Hateful Things

12

Shale hooked a hand around Richard’s arm to stop him.

“Lord Rahl …” She sounded hesitant. “That sight down there, all those people … it was horrifying.”

Richard frowned, not knowing if she had a point. “It was.”

“Well, the thing is, you hope to be able to stop these predators. In the meantime, our world is steadily heading toward the day when people will be without the protection of your magic and without the Mother Confessor’s magic. If anything should happen to either of you, then the future of our world would be doomed as the protective web of your gift holding all magic together disintegrates.

“The Golden Goddess may never send those of her race to have a big battle in which you can hope to defeat her. She may deny you that opportunity of a conventional war and instead continue to attack as she has been, terrorizing us with continual surprise attacks, maybe even wiping out small towns here and there so that everyone will be in the grip of fear. They will continue to feed on our people. As we wait for an attack that may never come, many more people will go missing, just as those people down in the darkness were missing.

“Your magic is the only thing protecting our world by keeping them cautious. The future survival of this world depends on that magic being preserved. Every day that passes increases the danger that you will be killed and our world would then lose that protection.

“As we learned through Nolo, the Golden Goddess can wait us out. If she chooses, she can wait for you to die of old age. You and the Mother Confessor grow older every day, and with your gifts destined to eventually die out, our world gets closer to dying out with you.”

Richard was absently wondering what kind of gifted might be living at the palace and what abilities they might have that would be able to help them. He was only half listening to Shale ramble on with the obvious. He realized that even though she seemed to be talking a lot without saying much, she was getting at something.

“What of it? What’s your point?” he asked, impatiently, needing to get to the library where the gifted would be gathering.

“Well, to keep any of that from happening, and to have your gifts live on to protect the future of our world, you and the Mother Confessor need to have children. It can’t wait. You must have them now.”

“Children! Now? Are you out of your mind?” Richard blew up in anger, flicking a hand in a gesture toward Kahlan. “I can’t think of anything that could cause us more trouble right now and threaten to bring the sky down on us all, than Kahlan getting pregnant.”

“But—”

“But nothing! You heard what the goddess said about the young and how she lusted to kill them. How can you even suggest that right now?”

“I can suggest it because every day you both get older. Just like everyone else, day by day the time when you can have children dwindles away. You must think of the future. You must have children. I think it’s time.”

“That’s absurd. We’re hardly old enough to suggest that we are running out of time to have children.”

Seeing how angry he was, Shale wisely closed her mouth.

Richard raked his fingers back through his hair, trying to control his temper. “One day? Absolutely. But now? There is nothing that would do more to draw the dedicated ferocity of the Golden Goddess and her kind than us having children.” He shook his head at the very idea, almost too angered by to it speak.

Shale’s prudence ran out. “But Lord Rahl—”

“Tell her!” he suddenly yelled at Kahlan. “Tell her how that would compromise our situation and in all likelihood ensure the destruction of our world! The entire focus of the Golden Goddess would be to hunt down those children and slaughter them. That would unleash such wrath that it would ensure that Kahlan and I would be killed as well. It would be the end of magic in our world. All because of such a foolish impulse at a time like this. Tell her that we can’t put such a notion ahead of us stopping this threat!”

Kahlan had gone pale, making him suddenly wish he hadn’t yelled at her. He hadn’t really been yelling at her, but rather the recklessness of such a suggestion.

“But Richard—” she said in a small voice, almost a plea.

“Someday, Kahlan,” he said, leaning down toward her, softening his voice. “Someday. But right now that is the one thing that could seal our fate and the fate of our world. It would be the single thing that would ensure our total annihilation. Such a thing would cause them to cease being cautious and unleash a full-scale, worldwide invasion. We would be overrun and slaughtered.

“Right now, their attention is on you and me as they probe our powers. Once we can learn more, discover ways to kill them and get control of the situation and hopefully stop them from coming to our world at will, then yes, that’s what I want more than anything. But right now we have to use our heads, or we will all lose them like those people down below.”

Kahlan nodded as she glanced at Shale. The sorceress had gone silent and red-faced. Richard didn’t know what was wrong with the woman to even suggest such a thing right in the middle of such a crisis.

“Kahlan being pregnant would mean that the Golden Goddess could no longer afford to wait us out,” he concluded. “Without a way to stop these predators, it would mean the end of us all.”

Kahlan turned a look on Shale as she gritted her teeth. “What’s the matter with you? Can’t you see that Richard is trying his best to figure out how to stop this threat? We don’t need to make his job any harder than it already is.”

Shale looked a bit sheepish as she abandoned her argument. “I apologize.” She gestured vaguely. “I was only trying to broach a subject that one day must be addressed. But I can see that now is not the time.” Kahlan closed her eyes a moment as she took a deep breath. “One day it will be. Until then, let’s not talk of it again—all right? Richard has a job to do. He doesn’t need us to pile more worries on top of those we already have.”

Shale’s lips pressed tight for a moment. Finally, she bowed her head. “Of course, you’re right, Mother Confessor.”

Richard gripped Shale’s shoulder and gave it a jostle, along with a smile. “It’s a wonderful idea, Shale, just the wrong time, that’s all. No hard feelings?”

Shale shook her head, returning a bit of a smile.

Richard held his hand out to Kahlan. “Come on. We need to get up there to see what kind of gifted we have here in the palace. I’m hoping they are strong enough to be able to help us. I’m also hoping that at least one of them knows how to link others with the gift to make it more powerful.”

Kahlan took his hand, but stood her ground, making Richard stop and turn to her.

“Richard, I’m feeling a bit sick after what we just saw down below. I think I will go lie down.”

Richard was a bit puzzled, even though she did look awfully pale. Kahlan had seen horrific deaths before. It always made her more determined than ever. It was completely unlike her to want to go lie down.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea right now.”

Kahlan frowned. “Why not?”

“Because it’s easier for wolves to take down a deer if they can cut one from the herd. Better that we stay together. I don’t want you to become one of the missing.”