Into Darkness

1

When hands gently lifted Kahlan from the ground, she came awake. Not fully awake, but awake enough to be aware of the red leather of a number of Mord-Sith surrounding her. She was aware, too, of the pain. That terrible, deep pain that told her that her pregnancy was in serious trouble.

Overriding the pain was a sense of helpless panic that there was nothing she could do about it.

In her dim, dazed vision, she saw Shale leaning close. Kahlan grabbed her sleeve.

“The babies … are they all right?”

Those carrying her by holding the edges of the blanket she was lying on paused as Kahlan desperately held on to Shale’s sleeve. Even in her semiconscious state, she caught the sidelong glance the sorceress gave some of the Mord-Sith.

“Hurry and get her inside,” Shale said to the others.

Kahlan looked around as they started out again. Her vision grew dim at times, but she could see that they were carrying her into some kind of crude shelter. When she rolled her head to the side, she saw a lean-to wall at the back. It looked to have been hastily constructed of sapling poles covered in pine and spruce boughs. The Mord-Sith gently laid her down on a bed of grasses and fern fronds. The whole shelter was roughly made from materials at hand, but at least it helped protect her from the cold wind.

Cassia knelt down beside her and laid another blanket over the top of the one already there to keep her warm. It was cold out, but Kahlan felt hot. She was already so hot she was sweating. She had to blink sweat from her eyes.

Shale turned a little and cast a hand outward, sending flame into wood that had already been carefully stacked for a fire behind her. As soon as it blazed up, Kahlan felt the added warmth of the crackling flames.

The next moment, she was overcome with a flash of cold shivers. The sheen of sweat suddenly felt like ice on her face. At least the lean-to helped reflect the heat back now that she was suddenly cold.

Moments later, though, the heat again felt oppressive. Sweat once more poured off her face and stung her eyes. As soon as she didn’t think she could endure how hot she was, she turned back to shivering with sudden chills. The breeze that made it into the shelter felt icy.

When the sorceress passed close enough, Kahlan once again grabbed her sleeve. “Shale, talk to me. I’m burning up one moment, and the next I’m freezing. What’s going on?”

“You have a bit of fever.”

“But are my babies all right?”

Shale patted her shoulder and flashed a brief smile. “You need to rest. That is the best thing you can do for them right now. Please, Mother Confessor, you need to lie still.”

Instead of following instructions, Kahlan tried to sit up. The sorceress rushed to push her back down onto a pillow made of a folded blanket.

“You must not to do that, Mother Confessor. Just lie still. Try to go back to sleep.”

“I’m not going to go to sleep until you tell me what’s going on. Are my babies all right?”

Shale pulled her lower lip through her teeth as she considered whether or not to answer the question. She shared looks with some of the others standing over Kahlan.

“Shale?”

“You are having some difficulty. Nothing that can’t be set right.”

Set right. From Shale’s tone of voice, Kahlan didn’t know if the sorceress believed that it could be “set right.” Kahlan looked around. Given the Mord-Sith’s grim expressions, she didn’t think they did.

“Where is Richard? Why isn’t he here? He should be here with me. What happened? What’s going on?”

Shale sighed as she realized from the confused panic in Kahlan’s voice that she wasn’t going to settle for anything less than the truth.

“You are having some difficulty with the pregnancy.”

Kahlan was already aware of that much of it. “Difficulty? What does that mean? What difficulty?”

“The babies are in danger of miscarrying.”

Kahlan blinked. “But I can’t lose them.”

Shale pulled the blanket up a little, tucking it under Kahlan’s chin. “Lord Rahl and Vika went to find a plant I need to heal you—to save your babies. Once he returns with that herb, I will make you a medicine that should set you right.”

Kahlan clearly caught the word “should.” It wasn’t a word that inspired confidence.

“What plant?”

“It’s called mother’s breath.”

Kahlan had grown up in the Confessors’ Palace and the Wizard’s Keep. She didn’t know much about the woods and plants, except what Richard had taught her. When she had been young, wizards, too, taught her a little about herbs. She couldn’t remember ever hearing of mother’s breath.

“Will he be back soon, then?”

Shale smiled. It was clearly forced.

“Just as soon as he finds me some mother’s breath so I can make you all better. You need to lie still until then. You will make it worse for the babies if you try to move too much. Lying still is the best thing you can do right now to help them.”

