The Omen Machine

“Those are different,” Richard said. “Those are small things, small foretellings. Those aren’t the same thing as prophecy.”

“They came true. They were foreknowledge and they came true, just as I had envisioned them.”

“Having a premonition that someone is going to return for more of your work is not the same as a vision that would cause you to try to murder your family.”

“Not murder! Mercy!”

The man sprang up, his hands going for Richard’s throat. Nyda dropped him with her Agiel. He hunched on the floor, arms folded across his chest, gasping in shuddering pain. She put a boot on his back and leaned down close.

“If you try that again I will make you sorry you were born. After I get done with you, you will curse my very existence until the day you die, but you will behave yourself. Do you understand me?”

The man, trembling in the lingering pain from the touch of the Agiel, nodded as he panted, trying desperately to catch his breath. Nyda pushed him with her boot. He toppled back. Finally he sat up with his back against the wall, glaring at Richard.

“My family is going to suffer unimaginable torture because you keep me locked in here where I can’t give them a merciful end.”

“I heard all about your vision. Even if it was true, you are the one who will be responsible for their pain, either that of torture or the death you would inflict on them, all because you never stopped to think that there might be another way.”

The man blinked in confusion. “Another way? What do you mean?”

“Well, let’s say that you really do believe that your premonition is true, that men will come and torture your wife and children to try to make them reveal where your gold is hidden.”

“It is true!”

“Fine, let’s say it is. Then why didn’t you do something to protect your family?”

The man swallowed, still trying to recover his breath. “Protect them?”

“Yes. If you care so much about them then why wasn’t your first thought to protect them? Why wouldn’t you go to someone— the First File, or Nathan the prophet, or me?”

“No one would help me. No one would believe me or be able to prevent those murdering thieves from coming and grabbing my wife and children. My family will be tortured.”

“Because of you.” When the man frowned at Richard, he went on, “The men in your vision want to know where your gold is hidden. Your wife and children don’t know, so they can’t reveal the location. The thieves don’t believe them and try to torture the information out of them.”

“That’s right!” the man said, shaking his finger at Richard again. “They will suffer that torture and die because you don’t heed the vision and see that it’s true.”

“No, they will suffer it because you don’t believe it’s true.”

The man paused, confused. “But I do believe it’s true.”

“If you truly believed your vision was true then all you had to do was to tell your wife and children where you have your gold hidden. Tell them that it’s a secret, but if anyone ever threatened to harm them, they should instead let the thieves have the gold. If you had simply done that, then you could have prevented the vision from coming to pass. Unless you value your gold more than your family?”

“No! Of course not!”

“Then why didn’t you just let them know where your gold is stashed? Or else why wouldn’t you think to take them away from here, away from the threat?”

The man looked genuinely confused. “I don’t know.”

“Why was your first thought not to protect them, but to kill them?”

The man face had gone ashen. He had no answer.

“I’ve had similar threats against people I love,” Richard said. “My only thought was how to protect them, how to defeat the prophecy. In the end I did. I didn’t murder them.”

The man’s gaze fell away. His certainty, his conviction, his rage, was gone.

But then he looked up again, conviction returning to his eyes in a hot rush. “Their suffering and death will be because of you! You are keeping me locked up in here when you know what will happen. My family will suffer unimaginable agony because you won’t allow me to save them from my vision by giving them a merciful death. Their suffering will be your fault.

“All because you will not do your duty to your people by heeding prophecy.”

Richard didn’t answer. There was no answer to madness.

The man slid his back up the wall until he was standing. He glared at Richard.

“You do not deserve to be the Lord Rahl. Soon, everyone will realize that.”

CHAPTER 20

Kahlan ingratiated herself with the representatives by first laying out an elaborate midday meal. Tables around the room were covered with platters of meats, fish, fowl, and sweet delights of every sort. Other tables offered a variety of wines. Musicians played soft, soothing music while servers carrying trays of colorful, honeyed nectar drinks threaded their way through the crowds. Guests plucked the heavy-bottomed glasses containing the prized drink from the trays as the servers passed.