Warheart by Terry Goodkind Read Free Book Online Page A

morning. Not only was there a variety of several different things, from what looked like boiled eggs to rabbit to fish, but there looked to be more than they could all eat. There were even some wild plums to the side.
    Red gestured as she handed them each a sharpened, forked stick. “Go on, help yourselves. I know that you have been traveling hard and are all in need of a good meal.”
    Cassia glanced at Kahlan. When Kahlan gave her a slight nod, Cassia and Laurin stabbed pieces of the rabbit meat. Kahlan started out with a couple of eggs. Nicci chose a piece of fish.
    â€œSnake!” Vale said with delight as she found a long string of meat in the pile. “I haven’t had snake since I was young. It was always one of my favorites.”
    â€œI know,” the witch woman said without looking up from setting aside the cooking rod. “That’s why I prepared it.”
    â€œThank you,” Vale said as she held up the string of meat between a finger and thumb. She bit off a long chunk from the bottom and chewed with obvious delight. “Delicious,” she told Red.
    Red smiled.
    Gravel crunched under Kahlan’s boots as she went to a rock on the opposite side of the bed of hot coals from where Red sat. Red’s rock of choice was taller than all the rest, so that once they were seated she looked down on them a little. Kahlan had seen enough queens holding court to get the point. As the Mother Confessor, she ruled over those queens, but at the moment that was about the last thing on her mind. She was content to let Red hold court if that was what pleased her.
    Kahlan cracked the shell of an egg and started peeling it off. “What are you doing here, in this place?” She deliberately glanced around. “What brings you here?”
    â€œWhy, you do, Mother Confessor.”
    â€œThere must be more to it,” Kahlan said, not buying the simplicity of the answer. “We were on our way to see you at your home. You would have seen me there. Why come here, instead?”
    â€œWell,” Red said with a flick of her hand, “I’m afraid that my place is a bit of a mess right now. I don’t mind it, but I wouldn’t feel right receiving guests there.”
    Kahlan looked up from under her brow as she popped the shell off the small end of the egg. “What do you mean, it’s a mess? It’s a mountain pass. How could it be a mess?”
    She bit off half the egg and chewed as Red’s sky-blue eyes studied her for a moment.
    â€œDo you remember me telling you how I got my name?”
    Kahlan swallowed the egg as she peeled the second one. It was a great relief to be eating something warm and fresh.
    â€œYes, you said it was because there were times when you made that mountain pass run red with blood.”
    A small smile spread on the woman’s lips. “That’s right.”
    â€œAre you saying that you had some sort of trouble there?” Nicci asked.
    The witch woman ignored Nicci and instead glanced at the Mord-Sith in their red leather outfits–outfits designed to obscure the shocking sight of blood. The sight didn’t bother Mord-Sith, but it did others. All three were taking bites of meat off their forked sticks, but their gazes stayed on the witch woman. Kahlan could read Mord-Sith well enough to know that they considered the witch woman to be a potential threat. She was used to having Mord-Sith protecting her and Richard. She was glad to have them along. Like most Mord-Sith, these three were as guileless as they were deadly.
    Kahlan missed Cara something fierce, but not as fiercely as she missed Richard.
    â€œYou see,” Red finally went on, looking from the other four back at Kahlan, “the demon–”
    â€œDemon?” Nicci interrupted again. “What demon?”
    The witch woman’s unsettling gaze glided to Nicci. “The one who belongs in the underworld. The one who came into this world where he does