Terry Goodkind - Sword of Truth 9 - Chainfire

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CHAINFIRE

Sword of Truth Book 9

Terry Goodkind

Tor Books by Terry Goodkind

THE SWORD OF TRUTH

Wizard's First Rule

Stone oiTears

Blood of the Fold

Temple of the Winds

Soul of the Fire

Faith of the Fallen

The PiHars of Creation

Naked Empire

Debt of Bones

Chainfire

TERRY GOODKIND

CHAINFIRE

TOR®

A TOM DOHERTY ASSOCIATES BOOK NEW YORK

This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this

novel are either fictitious or are used fictitiously.

CHATNFIRE

thereof, in any form.

This book is printed on acid-free paper. Edited by Patrick Nielsen Hayden

Map by Terry Goodkind

A Tor Book

Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC

175 Fifth Avenue

New York, NY 10010

www.tor.com

Tor* is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.

ISBN 0-765-30523-2 (regular edition) EAN 978-0765-30523-7 (regular

edition)

ISBN 0-765-31307-3 (limited edition) EAN 978-0765-31307-2 (limited

edition)

First Edition: January 2005

Printed in the United States of America

0987654321

To Vincent Cascella, a man of inspirational intellect, wit, strength, and

courage and a friend who is always there for me

CHAINFIRE

CHAPTER 1

X Xow much of this blood is his?" a woman asked.

"Most of it, I'm afraid," a second woman said as they both rushed along

beside him.

As Richard fought to focus his mind on his need to remain conscious, the

breathless voices sounded to him as if they were coming from some great

dim distance. He wasn't sure who they were. He knew that he knew them, but

right then it just didn't seem to matter.

The crushing pain in the left side of his chest and his need for air had him

at the ragged edge of panic. It was all he could do to try to draw each crucial

breath.

Even so, he had a bigger worry.

Richard struggled to put voice to his burning concern, but he couldn't form

the words, couldn't get out any more than a gasping moan. He clutched the

arm of the woman beside him, desperate to get them to stop, to get them to

listen. She misunderstood and instead urged the men carrying him to hurry,

even though they were already panting with the effort of bearing him over

the rocky ground in the deep shade among the towering pines. They tried to

be as gentle as possible, but they never dared to slow.

Not far off, a rooster crowed into the still air, as if this were an ordinary

morning like any other.

Richard observed the storm of activity swirling around him with an odd

sense of detachment. Only the pain seemed real. He remembered hearing it

once said that when you died, no matter how many people were there with

you, you died all alone. That's how he felt now—alone.

As they broke from the timber into a thinly wooded, rough field of

clumped grass, Richard saw above the leafy limbs a leaden sky threatening to

unleash torrents of rain. Rain was the last thing he needed. If only it would

hold off.

As they raced along, the unpainted wooden walls of a small building came

into view, followed by a twisting livestock fence weathered to a sil-ver gray.

Startled chickens squawked in fright as they scattered out of the way. Men

shouted orders. Richard hardly noticed the ashen faces watching him being

carried past as he stiffened himself against the dizzying pain of the rough

journey. It felt as if he were being ripped apart.

The whole mob around him funneled through a narrow doorway and

shuffled into the darkness beyond.

"Here," the first woman said. Richard was surprised to realize, then, that it

was Nicci's voice. "Put him here, on the table. Hurry."

Richard heard tin cups clatter as someone swept them aside. Small items

thunked to the ground and bounced across a dirt floor. The shutters banged

back as they were flung open to let some of the flat light into the musty room.

It appeared to be a deserted farmhouse. The walls tilted at an odd angle as

if the place were having difficulty standing, as if it might collapse at any

moment. Without the people who had once made it home, given it life, it had

the aura of a place waiting for death to settle in.

Men holding his legs and arms lifted him and then carefully set him down

on the crudely hewn plank table. Richard wanted to hold his breath against

the crushing agony radiating from the left side of his chest, but he desperately

needed the breath that he couldn't seem to get.

He needed the breath in order to speak.

Lightning flashed. A moment later thunder rumbled heavily.

"Lucky we made it into shelter before the rain," one of the men said.

Nicci nodded absently as she leaned close, groping purposefully across

Richard's chest. He cried out, arching his back against the heavy wooden

tabletop, trying to twist away from her probing fingers. The other woman

immediately pressed his shoulders down to keep him in place.

He tried to speak. He almost got the words out, but then he coughed up a

mouthful of thick blood. He started choking as he tried to breathe.

