Severed Souls by Terry Goodkind Page B

By the look Nicci and Zedd gave her, neither did the sorceress or wizard. The People’s Palace was to the southeast.
    â€œWhere are the rest of your trackers?” Richard asked. “When are they coming back to attack again?”
    The man stared off without answering. It was obvious enough, now, that they would return, and keep returning. Kahlan knew that the only way to stop them was to kill every last one of them.
    â€œIt seems to me that it is in your best interest to cooperate in order to stay alive, since if you die without a soul you will not be around for the time when your king unites the world of the dead and the living.”
    The Shun-tuk frowned. “What do you mean?”
    â€œThe longer you cooperate, the longer you live. Who knows, you might live long enough to see the worlds united.
    â€œBut if you don’t cooperate, then you are of no further use to us. Why would we want to keep you around, take you with us, watch over you? Like a wolf in our midst, your existence will have to be extinguished. Then there will be nothing left of you, no spirit, no spark of anything to live on in the united world of the third kingdom. For now, death is the final end for you.”
    The man tried to shift his weight, but with big soldiers to either side holding his arms, and Commander Fister standing on his calves, he could move little more than his head, and that was limited by the knife at his throat.
    â€œIf you kill me, then it cannot matter to me, because I will not exist in any world. I will be no longer.”
    â€œBut you would rather continue to exist, or you wouldn’t be trying to steal these souls,” Richard said as he gestured around at all the people watching.
    The Shun-tuk looked at the people surrounding him with the eyes of a hungry wolf.
    â€œNow, what are their plans?” Richard asked in a quiet, deadly tone that made most people tremble, making it clear that the man was running out of time. “What are your spirit trackers planning to do next?”
    The man, staring ahead for a moment, finally looked up at Richard. The unshakable resolve was back in his eyes. “It can make no difference for you to know what we will do. Knowing cannot help you because you will not be able to do anything to stop us, or to stop our king.
    â€œSo there is no point in me telling you.”
    The man lifted his chin and fell silent.

 
    CHAPTER
    15
    â€œI think there is a very good reason for you not to tell me,” Richard said. “I think you don’t want to say because you fear that I really can stop them.” Richard spread his hands. “After all, if what you’re saying were true—that the spirit trackers will have us sooner or later—then why would you be so afraid to tell me their plans?”
    The man frowned. “I am not afraid.”
    â€œThe only reason for not telling me has to be because you really do believe we can prevent them from capturing me and having all the rest of us. You’re afraid that if I know, I will stop them and you will have none of our souls.”
    The man frowned as he thought it through. Finally, he decided to speak.
    â€œYour spirit”—he tilted his head to indicate Kahlan—“and hers, are touched by death. We can feel it, sense it, like the smell of death. The spirit trackers can sense that sickness darkening your lives. You are like wounded animals.
    â€œWe can sense those times when that weakness comes over you and makes you lose consciousness. That is when your people are vulnerable. Without you, they cannot fight us off.
    â€œAfter all, we captured all of them and more once before when you were unconscious. Had Sulachan’s spirit already returned and used his trackers, we would have known that you were among the others, but unconscious and hidden. Sulachan had not returned from the dead, yet, so that time you both escaped.
    â€œThis time, the trackers will again attack, but they