Blood of the Fold

"My son," the old woman said as her eyes flicked down, indicating the girl, "and her mother, they've deserted us to stay near the palace, waiting for the gold promised. I told them to work, but they say I'm old and foolish in my ways, that they can be given more than they could earn, if they just wait there for what's owed them."

"How do they reason it's 'owed them'?"

She shrugged. "Because someone from the palace said so. Said they were entitled to it. Said all the people were. Some, like those two, believe it; it appeals to my son's lazy ways. The young are lazy nowadays. So they sit and wait, to be given, to be taken care of, instead of seeing to their own needs. They fight over who should be given the gold first. Some of the weak and old have been killed in those fights.

"'Meanwhile, fewer work, and so the prices keep going up. We can hardly afford enough bread, now." Her face set into a bitter expression. "All because of a foolish lust for gold. My son had work, for Chalmer the baker, but now he waits to be handed gold, instead of working, and she grows more hungry." She glanced out of the corner of her eye at the girl, and smiled kindly. "She works, though. Helps me make my cakes, she does, so we can feed ourselves. I won't let her roam the streets, like many of the young do, now."

She looked up again with a somber expression. "Them's the vermin: them who take what little we can earn or make with our hands so as to promise it right back to us, expecting us to be thankful at their kind hearts; them who tempt good people to be lazy so they can rule us like they do sheep at a trough; them who took our freedom and our ways. Even a foolish old woman like me knows that lazy people don't think for themselves; they only think about themselves. I don't know what the world's coming to."

When she finally seemed to have run out of breath, he gestured to the coin in her fist as he swallowed the mouthful of honey cake. Richard gave her a meaningful look. "I'd appreciate it, for now, if you would forget about what my sword looks like."

She bobbed her head knowingly. "Anything. Anything for you, m'lord. The good spirits be with you. And give the vermin a wack for me."

Richard moved up the street a ways, and sat a moment on a barrel beside an alleyway to take a bite of his honey cake. It was good, but he wasn't really paying much attention to the taste, and it didn't do anything to quell the apprehensive feeling in his stomach. It wasn't the same feeling as when he sensed the mriswith, he realized; it was more the feeling he had always gotten when someone's eyes were on him, and the fine hairs at the base of his neck stiffened. That was what he felt — someone watching him, someone watching and following. He scanned the faces, but didn't see anyone who looked as if they were interested in him.

Licking the honey off his fingers, he wove his way across the street, around horses pulling carts and wagons, and between the crush of people going about their business. At times, it was like trying to swim upriver. The din, the jangling of tack, the thud of hooves, the rattle of cargo in wagons, the creak of axles, the crunch of die compacted snow, the shouting of the hawkers, the cries of hucksters, and the buzz of talking, some in a singsong or a chatter of languages he didn't understand, was unnerving. Richard was used to the silence of his woods, where the wind in the trees or water rushing over rocks was the most sound he ever heard. Though he had often gone into Hartland, it was hardly more than a small town, and nothing to compare to the cities, like this one, that he had seen since he left home.

Richard missed his woods. Kahlan had promised him that she would return there with him one day for a visit. He smiled to himself as he thought about the beautiful places he would take her — the overlooks, the falls, the hidden mountain passes. He smiled more at the thought of how astonished she would be, and at how happy they would be together. He grinned at the memory of her special smile, the one she gave no one but him.

He missed Kahlan more than he could ever miss his woods. He wanted to get to her as fast as he could. Soon, he would, but first he had a few things to do in Aydindril.

At the sound of shouting he looked up and realized that in his daydreaming he hadn't been paying any attention to where he was going, and a column of soldiers was about to trample him. The commander cursed as he drew his men to a sudden halt.

"Do you be blind! What kind of fool walks under a column of horsemen!"

Richard glanced around. The people had all moved away from the soldiers, and seemed to be trying their best to look as if they had never had any intention of venturing anywhere near the center of the street. They worked at pretending the soldiers didn't exist. Most looked as if they wanted to become invisible.