Stone of Tears

“Remember I told you that our ancestors took quassin doe before they went into battle, so that if they were shot with a ten-step arrow, the poison would not kill them?” She nodded. He tenderly tested his wounded scalp. “Well, in honor of my ancestors, my warrior ancestors, I ate some of the quassin doe leaves before I went to fight. The quassin doe you gave to me back at that city.” His eyebrows lifted, as if further justification was needed. “It was to honor my ancestors.”

Kahlan smiled warmly to him as she put a hand to his arm. “You have done your ancestors proud.”

He helped her sit up. In the dim light, she saw that Prindin lay next to her, on his back.

The bone knife, the bone knife made from Chandalen’s grandfather’s bones, the one she had worn at her arm, jutted from Prindin’s chest. The black feathers fanned out around the hilt end, draped like a shroud over the fatal wound. Somehow, she had managed to put that knife between them when Prindin had leaped on her. Somehow.

She remembered her numb, helpless plight. She remembered the tingling feeling of the poison, and that she couldn’t move. She remembered her terror. She remembered Prindin’s leap onto her.

But she didn’t remember pulling the knife.

Her voice trembled. “I’m so sorry, Chandalen.” Her fingers covered her mouth. “I’m so sorry that I killed your friend.”

Chandalen glared at the body. “He was not my friend. My friends do not try to kill me.” He put a comforting hand to her shoulder. “He was sent by the great, dark spirit of the dead. His heart was taken by evil.”

Kahlan clutched his sleeve. “Chandalen, that great, dark spirit of the dead is trying to escape from behind the veil. He wants to pull us all behind the veil, into the world of the dead.”

His brown eyes studied hers. “I believe you. We must get you to Aydindril, so you may help stop him.”

She sagged with relief. Thank you, Chandalen. Thank you for understanding, and for saving me with the quassin doe.” Kahlan clutched his arm. The men! Prindin set a trap for them! What time is it?”

He made a comforting, hushing sound. “When Captain Ryan came to Tossidin and me before the attack, I asked where you were. I knew you would want to be with them. He told me that you were sick. That you could not wake. It sounded to me like bandu.

“Captain Ryan said you would not eat, and would have only tea Prindin made for you. I knew then, what was happening. I knew you had been poisoned, and the only thing you had was tea.

Tossidin and I were greatly worried for you. We checked to see if the enemy had changed position. We saw that they were waiting for the attack where we had planned it at first. I made the men change the attack, and come from a different place than expected. As soon as I gave the new orders, we rushed back here.

“I knew Prindin had betrayed us, but Tossidin thought there must be some other explanation. He trusted his brother and did not want to think evil of him. He paid for his trust, his mistake, with his life.”

Kahlan looked away in the uneasy quiet. She frowned back at him. “What of the arrow? What of the wound on your head? We must see to your wounds.”

Chandalen pulled the neck of his buckskin shirt to the side, revealing a bandage over his left shoulder. “The men returned in the night. They stitched my head. It is not as bad as it looks. They also took out the arrow.”

He winced as he pulled the shirt back up on his shoulder. “I taught Prindin well. He used a bladed arrow. Bladed arrows do more harm coming out than going in. One of the men, the one who cuts and sews the wounded, cut out the arrow, and stitched me together. The arrow hit the bone, so it did not go in too far. My arm is stiff, and I will not be able to use it for a time.”

Kahlan felt her leg. There was a bandage under her pants. “did he stitch my leg, too?”

“No. It did not need sewing, just to be wrapped; I did that. Prindin used a round point on you. That is not like I taught him. I don’t know why he would do that.”

Kahlan could feel the presence of the body next to her. “He wanted to be able to get it out of me, after he shot me with poison,” she said quietly. “He wanted it out of his way. He was going to rape me before he gave me to the enemy.”

Chandalen watched the body, not wanting to look at her, and said he was glad that had not happened.

She touched his left hand. “And I’m glad it was your shoulder, and not your throat.”

He frowned. “I taught Prindin how to shoot. He would never miss my throat from that distance. Why did he not shoot my throat?”

She shrugged, feigning ignorance. He grunted suspiciously.

“Chandalen, why is his body still in here? Why didn’t you drag him out?”