Faith of the Fallen

Milky light connected both women, heart to heart. Its wavering glow grew to blinding brightness, taking the pain to a new level in intensity.

Kahlan's mouth opened in a silent cry. Her green eyes widened with the torment flooding through them both-as the root of magic embedded in every fiber of their two beings vibrated in response to the call of the light.

Nicci placed her hands over her heart, in that incandescent shaft of light, and began to withdraw her power.

CHAPTER 70

Richard pulled a shuddering breath as he opened his eyes. Somehow, he was lying in a position that didn't hurt. He feared to: move, lest the crushing pain return.

How could that be? He'd been run through with a sword.

The darkness around him was still and quiet. In the distance, he could hear the sounds of battle raging on. The ground beneath him shuddered with some great impact.

There were people around him. Bodies lay on the wet floor. He realized he was on a board, keeping him up out of the water. He was covered in a warm cloak. He could see the dark hunched shapes of people huddled around in the little room.

Under his fingers lay the hilt of the Sword of Truth. Because the storm of magic was calmed, he knew the sword was in its scabbard.

He looked up, and through the openings between beams, through broken stone and splintered wood, and could see the rosy blush of dawn.

"Kahlan?" he whispered.

Three figures in the room sprang up, as if stone had suddenly come to life.

The closest leaned in. "I'm here." She took up his hand.

With his other hand, he reluctantly probed for his wound. He couldn't find it. He felt no pain, only a lingering ache.

Another figure leaned in. "Lord Rahl? Are you awake?"

"What happened?"

"Oh, Richard, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I stabbed you. It was all my fault. I should have taken an instant to be sure before I did it. I'm so sorry."

Richard frowned. "Kahlan, I let you win."

Silence greeted him.

"Richard," Kahlan finally said, "you don't have to try to ease my guilt. I know it's my fault. I ran you through with the sword."

"No," Richard insisted, "I let you win."

Cara patted his shoulder. "Of course you did, Lord Rahl. Of course you did."

"No, really."

When the third figure turned to him, Richard's fingers tightened around the hilt of his sword.

"How do you feel?" Nicci asked in that silken voice he knew so well.

"Did you remove the link to Kahlan?"

Nicci raised her hand and made a scissors motion with two fingers.

"Gone for good."

Richard let out a breath. "Then I feel fine." He tried to sit up, but Nicci's hand restrained him.

"Richard, I can never ask your forgiveness because I can never return what I stole from you, but I want you to know that I now understand how wrong I've been. My whole life, I have been blind. I'm not making an excuse. It's just that I want you to know that you have restored my vision. In giving me the answer I sought, you gave me my life. You gave me a reason to want to live."

"And what did you see, Nicci?"

"Life. You sculpted it so big that even someone who had so blindly served evil, as I had done, could see it. You must no longer prove yourself to me. Now, it is for me, and those here you have inspired, to prove ourselves to you."

"You and they have already begun, or I would not be alive."

"So. . you are a Sister of the Light again?" Kahlan asked.

Nicci shook her head. "No. I am Nicci. My ability as a sorceress is mine; it is who I am. My ability does not enslave me to others because they want it. It's my life. It does not belong to anyone--except maybe to you two.

"You both have shown me the value of life, the rationale of freedom. If I am to serve beside anyone, now, it will be beside others who hold dear the same values."

Richard placed his hand over Nicci's. "Thank you for saving my life.

For a while there, I thought I'd made a mistake when I let Kahlan run me through."

"Richard," Kahlan objected, "you don't have to try to assuage my guilt by saying that."

Nicci was gazing into his eyes, even as she addressed Kahlan. "He's not. He's telling you the truth. I saw him do it. He was forcing me to make a choice to save him, so that I would have to break the spell holding you.

I'm sorry you had to endure such a thing, Richard; I'd already made the choice-the moment I saw your statue."

Richard tried to sit up again. Nicci restrained him again.

"It is going to take time for you to recover fully. You are still suffering the lingering effects of the injury. Just because you are alive, that doesn't mean it won't take some time before you are completely recovered. You have gone through a formidable ordeal. You lost a lot of blood. You will need to rebuild your strength. You could yet die if you don't go easy."

"All right," Richard conceded. He sat up carefully with Kahlan's help.

"I'll keep your words in mind, but I still have to get up there." He turned to Kahlan. "By the way, what are you doing all the way down here? How did you know where I was? What's happening to the north, in the New World?"