Stone of Tears

It came to her. Kahlan. That was her name. Hands shook her. Someone was calling to her, and shaking her.

She returned from a great distance.

Kahlan’s eyes opened, and the world spun. Captain Ryan was gripping her shoulders, shaking her, calling to her.

She drew a deep breath of cold air into her lungs. She twisted her arms away from him, but then had to put her hands back on the ground for support. Concern creased his features.

“Mother Confessor, are you all right?”

“I… I…” She looked about. Tossidin was there, too. She sat up the rest of the way and put her cold fingers to her forehead. “My head… What time is it?”

“It will be light soon.” With a look of concern, he glanced back over his shoulder at Tossidin. “We came to wake you, as you told me to. The swordsmen are ready to go.”

Kahlan pushed her mantle off. “I’ll be ready in a moment, and we can…”

She remembered her decision to get to Aydindril. She had to get to Zedd. She had to get help for Richard. If it was true that the veil was torn…

“Mother Confessor, you don’t look well. You’ve been through a lot, you hadn’t slept in days, and you’ve only just gotten a few hours of sleep. I think you need more.”

Yes, she did. Though she could feel that her power was back, she definitely did not feel recovered. She put a hand on his arm.

“Captain, I must leave for Aydindril. I must…”

He gave her a little smile. “You rest. You’re not rested enough to travel. Stay here and rest. When we get back, you’ll be rested and you can leave.”

She nodded, still clutching his sleeve for support. “Yes. And then I must leave. I thought about it last night. I must get to Aydindril. I’ll rest until you get back, but then I must leave.” She looked about. Only Tossidin was there with the captain. “Where’s Chandalen, and Prindin?”

“My brother went to check on their sentries, to make sure that they didn’t place any,” Tossidin said, “so that our attack will be without warning.”

“Chandalen is attacking with the pikemen,” Captain Ryan said. “I’m to meet him with the swordsmen for the next attack.”

Kahlan comforted her sore lip. “Tossidin, tell Chandalen that when your attack is finished, we must leave. You three be careful. You must get me to Aydindril.” She could hardly keep her eyes open. She could hardly bring forth the energy to speak. She knew she wasn’t able to travel, yet. “I’ll rest until you return.”

Captain Ryan sighed with relief that she wasn’t going with them, that she would be safe, here. “I’ll leave some men to stand guard while you rest.”

She gestured with her hand. “This camp is well hidden. I’m safe up here.”

He leaned forward insistently. Ten or twelve men are not going to make any difference to us, and I would be better able to put my mind to our task if I’m not worrying about you all alone back here.”

She didn’t have the energy to argue. “All right…”

She flopped back down. With a troubled frown, Tossidin pulled the mantle up over her. She was sinking back into the blackness as the two of them crawled out the opening. She tried to keep herself from going into that unfeeling place, but she was helplessly swept away.

The crushing weight of the void closed in around her. She tried to escape its grasp, tried to come back up, but the darkness was too thick, like being encased in mud. She was trapped, still being sucked deeper. She felt a surge of panic.

She tried to think, but could not form thoughts into coherent concepts. She had the sense that something was wrong, but could not bring her mind to bear on the solution.

This time, instead of surrendering, she focused all her strength on thoughts of Richard, on her need to help him, and the darkness then was not a total void. She had an inkling of time, sensing its incremental passing. She felt as if she were sleeping her whole lifetime away as she tenaciously kept Richard in her thoughts.

Her concern for him, and her anxiety over the strangeness of the depthless sleep, let her slowly, methodically, claw her way back. Yet it seemed to take hours.

With a desperate gasp, she came awake. Her head swirled with a throbbing ache. Her whole body tingled with sharp little pricks of pain. She laboriously pushed herself up, to sit, staring about her dark shelter. The candle was burned almost all the way down. Quiet hummed in her ears.

She thought maybe she needed cold air to wake up. Her arms and legs felt thick and heavy as she crawled through the opening of the shelter. Outside, it was dusk. She looked up at the first stars winking through the trees. Her breath fogged before her face as she stood on wobbly legs.

Kahlan took a step, and promptly tripped over something, falling on her face in the snow. Her cheek still against the ground, she opened her eyes. Inches away, glassy eyes were staring at her. The side of a young man’s face was lying against the snow, close to hers. It was his leg she had tripped over. It felt as if her bones wanted to leap out of her skin and run.