Suddenly fearing that she might be hurting them by trying to sit up, Kahlan relaxed back onto the makeshift bed. She did feel better at hearing that Richard was going for a medicinal plant. Richard knew a lot about healing herbs. She appreciated the Mord-Sith and the sorceress being there, but what she really wanted was Richard at her side, telling her that everything would be all right.

Kahlan stared up at the roof of pine and spruce boughs, searching for courage to ask a terrible question.

“Am I going to lose my babies?”

Shale leaned in, her face tight with concern. “No, no, Mother Confessor. I don’t want you to have such a thought. I’m with you, and Lord Rahl will be back with what you need. Now that we have you inside a shelter and out of the cold wind, the best thing you can do for the twins is to rest until he returns. It’s important for the babies that you don’t try to move right now.”

Kahlan felt a tear running down the side of her face. “Please, I can’t lose them. I’ve already lost my first child.” She fought to keep control of her voice. “I can’t lose the twins. Tell me what’s going on. Don’t lie to me to try to make me feel better. Being kept in the dark is not helping me. I want to know the truth of what’s happening.”

Shale regarded her with a long, solemn look. “All right, I suppose you have a right to know.” She took a deep breath before she began. “For some reason the babies are trying to be born before their time. It’s too early. I don’t know the reason this is happening. I have seen this occur before in women I’ve helped back in the Northern Waste.

“The truth is, if they are born now, they will die within minutes, if they are even born alive. With the way this kind of thing goes, that would be unlikely.”

Kahlan stared up at the woman. She heard the words, but she was having trouble understanding them. This couldn’t be happening. Everything had been going well with her pregnancy. These were the children of D’Hara. They had to be born and grow up to protect their world.

Kahlan realized she was panting in fear as well as pain. “But you’ve handled this kind of thing before, haven’t you?” she asked Shale. “You said that you attended many births, even difficult pregnancies. You’ve seen this before?”

The sorceress nodded. “That’s right. From the time I was young, I went with my mother and she taught me to use my gift to help where it was necessary. I would guess that I’ve attended hundreds of births.”

“But what about trouble like I’m having? Have you helped with that as well?”

Shale pursed her lips, considering for a moment.

“I told you I wouldn’t lie to you, and I won’t. I’ve seen situations like this maybe six or eight times.”

Kahlan looked up expectantly. “And were you able to help? Were you able to save the babies?”

Holding Kahlan’s gaze, she slowly shook her head.

“I’m afraid that in every case like this that I’ve seen, despite what I did, not one of the babies survived.”

Kahlan swallowed back her fear. “What about the mothers?”

Shale, with a grave look, shook her head again. “None of those mothers survived, either.”

Kahlan’s muscles went slack. Her weight sank back. The world seemed to be spinning.

That was the end, then. The end of everything.

Shale put a hand gently on Kahlan’s shoulder. “But we have things on our side that I didn’t have any of those other times.”

Kahlan looked up. “What things?”

“In every one of those cases someone had to come to get me, so I wasn’t there from when it started. With you, I was right there at the beginning, so I was able to use a bit of my gift to try to stabilize the situation right from the first—before it was already too late, the way it was with those other women.”

“Can you heal me, then? Heal the twins? Can you do something for us?”

“Before I came here from the Northern Waste, I would have said no, it is beyond what is possible. But since I have arrived, I have seen things that I would not have thought possible. I have seen Lord Rahl heal wounds that could not be healed. I have seen you bring him back from the dead. I have seen Lord Rahl do things that I used to know with certainty could not be done.

“If you and Lord Rahl have taught me anything, it is that we are all more than we may think we are, that we should never give in to despair and defeat, that we should never give up.

“I intend to save you and the twins, even if I have never been able to do such a thing before. That is the long and short of it. I will keep all three of you alive until Lord Rahl returns with the herb that can reverse what is happening so that you can carry the twins until it is time for them to be born.”

Kahlan felt more tears run down the side of her face. “Thank you,” she whispered.

Shale leaned in and placed one hand on Kahlan’s forehead, and the other on her swollen belly.

“Now, I am going to put you into a deep sleep in order to slow down what is happening. I will do everything I can to help the twins stay in the safety of your womb until your husband returns with the mother’s breath. When he does, it will heal you.

“Until then, you need to sleep. The next time you wake, if I am half the sorceress I think I am, half the woman you have taught me to be, you will be well on the road to being set right.”

Kahlan wanted to say something, but before she could, magic swiftly brought darkness that took her.