“These are men of the First File, Mother Confessor. They can carry you on their shoulders and march double-time all night long.”
Kahlan nodded. “I know, but I think it’s up to us to decide to give them the rest they may not be aware they need.” She arched an eyebrow at him. “Didn’t I always make sure that you and your men were rested before you went out at night to bring me back strings of enemy ears?”
Commander Fister snorted a short laugh.
“Let’s move a little farther up the mountain,” Kahlan said, “and then let the men get some sleep before morning.”
Commander Fister tapped a fist to his heart in salute.
“Where’s Richard,” Kahlan asked.
The commander pointed a thumb up the gorge. “Nicci is watching over him. Zedd and Irena are farther up making sure the way ahead is safe.”
Kahlan was glad to hear that. If there was one person she would want watching over Richard, it was Nicci.
Samantha hadn’t moved. She seemed to be content where she was in Kahlan’s arms. Kahlan thought that maybe she didn’t want the others to see the tearstains running down her dusty face.
“You okay?” Kahlan whispered.
Samantha nodded. “Just tired … So tired.”
Kahlan could imagine that well enough.
As Kahlan carried Samantha up the gorge, making her way through the relieved men, she finally reached the horse. By the time she got there, Samantha was hanging limp, asleep in Kahlan’s arms. Kahlan was dead tired, and as thin as Samantha was, she was still heavy. But Kahlan felt good holding the young woman. It felt good to be needed for comfort and shelter.
Nicci stood in a rush as Kahlan came close. “What in the world was that?”
“What are you so angry about?” Kahlan asked with a frown. The woman looked like she wanted to skin a dragon. “It killed the Shun-tuk, not us.”
Nicci cast a suspicious look at Samantha asleep in Kahlan’s arms. “Did she do that?”
Kahlan nodded.
Nicci appraised the young woman a moment longer. “How?”
“She said that Richard taught her.”
Nicci shot a look back over her shoulder at the unconscious Richard. “Of course he did.”
Kahlan spotted Irena in the distance racing toward them. “Look, Nicci, let’s not frighten her mother about this right now. We’ll talk about it later. I think we need to get away from here just in case. Then we all need to get some rest. You and Zedd—and Samantha—need to rest if you are to recover your abilities. All right?”
Nicci heaved a sigh as in the distance Irena was calling her daughter’s name.
“All right,” Nicci said. “Let’s get moving. I want to find a safe place, then Zedd and I can work on waking Richard.”
“It can’t be soon enough for me,” Kahlan said. “Irena might be able to help with it.”
Nicci folded her arms. “Zedd and I can do it. We’ll get him back, I swear.”
Kahlan nodded. “Thanks, Nicci.”
She wondered why Nicci didn’t want Irena helping. It was Richard, though, so she supposed that Nicci was not willing to take any chances with letting someone she didn’t really know touch him with her power.
Nicci leaned close and shook her finger in Kahlan’s face.
“But when I wake that husband of yours, I intend to ask him just what in the world he taught that girl.”
Kahlan smiled. “I bet you will.”
CHAPTER
29
After a march of nearly two hours, they came to a prominence at the head of the gorge from where a small waterfall fed the brook down where they stood. They needed to get up the steep rise and out of the gorge. While not as difficult as it would be to ascend the steep walls to the sides, Kahlan didn’t much like the idea of climbing rugged terrain in the dark. She also didn’t want to use torches or lanterns because it would allow anyone hunting them to be able to spot them from miles away. At least the moon was still out.
Commander Fister was eager to be onto higher ground for the defensive protection that it afforded. In much the same way they had used the gorge to trap the Shun-tuk, in the confines of a gorge, those same tactics could be used to corner them.
Kahlan didn’t think that there could be any Shun-tuk left alive, but she had put the sword back in the scabbard Richard was wearing, which also meant putting away its attendant rage. Without the sword’s intoxicating drive to fight, she took seriously the commander’s advice for the extra measure of safety. Besides, she had no way to be certain that every one of the Shun-tuk was dead. What if there really had been a pocket under a slab of granite where some of them might have survived? What if even one of those with occult sorcery was still alive and later emerged to sneak up on them?