The woman holding his shoulders turned his head aside. "Spit," she told

him as she bent close.

The feeling of not being able to get any air brought a flash of hot fear.

Richard did as she said. She swept her fingers through his mouth, working to

clear an airway. With her help he finally managed to cough and spit out

enough blood to be able to pull in some of the air he so desperately needed.

As Nicci's fingers probed the area around the arrow jutting from the left

side of his chest, she cursed under her breath.

"Dear spirits," she murmured in soft prayer as she tore open his blood-

soaked shirt, "let me be in time."

"I was afraid to pull out the arrow," the other woman said. "I didn't know

what would happen—didn't know if I should—so I decided I'd better leave it

and hope I could find you."

"Be thankful you didn't try," Nicci said, her hand slipping under Richard's

back as he writhed in pain. "If you'd pulled it out he'd be dead by now."

"But you can heal him." It sounded more a plea than a question.

Nicci didn't answer.

"You can heal him." That time the words hissed out through gritted teeth.

At the tone of command born of frayed patience, Richard realized that it

was Cara. He hadn't had time to tell her before the attack. Surely she would

have to know. But if she knew, then why didn't she say? Why didn't she put

him at ease?

"If it hadn't been for him, we'd have been taken by surprise," said a man

standing off to the side. "He saved us all when he waylaid those soldiers

sneaking up on us."

"You have to help him," another man insisted.

Nicci impatiently waved her arm. "All of you, get out. This place is small

enough as it is. I can't afford the distraction right now. I need some quiet."

Lightning flashed again, as if the good spirits intended to deny her what

she needed. Thunder boomed with a deep, resonant threat of the storm

closing around them.

"You'll send Cara out when you know something?" one of the men asked.

"Yes, yes. Go."

"And make sure there aren't any more soldiers around to surprise us," Cara

added. "Keep out of sight in case there are. We can't afford to be discovered

here—not right now."

Men swore to do her bidding. Hazy light spilled across a dingy plastered

wall when the door opened. As the men departed, their shadows ghosted

through the patch of light, like the good spirits themselves abandoning him.

On his way by, one of the men briefly touched Richard's shoulder—an

offer of comfort and courage. Richard vaguely recognized the face. He hadn't

seen these men for quite a while. The thought occurred to him that this was

no way to have a reunion. The light vanished as the men pulled the door

closed behind themselves, leaving the room in the gloom of light coming

from the single window.

"Nicci," Cara pressed in a low voice, "you can heal him?"

Richard had been on his way to meet up with Nicci when troops sent to

put down the uprising against the brutal rule of the Imperial Order had

accidentally come upon his secluded camp. His first thought, just before the

soldiers had blundered upon him, had been that he had to find Nicci. A spark

of hope flared down into the darkness of his frantic worry; Nicci could help

him.

Now Richard needed to get her to listen.

As she leaned close, her hand sliding around under him, apparently trying

to see how close the arrow came to penetrating all the way through his back,

Richard managed to clutch her black dress at the shoulder. He saw that his

hand glistened with blood. He felt more running back across his face when he

coughed.

Her blue eyes turned to him. "Everything will be all right, Richard. Lie

still." A skein of blond hair slipped forward over her other shoulder as he

tried to pull her closer. "I'm here. Calm down. I won't leave you. Lie still. It's

all right. I'm going to help you."

Despite how smoothly she covered it, panic lurked in her voice. Despite

her reassuring smile, her eyes glistened with tears. He knew then that his

wound might very well be beyond her ability to heal.

That only made it all the more important that he get her to listen.

Richard opened his mouth, trying to speak. He couldn't seem to get

enough air. He shivered with cold, each breath a struggle that produced little

more than a wet rattle. He couldn't die, not here, not now. Tears stung his

eyes.

Nicci gently pressed him back down.

"Lord Rahl," Cara said, "lie still. Please." She took his hand from its hold

on Nicci's dress and held it against herself in a tight grip. "Nicci will take

care of you. You'll be fine. Just lie still and let her do what she needs to do to

heal you."

Where Nicci's blond hair was loose and flowing, Cara's was woven into a

single braid. Despite how concerned he knew her to be, Richard could see in

Cara's posture only her powerful presence, and in her features and her iron

blue eyes her strength of will. Right then, that strength, that self-assurance,

was solid ground for him in the quicksand of terror.

"The arrow doesn't go all the way through," Nicci told Cara as she pulled

her hand out from under his back.

