Chapters 3-4-5
Richard releases the chap’s neck. Air hisses from his lungs (does it do that ?). One of the folks standing around him lifts up the body of the one who got clunked in the head.
Fragments of bone stuck up from his matted hair. Richard saw that the back of his head had been bashed in with a large rock that one of the other men crowded in close still held in a tight grip.
The woman cuts Richard’s bonds. He says thanks, you saved my life.
”For the moment,” a man in the shadows said.
“We hope you will return the favor,” another added
Gloomy fuckers.
In the weak moonlight, Richard can see the woman’s face.
Fine lines creased her face in an agreeable way
- milf
She asks if he is the one who killed Jit, the Hedge-Maid witch thing. He says yup, how did you know that ? She says that a boy called Henrik had told them that he had been rescued from Jit’s clutches by two people - and that his rescuers needed help.
Even though Richard had killed the Hedge Maid, he and Kahlan had both been grievously hurt. Their friends had brought a small army to get the two of them out of the Hedge Maid’s lair and take them home. Now, those friends were missing. He knew that none of them would have willingly left Kahlan and him alone like this
Henrik should have been with a bunch of people, not scared and alone. Hmm.
Richard tells them to help his wife.
”Is she the Mother Confessor?” one of the men called back as he checked on her.
Richard’s sense of caution rose. “Yes.”
“I don’t think we can do anything for her here,” he said
The fuck ? Anti-Confessor prejudice ?
They know that Richard is Lord Rahl, then. The woman introduces herself as Ester.
Kahlan is covered in blood.
He slid his hand through the long slit in her shirt, feeling where Jit’s familiars had slashed open Kahlan’s abdomen to bleed her and collect her blood for the Hedge Maid to drink. He was worried not only about the severity of the terrible wound, but how much bloody she had lost. To his astonishment, he found only a few swollen ripples in her skin where the long wound had been nearly healed
He figures Zedd or Nicci must have started healing her but not finished. These folks might have someone gifted who can finish the job, but they are reluctant to talk about it. Something shady going on there.
As they move off, Richard suddenly sees lots of bodies in the moonlight.
Strange, pale, half-naked people lay sprawled across the ground everywhere. Given their gaping wounds, it looked like the First File had fought a fierce battle. Given the numbers of the dead, it was no wonder that the damp air smelled of blood and gore.
Nearby, just beyond the corner of the wagon, one of the dead men lay sprawled on his back, mouth agape. His dead eyes stared up at the sky. The man’s teeth had been filed to points.
There are First File weapons and whatnot scattered all over the place. But no sign of Zedd, Nicci or Cara, and Richard finds it very hard to imagine how or why they might have abandoned him.
Ester hurries the men holding Richard up. She says he’s bleeding badly.
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From what he could see, the people he was with carried nothing more than utilitarian knives. They had used a rock to dispatch the man attacking Richard. He would hate to encounter the hordes of killers on the dark trail and have to fight them off with little more than rocks
Richard is glad to have his sword, Truthy, back. But he realises that he is badly busted and in no fighting condition.
While he did see some small creatures like frogs, a raccoon, and some night birds, he didn’t see any eyes of larger animals watching them
Woods Guide vigilance. Love it. But don’t underestimate raccoons.
Distant coyote cries sound through the wilderness.
Richard feels a cool mist on his face as they see a cliff, a rock wall, in the distance. As they close on it, they walk through fields, with sheep and stuff. Richard tells one of the farmer yokels to get to safety. The yokel asks who the fuck Richard thinks he is.
Ester agrees.
”You’d best get up inside with the rest of us”
The yokel, Henry, shifts his cap on his head and concedes the argument.
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As Richard follows Ester and the others, he observes Kahlan’s many wounds.
At least he had managed to kill the Hedge Maid before she could completely drain Kahlan of all her blood
Yup. Good job.
As they reach the base of the cliff, Richard notes that there is a hidden path snaking up it. It looks like it has been worn smooth by use over thousands of years.
”What is this place ?” Richard asked in a whisper.
Ester looked back over her shoulder. “Our village, Stroyza”
lol. Apparently Stroyza means something in High D’Haran, an antique language Richard happens to speak. Terry isn’t going to tell us what that meaning is, though. Masterful.
Richard asks if Stroyza gets attacked much. Ester says duh, yes, we live in
The Dark Lands.
They reach some kind of town square, and after hesitant pleasantries (glad ur not dead), Henrik rushes forward squealing his delight that Lord Rahl is safe.
They all started going to a knee. Richard hurriedly waved away the show of deference. “None of that, please”
lol. Stop it. Really, stop.
Ester tells someone to go get “Sammie”. The woman frowns: Sammie ? Yes, Sammie. Fucking go get Sammie.
Ester has a look at Richard’s wounds, but it is clear that they need magical attention. In any case, he wants Kahlan fixed up first. He tells Ester this, and she looks at him with a funny expression. Then she smiles and tells someone called Peter to go and hurry the fuck up with getting Sammie.
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There's something peculiar about Sammie. And these villagers are going to be no use whatsoever in a fight. Bashing someone in the head with a rock is one thing, but I would put real money on the filed-teeth guys. Kahlan is probably gonna stay out of action for a while. Richard will hopefully get his magic back.
Body Count: Fucking loads of naked vampires.
Sexy Times: 0.25.
