Temple of the Winds (90 page)

Richard vaulted the low board fence where he had seen the movement. In mid-leap, he drew his sword. The air rang with the unique sound of steel.

He rolled as he landed, coming to his feet with the sword in both hands. He found himself face-to-face with a white goat. There was no man there. A crossbow lay on the ground, between the board fence and a squat goat shed.

Richard looked around in all directions. Sheets and shirts hung from lines. A woman, her hair wrapped in a blue scarf, stood on a balcony beyond the flapping laundry.

Richard slid his sword back into its scabbard and cupped his hands around his mouth. “Did you see a man here?” he yelled up at the woman.

She lifted her arm, pointing off to her right. “I saw someone running that way,” she called from the distance.

Richard dashed off in the direction the woman had pointed. The alley narrowed. Beyond the tunnel of buildings, the passageway opened onto a street. He looked both ways.

He seized the arm of a young woman. “A man came through here. Which way did he go?”

In fright she tried to pull away, at the same time holding her hat on with her other hand. “There be people all about. Which man?”

Richard released her arm. Up the street to his left, he saw a man righting an overturned handcart full of fresh greens. The man looked up when Richard skidded to a panting halt before him.

“
What did he look like? The man who ran through here—what did he look like?”

The man straightened his broad-rimmed hat. “Don’t know.” He pointed. “I was looking for a good spot. I heard the sound as my cart fell over. I saw a dark shape, running up that way.”

Richard ran on. The ancient part of the city branched into a warren of alleys, streets, and twisting passageways. Only by keeping track of the golden glow in the western sky could he keep his bearings. That didn’t mean, though, that the man he chased had run in a specific direction. He was probably just running, trying to get away.

Richard came across a patrol of a dozen soldiers. Before they had time to salute, he was talking.

“
A man came running through here, somewhere. Did any of you see him?”

“
We saw no one running. What did he look like?”

“
I don’t know. He attacked us with a crossbow and then ran. I want him found. Spread out and start searching.”

Before they could be on their way, Raina came running up the street with a good fifty men.

“
Did you see where he went?” she asked, gasping for breath.

“
No. I lost him in here somewhere. I want all of you to spread out and find him.”

One of the soldiers, a sergeant, spoke up. “Lord Rahl, a man who wants to escape would make himself obvious by running. A man with any sense at all would simply round a corner and walk away.”

The sergeant gestured back up the street to make his point. There were people everywhere going about their business, although a good many were staring at the excitement on their street. Any number of them could have been the man he was chasing.

“
Any idea at all what this assassin looks like?”

Richard shook his head in frustration. “I never got a look at him.” He raked back his hair as he caught his breath. “Split up. Half of you go back in the direction we came from. Question everyone you can find, to see if anyone got a look at him, at a man running. He may be walking now, but until he got somewhere along in here he was running.”

Raina, Agiel in hand, took up her defensive position close beside him.

“
The rest of you come with me,” Richard said. “We’ll pick up some more men. I want to keep searching. Maybe we’ll come across someone walking and he’ll panic and try to run again. If he does, I want him. Alive.”

It was late in the night by the time they returned to the Confessors’ Palace. Soldiers there were already on high alert. Men stood with swords and battle-axes to hand, arrows nocked, and spears leveled. Others patrolled the expansive grounds. A mouse wouldn’t have escaped their intense scrutiny.

As Kahlan, Berdine, Raina, Drefan, and Nadine accompanied him into the gathering hall inside, Richard saw Tristan Bashkar waiting there, hands clasped behind his back as he paced. He halted and looked up when he heard them coming.

Richard drifted to a stop as the contrite-looking ambassador approached. Those escorting Richard gathered in a knot behind him, except Kahlan, who stood close at his side. With a hand in the air, Tristan hailed them.

“
Lord Rahl, may I have a word with you, please?”

Richard swept his gaze over the man, noticing that he didn’t rest his hand on a hip so as to show off his fancy knife.

Richard held up a finger. “One moment, please.”

Richard turned a little to the rest of them. “It’s late. We have a lot of work to do, so I want you to get some rest. Berdine, I want you to go up to the Keep and stand guard with Cara tonight.”

Berdine frowned. “Both of us?”

Richard scowled. “Isn’t that what I said? Yes, both of you. With this trouble, I don’t want to take any chances.”

“
I will guard the Mother Confessor’s room, then,” Raina said.

“
No,” Richard lifted a thumb. “I want you guarding Nadine’s room. She was the one who was attacked.”

“
Yes, Lord Rahl,” Raina stammered. “I’ll see to setting up a guard of soldiers outside the Mother Confessor’s room, then.”

“
If I wanted soldiers around Kahlan’s room, I’d have told you so, now wouldn’t I?” Raina’s face reddened. “I want all the soldiers doing their jobs patrolling the entrances, the palace grounds, and a perimeter around the grounds. Every one of them! The danger is from out there, not in here. Kahlan is perfectly safe inside the palace. I don’t want men who should be guarding outside instead sitting on their bottoms around Kahlan’s room inside. I’ll not have it, do you hear me?”

