Naked Empire

What purpose would it be to place himself in danger of all we'll do to him if he's lying? Why even come back here, if he only wanted to poison Lord Rahl? He had already poisoned him and gotten away. Mother Confessor, I say that we give Lord Rahl the antidote, and we do it quickly."

"Then why poison him in the first place?" Kahlan whispered back. "If you intend to give a man the antidote, then why poison him?"

Cara let out a frustrated sigh. "I don't know. But right now, if Lord Rahl dies…"

Cara's words trailed off at the unthinkable.

Kahlan looked over at Richard lying unconscious. She went weak at the thought of him never waking. How could she live in a world without Richard?

"How much do we give him?" she asked Owen.

Owen rushed forward, past Jennsen. "All of it. Make him drink it all down." He pressed the small, square-sided bottle into Kahlan's hands.

"Hurry. Please hurry."

"You've hurt him," Kahlan said with unrestrained menace. "Your poison hurt him. He's been coughing up blood, and he passed out from the pain. If you think I'll ever forget that and be pleased with you for now returning to save his life, you're wrong."

Owen nervously licked his lips. "But I tried to get to you. I was bringing you the antidote so that wouldn't happen. I never intended him such pain. I tried to get to you-but you slaughtered all those men."

"So, it's our fault, then?"

Owen smiled just a bit as he nodded, a small smile of satisfaction that she'd finally seen the light and at last understood that it wasn't his fault at all, but their fault.

While Jennsen watched Owen, keeping him back out of the way, Tom watched the man Kahlan had touched, and Friedrich watched Betty, Kahlan and Cara knelt and lifted Richard so they could try to get him to drink the antidote. Cara propped his back against her thigh while Kahlan cradled his head in her arm.

She pulled the stopper with her teeth and spit out the cork. Careful not to spill and waste any of the antidote, she put the bottle to his lips and tipped it up. She watched it wet his lips. She tilted his head back more, so that his mouth would fall open a bit, and tipped the bottle some more. Carefully, she let some of the clear liquid dribble into his mouth.

Kahlan didn't know if what was in the bottle really was an antidote. It was colorless and looked to her just like water. As Richard smacked his lips a little, swallowing what she had poured in his mouth, Kahlan smelled the bottle. The liquid had the slight aroma of cinnamon.

She dribbled more of it into Richard's mouth. He coughed, but then swallowed. Cara used a finger to swipe up a drop that ran down his chin and return it to his mouth.

Kahlan, her heart pounding with worry, poured the rest of the liquid past his lips. Holding the empty bottle between her thumb and first finger, she used the palm of her hand to push Richard's jaw up, forcing his head back, forcing him to swallow.

She sighed with relief when he swallowed several times, taking all the cure. At least she'd been able to get him to swallow it.

Carefully, Kahlan and Cara laid Richard back down. As Cara stood, Owen rushed forward.

"Did you give him all of it? Did he drink it all?"

Cara's Agiel spun into her fist. As Owen, in his exuberance to get to Richard, charged forward, Cara rammed her Agiel into Owen's shoulder.

Owen tottered back a step. "I'm sorry." He rubbed his shoulder where Cara had jabbed her Agiel into him. "I only wanted to see how he is. I don't mean any harm. I want him to be well, I swear."

Kahlan stared in astonishment. Cara glanced down at her Agiel, then at Owen.

Her Agiel hadn't worked on him. He wasn't affected by magic.

Even Jennsen was staring at Owen. He was just like her-a pillar of Creation, born pristinely ungifted and unaffected by magic. While Jennsen understood what that meant, it didn't seem that Owen did. He had no idea that Cara had done anything more than poke him good and hard to get him to stand back.

Her Agiel should have dropped him to his knees.

"Richard drank all the antidote. Now it must do its work. In the meantime, I think we had better get some sleep." Kahlan gestured with a tilt of her head. "See to the watches, would you Cara? I'll stay with Richard."

Cara nodded. She gave Tom a look, which he understood.

"Owen," Tom said, "why don't you come over by me and spend the night over here, with this fellow."

Owen blanched at the look on the face of the big D'Haran, and understood that he wasn't being offered a choice. "Yes, all right." He turned back to Kahlan. "I'll pray that he got the antidote in time. I'll pray for him."

"Pray for yourself," she said.

When everyone had gone, Kahlan lay down beside Richard. Now that she was alone with him, tears of worry finally began to seep out. Richard was shivering with cold, even though it was a warm night. She drew the blanket back up around him and then put her hand on his shoulder as she cuddled close, not knowing if when the new day came he would still be with her.

CHAPTER 22