Chainfire: Chainfire Trilogy Part 1

"You know what, Shota? I'm getting pretty tired of Samuel trying to kill me and you then claiming that you never gave him any such instructions. Once might have been credible, but it's growing too routine. Your innocent surprise every time it happens is beginning to strike me as rather convenient. It appears to me that you find deniability quite useful and so you stick to it."

"That isn't true, Richard," Shota said in a measured tone. She unfolded her arms and clasped her hands as she looked at the ground at her feet. "You carry his sword. Samuel is a little touchy about that. Since it was taken from him, not given freely, that means it still belongs to him."

Richard nearly objected, but then reminded himself that he wasn't there to argue the point.

Shota's gaze rose to meet his. It came up angry.

"And how dare you complain to me about what Samuel does without my knowledge when you knowingly bring a deadly menace into the peace of my home?"

Richard was taken aback. "What are you talking about?"

"Don't play stupid, Richard, it doesn't fit you. You are hunted by a wildly dangerous threat. How many people have already died because they were unfortunate enough to be near you when the beast came looking for you. What if it decides to come here to kill you? You come here and in so doing cavalierly risk my life, without my permission, simply because you happen to want something?

"Do you think it's right that I'm put at risk of death because of your wants? Does the fact that you think I have something you need put my life at your disposal and therefore at great risk?"

"Of course not." Richard swallowed. "I never looked at it that way."

Shota threw her hands up. "Ah, so your excuse is that I am to be put in peril because you didn't think."

"I need your help."

"You mean you have come as a helpless beggar, begging for help, without regard to the danger it puts me in, simply because you want something."

Richard rubbed a fingertips across his forehead. "Look, I don't have all the answers, but I can tell you that I have good reason to believe that I'm right, that Kahlan exists and she has disappeared."

"Like I said, you want something and you don't bother to consider the risk to anyone else."

Richard took a step closer to her. "That isn't true. Don't you see? You don't remember Kahlan. No one but me does. Think, Shota, think of what it means if I'm right."

Her brow twitched as she puzzled at him. "What are you talking about?"

"If I'm right, then there is something gravely wrong in the world that's making everyone-including you-forget her. She has been wiped from your mind. But it's more serious than that. It's not just Kahlan that is missing from everyone's mind. Everything that you or anyone else ever did with her is also missing. Some of those missing bits may be trivial, but other parts of it very well could be vital.

"You don't remember that you said you would kill me if I ever came back here. That means that when you said that, in your mind that threat had to be somehow connected to Kahlan. She contributed to your choice to make that threat. Now, since you don't remember Kahlan, you also don't recall saying that to me.

"What if there's something vastly important that you've likewise forgotten. Because you've forgotten Kahlan, you've lost part of what you've done in your own life-lost some of the decisions you've made. How many ways do you have a connection with Kahlan that you are completely unaware of that are now wiped away? How important are those missing bits? How much of your life has been altered because you now don't recall the changes in your thinking that you made because of her influence?

"Shota, don't you see the magnitude of the problem? Can't you fathom how this has the potential to change everyone's perception? If everyone forgets how Kahlan changed their individual lives, they will act without the benefit of the shifts they made in their thinking."

Richard paced, one hand on a hip, gesturing with the other. "Think of someone you know." He turned back to her, meeting her gaze. "Think of your mother. Now, just try to imagine all that you would lose if you lost every memory of her and everything she taught you, every one of your decisions in which she had an influence, both directly and indirectly.

"Now, imagine everyone forgetting someone important like your mother was to you-but imagine them being central to events important to everyone. Imagine for a moment how your life-your thinking-would be altered if you forgot that I exist and you no longer recalled the things you've done with me, the things you've done because of me. Can you begin to see the significance?