Severed Souls(97)
Commander Fister nodded. “Anything else, Lord Rahl?”
“I hear that it was an exhausting, hard-fought battle with those Shun-tuk for most of last night. Everyone needs a good rest. In the morning we all leave for Saavedra.”
“And there is no time to waste on that journey,” Irena chimed in as she shook a finger at the man. “We need to get there as quickly as possible.”
Commander Fister smoothed a hand back over his hair. “Saavedra…” he said as he thought about it. He finally looked up. “I’m sorry to admit it, Lord Rahl, but I don’t know for certain where, exactly, Saavedra is located.”
“Irena says that it’s to the southeast. She will lead us.”
Irena looked surprised. “Richard, I don’t know the land well enough. I set out from Stroyza by trail and then road when I went to Saavedra that one time. Other than that, I rarely left Stroyza. Since you rescued us from beyond the north wall, we’ve been running all over Creation. I don’t really know for sure exactly where we are, now, at least not well enough to lead us to Saavedra.”
“It’s a big enough city that there will be roads going there,” Richard said. “We know the general direction, so sooner or later we will run into a road that leads to Saavedra.”
“I’ll ask Ned as well,” the commander offered. “I imagine he has a pretty good idea of the direction and how to get there.”
Richard nodded. “I also want double watches tonight.”
Commander Fister clapped a fist to his heart. “Already done, Lord Rahl.”
“And commander,” Richard said, making the man turn back, “I want everyone to stay alert. There is a creature out there in the woods that has been watching us.”
Commander Fister frowned as he scanned the woods briefly. “A creature? What sort of creature?”
Richard gestured in the direction he had last seen the thing, in the woods behind Kahlan.
“It’s back that way. Some kind of mountain cat. Dark spots on its back. It’s been watching us, but I don’t think it means us any harm or it would have already caused it. Just be aware.”
“What color are its eyes?” Kahlan asked.
Richard thought it an odd question. “Green.”
“Leave him be,” she said. “He won’t hurt us. He’s just curious.”
Richard arched an eyebrow at Kahlan. “He?”
“His name is Hunter.” Kahlan smiled at him as she dismissed it with a coy shrug. “Just a little friend I met while you were off visiting the underworld.”
“Hunter. You named him.” It was not a question, but a reminder of what he had told her once before.
She shrugged again. “He brought me three rabbits. Seemed a pretty obvious name.”
“That’s where you got the rabbits for the stew?” the commander asked in astonishment. “I had been wondering.…”
“He slept with me last night,” Kahlan told Richard. “I was upset and afraid for you. The little thing kept me warm and kept me company.”
“You named him,” Richard said again in admonishment.
Kahlan smiled at him. Her own green eyes sparkled.
“He needed a name.”
“Of course he did,” Richard said as he shook his head.
CHAPTER
46
“What are you doing up?” Zedd asked as Richard stepped closer in the darkness.
The flickering light from the low fire in the distance made Zedd’s wavy white hair look a little like it was made of flames.
“I was asleep all day,” Richard reminded him. “I’m not really tired. I want to check on the men standing watch.”
“Ah,” Zedd said with a nod.
“What are you doing up?” Richard asked his grandfather.
Zedd stroked a finger along his lower lip. “I confess that I saw you go by, and I wanted to talk to you. Alone.”
“Ah,” Richard said with a nod. “Maybe something about the bringer of death?”
Zedd smiled in a way Richard knew well. Ever since he had been a boy, when Richard caught on before his grandfather had finished explaining, Zedd would give him that particular smile.
“Well, yes, that was one of the things I wanted to talk to you about. Would you like to tell me about it, or am I going to have to drag it out of you one question at a time?”
Richard held up a hand in surrender. “No, I’ve been wanting to tell you what I’ve learned in the hopes that maybe you could shed some light on it.”
“So what was written in the language of Creation on those walls you found in Stroyza?”
“I found an account written by Naja Moon. She was a sorceress who worked with Magda Searus and Merritt.”