Faith of the Fallen

Inside her tent, Kahlan found Spirit standing on a little table, the lamp hanging from the ridgepole lighting her proud pose. She paused to trace a finger down the flowing robes.

Kahlan, her teeth chattering, could hardly wait to crawl into bed and pull that sack of heated pebbles under the fur mantle with her. She thought about how cold she was, and then instead of climbing into her bed, went back outside and searched through the dark camp until she found a Sister. After following the Sister's directions, going between tents until she reached the area with the thick young trees, Kahlan found the small lean-to shelter set among the boughs for protection from the wind and weather.

She squatted down, peering inside at the bundle of blankets she could just make out in the light coming from nearby campfires.

"Holly? Are you in there?"

A little head poked out. "Mother Confessor?" The girl was shivering.

"What is it? Do you need me?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I do. Come with me please."

Holly climbed out, swaddled in a blanket. Kahlan took her little hand and walked her back to her tent in silence. Holly's eyes grew big and round as Kahlan ushered in inside. Before the small table, the girl paused to stand still as a stump while she stared in wonder at Spirit.

"Like it?" Kahlan asked.

Trembling with the cold, Holly reverently ran her frail fingers down Spirit's arm. "Where ever did you get something so beautiful?"

"Richard carved it for me."

Holly finally pulled her gaze from the statue and looked up at Kahlan.

"I miss Richard." Kahlan could see Holly's breath in the motionless air of the tent. "He was always nice to me. A lot of people were mean, but Richard was always nice."

Kahlan felt an unexpected stab of anguish. She hadn't expected the subject to turn to Richard.

"What was it you needed, Mother Confessor?"

Kahlan turned her thoughts away from her sorrow and smiled. "I was proud of the work you did to help save us today. I promised you that you would be warm. Tonight, you will be."

The girl's teeth were chattering. "Really?"

Kahlan laid the Sword of Truth on the far side of the bed. She stripped off some of her heavier clothing, doused the lamp, and then sat down on the straw-filled pallet. Light from nearby campfires lent a soft glow to the tent's walls.

"Come. Climb into bed with me. It's going to be very cold tonight. I need you to keep me warm."

Holly only had to consider for a second.

As Kahlan lay down on her side, she pulled Holly's back against her stomach and then drew the sack of heated pebbles up against the girl's front. Holly hugged the sack and moaned with the thrill of warmth. The satisfied moan made Kahlan smile.

For a long time, she smiled, enjoying the simple pleasure of seeing Holly warm and safe. Having the girl there, holding her close, helped Kahlan to forget all the terrible things she had seen that day.

Far up in the mountains, a single wolf sang out in a long, lonely call.

The cry echoed through the valley, trailing off, to be renewed again and again with forlorn persistence.

With his sword at her back, Kahlan's thoughts turned to Richard.

Thinking about him, wondering where he was and if he was safe, she silently wept herself to sleep.

-]--

The next day, snow moved down from the higher mountains to rampage across the southern regions of the Midlands. The storms raged for two days.

The second night of the blizzard, Kahlan shared her tent with Holly, Valery, and Helen. They sat under blankets, ate camp stew, sang songs, told stories of princes and princesses, and slept together to keep warm.

When the snowstorm finally ended in a bleak golden sunrise, most of the taller tents had snow drifted to their eaves on their downwind side. The smaller ones were completely covered over. The men dug themselves out, looking like so many woodchucks come up out of their burrows for a peek.

Over the next several weeks, the storms continued to roll past, dumping more snow. In such weather, fighting, or even moving an army very far, was difficult.

Scouts reported that the Imperial Order had withdrawn a week's march back to the south.

It would be a burden to care for blinded men. Within a days walk all around the place where the special glass had been released, the D'Haran scouts reported that they had seen well over sixty thousand frozen corpses, now drifted over with the snow-blind men unable to care for themselves in the harsh conditions. The Imperial Order had probably abandoned them to their fate. A few dozen of the blind had managed to make it over the pass, looking for help, begging for mercy. Kahlan had ordered them executed.