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Chapter 1

“How much of this blood is his?” a woman asked

“Most of it, I’ beside him

As Richard fought to focus his mind on his need to remain conscious, the breathless voices sounded to hireat dim distance He wasn’t sure who they were He knew that he knew theht then it just didn’t seem to matter

The crushing pain in the left side of his chest and his need for air had hie 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 for moan He clutched the aret theed the h they were already panting with the effort of bearing hi 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 ordinarylike any other

Richard observed the stor around him with an odd sense of detach 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 frorass, Richard saw above the leafy li 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 s livestock fence weathered to a silver gray Startled chickens squawked in fright as they scattered out of the way Men shouted orders Richard hardly noticed the ashen faces watching hiainst the dizzying pain of the rough journey It felt as if he were being ripped apart

The whole h 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 soround and bounced across a dirt floor The shutters banged back as they were flung open to let soht into the musty room

It appeared to be a deserted farle as if the place were having difficulty standing, as if it ht collapse at any iven 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 seeet

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 froers The other woman immediately pressed his shoulders down to keep him in place

He tried to speak He alhed up aas he tried to breathe

The wo 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 histo clear an airway With her help he finally h 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 knoould 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 hiritted 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 b

y surprise,” said aoff 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 iet out This place is sht now I need some quiet”

Lightning flashed again, as if the good spirits intended to deny her what she needed Thunder boo around them

“You’ll send Cara out when you know so?” 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 hen the door opened As the ht, like the good spirits the him

On his way by, one of the men briefly touched Richard’s shoulder—an offer of conized the face He hadn’t seen these ht occurred to hiht vanished as thethe roole

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

Richard had been on his way toagainst the brutal rule of the Imperial Order had accidentally coht, 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 hi to see how close the arrow caed to clutch her black dress at the shoulder He saw that his hand glistened with blood He felt hed

Her blue eyes turned to hiht, Richard Lie still” A skein of blond hair slipped forward over her other shoulder as he tried to pull her closer “I’ht I’ to help you”

Despite how smoothly she covered it, panic lurked in her voice Despite her reassuring slistened with tears He knew then that his wound ht very well be beyond her ability to heal

That only et her to listen

Richard opened his h 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 froainst 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”