Debt of Bones by Terry Goodkind Read Free Book Online Page B

the good spirits, despite knowing that they would ignore a request such as she made. She closed her eyes and prayed for Wizard Zorander’s daughter, too. Her prayers were fragmented by intruding fears that felt as if they clawed her insides raw.
    She didn’t know how long she had lain in the bed, wishing for sleep to take her, wishing for morning to come, when the door slowly squeaked open. A shadow climbed the far wall.
    Abby froze, eyes wide, breath held tight, as she watched a crouched figure move toward the bed. It wasn’t the woman of the house. She would be taller. Abby’s fingers tightened on the scratchy blanket, thinking that maybe she could throw it over the intruder and then run for the door.
    “Don’t be alarmed, dearie. I’ve just come to see if you had success up at the Keep.”
    Abby gulped air and she sat up in the bed. “Mariska?” It was the old woman who had waited with her in the keep all day. “You frightened the wits out of me!”
    The small flame from the lamp reflected in a sharp shimmer in the woman’s eye as she surveyed Abby’s face. “Worse things to fear than your own safety.”
    “What do you mean?”
    Mariska smiled. It was not a reassuring smile. “Did you get what you wanted?”
    “I saw the First Wizard, if that’s what you mean.”
    “And what did he say, dearie?”
    Abby swung her feet down off the bed. “That’s my business.”
    The sly smile widened. “Oh, no, dearie, it’s our business.”
    “What do you mean by that?”
    “Answer the question. You’ve not much time left. Your family has not much time left.”
    Abby shot to her feet. “How do you—”
    The old woman seized Abby’s wrist and twisted until Abby was forced to sit. “What say the First Wizard?”
    “He said he couldn’t help me. Please, that hurts. Let me go.”
    “Oh, dearie, that’s too bad, it is. Too bad for your little Jana.”
    “How … how do you know about her? I never—”
    “So, Wizard Zorander denied your petition. Such sad news.” She clicked her tongue. “Poor, unfortunate, little Jana. You were warned. You knew the price of failure.”
    She released Abby’s wrist and turned away. Abby’s mind raced in hot panic as the woman shuffled toward the door.
    “No! Please! I’m to see him again, tomorrow. At sunrise.”
    Mariska peered back over her shoulder. “Why? Why would he agree to see you again, after he has denied you? Lying will buy your daughter no more time. It will buy her nothing.”
    “It’s true. I swear it on my mother’s soul. I talked to the sorceress, the one who took us in. I talked to her and the Mother Confessor, after Wizard Zorander denied my petition. They agreed to convince him to give me a private audience.”
    Her brow bunched. “Why would they do this?”
    Abby pointed to her sack sitting on the end of the bed. “I showed them what I brought.”
    With one gnarled finger, Mariska lifted open the sack. She looked for a moment and then glided closer to Abby.
    “You have yet to show this to Wizard Zorander?”
    “That’s right. They will get me an audience with him. I’m sure of it. Tomorrow, he will see me.”
    From her bulky waist band, Mariska drew a knife. She waved it slowly back and forth before Abby’s face. “We grow weary of waiting for you.”
    Abby licked her lips. “But I—”
    “In the morning I leave for Coney Crossing. I leave to see your frightened little Jana.” Her hand slid behind Abby’s neck. Fingers like oak roots gripped Abby’s hair, holding her head fast. “If you bring him right behind me, she will go free, as you were promised.”
    Abby couldn’t nod. “I will. I swear. I’ll convince him. He is bound by a debt.”
    Mariska put the point of the knife so close to Abby’s eye that it brushed her eyelashes. Abby feared to blink.
    “Arrive late, and I will stab my knife in little Jana’s eye. Stab it through. I will leave her the other so that she can watch as I cut out her father’s heart, just so that