JК
Naked Empire :: Goodkind Terry
Страница: 29 из 495Her smile grew, as if at the thought of something more.
"You know," she said, "I think I understand what Richard meant about thinking of his grandfather as wizardly, even though he never saw him do magic."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I can't see magic, so to speak, and Richard didn't do any tonight-at least none I know of." She laughed softly, as pleasing a laugh as Kahlan had ever heard, full of life and joy. It had a quality to it much like Richard's, the feminine balance to Richard's masculine laugh, two facets of the same delight.
"And yet," Jennsen went on, "the things he said made me think of him in that way-wizardly-like he said about Zedd. When he was saying that, I knew just what he meant, just how he'd felt, because Richard has opened up the world for me, but the gift wasn't the magic he showed me. It was him showing me life, that my life is mine, and worth living."
Kahlan smiled to herself, at how very much that described her own feeling of what Richard had done for her, how he had brought her to cherish life and believe in it not just for others, but, most importantly, for herself.
For a time they sat together, silently watching the empty wasteland.
Kahlan kept an eye on Richard as he tossed in his sleep.
With growing concern, Jennsen, too, watched Richard. "It looks like there's something wrong with him," she whispered as she leaned close.
"He's having a nightmare."
Kahlan watched, as she had so many times before, as Richard made fists in his sleep, as he struggled silently against some private terror.
"It's scary to see him like that," Jennsen said. "He seems so different. When he's awake he always seems so… reasoned."
"You can't reason with a nightmare," Kahlan said in quiet sorrow.
CHAPTER 6
Richard woke with a start."
They were back.
He had been having a bad dream. Like all of his dreams, he didn't remember it. He only knew it was a bad dream because it left behind the shapeless feeling of breathless, heart-pounding, undefined, frantic terror.
He threw off the lingering pall of the nightmare as he would throw off a tangled blanket. Even though it felt as if the dark things in lingering remnants of the dream were still clawing at him, trying to drag him back into their world, he knew that dreams were immaterial, and so he dismissed it. Now that he was awake, the feeling of dread rapidly began to dissolve, like fog burning off under hot sunlight.
Still, he had to make an effort to slow his breathing.
What was important was that they were back.
"You know," she said, "I think I understand what Richard meant about thinking of his grandfather as wizardly, even though he never saw him do magic."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I can't see magic, so to speak, and Richard didn't do any tonight-at least none I know of." She laughed softly, as pleasing a laugh as Kahlan had ever heard, full of life and joy. It had a quality to it much like Richard's, the feminine balance to Richard's masculine laugh, two facets of the same delight.
"And yet," Jennsen went on, "the things he said made me think of him in that way-wizardly-like he said about Zedd. When he was saying that, I knew just what he meant, just how he'd felt, because Richard has opened up the world for me, but the gift wasn't the magic he showed me. It was him showing me life, that my life is mine, and worth living."
Kahlan smiled to herself, at how very much that described her own feeling of what Richard had done for her, how he had brought her to cherish life and believe in it not just for others, but, most importantly, for herself.
For a time they sat together, silently watching the empty wasteland.
Kahlan kept an eye on Richard as he tossed in his sleep.
With growing concern, Jennsen, too, watched Richard. "It looks like there's something wrong with him," she whispered as she leaned close.
"He's having a nightmare."
Kahlan watched, as she had so many times before, as Richard made fists in his sleep, as he struggled silently against some private terror.
"It's scary to see him like that," Jennsen said. "He seems so different. When he's awake he always seems so… reasoned."
"You can't reason with a nightmare," Kahlan said in quiet sorrow.
CHAPTER 6
Richard woke with a start."
They were back.
He had been having a bad dream. Like all of his dreams, he didn't remember it. He only knew it was a bad dream because it left behind the shapeless feeling of breathless, heart-pounding, undefined, frantic terror.
He threw off the lingering pall of the nightmare as he would throw off a tangled blanket. Even though it felt as if the dark things in lingering remnants of the dream were still clawing at him, trying to drag him back into their world, he knew that dreams were immaterial, and so he dismissed it. Now that he was awake, the feeling of dread rapidly began to dissolve, like fog burning off under hot sunlight.
Still, he had to make an effort to slow his breathing.
What was important was that they were back.