“You don’t need to be a sorceress or have occult powers to know that the man has such ability and that he is dangerous.” She thrust out an arm, pointing back the way they had come. “Didn’t you see some of those unholy demons during the battle when they brought the dead back to life?”
“What of it?” Nicci asked.
Irena leaned in closer. “The Shun-tuk didn’t do such things by wishing the dead back to life, now did they? The gift can’t do such things. They couldn’t do such things without being able to wield occult sorcery. That’s how I know he has such powers.
“It’s dangerous for Richard to be near such a person. Richard’s gift isn’t working. He is naked before such dangerous occult abilities. He could be hurt or killed before any of us could do anything to protect him.”
“She’s right,” Kahlan whispered.
Nicci pressed her lips tight as she glanced over at Kahlan. “Only some of them—not all—have such powers. This one has shown no indication that he has occult powers.”
She finally gritted her teeth and turned back to Irena. “We don’t know that this man is one of the Shun-tuk with those abilities. My gift works just fine. I am Richard’s protection.
“Lord Rahl has a job to do. You let him do it. As the Lord Rahl he is doing what he has to do. He knows the dangers. You stay out of his way, understand?”
Irena looked shaken at being challenged. Before she could argue, Nicci grabbed the skirts of her black dress in both fists and rushed back to stand with Zedd, close behind Richard, where she could keep a close eye on the prisoner. Samantha wrung her hands, distraught at seeing her mother scolded. Zedd had been watching, too, but looked like he knew better than to get in the middle of quarreling sorceresses.
Kahlan joined Nicci at her side but didn’t say anything. She knew Nicci’s power was formidable, and if the knife the soldier was holding to the man’s throat and the arrows pointed at his chest didn’t stop him from harming Richard, Nicci surely would, even if she had to use her bare hands.
Kahlan hoped that Nicci really could stop him if she had to. She gripped the handle of the knife at her waist, making sure it was there if she needed it. She wished Cara were still with them. The Mord-Sith had always been Richard’s protector, but now she was gone.
Kahlan’s heart ached for Cara, for her loss. She could understand why she had left, but she missed her.
Kahlan couldn’t imagine how she would feel if she lost Richard, or what she would do. Just imagining such a terrifying thing quickened her heart rate. Unfortunately, with the sickness afflicting them both, it was a thought that always haunted her and she couldn’t entirely banish.
Richard looked back over his shoulder. “Everything all right?”
Nicci leaned closer to Richard and whispered so that he, but not the prisoner, could hear. “Be careful, Richard. We don’t know what abilities this man might have. He could be a risk to you without him even having to touch you.”
Richard rubbed his fingertips on his forehead as he shared a look over his shoulder with them. Kahlan could see by the reaction in his eyes, or rather, the lack of reaction, that he was already well aware of that danger.
“I understand. But we’re running out of time. I have to find out what I can.”
Kahlan understood what he meant. Death was coming for the two of them, and it was getting closer by the moment.
Nicci gave him a nod and he turned back to the prisoner.
CHAPTER
13
“What’s your name?” Richard asked the man on his knees.
The Shun-tuk glared without answering.
“Do you even have a name? Do any of your people use names?”
The man maintained his silent glare.
Richard clasped his hands as he looked down at the prisoner. “No name, no soul.”
“We will have souls,” the man said in a low growl filled with hate. Richard had touched a nerve. “We will have all of your souls for ourselves. They will be ours.”
“It’s foolish to even imagine you can get a soul by eating the flesh of people who have them. There is only one way to get a soul.”
The man’s brow twitched with the slightest bit of interest, but he would not ask.
“You can only get a soul,” Richard finally said in answer to the unspoken question, “by being born with one. It is forged into a person at their creation. It’s an inherent part of them, a living connection to everything in this world and the next as shown in the lines of the Grace. It’s their link to existence.
“Good or bad, kind or cruel, for better or worse, whether they want it or not, the soul they were born with is theirs from the instant of the ignition of that spark at their creation, through life, and on into the world of the dead. In the most basic sense, it is the sum of who they are, the distillation of everything they are. They can neither give it away or lose it or have it stolen from them. That soul is a part of them and can’t be separated from them, either willingly or unwillingly.”