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Faith of the Fallen :: Goodkind Terry
Страница: 16 из 617I'm helping save those lives in the only way that has a chance. I'm doing the only thing I can do."
"You are doing the easy thing," Cara said.
Richard met her challenge with quiet sincerity. "Cara, I'm doing the hardest thing I have ever had to do."
Kahlan was sure now that their rejection by the Anderith people had hit him harder than she had realized. She caught two of his fingers and squeezed sympathetically. He had put his heart into sparing those people from enslavement by the Order. He had tried to show them the value of freedom by allowing them the freedom to choose their own destiny. He had put his faith in their hands.
In a crushing defeat, an enormous majority had spurned all he had offered, and in so doing devastated that faith.
Kahlan thought that perhaps with some time to heal, the same as with her, the pain would fade for him, too. "You can't hold yourself to blame for the fall of Anderith, Richard. You did your best. It wasn't your fault."
He picked up his big leather over-belt with its gold-worked pouches and cinched it over the magnificent tunic.
"When you're the leader, everything is your fault."
Kahlan knew the truth of that. She thought to dissuade him by taking a different tack.
"What form did this vision assume?"
Richard's piercing gray eyes locked on her, almost in warning.
"Vision, revelation, realization, postulation, prophecy. . understanding-call it what you will, for in this they are all in one the same, and unequivocal. I can't describe it but to say it seems as if I must have always known it. Maybe I have. It wasn't so much words as it was a complete concept, a conclusion, a truth that became absolutely clear to me."
She knew he expected her to leave it at that. "If it became so clear and is unambiguous," she pressed, "you must be able to express it in words."
Richard slipped the baldric over his head, laying it over his right shoulder. As he adjusted the sword against his left hip, light sparkled off the raised gold wire woven through the silver wire of the hilt to spell out the word TRUTH.
His brow was smooth and his face calm. She knew she had at last brought him to the heart of the matter. His certainty would afford him no reason to keep it from her if she chose to hear it, and she did. His words rolled forth with quiet power, like prophecy come to life.
"I have been a leader too soon. It is not I who must prove myself to the people, but the people who must now prove themselves to me. Until then, I must not lead them, or all hope is lost.
"You are doing the easy thing," Cara said.
Richard met her challenge with quiet sincerity. "Cara, I'm doing the hardest thing I have ever had to do."
Kahlan was sure now that their rejection by the Anderith people had hit him harder than she had realized. She caught two of his fingers and squeezed sympathetically. He had put his heart into sparing those people from enslavement by the Order. He had tried to show them the value of freedom by allowing them the freedom to choose their own destiny. He had put his faith in their hands.
In a crushing defeat, an enormous majority had spurned all he had offered, and in so doing devastated that faith.
Kahlan thought that perhaps with some time to heal, the same as with her, the pain would fade for him, too. "You can't hold yourself to blame for the fall of Anderith, Richard. You did your best. It wasn't your fault."
He picked up his big leather over-belt with its gold-worked pouches and cinched it over the magnificent tunic.
"When you're the leader, everything is your fault."
Kahlan knew the truth of that. She thought to dissuade him by taking a different tack.
"What form did this vision assume?"
Richard's piercing gray eyes locked on her, almost in warning.
"Vision, revelation, realization, postulation, prophecy. . understanding-call it what you will, for in this they are all in one the same, and unequivocal. I can't describe it but to say it seems as if I must have always known it. Maybe I have. It wasn't so much words as it was a complete concept, a conclusion, a truth that became absolutely clear to me."
She knew he expected her to leave it at that. "If it became so clear and is unambiguous," she pressed, "you must be able to express it in words."
Richard slipped the baldric over his head, laying it over his right shoulder. As he adjusted the sword against his left hip, light sparkled off the raised gold wire woven through the silver wire of the hilt to spell out the word TRUTH.
His brow was smooth and his face calm. She knew she had at last brought him to the heart of the matter. His certainty would afford him no reason to keep it from her if she chose to hear it, and she did. His words rolled forth with quiet power, like prophecy come to life.
"I have been a leader too soon. It is not I who must prove myself to the people, but the people who must now prove themselves to me. Until then, I must not lead them, or all hope is lost.