Temple of the Winds

Just then. Erling. the grandfather, walked through the door. He started at seeing the six people standing in his workshop.

"I'm sorry. Erling." Richard said. "We didn't mean to invade your home. We came to check. We came…"

Erling nodded distantly. "My boy's dead. Hattie. too. I had to… go out. I couldn't carry them by myself."

"We'll have a cart sent right away. There are some soldiers on the next street over. I'll send them right away to help you." Erling nodded again. "That would be kind of you." "The. . rest of them? Are they-"

Erling's bloodshot eyes turned up. "My wife, daughter, son, his wife, Darby, and little Lily-all dead." His mouth worked as his eyes watered up. "Beth, she recovered. Got well again, she did. I couldn't care for her. I just now took her to Hattie's sister. So far, their home is still sound."

Richard laid a hand gently on Erling's arm. "I'm so sorry. Dear spirits. I'm so sorry."

Erling nodded. "Thank you." He cleared his throat. "Long as I've lived, you'd think it would be me, not the young'uns. The spirits weren't fair in this. Not fair at all."

"I know," Richard said. "They're at a place of peace now. We all go there, sooner or later. They'll be with you again."

Out in the alley, after they had made sure that Erling didn't need anything, they all paused to gather their wits.

"Raina," Richard said, "please run over to the next street, where we saw those soldiers. Get them over here right now. Tell them to get those bodies out of there for Erling."

"Of course," she said before dashing away. Her dark braid flew behind as she ran.

"I don't know what to do," Richard whispered. "What do you do for someone who has just lost his whole family? Everyone he loved? I felt a fool. I didn't know what to say."

Drefan squeezed Richard's shoulder. "You said the right things, Richard. You did."

"He took comfort in your words, Richard," Nadine said. "That was all you could do."

"All I can do," Richard repeated as he stared off.

Kahlan squeezed his hand. Berdine's hand touched his. He gripped it. The three of them stood linked in shared sorrow.

Richard paced as he waited for Raina to return. The sun was almost down. It would be dark before they got back to the palace. The least he could do was wait until Erling had help getting his dead son and daughter-in-law out of the house.

Kahlan and Berdine stood close together, leaning against the wall beside the Andersons' yard. Drefan, hands clasped behind his back, looking to be lost in thought, strolled a ways back down the alley. Nadine went to the other side of the alley, alone, and leaned against the clapboard wall.

Richard paced as he thought about the Temple of the Winds and the magic stolen by Jagang's order. Richard could think of no way to stop this slaughter. When he thought about Tristan Bashkar's eyes on Kahlan. Richard's blood boiled.

Richard paused. His head came up. Nadine was behind him. He had the oddest sensation.

The hair on the back of his neck stiffened. Richard heard the air whine as he spun.

The world slowed. Sound dragged. He floated as he moved. The air felt as thick as mud. Everyone seemed a statue in his vision. Time was his.

His arm stretched out as he drifted ahead. He commanded the thickness of the air. In the eerie silence, he could hear the feathers singing. He could hear the hiss of blade. Time was his. Nadine's startled blink took forever. He closed his fist.

With a slam of sound, the world crashed back with a wild rush. In his fist, Richard held a bolt from a crossbow. The blade wasn't three inches from Nadine's wide eyes.

A fraction of a second more and it would have killed her. That fraction of a second had been an hour to him.

"Richard." Nadine panted, "how did you catch that arrow? I hope you can understand that it gives me the creeps. Not that I'm complaining." she was quick to add.

Drefan was there, his jaw hanging open. "How did you do that?" he whispered. "I'm a wizard, remember?" Richard said as he turned, looking in the direction from which the arrow had come. He thought he saw movement. Kahlan clutched a trembling Nadine. "Are you all right?" Nadine nodded and let out a belated, frightened cry as Kahlan pulled her to her in a reassuring embrace.

Richard's eyes locked on a movement as his fist snapped the arrow in half. He took off. running. Berdine raced after him..

Richard turned as he ran. "Find some soldiers! I want this whole area closed off! I want him caught!"

Berdine cut down a street, going after soldiers. Richard ran like the wind on a storm. Rage inundated him. Someone had tried to kill Nadine.

In that instant, Nadine wasn't a woman sent by Shota to marry him. a woman who was causing him trouble; in that instant, she was simply an old friend from home. The full fury of the magic took him.

Buildings flashed by. Dogs barked as he raced past. People in the alley cried out and dived for safety. A woman screamed as she cowered against a small, crooked storage building.