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"I sense something, too," Sister Cecilia murmured.
Sister Armina glanced over, expectantly. "Maybe it's Tovi."
"Could be nothing more than a wild mule." Sister Ulicia didn't appear to be in a mood to stand around speculating. "Come on." She glanced back at Kahlan. "Stay close."
"Yes, Sister," Kahlan said. She handed the Sisters the reins to their horses.
Sister Cecilia, older than the rest of them, grunted with the effort of swinging her tired muscles up into her saddle. "My memories of the rare maps down in the vaults at the Palace of the Prophets tell me that we should be getting close to the place."
"I recall seeing that ancient map," Sister Ulicia said, once seated atop her horse. "It called this place the Deep Nothing. That would mean that it has to be Caska up on that distant headland."
Sister Armina heaved an impatient sigh as she urged her horse on after the others. "Then we will at last find Tovi here."
"And when we finally join up with her," Sister Cecilia said, "she is going to have some explaining to do."
Sister Armina gestured off toward the distant headland. "You know Tovi—always ignoring what she's supposed to do because she thinks she knows best. She's the most obstinate woman I've ever met."
As far as Kahlan was concerned, Armina had little room to talk.
"We'll see how obstinate she is when I have my fingers around her throat," Sister Cecilia said.
Sister Armina urged her horse up beside Sister Ulicia. "You don't think she could be up to no good, do you, Ulicia?"
"Tovi?" Sister Ulicia glanced back over her shoulder. "No, not really. She may be exasperating at times, but she has the same goal as do the rest of us. Besides, she knows as well as we do that we need all three of the boxes. She knows what's involved and what's at stake.
"We will soon have the three boxes all back together again—that's all that really matters—and we will already be in Caska, so I suppose it wouldn't really have done us any good to catch up with Tovi before now. We still would have had to come here anyway."
"But why would she have taken off the way she did?" Sister Cecilia pressed.
Sister Ulicia shrugged. Unlike the other two, she seemed to be somewhat at ease, now that Caska was in sight. "It could be nothing more than that she discovered Imperial Order troops nearby and she simply wanted to avoid any possibility of trouble so she left the area. She probably was using her head, that's all. She knew we had to come here. She probably saw a chance to slip away and took it. We're better served by such caution. She was, in the end, going to where we planned on going all along, so I don't really see what mischief she could be up to."
"I suppose." Sister Cecilia seemed somewhat disappointed not to have a villain upon whom to fixate her anger.
They rode in silence for nearly an hour more before it became apparent to the Sisters that riding over such ground in the dark might not only risk breaking a horse's leg, but one of their necks as well. As far as Kahlan could tell, they weren't much closer to the headland than they had been for most of the day. Out on the plain, distances were far greater than they appeared to be. What at first seemed to be a place only a couple of miles distant could turn out to take days to reach. The Sisters, despite their eagerness to get to Caska and Tovi, were tired and ready to stop for the night.
Sister Ulicia dismounted, handing the reins to Kahlan. "Get camp set up. We're all hungry."
Kahlan dipped her head. "Yes, Sister."
She immediately hobbled all the horses so they couldn't wander off, then made her way around to the side of the pack animals to start getting out their gear. She was dead tired but knew that it would probably be hours before she would have a chance to get any sleep. The camp had to be set up, food had to be prepared, and then the horses had to be fed, watered, and groomed for the night.
Sister Ulicia took hold of Sister Armina's arm and pulled her close. "While we're making camp, I want you to go out there and check the area. I want to know if it's just a mule."
Sister Armina nodded and immediately set out on foot into the darkness.
Sister Cecilia watched Sister Armina dissolve into the night. "Do you really think it's a mule?"
Sister Ulicia cast her a dark look. "If it is a mule, it's staying the same distance away as we travel. If it's someone watching us, then Armina will find them."
Kahlan pulled out the bedrolls when the Sisters asked for something softer to sit on other than the barren ground. She then pulled out one of the pots so she could get some dinner started.
"No fire tonight," Sister Ulicia said when she saw Kahlan with the pot.
Kahlan stared at her a moment. "What would you like for dinner, then, Sister?"
