The Third Kingdom. Terry Goodkind

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СКАЧАТЬ she’s a child,” Richard said softly so that those outside wouldn’t hear. “This is a difficult and complex task even for someone experienced in such things.”

      Ester bowed her head respectfully. “Lord Rahl, if you don’t want Sammie to try, that is of course your decision and I will abide by it. I will do my best to sew up the worst of your wounds and tend to other injuries as I know how. I can try to guess at what the Mother Confessor might need and prepare some herbs and such that might help her.”

      The woman lifted her head to look him in the eye. “But I think you know as well as I do that it isn’t going to be enough. You both need gifted healing.

      “If you don’t want Sammie to try to do that bigger task of what is needed, then all I can suggest is that you will have to travel elsewhere in the hope of finding someone more to your liking. It would be a difficult journey. In the Dark Lands there is no telling how far you will have to go to find such a person. I can tell you that there are not many with such abilities as you need. Not many I would trust, anyway.

      “Because of that, Jit was able to prey on those desperate to find help. Occasionally she would help someone in need so as to create hope among other desperate people and in that way draw in more victims.

      “Do you think you have the ability to undertake a journey to find someone trustworthy who could help you? Do you think the Mother Confessor can make such a journey? Are you willing to risk her life on waiting until you can find someone else? If you become desperate will you risk her life on someone with veiled motives and perhaps end up in the hands of someone like Jit?

      “You have already seen that we are willing to help you, even at the risk of danger to ourselves.”

      “And why would you do that?” Richard asked.

      Ester shrugged. “We help because we would want someone to help us if we were in danger. It is our way. It has always been our way, handed down from generations long forgotten. We teach our children to help those in need because one day we might be the ones in need, and we can only hope to earn such help if we are worthy, if we are the kind who would give it and not just receive it. We believe in treating others as we would want to be treated.”

      “I guess that’s the way I’ve always tried to live my life as well,” Richard said.

      “Lord Rahl, I am telling you that Sammie may be only fifteen, but she is gifted and has a good heart. That is all we are able to offer. That is the best we can offer. Are you so sure that you want to turn down our help, such as it is?”

      Richard knew that he was in no condition to heal Kahlan himself. Worse, though, he didn’t think that he could. Back at the wagon he had tried to summon his gift to save her life, and his gift had not responded. It was evident that there was something seriously wrong with his gift. If it wouldn’t save her from being murdered, it would not respond to heal her, either.

      He didn’t know what could be wrong with his gifted ability. He knew only that it wasn’t working. They both needed help.

      He also knew that in his present condition he couldn’t make it far. He remembered that Zedd and Nicci had started healing them even as they lay in the back of the moving wagon. They wouldn’t have been doing that if it wasn’t urgent.

      Still, he didn’t entirely trust the motives of these people.

      If he wasn’t willing to accept the girl’s gifted help, then having Ester tend to their wounds with needle and thread, herbs, and poultices was the only other choice. He knew that Ester was right that such help wasn’t enough, especially for Kahlan.

      Richard had been wounded in the past. This time, though, he felt something different, something more than simple injuries. He wanted to ignore the way he felt, but he knew he couldn’t, at least not for long. He knew, too, that whatever the grim shadow of affliction he felt within himself was, Kahlan was suffering from it far worse than he was.

      Zedd and Nicci had been trying to heal him and Kahlan, but they hadn’t been able to finish that work. Now they were missing. Richard knew that the lives of not only Kahlan but also his friends depended on him making the right decision. He didn’t think that there was any time to waste.

      But gift or no gift, he didn’t know if he dared to trust Kahlan’s life to such a young and inexperienced girl. Where the gift was concerned, a mistake could be fatal.

      “Do you trust her abilities?”

      Ester hiked up her gray dress and again knelt beside him. “Sammie is an earnest girl. Her mother was a sorceress. That may account for Sammie seeming to be grown beyond what her years would otherwise suggest. Being ungifted myself, I don’t know much about such abilities, but I do know that her mother passed the gift on to Sammie. There is no doubt about that much of it.”

      “Where is her mother?”

      Ester’s gaze fell away. “Not long ago we found the remains of Sammie’s father, but not her mother. We think that her mother was captured and taken. Though Sammie holds out hope, I don’t think she is still alive.”

      “Taken?”

      Ester’s gaze rose to meet his. “As your people were. As nearly happened to the Mother Confessor.

      “The Dark Lands have always been a dangerous place. We have long lived with those dangers and know how to remain fairly safe. But now, terrible things are happening that we don’t understand and can’t fight. We need help.”

      Richard wiped a hand across his mouth. As he had thought, this was what the men who had helped save him back at the wagon had meant. Although they might have always lived their lives by the code of helping others as they would want to be helped, in this case they needed help that they thought only one such as the Lord Rahl could provide. Considering the frightful things he had seen, it wasn’t hard to see why they were desperate for help. He couldn’t blame them for their motives.

      His gaze turned to Kahlan. He briefly watched her shallow breathing. Did he dare to risk her life on such an inexperienced girl?

      What choice did he have?

      “All right,” he finally said with a sigh of resignation.

       CHAPTER

       7

      As soon as she had Richard’s agreement to let Sammie help, Ester sprang up. She pulled back the thick covering over the doorway and ducked under it to rush out into the hall. Richard could hear her asking the others to please give the Lord Rahl and the Mother Confessor privacy. The people murmured their understanding.

      In short order Ester ushered the girl back in, leaving all the others to wait down the corridor. With a reassuring hand on the girl’s shoulder, Ester steered her into the room as she once again let the heavy sheepskin fall across the doorway.

      A black cat ducked in under the sheepskin and casually followed the girl into the room. The cat sat off to the side, lifting a hind leg as it licked the glossy fur on its tummy.

      Sammie stood stiffly just inside the room, looking too fearful to approach. Her flawless skin laid over her immature features not СКАЧАТЬ