"I told you so. He managed to at least deflect it with his sword. That's

good, isn't it? It's better that it didn't pierce his back as well, isn't it?"

"No," Nicci said under her breath.

"No?" Cara leaned closer to Nicci. "But how can it be worse that it didn't

rip through his back as well?"

Nicci glanced up at Cara. "It's a crossbow bolt. If it were sticking out his

back, or close enough to need only to be pushed just a little more, we could

break off the barbed head and pull the shaft back out."

She left unsaid what they would now have to do.

"His bleeding isn't as bad," Cara offered. "We've stopped that, at least."

"Maybe on the outside," Nicci said in a confidential tone. "But he is

bleeding into his chest—blood is filling his left lung."

This time it was Cara who snatched a fistful of Nicci's dress. "But you're

going to do something. You're going to—"

"Of course," Nicci growled as she pulled her shoulder free of Cara's grip.

Richard gasped in pain. The rising waters of panic threatened to

overwhelm him.

Nicci laid her other hand on his chest to hold him still as well as to offer

comfort.

"Cara," Nicci said, "why don't you wait outside with the others."

"That isn't going to happen. You'd best just get on with it."

Nicci appraised Cara's eyes briefly, then leaned in and again grasped the

shaft jutting from Richard's chest. He felt the probing tingle of magic follow

the course of the arrow down deep inside him. Richard recognized the unique

feel of Nicci's power, much as he could recognize her singular silken voice.

He knew that there was no time to delay in what he had to do. Once she

started, there was no telling how long it would be until he woke… if he

woke.

With all his effort, Richard lunged, seizing her dress at the collar. He

pulled himself close to her face, pulled her down toward him so she could

hear him.

He had to ask if they knew where Kahlan was. If they didn't, then he had

to ask Nicci to help him find her.

The only thing he could get out was the single word.

"Kahlan," he whispered with all his strength.

"All right, Richard. All right." Nicci gripped his wrists and pulled his

hands off her dress. "Listen to me." She pressed him back down against the

table. "Listen. There's no time. You have to calm down. Be still. Just relax

and let me do the work."

She brushed back his hair and laid a gentle, caring hand to his forehead as

her other hand again grasped the cursed arrow.

Richard desperately struggled to say no, struggled to tell them that they

needed to find Kahlan, but already the tingle of magic was intensifying into

paralyzing pain.

Richard went rigid with the agony of the power lancing into his chest.

He could see Nicci and Cara's faces above him.

And then a deadly darkness ignited within the room.

He had been healed by Nicci before. Richard knew the feel of her power.

This time, something was different. Dangerously different.

Cara gasped. "What are you doing!"

"What I must if I'm to save him. It's the only way."

"But you can't—"

"If you'd rather I let him slip into the arms of death, then say so.

Otherwise, let me do as I must to keep him among us."

Cara studied Nicci's heated expression for only a moment before letting

out a noisy breath and nodding.

Richard reached for Nicci's wrist, but Cara caught his first and pressed it

back to the table. His fingers came to rest on the woven gold wire spelling

out the word truth on the hilt of his sword. He spoke Kahlan's name again,

but this time no sound would cross his lips.

Cara frowned as she leaned toward Nicci. "Did you hear what it was he

said?"

"I don't know. Some name. Kahlan, I think."

Richard tried to cry "Yes," but it came out as little more than a hoarse

moan.

"Kahlan?" Cara asked. "Who's Kahlan?"

"I have no idea," Nicci murmured as her concentration returned to the task

at hand. "He's obviously in delirium from loss of blood."

Richard truly couldn't draw a breath against the pain that suddenly

screamed through him.

Lightning flashed and thunder pealed again, this time unleashing a torrent

of rain that began to drum against the roof.

Against his will, hazy darkness drew in around the faces.

Richard managed only to whisper Kahlan's name one last time before

Nicci opened into him the full flood of magic.

The world dissolved into nothingness.

CHAPTER 2

. he distant howl of a wolf woke Richard from a dead sleep. The forlorn

cry echoed through the mountains, but went unanswered. Richard lay on his

side, in the surreal light of false dawn, idly listening, waiting, for a return cry

that never came.

Try as he might, he couldn't seem to open his eyes for longer than the span

of a single, slow heartbeat, much less gather the energy to lift his head.

Shadowy tree limbs appeared to move about in the murky darkness. It was

odd that such an ordinary sound as the distant howl of a wolf should wake

him.