"There is bannock left over. We can have that and some dried meats. We have pine nuts as well." She gazed out into the night. "I don't want a fire out here in the open, where anyone from horizon to horizon could see us. Just get out one of the smaller lanterns."
Kahlan could not imagine what the Sisters had to worry about. She handed Sister Armina the lantern. The sister lit it with a flick of a finger, then set it on the ground before her and Sister Ulicia. It wasn't much light to see by as Kahlan finished unpacking, but at least it was better than nothing.
There had been times in the past when patrols of soldiers happened on them. The Sisters had never been especially spooked by such unexpected encounters with hostile forces. The Sisters had dispatched the soldiers without any problem—or mercy.
When they had run into patrols the Sisters were careful not to allow any witnesses to get away, apparently so that there wouldn't be any chance of reports getting back to the army. Kahlan supposed that it was possible that such reports could result in great numbers of angry men coming after them. The Sisters didn't appear especially concerned about that possibility; it seemed more likely that they simply had business and they didn't want to be slowed for anything.
Getting to Tovi and the last box was of paramount importance to them and they had driven hard to get this far this quickly. Kahlan was somewhat surprised that they had not caught Tovi before now, especially since nothing seemed anywhere near as important to the Sisters as their precious boxes.
Except that they were Lord Rahl's boxes. The Sisters had stolen them from Richard Rahl's palace.
On one occasion, in their rush, they had come across a large detachment of the big Imperial Order brutes. The Sisters had been impatient to get past the soldiers, to get on with their business with the boxes, but the men appeared in no hurry to move on out of the way. The Sisters waited until the middle of the night and then walked through the encampment of sleeping men. Any time a man saw them, one of the Sisters cast out a silent spell that dispatched the man without any ado. The Sisters had shown no compunction about killing any man who happened to be in their way. They moved through the camp quietly, fearlessly, and deliberately. Kahlan saw a lot of men die that night. To the Sisters, it had been no more eventful than stepping on ants pestering them at camp.
But that had been a long time ago and they had not seen any troops since. The Imperial Order army was now far distant behind them and for quite some time had no longer been a consideration. That didn't mean, however, that there couldn't be other hazards, and so the Sisters were frequently as nervous as cats. Without warning, however, they could easily turn as dangerous as vipers.
Long after Sister Armina returned without finding anyone about, and the three Sisters had eaten, Kah
lan still worked to finish her chores before she was allowed to eat. She was currying the horses when she thought that she heard the soft sound of footsteps on the hardscrabble ground. The sound brought her out of her thoughts about the soldiers. Her hand with the curry brush paused.
She looked over her shoulder and was startled to see a slender girl with short, dark hair standing timidly just at the edge of the faint lanternlight.
With the moon only occasionally peeking out from between the passing clouds, the camp was mostly left to the light of the single lantern back by the Sisters, so it was hard to see, but Kahlan could see well enough to see the young woman's pale eyes staring at her.
In those eyes was the clear look of cognition. The girl saw Kahlan.
"Please—" the girl said. Kahlan crossed her lips with a finger, lest the Sisters hear the girl. Just like the man back at the inn, this girl saw and remembered Kahlan. Kahlan was astonished, and at the same time fearful that the same thing would happen to the girl as had happened to the man.
"Please," the girl repeated in a low whisper, "may I have something to eat? I'm so hungry."
Kahlan glanced at the Sisters. They were busy talking among themselves. Kahlan reached into her saddlebag in the pile near her feet and pulled out a strip of dried venison. She again crossed her lips with one finger and handed the girl the meat. The girl nodded her understanding and didn't make a sound. Taking the meat eagerly in both hand, she immediately used her teeth to rip off a bite.
"Go, now," Kahlan whispered, "before they see you. Hurry."
The girl glanced up at Kahlan, then looked past her. Her eyes went wide. Her chewing halted.
"Well, well," came a menacing voice over Kahlan's shoulder, "if it isn't our little mule come to steal from us."
"Please, she was hungry," Kahlan said, hoping to douse Sister Ulicia's anger before it flared. "She asked for a bite to eat. She didn't steal it. I gave her my food, not any of yours."
