had been saving for that day." She gasped for air. "And then you tell me I'm ugly!"
Richard's eyes slid closed. "Pasha, I'm sorry."
"No you're not!" she cried. "You nothing but a big brute! We had everything prepared for you. We gave you one of the nicest rooms in the Palace. You didn't care. We provided you with money for whatever you might need or want, and you act as if we insulted you. We had fine new clothes for you, and you turn your nose up at them!"
She wiped her tears, but more replaced them. "I'd be the first to admit that there are some Sisters who think too much of themselves, but most are so kind they wouldn't even step on a bug. And you hold up a bloody sword in front of them and vow to kill them!
"
She held up fists full of her skirt and covered her face as she convulsed in sobs. Richard put a hand on her shoulder but she pushed it away.
Richard didn't know what to do with his hands. "Pasha, I'm sorry. I know it must seem like—"
"No you're not! You're not sorry at all! You want the Rada'Han off, but that's what my job is, to teach you to use your gift so you can get the collar off. But you won't let me! Without the collar, you would have died.
"Two Sisters have given their lives for you. They will never come home to their friends. Those friends wept in secret, and put on a smile to welcome you. In return for trying to help you, trying to save your life, you threaten to kill us all!"
Richard put a gentle hand to her head. "Pasha..."
"I'm never going to be a Sister. Instead of getting a boy who wants to learn, I get a madman with a sword. I will forever be the object of laughter at the Palace. Young girls will be told to behave themselves or they will end up like Pasha Maes, and be put out like she was. My dreams have come to ruin."
It hurt him to see her sobbing in such pain and sorrow. Richard took her up in his arms. She fought him at first, trying to push him away, but when he pulled her against him and put her head to his shoulder, she went limp and cried all the harder. Richard held her tight and rubbed her back as she trembled and cried. He rocked her gently in his arms.
