The Sword of the Truth, Book 12 - The Omen Machine by Terry Goodkind Read Free Book Online Page A

stayed back by the door to the library where she had been standing guard to make sure they weren’t disturbed. At the very end of the room Nathan started scanning the titles in the tall, ornately decorated bookcase against the wall. He finally bent and pulled a book from a lower shelf.
    “Here it is,” he announced as he showed them the spine with the title End Notes . After searching for a moment, he handed the open book to Richard and tapped a place on the right-hand page.
    Richard stared at the words as if he was having trouble believing what he was seeing.
    “What does it say?” Kahlan finally had to ask.
    Richard’s gray eyes turned up to her. “It says, ‘The roof is going to fall in.’”
    “You mean just like that old woman said today?” Kahlan frowned. “What does the rest of it say?”
    “Nothing. That’s the only thing on the whole page.”
    Nathan glanced around at the small group surrounding him. “It’s a fragment prophecy.”
    Richard stared at the writing in the book. Benjamin seemed puzzled. Zedd wore a stony expression that deepened the wrinkles on his angular face. Berdine looked decidedly worried.
    Cara scrunched up her nose. “A fragment prophecy?”
    Nathan nodded. “A prophecy so concise that it can appear to be nothing more than a fragment, a snippet. Prophecy is usually at least a little more complex than this and usually a great deal more involved.”
    Richard glanced down again at the book. “Or it’s simply empty boasting.”
    Nathan straightened. “Boasting?”
    “Sure. Someone wanted to make themselves sound impressive so they came up with something that sounds specific but isn’t.”
    As Nathan cocked his head, his long white hair brushed his shoulder. “I don’t follow.”
    “Well, how long ago do you think this was written?”
    “I can’t be sure, but the prophecy itself has to be several thousand years old, at least. Possibly much older than that.”
    “And in all that time since then don’t you suppose that a roof or two has collapsed? It’s an impressive-sounding prophecy, saying a roof is going to fall in, but it’s really nothing more than like announcing on a sunny day that you predict that it will rain. Sooner or later it’s going to rain, so such a prediction is pretty safe to make. In the same way, over the years, sooner or later, a roof is going to fall in. When it does, that event makes the person who said it sound prophetic.”
    “That makes sense to me,” Cara said, happy to have the magic of prophecy defanged.
    “There’s only one problem with that,” Nathan said.
    Richard handed back the book. “Like what?”
    “Empty predictions are usually open-ended. Like you say, sooner or later it’s going to rain. But with real prophecy they repeat themselves. You might say that the omen resurfaces to remind people of it.”
    Richard looked up at Nathan from under his lowered brow. “You mean to say that you think that because this woman today repeated this fragment prophecy that means it’s real? That the time for it has arrived?”
    Nathan smiled the slightest bit. “That’s the way it works, Richard.”
    Kahlan noticed someone arrive at the doorway. By the robes with gold trim she recognized the man as a palace official. Rikka spoke briefly with him, then hurried down the aisle.
    “Lord Rahl, the reception is beginning. The new husband and wife should be there to greet people.”
    Richard smiled as he put his arms around Benjamin’s and Cara’s shoulders and started them toward the door. “Let’s not keep people waiting for the guests of honor.”

CHAPTER 7
     
    A s he made his way into the grand hall, Richard scanned the crowd, looking for the man Cara had told him about. Kahlan slipped her arm through his and leaned closer as they followed Cara and her new husband.
    “I know that you have a lot of things running through your head, Richard,” Kahlan whispered to him, “but let’s try to remember that this party is for Cara and