He remembered that Cara had third watch. She would no doubt come to

wake them soon enough. With great effort, he summoned the strength to roll

over. He needed to touch Kahlan, to embrace her, to go back to sleep with

her in his protective arms for a few more delicious minutes. His hand found

only an expanse of empty ground.

Kahlan wasn't there.

Where was she? Where had she gone off to? Perhaps she'd awakened early

and gone to talk to Cara.

Richard sat up. He instinctively checked to make sure that his sword was

at hand. The reassuring feel of the polished scabbard and wire-wound hilt

greeted his fingers. The sword lay on the ground beside him.

Richard heard the soft whisper of a slow, steady rain. He remembered that

for some reason he needed it not to rain.

But if it was raining, then why didn't he feel it? Why was his face dry?

Why was the ground dry?

He sat up rubbing his eyes, trying to get his bearings, trying to clear his

foggy mind as he fought to herd together scattered thoughts. He peered into

the darkness and realized that he wasn't outside. In the faint gray light of

dawn coming in through a single small window he saw that he was in a

derelict room. The place smelled of wet wood and damp decay. Dying

embers glowed deep within the ash in a hearth set into a plastered wall rising

up before him. A blackened wooden spoon hung to one side of the hearth, a

mostly bald broom leaned against the other side, but other than that he saw

no personal items to distinguish the people who lived there.

Daybreak looked to be still some time off. The incessant patter of the rain

against the roof promised that there would be no sun this chilly and damp

day. Besides dripping through several holes in the tattered roof, rain leaked

in around the chimney, adding yet another layer of stain to the dingy plaster.

Seeing the plastered wall, the hearth, and the heavy plank table brought

back spectral fragments of memories.

Driven by his need to know where Kahlan was, Richard staggered to his

feet, clutching at the lingering pain in the left side of his chest with one hand

and the edge of the table with his other.

At hearing him stand in the dimly lit room, Cara, leaning back in a chair

not far away, shot to her feet. "Lord Rahl!"

He saw his sword lying on the table. But he had thought—

"Lord Rahl, you're awake!" In the somber light Richard could see that

Cara looked exuberant. He also saw that she was wearing her red leather.

"A wolf howled and woke me."

Cara shook her head. "I've been sitting right there, awake, watching over

you. No wolf howled. You must have dreamed it." Her smile returned. "You

look better!"

He recalled not being able to breathe, not being able to get enough air. He

took an experimental deep breath and found that it came easily. While the

ghost of terrible pain still haunted him, the reality of it had nearly faded

away.

"Yes, I think I'm all right."

Short, disjointed memories flashed in fits before his mind's eye. He

remembered standing alone and still in the eerie early light as the dark tide of

Imperial Order soldiers flooded through the trees. He remembered bits of

their wild charge, their raised weapons. He remembered releasing himself

into the fluid dance with death. He remembered, too, the hail of arrows and

bolts from crossbows, and, finally, other men joining the battle.

Richard lifted the front of his shirt out away from himself, looking down at

it, not understanding why it was whole.

"Your shirt was ruined," Cara offered, noticing his puzzlement. "We

washed and shaved you, then we put a clean shirt on you."

We. That one word rose up above all others in his mind. We. Cara and

Kahlan. That had to be what Cara meant.

"Where is she?"

"Who?"

"Kahlan," he said as he took a stride away from the support of the table.

"Where is she?"

"Kahlan?" Cara's features meandered into a provocative smile. "Who's

Kahlan?"

Richard sighed with relief. Cara would not be needling him in such a way

if Kahlan were hurt or in any kind of trouble—that much he knew for certain.

An overwhelming sense of relief purged his dread and with it some of his

weariness. Kahlan was safe.

He couldn't help being cheered, too, by Cara's impish expression. He loved

to see her with a lighthearted smile, in part because it was such a rare sight.

Usually when a Mord-Sith smiled it was a menacing prelude to something

wholly unpleasant. The same was true when they wore their red leather.

"Kahlan," Richard said, playing along, "you know, my wife. Where is

she?"

Cara's nose wrinkled with seldom-seen feminine mirth. Such an

extraordinary look was so uncommon on Cara that it not only surprised him,

but spurred him into a grin.

"A wife," she drawled, turning coy. "Now, there's a novel concept—the

Lord Rahl taking a wife."

That he found himself to be the Lord Rahl, the leader of D'Hara, at times

still seemed unreal to him. It was not the kind of thing a woods guide

growing up in far-off Westland would ever have dreamed up in his wildest

imaginings.

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