Chainfire: Chainfire Trilogy Part 1

The three of them waited in silence as Richard stared off into the distance, as if he were mentally trying to fit together the pieces of some great puzzle. Nicci glanced over her shoulder at the men back near the maple tree. Some yawned as they waited. Some had found seats on a fallen log. A few were engaged in hushed conversation. Others, arms folded, leaned against the trunks of trees and watched the surrounding woods as they waited.

"It didn't happen this morning," Richard whispered to himself. "When I was waking up this morning, when I was still half asleep, I was really remembering what had happened the morning Kahlan disappeared."

"The morning of the battle," Nicci said softly in correction.

Lost in thought, Richard didn't appear to hear her correction. "I must have been remembering, for some reason, what happened back when I woke that morning." He turned suddenly and seized her arm. "A rooster crowed when I was being carried back to the farmhouse."

Surprised by his abrupt change of subject, and not knowing what he was getting at, Nicci shrugged. "I suppose it could have. I don't remember. Why?"

"There was no wind. I remember hearing the rooster crow and looking up and seeing motionless tree limbs above me. There was no wind at all. I remember how dead still it was."

"You're right, Lord Rahl," Cara said. "I remember when I ran into Victor's camp seeing the smoke from the fire going straight up because the air was dead calm. I think that was why we could hear the clash of steel and the cries from so far away-because there wasn't even a breath of breeze to cut the sound from carrying."

"If it helps," the blacksmith said, "there were a few chickens roaming around when we brought you to the farm. And you're right, there was a rooster and it did crow. Matter of fact, we were trying not to be found so that Nicci could have the time to heal you, and I was afraid that the rooster might attract unwanted attention, so I told the men to cut its throat."

After hearing Victor's account, Richard drifted back into thought. He tapped a finger against his lower lip as he considered yet another piece of his puzzle. Nicci thought he might have forgotten they were standing there.

She leaned a little closer to him. "So?"

He blinked and finally looked at her. "It had to be that when I woke today I was really remembering that morning-remembering for a reason. Sometimes you do that-remember because there was some part of it that doesn't make sense, remember for some reason."

"What reason?" Nicci asked.

"The wind. There was no wind that morning. But I remember that when I woke that morning, in the faint light of false dawn, I saw tree limbs moving, like in a breeze."

Nicci was not just confused by his concern for wind, but worried for his state of mind. "Richard, you were asleep and just waking up. It was dark. You probably just thought you saw the tree branches moving."

"Maybe" was all he said.

"Maybe it was the soldiers coming," Cara offered.

"No," he said, dismissing her suggestion with an irritable wave of his hand, "that was a little later, after I'd discovered that Kahlan was missing."

Seeing that neither Victor nor Cara was going to argue the point, Nicci decided to hold her tongue as well. Richard seemed to put the puzzle from his mind. He turned a deadly serious expression on the three of them.

"Look, I have to show you all something. But you need to realize, despite how little you may be able to make out, that I know what I'm talking about. I don't expect you to take my word, but you need to understand that I have a lifetime of experience in this and routinely used such ability. I trust each of you in your area of expertise. This is mine. Don't close your minds to what I have to show you."

Nicci, Cara, and Victor shared a look.

With a nod to Richard, Victor set his reservations aside and turned to the men. "You boys keep your eyes open, now." He circled a finger in the air. "There could be soldiers about, so let's keep it quiet and stay alert. Ferran, double-check the area."

The men nodded. Some came to their feet, apparently glad to have something to do other than just sit there wet and cold. Four men set out through the trees to set up guard.

Ferran handed his pack and bedroll to one of the other men for safekeeping before nocking an arrow and slipping quietly into the brush. The young man was learning the trade of blacksmithing from Victor. Raised on a farm, he also had a natural talent for scouting unseen in the woods. He idolized Victor. Nicci knew that Victor was fond of the young man as well, but because he was fond of him he was probably harder on him than on the other men. Victor had told her once, referring to his tough demands of his apprentice, that you had to pound the imperfections out of iron and work it hard if you wanted to shape it into something truly worthwhile.