Terry Goodkind - The Third Kingdom

ALSO BY TERRY GOODKIND

Wizards First Rule
Stone of Tears
Blood of the Fold
Temple of the Winds
Soul of the Fire
Faith of the Fallen
The Pillars of Creation
Naked Empire
Debt of Bones
Chainfire
Phantom
Confessor
The Law of Nines
The Omen Machine
The First Confessor

Copyright 2013 Terry Goodkind

All rights reserved. The use of any part of this publication, reproduced, transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, or stored in a retrieval system without the prior written consent of the publisheror in the case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, license from the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agencyis an infringement of the copyright law.

Doubleday Canada and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House of Canada Limited

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Goodkind, Terry, author
The third kingdom / Terry Goodkind.

eISBN: 978-0-385-68137-7

I. Title.

PS3557.O5826T55 2013 813.54

C2013-902629-0
C2013-903024-7

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Jacket art and design by Rob Anderson at Revel Studios

Published in Canada by Doubleday Canada, a division of Random House of Canada Limited

www.randomhouse.ca

v3.1

Contents

CHAPTER

We should eat them now, before they die and go bad, a gruff voice said.

Richard was only distantly aware of the low buzz of voices. Still only half conscious, he wasnt able to figure out who was talking, much less make sense of what they were talking about, but he was aware enough to be disturbed by their predatory tone.

I think we should trade them, a second man said as he tightened the knot in the rope he had looped around Richards ankles.

Trade them? the first asked in a heated voice. Look at the bloody blankets they were wrapped in and the blood all over the floor of the wagon. Theyd likely die before we could ever trade them, and then theyd go to waste. Besides, how could we carry them both? The horses for their soldiers and the wagon are all gone, along with anything else of value.

The second man let out an unhappy sigh. Then we should eat the big one before anyone else shows up. We could carry the smaller one easier and then trade her.

Or save her and eat her later.

Wed be better off trading her. When else would we ever get a chance like this to get as much as she would fetch?

As the two men argued, Richard tried to reach out to the side to touch Kahlan lying close up against him, but he couldnt. He realized that his wrists were bound tightly together with a coarse rope. He instead pushed at her with his elbow. She didnt respond.

Richard knew that he needed to do something, but he also knew that he would first need to summon not just his senses, but his strength, or he would have no chance. He felt worse than weak. He felt feverish with an inner sickness that had not only drained his strength but left his mind in a numb fog.

He lifted his head a little and squinted in the dim light, trying to see, trying to get his bearings, but he couldnt really make out much of anything. When his head pushed up against something, he realized that he and Kahlan were covered with a stiff tarp. Out under the bottom edge he could see a pair of vague, dark silhouettes at the end of the wagon beyond his feet. One man stepped closer and lifted the bottom of the tarp while the other looped a rope around Kahlans ankles and tied it tight, the way they had done with Richard.

Through that opening Richard could see that it was night. The full moon was up, but its light had a muted quality to it that told him the sky was overcast. A slow drizzle drifted through the still air. Beyond the two figures a murky wall of spruce trees rose up out of sight.

Kahlan didnt move when Richard pushed his elbow a little more forcefully against her ribs. Her hands, like his, lay nested at her belt line. His worry about what might be wrong with her had him struggling to gather his senses. He could see that she was at least breathing, although each slow breath was shallow.

As he gradually regained consciousness, Richard realized that besides feeling weak with fever of some sort, he hurt all over from hundreds of small wounds. Some of them still oozed blood. He could see that Kahlan was covered with the same kinds of cuts and puncture wounds. Her clothes were soaked in blood.

But it was not only the blood on the two of them that worried him. Damp air rolling in under the tarp carried an even heavier smell of blood from out beyond the men. There had been people with them, people who had come to help them. His level of alarm rose past his ability to gather his strength.

Richard could feel the lingering effects of being healed, and he recognized the shadowy touch of the woman who had been healing him, but since he still ached from cuts and bruises, he knew that while the healing had been started, it hadnt gone beyond that start, much less been completed.

He wondered why.

On his other side, the side away from Kahlan, he heard something dragged across the floor of the wagon.

Look at this, the man with the gruff voice said as he pulled it out. For the first time, Richard could see the size of the mans muscled arms as he reached in and lifted the object he had dragged closer.

The other man let out a low whistle. How could they have missed that? For that matter, how could they have missed these two?

The bigger man glanced around. Messy as everything looks, it must have been the Shun-tuk.

The others voice lowered with sudden concern. Shun-tuk? You really think so?

From what I know of their ways, Id say it was them.

What would the Shun-tuk be doing out here?

The big man leaned toward his companion. Same as us. Hunting for those with souls.

This far from their homeland? That seems unlikely.

With the barrier wall now breached, what better place to hunt for people with souls? The Shun-tuk would go anywhere, do anything, to find such people. Same as us. He lifted an arm around in a quick gesture. We came out to hunt these new lands, didnt we? So would the Shun-tuk.

But they have a vast domain. Are you sure they would venture out?

Their domain may be vast and they may be powerful, but the thing they want most they dont have. With the barrier wall breached they can hunt for it, now, the same as us, the same as others.

The other mans gaze darted about. Even so, their domain is distant. Do you really think it could be them? This far out from their homeland?

Ive never encountered the Shun-tuk myself, and I hope not to. The big man raked his thick fingers back through his wet, stringy hair as he scanned the dark line of trees. But Ive heard that they hunt other half people just for the practice until they can find those with souls.

This looks like their way. They usually hunt at night. With prey out in the open like this, they strike fast and hard with overwhelming numbers. Before anyone has time to see them coming, or to react, its over. They usually eat some of those they fall upon, but they take most for later.

Then what about these two? Why would they leave them?

They wouldnt. In their rush to eat some of those they captured and to take the rest back with them, they must have missed these two hidden under the tarp.

The smaller man picked at a splinter at the end of the wagon bed for a moment as he carefully scanned the countryside. I hear it told that Shun-tuk often come back to check for returning stragglers.

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