Chainfire: Chainfire Trilogy Part 1

Around the camp fire a few nights before, Sister Ulicia had put her face right up close to Kahlan's and whispered exactly what she would do to Kahlan should she fail to do as instructed.

Kahlan started trembling at the memory of what Sister Ulicia had told her that terrible night. She thought of Sister Tovi and trembled all the more.

What was she going to do?

CHAPTER 57

Kahlan pushed open one of the doors with the snakes on the other side of it. Sisters Ulicia and Tovi immediately spotted her and with furtive gestures motioned for her to come to where they waited down the hall. They didn't want to be seen near the doors with the snakes and the skulls.

Kahlan crossed the hallway, watching the patterns in the marble floor, not wanting to look up into Sister Ulicia's eyes.

As soon as she had walked down the corridor and was close enough, Sister Ulicia snatched Kahlan's shirt at her shoulder and pulled her over to a niche in the far wall. Both Sisters Ulicia and Tovi caged her in.

"Did anyone try to stop you?" Sister Tovi asked.

Kahlan shook her head.

Sister Ulicia let out a sigh. "Good. Let's see them."

Kahlan drew the pack off one shoulder and pulled it around enough in front so that the sisters could open the flap. Both of them pawed at the strap cinching it down. They finally got it loose and flipped it back.

Both Sisters huddled close together, shoulder to shoulder, so that people in the hall couldn't see what they were doing, see what terrible thing they were about to bring out into the light of day. Sister Ulicia carefully pulled off the satiny white fabric of Kahlan's dress still stuffed partly down into the pack to see the black box nestled within.

Both stood in silent awe, staring.

Sister Ulicia, her fingers trembling with excitement, stuck her arm down in and started pawing around, searching for the others. When she didn't find them she stepped back, a dark look coming over her face.

"Where are the other two?"

Kahlan swallowed. "I could only fit one into the pack, Sister. The others wouldn't fit. You told me that I had to conceal them inside, but they were too big. I will.»

Before Kahlan could say another word, before she explained that she planned to make two more trips to recover the other boxes, Sister Ulicia, in a rage, whipped her stout rod around so hard that it whistled through the air.

Kahlan heard a deafening crack as it hit the side of her head with full force.

The world seemed to go silent and black.

Kahlan realized that she was on the floor in a heap, crumpled on her knees. She cupped a hand over her left ear, gasping in paralyzing pain. She saw blood splattered all over the floor. She took her hand away and saw that it looked like she was wearing a warm, bloody glove.

She could only stare at her hand and pant in little gasps. So crushing was the pain that her voice wouldn't work. She couldn't even cry out in agony. It seemed as if she were looking through a long, fuzzy, black tunnel. Her stomach felt queasy.

Suddenly, Sister Ulicia seized Kahlan's shirt and hoisted her up from the floor only to slam her against the wall. Kahlan's head smacked the stone, but compared to the pain radiating from the side of her head, her jaw, and her ear, it seemed inconsequential.

"You stupid bitch!" Sister Ulicia railed as she pulled Kahlan away and again slammed her against the wall. "You stupid, incompetent, worthless bitch!"

Tovi looked like she, too, wanted to get her hands on Kahlan. She saw that down the corridor half of Sister Ulicia's broken rod lay against the wall. Kahlan struggled to find her voice, knowing it was her only salvation.

"Sister Ulicia, I couldn't fit all three inside." Kahlan could taste salty tears along with blood. "You told me to hide them in my pack. They wouldn't fit. I planned to go back and get them, that's all. Please-I'll go back for the others. I swear, I will get them for you."

Sister Ulicia backed away, the smoldering anger in her eyes was frightening. Even though the woman backed away, she pointed at the center of Kahlan's chest with one finger and Kahlan was slammed hard against the marble and pinned to the wall with a force that felt as massive as a bull leaning against her. It was a struggle to draw each breath against the crushing pressure. It was a struggle to see through the blood running into her eyes.

"You should have rolled the other two boxes in your bedroll, then you would have them all right now. Isn't that right?"

Kahlan hadn't considered doing that because it wasn't an option.

"But Sister, I have something else rolled in the bedroll."

Sister Ulicia leaned in again. Kahlan feared that she was now going to be made to wish she was dead, or fear that she was about to be. She wasn't at all sure which fate would be worse. She felt the pain come on within her head to match the pain on the outside from the blow. Pinned against the wall, Kahlan couldn't fall to the ground, cover her ears, and scream, or she would have.