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At last she looked over, unconcerned. The Nameless One is always trying to get out.’
Richard took a deep breath and tried again. The veil to the underworld is torn. He is going to get out.’
Sister Verna turned to him once more, this time pulling the edge of the hood back to get a better look. Curly brown hair peeked out the edge of the dark, heavy hood. She had an odd frown. A frown of amusement. There was a wisp of a 【创建和谐家园】ile at the corners of her mouth.
The Creator himself put the Nameless One where he is. The Creator himself placed the veil with His own hand to keep him there.’ Her 【创建和谐家园】ile swelled a little as her eyebrows came closer together, creasing her weathered brow. The Nameless One cannot escape the prison the Creator has placed him in. Do not be afraid, child.’
Exploding in rage, Richard wheeled his bay mare around toward the Sister. The two horses jostled, whinnying and tossing their heads. Richard firmly snatched the reins of the Sister’s surprised horse to keep it from rearing, or bolting.
He leaned toward her, his chest heaving in fury. ‘I will not be called names! I will not have names put to me because I wear a collar! I am Richard! Richard Rahl!’
Sister Verna didn’t flinch. Her voice remained calm and 【创建和谐家园】ooth. ‘I’m sorry, Richard. It was only force of habit. I am used to dealing with ones much younger than you. I meant nothing demeaning by it.’
The way she stared at him made him feel suddenly foolish, embarrassed. Made him feel like a child. He released the reins. ‘I apologize for yelling. I’m not in a very good mood.’
She frowned again. ‘I thought your name was Cypher.’
He tugged his cloak over his chest where the bandage covered his burn. ‘It’s a long story. George Cypher raised me as his son. I only found out a short time ago that I am in truth the son of Darken Rahl.’
Her frown deepened. ‘Darken Rahl. The one with the gift you killed? You killed your father?’
‘Don’t look at me like that. You didn’t know him. You have no idea what kind of man he was. He imprisoned and tortured and killed more people than you or I could imagine. The idea of him being with my mother makes me sick. But that is the truth of it. I am his son. If you expect me to be sorry I killed him, you will have longer than eternity to wait.’
Sister Verna shook her head with what seemed genuine concern. ‘I’m sorry, Richard. Sometimes the Creator weaves a tangled cloth for our lives, and we are left to wonder why. But I am sure of one thing: He has reasons for what He does.’
Babble. He was getting babble from this woman. He urged his horse around and started out again. ‘I’m telling you, the veil is torn, and the Keeper is going to get out.’
Her voice lowered dangerously. ‘The Nameless One.’
He glanced over, annoyed. Tine. The Nameless One. I couldn’t care less what you want to call him, but he is going to get out. We are all in great danger.’
Kahlan was in great danger.
He didn’t care if this sorceress of a Sister burned him to a cinder; his life meant nothing to him anymore. His only concern was Kahlan’s safety.
Sister Verna’s quizzical frown and 【创建和谐家园】ile returned. ‘Who told you such a thing?’
‘Shota, a witch woman, she told me the veil was torn.’ He left out that Shota had also told him he was the one who had torn it. ‘She said it was torn and if it wasn’t fixed, the Kee -the Nameless One would escape.’
Sister Verna 【创建和谐家园】iled. Her eyes sparkled. ‘A witch woman.’ She laughed a little. ‘And you believed her? You believed a witch woman? You think witch women speak the truth in such simple fashion?’
Fuming, Richard glanced at her from the corner of his eye. ‘She seemed pretty sure of it to me. She wouldn’t lie about something this important. I believe her.’
Sister Verna seemed to think the whole thing amusing. ‘If you had ever had occasion to deal with a witch woman before, Richard, you would know that they have an odd view of the truth. They can be well intentioned at times, but witch women speak in words that rarely come to pass the way they sound.’
The truth of that took some of the steam out of him. Sister Verna certainly seemed to know about witch women. In fact, she seemed to share his own view of them. ‘She seemed pretty sure of what she was saying. She was afraid.’
‘I am sure she was. A wise person is always afraid of the Nameless One. But I wouldn’t put much stock in what she says.’
‘It’s not just what she says. Other things have happened, too.’
She looked over curiously. ‘Such as?’
‘A screeling.’
She set her calm brown eyes back ahead. ‘A screeling. You have seen a screeling, yes?’
‘Seen it! It attacked me! Screelings are from the underworld. They are sent by the Nameless One. It was sent through a tear in the veil, to kill me!’
Her 【创建和谐家园】ile returned. ‘You have quite an imagination, Richard. You have listened to too many children’s songs.’
He restrained his renewed anger. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Screelings are indeed from the underworld, as are other beasts. The heart hounds, for example. But they are not ‘sent.’ They simply escape. We live in a world that lies between good and evil; between the light and the dark. The Creator did not intend this to be a perfect world, safe from all harm. We cannot understand His reasons, always, but He has them, and He is perfect. Perhaps the Screelings are meant to show us the dark side. I don’t know. But I do know they are simply an evil that sometimes comes. I have seen this happen before to ones with the gift. It is possible that the gift draws them. A test perhaps. A warning, perhaps, of the rancid evil that awaits those who stray from the light.’
‘But ... there are prophecies that say they are sent when the veil is torn, sent by the Nameless One.’
‘How could that be, Richard? Has the veil ever been torn before?’
‘How should I know?’ He thought a minute. ‘But I don’t see how it could have been. If it were, how could it have been mended? And it wouldn’t have gone unnoticed. What are you getting at?’
‘Well, if the veil has never been torn, how could the screel-ings have been sent before? How would we know what they were? How could they have a name already put to them?’
It was Richard’s turn to frown. ‘Maybe we only know them as screelings because they have been named in the prophecy.’
‘You have read this prophecy?’
‘Well, no. Kahlan told it to me.’
‘And she read it herself, with her own eyes, yes?’
‘No. She learned it when she was young.’ Richard’s irritated frown deepened. ‘In a song. She learned it from wizards.’
‘In a song.’ Sister Verna didn’t look over, but her 【创建和谐家园】ile widened. ‘Richard, I do not mean to belittle your fears, but things repeated, over and over, especially in a song, have a way of changing.
‘As for prophecies, well, they are harder to understand than a witch woman. We have vaults full of them at the palace. As part of your studies, perhaps you will be allowed to work with them. I have read all of them we have, and I can tell you that they are beyond the minds of most. If you aren’t cautious, you can find a prophecy that will say whatever you want to hear. Or at least you will think it is what you want to hear. Some wizards devote their lives to the study of them, and yet even they understand only a tiny fraction of their truth.’
‘This is a danger not to be taken so lightly.’
‘Do you think the veil is torn that simply? Have faith, Richard. The Creator placed the veil. Have faith in Him.’
Richard rode in silence for a time. Sister Verna did seem to make sense. He felt as if his understanding of the world was tilting.
But it was difficult for him to think too hard on the subject; Kahlan kept creeping back into his mind. His anguish at her wanting him to put on a collar to prove his love, knowing it would take him from her, tore at his heart. The betrayal burned painfully in his chest.
He picked at the reins with his thumbnail. At last he turned once more to the Sister. ‘That’s not all. I haven’t told you the worst of it.’
She 【创建和谐家园】iled a motherly 【创建和谐家园】ile. ‘There is more? Tell me then. Perhaps I can put your fears to rest.’