“
But, Lord Rahl—”

“
Don’t question me. I’m not in the mood.”

Kahlan touched his arm. “Richard,” she whispered, “are you sure that—”

“
Someone tired to kill Nadine. They nearly succeeded. Or did some of you miss the significance of that? I’ll not take any more chances. I want her protected, and I don’t want to hear any more arguments. Drefan, I want you to start carrying a sword at once. Healers are a target.”

Everyone stared at the floor in silence.

“
Good.” Richard turned his glare on Tristan. “What is it?”

Tristan spread his hands. “Lord Rahl, I just wanted to say that I’m sorry. I realize I seemed insensitive, but I’ve been worried about the people here who are sick and dying. It set my nerves on edge. I meant to cause no ill will between us. I hope you will accept my apology.”

Richard studied Tristan’s eyes. “Yes, of course. Apology accepted, and I’m sorry that I lost my temper. I, too, have been out of sorts.” Richard put a hand on Nadine’s shoulder. “Someone tried to kill one of my healers—a person devoted to helping others. People are beginning to blame healers because the plague continues to spread. I can’t allow harm to come to people who are only trying their best to help.”

“
Yes, of course. You are most kind to accept my apology. Thank you, Lord Rahl.”

“
Just don’t forget, ambassador, that your time runs out tomorrow.”

Tristan bowed. “I realize that, and you will know my stand by tomorrow, Lord Rahl. You have my word. Good night, then.”

Richard rounded on the rest of them. “We have a lot of work to do tomorrow. It’s very late. As Drefan is constantly reminding me, we need to get some sleep. You all have your orders. Any questions?”

Each answered with a silent shake of the head.

Two hours after they had returned to the palace, and Richard had sent them all to bed, Kahlan thought she saw something move in her room.

The lamp on the far wall was turned down low. The clouds hid the moon, so there was no light coming in the glassed doors to the balcony. The thick carpets silenced the sound of footsteps, if there were any. The weak flame from the lamp was all that betrayed the shape she thought she saw.

Another motion came from across the room—a hint of shadowed movement. She hadn’t seen a person enter her rooms; it could be nothing other than her imagination. The day had left her in an edgy state.

With the next silent step, there was no doubt: there was someone in her room. Someone slipped ever closer to her bed. As furtive as the movements were, he had closed the distance in remarkably short order.

Kahlan didn’t move a muscle as she saw the knife glint in the dim lamplight. She held her breath.

A powerful arm stabbed hatefully into her bed. The arm rose and fell, stabbing in quick succession.

With a finger, Richard pushed on the balcony door. It swung open on silent hinges. Berdine glided across the room the instant Richard gave her a hand signal. When she was in place, he tapped the glass once. Berdine turned up the wick on the lamp.

Tristan Bashkar straightened beside Kahlan’s bed, knife in hand, panting with the effort of what he had just been doing.

“
Toss down the knife, ambassador,” Richard said in a quiet tone.

Tristan spun the knife in his fingers, seizing the blade in preparation to throw it.

Berdine’s Agiel to the back of his neck dropped him instantly. She pressed the Agiel down on his shoulder to support herself as she bent and picked up the knife. Tristan howled in pain.

Berdine straightened, coming up with three knives.

“
You were right, Richard,” Drefan said from behind.

“
I can’t believe it,” Nadine said as she stepped up into the lamplight.

“
Believe it,” General Kerson said as he, too, came in from the balcony. “I’d say Tristan Bashkar has nullified his immunity as a diplomat.”

Richard put two fingers between his lips and whistled. Raina charged through the door ahead of a large contingent of D’Haran soldiers bristling steel. Two of them lit more lamps.

Richard hooked his thumbs behind his belt as he stood beside Kahlan, a towering black form defined with gold trim on his tunic and silver ornaments, buckles, and wristbands, watching the soldiers haul Tristan to his feet.

“
You were right, Richard,” she said. “He attacked Nadine to draw the guard off me. It was me he was after all along.”

For a while, she had thought he had lost his mind. His performance had convinced everyone, including Tristan.

“
Thanks for believing me,” Richard whispered.

When he had first told her what he was doing, Kahlan had suspected that Richard had accused Tristan because of the incident earlier. Kahlan had not put words to it, but she had wondered if Richard was simply acting out of jealousy.

Since she had told him what Shota said, he had now twice displayed jealousy, something she had never before seen from him. He didn’t have any reason to be jealous, but Shota’s words played on his mind, casting in doubt.

Whenever she looked at Nadine, Kahlan understood his feelings. Whenever she saw Nadine so much as standing near him, Kahlan felt the hot claws of jealousy rake through her insides.

She knew what Shota and the spirit had told her the truth. She knew that she would not have Richard. Her mind tried to put rational thought to it, to tell her that it would work out, that they would be together, but her heart knew better. Richard would marry Nadine. Kahlan would marry another man.