Severed Souls. Terry Goodkind
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Название: Severed Souls
Автор: Terry Goodkind
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Историческая литература
isbn: 9780007510887
isbn:
“They were right there,” he said, half to himself.
There was nowhere they could have hidden in the brief time he had glanced back at Kahlan. The sloping, rocky ground where they had been didn’t offer any cover. It was a few dozen feet to the closest trees. That was why Richard had picked the spot—it was open enough that no one could hide or sneak up on them.
He saw that the decomposing leaves and forest debris that had drifted in across the ground where they had been standing beside the exposed ridge of granite ledge looked untouched. He would have heard them move. They would have disturbed the leaf litter. They couldn’t have taken a single step without making a sound, nor could they have gotten out of his sight and to cover that fast.
“Who?” Kahlan asked as she leaned to the side, peering around him.
Richard stretched his arm out, pointing insistently with his sword. “Only seconds ago there were five people standing right there.”
The small bits of sky that could be seen through gaps in the heavy forest canopy were beginning to turn a leaden, muted gray tinted red by the approaching dawn. Kahlan knew better than to discount what Richard said he had seen. She scanned the near darkness to both sides.
“Were they half people?” she asked, the worry evident in her voice.
Richard could still feel the icy sensation from where one of the men had touched his right shoulder.
“No, I don’t think so. One of them put his hand on me—as if to get my attention. They didn’t bare their teeth. I don’t think they came to try to take my soul.”
“Are you sure?”
“Pretty sure.”
“Did they say anything?”
“They said that they wanted me to bring them their dead.”
Kahlan’s mouth opened in wordless surprise. Richard studied the place where they had been before again looking around for any sign of the five. In the gloom he couldn’t see any footprints.
Kahlan hugged her arms to herself as she finally stepped closer. “Richard, there’s no one there.” She gestured off toward the trees. “And nowhere to hide until you get back into the woods. How could they have vanished?”
Dozens of soldiers of the First File, his personal guard, rushed out of the darkness to form a protective perimeter. Each of the big men had a weapon to hand, ready for pitched battle. It looked as if he were suddenly standing in a steel porcupine.
“Lord Rahl,” one of the officers asked, “what is it? What happened?”
“There were five people here—just a moment ago.” Richard gestured with his sword. “They came up behind me and were standing right there.”
The soldiers briefly scanned the darkness, and then, without further word, at least a dozen men dashed away into the woods to search for the intruders. Although dawn was starting to bring a weak gray light to the quiet forest, it was still dark enough that Richard knew it would be easy to miss someone hiding in such dense woods. All the strangers would have to do would be to crouch in the darkness among thickets of bushes or saplings and they could easily be missed.
But he didn’t think these five were crouching and hiding.
He knew otherwise.
He knew that they had vanished.
What is it?” Nicci called out as she pushed her way through the tight ring of towering soldiers. Her gaze quickly swept over his sword, probably checking to see if it was bloody. Despite the size of the men and their fearsome weapons, Nicci’s gift probably made her more deadly than all of the men put together. Had his own gift been working, he would have been able to see the aura of her power shimmering around her.
“Five people came up behind me as I was standing watch,” Richard told her as Zedd rushed in through the gap Nicci had created. “I didn’t know they were there until one of them touched my shoulder.”
Nicci did a double take. “They walked right up and one of them touched you?”
Like Nicci, the old wizard looked incredulous. Though Richard knew his grandfather well, from time to time he was amazed at what Zedd was able to do with his ability, as well as his uncanny knowledge about the most arcane of subjects.
“People?” Zedd peered to each side behind Richard and Kahlan. “What people?”
The young Samantha and her mother, Irena, rushed up behind Zedd. Despite only being in her mid-teens, Samantha had proven to have remarkable abilities as a sorceress. Richard didn’t yet know much of anything about her mother’s gift, but if Samantha was any indication, her mother was potentially quite formidable.
Despite the knowledge, abilities, and power of the people gathered around him, they were in a dangerous land that put all of them at risk. The fact that five people had been able to walk right up on them, and then vanish, only served to highlight the perils of the Dark Lands.
“Are you all right, Lord Rahl?” Irena asked with a look of concern as she reached out to touch Richard’s arm.
He nodded as Nicci subtly but protectively stepped in close enough to move Irena aside.
“They snuck up behind you?” Nicci tilted her head toward Richard. “Five people snuck up behind you?”
Exasperated that he was being ignored, Zedd waved an arm. “What five people?” he demanded again before Richard could answer Nicci. “Where are they?”
Richard gestured behind in frustration. “They were right there, and then they were gone.”
Zedd cocked his head as his bushy brow drew down. He peered intently with one eye. “Gone?”
“Yes, gone. I don’t know where they went. I didn’t see them come and I didn’t see them leave. When I turned back around to keep an eye on them they were simply gone.”
Samantha lifted her chin, sniffing the air. Her features had yet to fully take on the more sharply defined form of full adulthood. The soft contour of her nose wrinkled.
“What’s that smell?” she asked, rather urgently, before Zedd or anyone else could say anything more. “It’s fading now, but it seems like I remember it from somewhere.”
Everyone looked around, distracted by the strange question and her tone of alarm.
Kahlan frowned. “Now that you mention it, I remember it from somewhere, too.”
Richard methodically studied the shadows, still looking for any sign of the five strangers. “It’s sulfur.”
Samantha pushed some of the matted mass of her black hair back from her face as she peered up at him. “Sulfur?”
“Yes—the smell of death,” Richard said, СКАЧАТЬ