Faith of the Fallen by Terry Goodkind Read Free Book Online

the worst thing when you were hurt was to have someone else move you.
    As he leaned over, she slipped her right arm around his neck while he carefully slid his left arm under her shoulders. Being lifted even that much ignited a shock of pain. Kahlan tried to ignore the burning stitch and attempted to relax as she said his name over and over in her mind.
    She suddenly remembered something important. It was her last chance to remind him.
    “Richard,” she whispered urgently just before he pushed his right arm under her bottom to lift her. “Please…remember to be careful not to hurt the baby.”
    She was startled to see her words stagger him. It took a moment before his eyes turned up to look into hers. What she saw there nearly stopped her heart.
    “Kahlan…you remember, don’t you?”
    “Remember?”
    His eyes glistened. “That you lost the baby. When you were attacked.”
    The memory slammed into her like a fist, nearly taking her breath.
    “…Oh…”
    “Are you all right?”
    “Yes. I forgot for a moment. I just wasn’t thinking. I remember, now. I remember you told me about it.”
    And she did. Their child, their child that had only begun to grow in her, was long since dead and gone. Those beasts who had attacked her had taken that from her, too.
    The world seemed to turn gray and lifeless.
    “I’m so sorry, Kahlan,” he whispered.
    She caressed his hair. “No, Richard. I should have remembered. I’m sorry I forgot. I didn’t mean to…”
    He nodded.
    She felt a warm tear drop onto the hollow of her throat, close to her necklace. The necklace, with its small dark stone, had been a wedding gift from Shota, the witch woman. The gift was a proposal of truce. Shota said it would allow them to be together and share their love, as they had always wanted, without Kahlan getting pregnant. Richard and Kahlan had decided that, for the time being, they would reluctantly accept Shota’s gift, her truce. They already had worries enough on their hands.
    But for a time, when the chimes had been loose in the world, the magic of the necklace, unbeknownst to Richard and Kahlan, had failed. One small but miraculous balance to the horrors the chimes had brought had been that it had given their love the opportunity to bring a child to life.
    Now that life was gone.
    “Please, Richard, let’s go.”
    He nodded again.
    “Dear spirits,” he whispered to himself so softly she could hardly hear him, “forgive me for what I am about to do.”
    She clutched his neck. She now longed for what was coming—she wanted to forget.
    He lifted her as gently as he could. It felt like wild stallions tied to each limb all leaped into a gallop at the same instant. Pain ripped up from the core of her, the shock of it making her eyes go wide as she sucked in a breath. And then she screamed.
    The blackness hit her like a dungeon door slamming shut.

Chapter 4
    A sound woke her as suddenly as a slap. Kahlan lay on her back, still as death, her eyes wide, listening. It wasn’t so much that the sound had been loud, but that it had been something disturbingly familiar. Something dangerous.
    Her whole body throbbed with pain, but she was more awake than she had been in what seemed like weeks. She didn’t know how long she had been asleep, or perhaps unconscious. She was awake enough to remember that it would be a grave mistake to try to sit up, because just about the only part of her not injured was her right arm. One of the big chestnut geldings snorted nervously and stamped a hoof, jostling the carriage enough to remind Kahlan of her broken ribs.
    The sticky air smelled of approaching rain, though fits of wind still bore dust to her nostrils. Dark masses of leaves overhead swung fretfully to and fro, their creaking branches giving voice to their torment. Deep purple and violet clouds scudded past in silence. Beyond the trees and clouds, the field of blue-black sky held a lone star, high over her forehead. She wasn’t sure if it was dawn