“If it is actually possible. Understanding such complicated connections and balanced elements is one thing. Altering them is an altogether different matter. Hope will not accomplish such things.”
“It’s hope based in precedent.” Nicci gestured off to the southwest. “Sulachan came back from the world of the dead. His demon spirit did, anyway, but his body had not been preserved the way Richard’s is so he can never really join fully with it. His spirit returned to a desiccated corpse.”
“That’s true,” Red whispered as she brooded in thought.
Nicci leaned closer to the woman. “And how did Sulachan accomplish such a thing? How did he bring his spirit back? He used Richard’s lifeblood. Prophecy names Richard as the bringer of death. In this case, Sulachan used that to bring him, in death, back to the world of life. Richard’s body still contains that blood of the bringer of death.”
Red arched an eyebrow at the sorceress and then began to pace, hands clasped behind her back. Gravel crunched under her boots as she slowly walked to the stream and back.
“The pebble in the pond, the bringer of death, the Lord Rahl, Kahlan’s husband … the one named in prophecy so many times and in so many ways, the one meant to stop Sulachan, must be brought back from the world of the dead,” Nicci insisted. “If he is the one prophecy names, then there must be a way, otherwise there would be no purpose to all those thousands of years of prophecy.”
“Unless it is all false prophecy,” Red muttered. She finally paused in her pacing to stare at Nicci. “But this would explain a lot of things that I’ve seen in the flow of time that haven’t made any sense.”
“Then you do know of something,” Kahlan said as she moved closer to the witch woman.
“Perhaps I was thinking of it the wrong way,” she said under her breath to herself as she went back to pacing.
Kahlan listened to the crunch of gravel for a time before her patience ran out. “What do you mean?”
“I wish I could see him more clearly, see the flow of time around him. That husband of yours has been using and confusing prophecy for thousands of years. He likewise muddies the things I see in the flow of time.”
“Well, you must be able to see some of it. You have seen the events around him before. If you see a shadow, you know that something is casting that shadow. What part are you able to see?” Kahlan asked. “Maybe that’s a place for us to start.”
The witch woman cast a worried look at Kahlan. “I didn’t have the pieces I needed to understand.”
“Understand what?” Kahlan asked. “Have you thought of a way that you can help us?”
Red drew a long breath. “Maybe. I think I may be beginning to understand what you must do.” She walked off toward the stream, staring down into the swirling water for a time. “If I’m right, then you should fear the things I would tell you.”
“And what would those things be?” Kahlan asked.
The witch woman finally returned to them and studied both Kahlan and Nicci’s faces for a time before answering.
“You must make the dead talk to you.”
“And how would we do that?” Kahlan asked without pause, already knowing that she would be willing to do whatever it took to get Richard back.
Red put a hand on her shoulder as she turned her blue eyes away, looking off into things only a witch woman could see.
“I must leave you for a little while,” she said in a quiet voice. “Keep the fire going. It will be dark when I return. Eat, rest, and wait until I return.”
“Where are you going?” Kahlan called after her.
“I must look into the flow of time to seek the answers you need,” the witch woman said as she walked off toward the trees.
Hunter bounded down off his rock and followed her as she disappeared into the shadows.
CHAPTER 11
Kahlan stood in a rush when she saw Red emerge from the stand of oaks. Nicci stood beside her. The Mord-Sith were on watch nearby and started back when they saw the witch woman returning.
“So, what did you mean when you said that we have to make the dead talk to us?” Kahlan asked impatiently. “Did you discover what we need to do?”
Even though it was dark, the low fire gave enough light to reveal the troubled expression on Red’s face. She looked drawn and tired. She had been gone the entire afternoon and then for hours after the sun had set. Kahlan had worried that she might never return.
“Not you,” the witch woman said to Kahlan as she came to a stop before Nicci. “You.”
“Me?” Nicci asked. She quickly recovered from the surprise. “All right, if it will help us get Richard back. What is it I need to do?”
Red slowly paced off partway toward the stream, still deep in thought, as if trying to think of a way to explain it.
“This is not something that can be accomplished easily, if at all,” the witch woman said without turning back. “We are seeking to bring a soul back from the world of the dead. In order to do such a thing, we are going to need a great deal of help. It’s not something that can be accomplished without the help of others.”
“What others?” Nicci asked.
“Dead, others,” Red told them, still gazing off into the distance.
Nicci took a deep breath. “I don’t understand. How can the dead help us?”
“Do you mean we need the help of the good spirits?” Kahlan guessed.
Red turned back and looked at her for a moment before speaking. “Richard is lost in the world of the dead, the spirit world. In order to help him, before anyone can help him, he first must be found in that eternity of darkness. That’s a very specialized task. In order to find him, we first need a spiritist.”
“A spiritist?” Nicci asked in a suddenly displeased tone.
“Yes. The flow of time does not ordinarily reveal what is sought, but this time I was able to catch a glimpse of factors surrounding potential events. Sometimes the flow is strong and rich in detail, which tells me that it is fixed and a near certainty. The flow I saw of you ending Richard’s life after the Mother Confessor had been murdered was that way. It was obscured where Richard was concerned, but I knew what was going to happen with you two.
“The flow I saw this time was only a slender thread, and I was only able to get a fleeting glimpse of it. That indicates there is only a remote chance that events will take this course. Time moves like a river, taking the easiest course. Ordinarily such slender threads are backwaters in time and are to be ignored, since the chances of them cutting a new path for the river in time are so unlikely. The thread exists only to reveal the richness of possibilities, not the probability.
“It is the allowance made for free choice to balance prophecy.
“For it to come about requires a series of events to come about in precise fashion. To help such a thread to strengthen, Richard must first be found. The only one who can do that is a spiritist.”
Kahlan looked back and forth between the two women. “What’s a spiritist?”
Nicci glanced over at Kahlan. “A gifted woman who can travel the darkness of the spirit world and seek specific spirits. She is gifted with the talent to find and then talk to spirits.”
“You mean she communes with the dead,” Kahlan said.
“That’s the heart of the matter,” Nicci admitted.
Kahlan shrugged. “All right. Where do we find one of these spiritists?”
“I’m afraid you can’t,” Nicci said. “There are none living anymore.”
Kahlan looked back at Red, reflections of the firelight flickering in her knowing eyes. “How can we use a spiritist if they are all dead?”
“I told you. You must talk with the dead.”
“You’re talking in circles,” Kahlan said, her temper heating. “How do we talk to the dead if we need a spiritist to do that, and they are all dead?”