Terry Goodkind - Confessor - Chainfire Trilogy Part 3

And then he caught a glimpse of Kahlan.

Richard moved as if in a dream. The whole cluster of men around the emperor and Kahlan had started turning in the direction of Richard and his team.

Knowing that he had to get up with the other men, Richard started to step over the chain attached to Johnrock’s collar. Just then he had an idea. He hurried forward and deliberately let his foot catch the chain. He fell face-first in the mud.

Commander Karg went red with rage. “Ruben—you clumsy idiot! Get on your feet!”

Richard scrambled to his feet as Jagang’s guards began parting for the emperor. Richard stood up tall next to Johnrock. With a finger, he wiped mud from his eyes.

He blinked to clear his vision. It was then that he spotted Kahlan. She was walking just behind Jagang. The hood of her cloak, pulled up to protect her against the rain, partially hid her face. Richard recognized every familiar movement of her body. No one moved quite the way she moved.

Their eyes met. He thought his heart might stop.

He remembered the first time he had seen her. She had looked so noble in that white dress. He remembered the way she had looked directly at him without speaking—a gaze that was questioning and at the same time guarded, a gaze that instantly and clearly conveyed her intelligence. He had never seen anyone before that moment who looked so . . . valiant.

He thought that he had probably been in love with her from that first instant, from that first look into her beautiful green eyes. He had been sure that in that first look into those eyes he had seen her soul.

Now there was all that, along with a hint of confused concern in her expression. Because of the way his gaze fixed on her, followed her, she was aware that he could see her. Being the object of the Chainfire spell, she wouldn’t remember who he was or, for that matter, who she was. Other than Richard and the Sisters who had taken her prisoner and ignited the Chainfire spell, no one could remember her. Obviously, Jagang was not affected by the spell. Richard surmised that it probably had something to do with a connection to the Sisters. But Kahlan would be invisible to everyone else.

She recognized, though, that Richard could see her. In the isolation imposed by the spell, that had to be something profoundly important and meaningful for her. In fact, by the look on her face, he could see that it was.

Before Jagang could begin to get close enough to inspect the team, a man called out as he ran up to the group. The emperor gestured him forward in a manner that suggested the man was well known. The guards parted for him as he made his way through their inner circle of protection. Since he carried only minimal weapons—a couple of knives—Richard reasoned that he was probably a messenger. He was winded but seemed to be in a great hurry.

When he made it to the emperor, the man bent close, speaking excitedly but in a low voice. At one point in his report, he gestured across the camp toward the area where the construction of the ramp was taking place.

Kahlan, pulling her gaze from Richard, looked over at the man speaking with Jagang.

Richard surveyed a cadre of other guards, closer in, who surrounded her. They weren’t the royal guard, and in fact they were careful to stay out of the way of the imposing royal guards. These men looked more like the regular soldiers of the camp. Their weapons weren’t well made. They had no chain mail or armor. Their clothes seemed to be a collection of whatever they could find that looked the part of the rest of the army. They were big men, young and strong, but they were not the match of the emperor’s guards. They looked more like common thugs.

Richard realized, then, that they could only be guarding Kahlan.

Unlike Jagang’s guards, who seemed unmindful of her presence, these men frequently glanced at Kahlan, checking on her every move. That could only mean that these men could see her. Jagang’s guards never looked at Kahlan, but these men did. Somehow, they were able to see her. Somehow, Jagang had found men to guard her who were not affected by the spell.

At first questioning if he was really right that they could see her, and confused by how such a thing was possible, Richard finally realized that it actually did make sense. The Chainfire spell, like the world of magic itself, had been contaminated by the chimes. That contamination eroded the ability of magic to function. The whole purpose of the chimes was to destroy magic. Because of the taint left by their presence in the world of life, the Chainfire spell’s very makeup had been impaired. When Zedd and Nicci had run the verification web, Richard had discovered the damage to the structure of the spell itself.

Because of that contamination within the Chainfire spell, it didn’t function as designed. It was flawed. It only made sense that such a flaw might allow a few people to escape its effects.

Richard remembered how the plague, sweeping through the population like a wildfire, didn’t touch everyone. There were a few people—even some who cared for the sick and dying—who never contracted the plague themselves. This must be something like that. There were bound to be a few people who weren’t affected by the Chainfire event and would therefore be able to see Kahlan. It would certainly explain why there were guards who could see her.

As those special guards, distracted by the man speaking to Jagang with such urgency, turned to try to see better what was happening with the emperor, Kahlan made a small move to turn with them. It looked perfectly natural; Richard knew it was anything but. As she turned, Kahlan adjusted the hood of her cloak against the rain, and as her hand came back down it passed close to one of her guards. Richard saw that the sheath at the man’s belt was empty. As Kahlan’s hand disappeared back under her cloak, Richard caught a brief glint of reflection off the blade. He wanted to laugh out loud, to cheer, but he didn’t dare move a muscle.

Kahlan caught him looking at her and realized that he had to have seen what she’d just done. She watched him a moment to see if he might betray her. She was using the hood of her cloak to hide her face from those guarding her, to prevent them from seeing that she was looking obliquely at Richard. When he didn’t move, she turned and along with the guards watched what was going on between the messenger and the emperor.

Jagang suddenly swung around and started away, returning back the way he’d come, the messenger right on his heels. Kahlan briefly glanced back over a shoulder to catch one last glimpse of Richard before the guards could all close in around the emperor and his captive.

As she did so, and the hood of her cloak moved just enough, Richard saw the dark bruise on her left cheek.

Hot anger blazed through him. Every fiber of his being wanted to do something, to act, to get her away from Jagang, to get her out of this camp. His mind raced to come up with something, anything, but, chained as he was, there was nothing he could do. This was not the time or place he could act.

Worse, he knew that if he did nothing Jagang’s abuse of her would only continue. If he did nothing, and Kahlan suffered worse, Richard knew that he would never forgive himself.

Despite how desperately he wanted to do something, though, he could do nothing.

He stood silent and still, enduring the rage storming through him, a wrath that was the twin to the Sword of Truth, the sword he’d given up in order to find Kahlan.

Kahlan, the emperor, and all the guards vanished back into the churn­ing grime of the encampment. Curtains of mist seemed to draw in behind them.

Richard stood trembling in bitter frustration. Not even the cold rain could cool his bottled fury. Even as his mind raced through every possible action, he knew that there was nothing he could do. Not now, anyway.