“At the same time, in the back of your mind, there is always a comprehension of the full meaning of life as something sacred. Although necessarily committed to killing in order to preserve the lives of innocent people, that awareness of the soul you are sending to the underworld, and your own innate reverence for life, gives you a counter pressure to the need to do it. Because it was created by one with a soul, that same innate, inward resistance was inescapably forged into the blade.
“But when you kill half people without a soul—and although it is still killing and they may look human—they aren’t really human, so there is no resistance to the sword’s fury, or yours. You are not sending a soul to the underworld. Battling half people is like being plunged in a world of madness, where you feel boundless ecstasy at the bloodshed the magic can bring to them.
“Both you and the sword are free to kill without that innate resistance. You wade into the slaughter with a kind of immunity to guilt. As a result, your anger, the sword’s anger, are liberated on a whole new level.
“It’s as frightening as it is glorious.”
He was still gazing into Kahlan’s eyes. “You used the sword in that way, so you know what I mean.”
When she slowly nodded, he knew what she had been through.
“Commander Fister,” Nicci said into the sudden silence, “would you please take Irena and Samantha back to get them some of that stew you have had cooking. They have both been standing by for quite a while in case they were needed. Now that Richard is awake they finally have a chance to get a bite to eat. They should do it now, in case we need them later.”
By her tone of voice, Commander Fister understood that it was a command she expected to be carried out. He put a big hand under Irena’s arm and lifted the woman back with him.
“Come on, ladies, let me get you some of the boar stew,” he said, cheerfully eager for her to try it. “I helped make it myself. We added rabbit, spices, mushrooms we collected from stumps, marsh spinach, and some fat snails from along the stream. I’d really like a woman’s opinion of how I did.”
“Well, I, I would really rather—” Irena stammered, looking back toward Richard, hoping for him to intervene. He only smiled his assurance that the commander was right and she should eat.
“It has to be done by now,” Commander Fister said as he dragged her along with him. “Before we serve it to anyone else, I would be honored if you would be the first to taste it and tell me what you think. Samantha, come along and taste it with your mother.”
Samantha stood, torn between staying close to Richard and going with her mother. After a moment’s hesitation, she ran to catch up with her mother.
“I guess that I could give it a taste,” Irena said, looking back over her shoulder as she was being hauled away. Her face brightened then. “I’ll give it a taste to make sure it’s finished and then bring Richard a bowl. He needs to eat more than any of us.”
“Good idea,” Commander Fister said. “Let’s go have a bowl and see what you think, first.”
CHAPTER
42
As soon as the two women were dragged far enough away, Nicci, looking particularly displeased, leaned toward Richard, her blue eyes ablaze. Some of her long blond hair fell forward over her shoulder as she peered intently at him.
“What did you teach that girl about using magic?”
He could see Kahlan’s small smile as she sat back out of the way, not wanting to get in the middle of it.
“What are you talking about?”
Nicci gritted her teeth. “That girl has a temper. A very bad temper.”
“And you don’t?” Richard asked.
“Not like hers.”
Richard frowned suspiciously as he looked at Zedd’s guarded expression and then back at Nicci. “Why? What did she do?”
“That’s what I want to know. I asked her where she learned such things”—Nicci jabbed a finger into his shoulder—“and she said that you taught her.”
Richard tipped his head back as he realized what she had to be talking about. “Ah. That.”
“Yes, that,” Nicci growled as she punctuated each word with another poke of her finger. “What did you teach her, Mister ‘I don’t know how to use my gift’?”
“Actually,” Richard said, “I only taught her what you taught me.”
Her frown faltered. “What are you talking about?”
“Remember when you explained to me how you made trees explode?”
Nicci’s gaze wandered as she tried to recall what she might have said. “All I ever told you was that by using my gift I concentrated heat inside one spot in a tree trunk so that the heat rapidly turned the sap to steam and with nowhere to go it expanded and blew the tree apart.”