Chainfire: Chainfire Trilogy Part 1

Frowning in concentration, she pressed the flats of her hands lo Cara's temples.

With a cry Nicci staggered back. Richard reached out with his free hand and caught her elbow to prevent her from tumbling backwards over the tangled rubble.

"Dear spirits," Nicci whispered, panting to catch her breath as if from unexpected pain.

"What?" Richard asked. "What is it?"

The sorceress placed her hands over her heart, still gulping air as she recovered from the unexpected. "She's barely alive."

With his chin, Richard pointed to the door. "Let's get her out of here."

Nicci nodded. "Downstairs-my room."

Richard, without thinking, swept Cara up in his arms. Fortunately, the men were right there to help when they saw him wince in pain.

"Dear Creator," one of the men exclaimed as he lifted her leg, "she's as cold as the Keeper's heart."

"Come on," Richard said, "help me get her downstairs."

Once they lifted her, Cara's limbs were easily moved, although they wouldn't go limp. The men helping Richard carry Cara shuffled through the rubble. One of the men kicked the broken door out of the way. They earned her down the narrow stairs feet first. Richard held her shoulders.

At the bottom of the stairs, Nicci directed them into her room and to the bed. They gently laid Cara down as Nicci first yanked the covers out from under the stricken woman. Once Cara was settled into the bed, Nicci immediately covered her with the blankets.

Cara's blue eyes were still opened wide, staring, it seemed, into some distant nothingness. Occasionally, a tear set out from the corner of her eye on a slow journey across her cheek. Her chin, her shoulders, her arms trembled.

Richard pried Cara's fingers open, making her release the Agiel she still had in a death grip. Her eyes showed no reaction. He endured the excruciating pain of touching her Agiel until he got it out of her grip and was able to release it to hang by the chain around her wrist.

"Why don't you all wait outside?" Nicci said in a quiet voice. "Give me some lime to see what I can do?"

The men made their way out, saying that they were going back on patrol, or to stand guard, in case they were needed.

"If that thing comes back," Richard told them, "don't try to stop it. Come get me."

One of the men cocked his head in puzzlement. "What thing, Lord Rahl? What is it we're supposed to be looking for?" — "I'm not sure. All I was able to see was a huge shadow as it came through the wall and then went out the window."

The man looked upward. "If it broke that hole through the wall to get through, then how did it get out a small window?"

"I don't know," Richard admitted. "I guess I didn't really get a good look at it."

The man glanced up again, as if he could see the wreckage above, "We'll keep our eyes wide open. You can be sure of that."

It was then that Richard remembered that he'd left his sword up in his room. It made him uneasy to be without it. He wanted to go get it, but he didn't want to leave Cara's side.

After the last man had left, Nicci sat on the side of the bed as she held a hand over Cara's forehead. Richard knelt close.

"What do you think is wrong?" he asked.

Nicci let the hand settle on Cara's forehead. "I have no idea."

"But you can do something to make her better?"

Nicci's answer was a long moment in coming. "I'm not sure. Whatever I can do, though, I will."

Richard took hold of Cara's still trembling, frigid hand. "Do you think we should shut her eyes? She hasn't even blinked."

Nicci nodded. "Probably not a bad idea. I think it's the dust making her tears run."

One at a time, Nicci carefully shut Cara's eyes. It somehow made Richard feel better that Cara wasn't staring at nothing.

Nicci returned her hand to Cara's forehead as she placed her other hand high on her chest. While Nicci held a wrist, an ankle, and slipped a hand under the back of Cara's neck, Richard went to the washbasin and returned with a wet cloth. He carefully washed Cara's face and brushed some of the dust and bits of plaster out of her hair. Through the wet cloth, he could feel the icy cold of her flesh.

With as warm and humid as it was, Richard couldn't understand how she could be this cold. He remembered, then, how when the black thing had come crashing into his room the air had suddenly gone icy cold, he remembered the painfully cold touch as he brushed past it as he leaped out the window.

"Don't you have any idea what's wrong with her?" Richard asked.

Nicci absently shook her head as she concentrated on pressing the palms of both hands against Cara's temples.

"Any idea what that thing was that came through the walls?"

Nicci turned to look up at him. "What?"

"I asked if you had any idea what could have done this? What crashed through the walls?"

Nicci looked exasperated by the question. "Richard, go wait outside. Please."

"But I want to be in here, with her."

Nicci gently took his wrist and lifted his hand off of Cara's. "You are interfering. Please, Richard, let me do this alone? It's easier without you watching over my shoulder."