Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind Page A

subject, so he remained still to let her feel safe. Without looking over, he put his hand on her forearm, and she put her other hand over his.
    “How are you to know this wizard?”
    “I only know I must find him, and soon, or we are all lost.”
    Richard thought in silence. “Zedd will help us,” he said at last. “He’s a cloud reader. Finding lost people is what a cloud reader does.”
    Kahlan gave him a suspicious look. “That sounds like magic. There is not supposed to be any magic in Westland.”
    “He says it’s not; that anyone can learn. He’s always trying to teach me. He mocks me whenever I say it looks like it will rain. His eyes get real big and he says, ‘Magic! You must have magic, my boy, to read the clouds and know the future so.’”
    Kahlan laughed. It was a good sound to hear. He didn’t want to press her further even though the weave of her story had many loose threads; there was much she wasn’t telling him. At least he knew more than he did before. The important thing was to find the wizard and then get away; another quad would be coming for her. They would have to go west while the wizard did whatever it was he had to do.
    She opened her waist pouch and pulled something out. Untying a string, she laid back the folds of a waxed cloth that held a tan substance. Dipping her finger in it, she turned to him. “This will help the fly bites heal. Turn your head.”
    The ointment soothed the sting. He recognized the fragrances of some of the plants and herbs it was made from. Zedd had taught him to make a similar ointment, but with aum, that would take pain from flesh wounds. When finished with him, she put some on herself. He held out his sore red hand.
    “Here, put some on this, too.”
    “Richard! What have you done?”
    “I was stuck by a thorn, this morning.”
    She dabbed the ointment carefully on his wound. “I have never seen a thorn do this.”
    “It was a big thorn. I’m sure I’ll be better by morning.”
    The ointment didn’t help the pain as much as he had hoped, but he told her that it did, not wanting to worry her. His hand was nothing compared to the things she had to worry about. He watched as she retied the string around the little package and replaced it in her waist pouch. Her forehead was creased in thought.
    “Richard, are you afraid of magic?”
    He thought carefully before answering. “I was always fascinated by it; it sounded exciting. But now I know there is magic to fear. But I would guess it’s like people: some you stay clear of and some you are fortunate to know.”
    Kahlan smiled, apparently satisfied with his answer. “Richard, before I cansleep, there is something I must tend to. It is a creature of magic. If you would not be afraid, I will let you see it. The opportunity is a rare one. Few have ever seen it, and few ever will. But you must promise me you will leave and take a walk when I ask, and not ask me any more questions when you return. I am very tired and must sleep.”
    Richard smiled at the honor. “Promise.”
    Opening her waist pouch once more, Kahlan withdrew a small round bottle with a stopper. Blue and silver lines spiraled around the fat part. There was light inside.
    Her green eyes came to his. “The creature is a night wisp. Her name is Shar. A night wisp cannot be seen in the day, only at night. Shar is part of the magic that helped me cross the boundary; she was my guide. Without her, I would have been lost.”
    Kahlan’s eyes filled with tears, but her voice remained steady and calm. “Tonight, she dies. She can live no longer away from her home place and the others of her kind, and she does not have the strength to cross the boundary again. Shar has sacrificed her life to help me because if Darken Rahl succeeds, all her kind, among others, will perish.”
    Pulling the stopper free, Kahlan placed the little bottle in the flat of her palm and held it out between them.
    A tiny flare of light lifted clear of the bottle, floating