The Omen Machine

CHAPTER 16

“How’s your hand?” Richard asked.

Kahlan turned from peeking out around the edge of the drapes where she had been watching the storm rage. It was so black outside that she could see only small patches near the light coming from some of the windows that looked out on the vast palace complex. The windows higher up on walls and in towers looked like dots of lights floating in midair, assailed by sideways slashes of snow.

She could see that the blizzard had piled up huge drifts of the wet, heavy snow. At times the snow turned to sleet, only to once more shift the world back to white chaos.

She lifted her hand out to Richard, holding it under the light of the lamp on the bedside table. The scratches left by the boy had turned to an angry red. It hurt a little but she didn’t want to say so. Where she was concerned, Richard was a dedicated worrier; she didn’t need to stoke those fires.

He took her hand and inspected it in the lamplight. He let out a grumbling noise. “It looks swollen.”

“It’s a little red,” she said, taking the hand back, “but I don’t think it’s doing too badly. It’s normal for scratches to get this way as they heal. How about yours?”

He lifted his hand to show her. “Mine looks about the same. I don’t think they look any worse than can be expected.”

“Not the worst problem of the day.”

“Not by a long shot,” Richard agreed.

He went to one of the cabinets to look for something. He finally pulled out his pack.

Kahlan smiled. “I haven’t seen that for a while.”

“It has been a while since we traveled anywhere. Maybe we should. Zedd wants us to visit him when he returns to the Keep.”

“I would like to see Aydindril and spend some time at the Confessors’ Palace again. It would be good to see the city doing well after all it’s been through.”

But she knew that they would not be going to Aydindril to see the Wizard’s Keep or the Confessors’ Palace anytime soon. Innocent people were dying. What ever the cause, Kahlan could feel in the pit of her stomach that it was going to overshadow everything else. She wanted to scream against the unseen darkness that was descending on them, but that would do no good.

Richard closed the cabinet door. “With all that’s going on I don’t know that Zedd is going to want to be returning to the Keep before we figure out what’s happening and get it resolved. I’m glad we have him here to help us.”

Kahlan watched as Richard lifted the baldric over his head and then propped his sword against the bedside table. He set his pack on the bed and started rooting around inside. She couldn’t imagine what he was looking for. With a smile he at last brought up a small tin. It made her smile, too, seeing it again.

He gestured to the edge of the bed. “Come and sit.”

As she did, Richard dabbed his finger in the tin and then lifted her hand. He gently smoothed some of the herb salve along the scratches. It felt cool and immediately started to quell the ache.

“Better?”

“Better,” she said with a smile.

It had been years since she had seen that tin of healing cream that Richard had made from aum, among other things. Having grown up in the woods, he knew about plants and how to make cures from them. After he spread some of the ointment on his own red scratches, he replaced the tin in his pack.

So much had happened since she had first met him in his woodland home. Both their lives had completely changed. The world had been turned upside down as it went through a nightmare war. She couldn’t count the times she had thought that she would never see him again, or feared he was going to die, or worse, thought that he had been killed. The terror had seemed as if it would never end.

It finally had. They had not just survived but after years of struggle they had won the war and brought peace to the world.

But now the world felt like it was again slipping into darkness.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, Kahlan took up his good hand and held it to the side of her face. She hid her silent tears against his hand.

Richard gently ran his hand through her hair as he pulled her head against him.

“I know,” he said softly. “I know.”

Kahlan put her arms around his waist. “Promise me that you won’t let what ever is coming take you from me?”

Richard bent and kissed the top of her head. “I promise.”

“A wizard always keeps his promises,” she reminded him.

“I know,” he said with a smile.

Everything was going so well. They had fought for so long, suffered so much. It wasn’t fair that something was coming for them again, but she knew it was. And she knew that Richard knew the same thing. He held her to him as she gave in to weakness and wept. She never let anyone but Richard see that weakness.

“What are we doing in this room?” he finally asked.

“Just trying to keep us away from prying eyes.”

“So you sensed someone watching you, earlier?”

She shrugged, still holding him. “I don’t know, Richard. It seemed like I did, but I couldn’t be sure. It sounded so creepy when Cara told us about it. Maybe I was just imagining it.”

She looked up at him and laughed through her tears. “But if you think I’m taking off my clothes tonight, Lord Rahl, you have another think coming.”

Richard lay back on the bed. Kahlan crawled up and snuggled up to him, putting her head on his shoulder.

“Just hold me,” she whispered. “Please?”

He circled his arm around her and kissed the top of her head.

She wiped at her tears. “I can’t remember the last time I cried.”

After a long moment, he said, “I can.”

She pressed herself into him. She couldn’t believe that she really had him, that he was really hers, that he really and truly loved her.

She couldn’t believe that she was going to lose him to darkness seeking darkness.