Stone of Tears

The two brothers were sitting on the bench putting on their snowshoes. Chandalen stepped close to her and lowered her voice.

“What good will come of us catching this army? It is wrong.”

She looked into his brown eyes. They were not filled with defiance as they had been in the past, but with genuine concern.

“Chandalen, the men who did this killing, and went east, are perhaps fifty thousand strong. The ones who closed the doors in the palace and are chasing that army are perhaps five thousand. They are filled with anger, but if they catch the ones they’re chasing, they’ll be slaughtered, too. If I have a chance to prevent five thousand men from dying, then I must try for that chance.”

He lifted an eyebrow. “And if you are killed in this, then what greater evil will break its bounds?”

“That’s what you three are supposed to prevent—my being killed.”

She started for the door. Chandalen gently gripped her arm and brought her to a halt. He spoke calmly.

“It will be dark soon. We can rest here tonight, and cook food. We can leave in the morning after we are rested.”

The moon will be up soon to light our way. We have no time to waste.” She leaned toward him. “I’m going on, now. If you’re as strong as you say, you’ll go with me. If you’re not, you may rest here.”

Chandalen put his hands on his hips. His lips tightened as he let out a deep breath. He appraised her with frustration.

“You cannot walk more than Chandalen. We go, too.”

Kahlan gave him a quick, tight smile, and swept through the door. The brothers snatched up their bows and jumped to fall in behind her while Chandalen bent to tie on his snowshoes.

Chapter 31

Richard watched the horses eating grass that wasn’t there, and scratched his itchy beard. The surface of the valley was baked and barren, but the horses seemed contented in their grazing, as if there were lush green grass beneath their feet. Illusion, it seemed, deluded and enticed even the horses. He wondered what wasn’t there that he was going to see.

Sister Verna at last moved, pulling up on Jessup’s lead line, pulling him away from his browsing. “This way.”

Ominous, dark clouds hugged the ground ahead, boiling as if alive and eagerly awaiting them. Richard pulled the other two horses on, following after the Sister. She had told them that they must walk because the horses could be suddenly spooked by things unseen and could carry them, helpless, into a spell.

Sister Verna abruptly altered her course across the featureless ground, taking them a little to the right. The dark cloud of dust and dirt lifted and tumbled, driven by the gusts that, as of yet, didn’t touch them. Sister Verna looked over her shoulder, her expression as dark as the cloud.

“Whatever you see, you ignore it. Whatever it is, it isn’t real. You just ignore it. Do you understand?”

“What am I going to see?”

She redirected her attention to the way ahead. Her white blouse was damp with sweat, as was his shirt. “I can’t tell you. The spells seek those things in your own mind you fear or long for, so everyone sees different things. Yet some visions are the same. Some fears are the same in all of us. Some of the magic we will see is not visions, but real. Like those clouds of dust.”

“And what did you see the last time that you’re so afraid of?”

She walked in silence for a time. “One I loved.”

“If she was a loved one, why would you be afraid to see her?”

“Because he tried to kill me.”

Richard blinked at the stinging sweat in his eyes. “He? Do you have a man you love, Sister?”

She watched the ground as she walked. “Not anymore.” Her voice was soft with sorrow. She glanced up at him a moment, before seeking the ground once more with her eyes. “When I was young, I had a love. Jedidiah.”

She was silent, so he asked. “He is not your love anymore?” She shook her head. “Why not?”

Pausing only a moment, she wiped her brow with a finger before moving on. “I was young, perhaps younger than you, when I left the Palace of the Prophets. Left to find you. We didn’t know if you had been born yet. We knew that if you had not been, you would be, but we didn’t know when, so three Sisters were sent.

“But that was many years ago. I’ve spent better than half my life away from the palace. From Jedidiah.” She stopped again, peering first right, then left, before starting ahead once more. “He will have long ago forgotten me, and found another.”

“If he really loved you, Sister, he won’t have forgotten you and found another. You haven’t forgotten him.”

She tugged on her horse’s line, pulling him away from something he wanted to investigate. “Too many years have passed. We’ve grown older apart. I have grown old. We are not the same people we were. He is one with the gift, and has his own life. It would not include me.”

“You’re not old, Sister. If you really love each other, time shouldn’t matter.” He wondered if he was talking about her, or himself.