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He shook his head as he clutched his ribs. “Please,” he begged, tears welling up again, “don’t. I’ll answer your questions… but I don’t really know anything. Emperor Jagang comes to me in my dreams and tells me what to do. I know the cost of failure. I do as I’m told.” He paused to gasp a sob. “He told me to… to come here and kill you both. He told me to find a soldier’s uniform, and weapons, and to come kill you both. He uses wizards, and sorceresses, to do his bidding.”
Kahlan stood, puzzling over Marlin’s words. He seemed to have reverted to being hardly more than a boy. Something was missing, but she couldn’t imagine what it could be. It made sense on the surface—Jagang sending an assassin—but something deeper didn’t tally. She paced to the side table with the lamp and leaned a hip against it. With her back to Marlin, she rubbed her throbbing temples.
Cara inched close. “Are you all right?”
Kahlan nodded. “This worry is just giving me a headache, that’s all.”
“Maybe you could have Lord Rahl kiss it and make it better.”
Kahlan chuckled silently at Cara’s concerned frown. “That would work.” She waved her hands in the air as if shooing a gnat, trying to chase away the doubts. “It doesn’t make any sense.”
“The dream walker trying to kill his enemy doesn’t make sense?”
“Well, think about it.” She glanced over her shoulder to see Marlin hugging his ribs and rocking on the floor. His eyes, even when they were filled with terror, and even, like now, when he wasn’t looking her way, for some reason made her skin crawl. She turned back to Cara and lowered her voice. “Surely Jagang had to know that one man, even a wizard, would fail at such a task. Richard would recognize a man with the gift, and besides, there are too many people here who would be only too ready to kill an intruder.”
“But still, with his gift, he might have a chance. Jagang wouldn’t care if the man were killed. He has an abundance of others to do his bidding.”
Kahlan’s thoughts flicked about, trying to pick out the nettle of a reason behind her itching doubt.
“Even if he managed to kill some of them with his magic, there are still too many. A whole army of mriswith failed to kill Richard. He can recognize one with the gift, with magic, as a threat. He doesn’t know how to command his magic, much as you don’t understand how to control Marlin’s, beyond giving him pain with it, but his guard would be up, at the least.
“This just doesn’t make any sense. Jagang is far from stupid; there has to be more to it. He must have some plan to this. Something more than we’re seeing.”
Cara clasped her hands behind her back as she took a deep breath. She turned. “Marlin.” His head came up, his eyes at attention. “What was Jagang’s plan?”
“To have me kill Richard Rahl and the Mother Confessor.”
“What else?” Kahlan asked. “What more was there to his plan?”
His eyes flooded. “I don’t know. I swear. I told you as he ordered me. I was to get a soldier’s uniform and weapons so I would look like I belonged and could get close. I was to kill you both.”
Kahlan wiped a hand across her face. “We’re not asking the right questions.”
“I don’t know what else there could be. He has admitted the worst of it. He told us his goal. What more could there be?”
“I don’t know, but there’s something still itching at me.” Kahlan sighed in resignation. “Maybe Richard can reason this out. He is the Seeker of Truth, after all. He’ll figure out what it means. Richard will know the right questions to ask so that…”
Kahlan’s head suddenly came up, her eyes wide. She advanced a long stride toward the man on the floor.
“Marlin, did Jagang also tell you to announce yourself when you arrived?”
“Yes. Once inside the palace, I was to give my reason for being here.”
Kahlan stiffened. She snatched Cara’s arm and pulled her close while keeping her eyes on Marlin. “Maybe we shouldn’t tell Richard about this. It’s too dangerous.”
“I have Marlin’s power. He’s helpless.”
Kahlan’s gaze darted about, hardly hearing what Cara had said. “We have to put him somewhere safe. This room won’t do.” She put a thumbnail between her teeth.
Cara frowned. “This room is as safe as anywhere. He can’t get away. He’s safe in here.”
Kahlan took her thumb from her mouth as she stared at the man rocking on the floor.
“No. We have to find someplace safer. I think we’ve made a big mistake. I think we’re in a lot of trouble.”
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About Blood of the Fold
The New World is besieged.
To the South, the Great Barrier between the Old World and the New has fallen, unleashing the Imperial Order, an enemy constrained for three thousand years. To the West, the Blood of the Fold rise, railing against the corrupting taint of magic. Together, they threaten the very freedom of humankind.
Richard Cypher’s only option is to unite all free kingdoms and provinces under one rule and one command – his. War and treachery plague the world, and only he can save it from an armageddon of unimaginable savagery and destruction.
Reviews
“Each volume of the Sword of Truth proves more difficult to review than the last. There are only so many ways of heaping praise on a series that gets better and better.”
SFX
“Everything one could ask for in an epic fantasy.”
Publishers Weekly
“Mr. Goodkind’s compelling prose weaves a magic spell over readers.”
Romantic Times BOOK reviews
“Outstanding… Characters who actually behave like adults. Highly recommended.”
The San Diego Union-Tribune
“Few writers have Goodkind’s power of creation…. a phenomenal piece of imaginative writing, exhaustive in its scope and riveting in its detail.”
Publishing News
About Terry Goodkind
TERRY GOODKIND has been a wildlife artist, a cabinetmaker, a racing driver and a violin maker. He lives in the desert in Nevada.
www.terrygoodkind.com
www.facebook.com/terrygoodkind
www.twitter.com/terrygoodkind
About the Sword of Truth series
The Sword of Truth series follows Richard Cypher, a young woodsman intent on tracking down his father’s murderer. His quest will take him far from home, embroiling him in an ancient war, three-millennia past, that is about to re-ignite with world-shattering violence.
1 – Wizard’s First Rule
Deep in the upper Ven Forest, close to the Boundry, woodsman Richard Cypher is intent on tracking down his father’s killers. Richard has no idea of how far his quest will take him from home, nor that his world, his very beliefs, are about to be shattered…
Kahlan Amnell, tormented by treachery and loss, is being hunted, pursued remorselessly by a bloodthirsty tyrant’s assassins. A monstrous evil is about to be unleashed upon the world and she knows her one hope of halting it is to find the last great Wizard…
Together, Richard and Kahlan have a destiny that will not be denied, a destiny that will embroil them in a war three-millennia past… a war that is about to re-ignite with world-devouring violence.
Wizard’s First Rule is available here.
2 – Stone of Tears
“The greatest harm can result from the best intentions.” Richard Cypher and Kahlan Amnell ignore Wizard’s Second Rule at their peril.
Richard Cypher’s battle with Darken Rahl has torn the veil that separates the world of the living from the Underworld, freeing the Keeper’s minions to stalk the land. To repair the veil, Richard will be forced to confront the true and deadly nature of his inheritance and Kahlan will be forced to betray the man she loves.
Alone with the terrible truth of what she has done, Kahlan must forge an army and battle a new threat that is even now scouring the land, determined to eradicate the corrupting taint of magic once and for all. B
ut even that may be easier than winning back the heart of the man she loves.
Stone of Tears is available here.
3 – Blood of the Fold
