Soul of the Fire

From the corner of her eye, Kahlan marked his intent expression. He was serious about this. She decided it would be better to put his concern to rest.

"It's nothing. He had a passing wild idea, but I got him to see reason. He's over it."

Zedd narrowed his eyes at her, a disconcerting sight, coming from a wizard. "I know you're not stupid enough to believe that, so why should you think I am? Hmm? He's not buried this bone. He's still got it between his teeth."

Kahlan checked the others. They were still several strides ahead. Even though Richard was supposed to be leading, Cara, ever protective, had put herself ahead of him.

Although she couldn't understand the words, Kahlan could tell that Ann was making cheery small talk with Richard. As much as they seemed to nettle each other, when it suited them Zedd and Ann worked together as effortlessly as teeth and tongue.

Zedd's sticklike fingers tightened on her arm. Richard wasn't the only one with a bone between his teeth.

Kahlan heaved a sigh and told him. "I suspect that Richard believes there is a chicken monster on the loose."

Kahlan had covered her nose and mouth against the stench, but dropped her hands to her sides when the two women looked up from their work. Both smiled to the small troop shuffling in the door, shaking off water, looking like they'd fallen in a river.

The two women were working on Juni's body, decorating it with black-and-white mud designs. They had already woven decorative grass bands around his wrists and ankles and had fixed a leather fillet around his head with grass positioned under it in the manner of hunters going out on a hunt.

Juni was laid out on a mud-brick platform, one of four such raised work areas. Dark stains drooled down the sides of each. A layer of fetid straw covered the floor. When a body was brought in, the straw was kicked up against the base of the platform to absorb draining fluids.

The straw was alive with vermin. When there were no bodies, the door was left open so the chickens could feast on the bugs and keep them down.

Off to the right of the door was the only window. When no one was attending a body, supple deerskin shut out light so the deceased might have peace. The women had pulled the deerskin to the side and hooked it behind a peg in the wall to let the gloomy light seep into the cramped room.

Bodies were not prepared at night, so as not to strain the peace of the soul going over to the other side. Reverence for the departing soul was fundamental to the Mud People; these new spirits might someday be called upon to help their people still living.

Both women were older and smiling as if their sunny nature could not be masked with a somber facade even for such grim work. Kahlan assumed them to be specialists in the task of insuring that the dead were properly adorned before they were laid in the ground.

Kahlan could see the fragrant oils that were rubbed over the body still glistening where the mud was yet to be applied. The oils failed to shroud the gagging stink of the tainted straw and platforms. She didn't understand why the straw wasn't changed more often. But then, for all she knew, perhaps it was; there was no escaping the consequence of the process of death and decay.

Probably for that reason the dead were buried quickly- either the day they died or at the latest the next. Juni would not be made to wait long before he was put in the ground. Then his spirit, seeing that all was as it should be, could turn to those of his kind in the spirit world.

Kahlan bent close to the two women. Out of reverence for the dead, she whispered. "Zedd and Ann, here"-she lifted a hand, indicating the two-"would like to look at Juni."

The women bowed from the waist and stepped back, with a finger hooking their pots of black and white mud off the platform and out of the way. Richard watched as his grandfather and Ann put their hands lightly to Juni, inspecting him, no doubt with magic. While Zedd and Ann conferred in hushed tones as they conducted their examination, Kahlan turned to the-two women and told them what a fine job they were doing, and how sorry she was about the young hunter's death.

Having had enough of looking at his dead guardian, Richard joined her. He slipped an arm around her waist and asked her to relate his sentiments. Kahlan added his words to hers.

It wasn't long before Zedd and Ann nudged Richard and Kahlan to the side. Smiling, they gestured the women back to their chore.

"As you suspected," Zedd whispered, "his neck is not broken. I could find no injury to his head. I'd say he drowned."

"And how do you suppose that could have happened?" A scintilla of sarcasm laced Richard's voice.

Zedd squeezed Richard's shoulder. "You were sick once, and you passed out. Remember? There was nothing sinister to it. Did you crack your skull? No. You slumped to the floor, where I found you. Remember? It could be something as simple as that."

"But Juni showed no signs-"