Naked Empire   ::   Goodkind Terry

"Word of you and the Mother Confessor has spread everywhere. Word of the way you freed the people of Altur'Rang from the oppression of the Imperial Order is known far and wide. Those who want freedom know that you are the one who gives it."

Richard frowned. "What do you mean, I'm the one who gives it?"

"Well, before, the Imperial Order ruled. They are brutal-forgive me, they are misguided and don't know any better. That is why their rule is so brutal. Perhaps it isn't their fault. It is not for me to say." Owen looked away as he tried to come up with words while apparently seeing his own visions of what the Imperial Order had done to convince him of their brutality. "Then you came and gave people freedom-just as you did in Altur'Rang."

Richard wiped a hand across his face. He needed to translate the book, he needed to find out what was behind the thing Cara had touched and the black-tipped races following them, he needed to get back to Victor and those who were engaged in the revolt against the Order, he was past due to meet Nicci, and he needed to deal with his headaches. At least, maybe Nicci could help with that much of it.

"Owen, I don't 'give' people freedom."

"Yes, Lord Rahl."

Owen evidently took Richard's words as something he dared not argue with, but his eyes clearly said that he didn't believe it.

"Owen, what do you mean when you say that you think I give people freedom?"

Owen took a tiny bite of his biscuit as he glanced around at the others. He squirmed his shoulders in a self-conscious shrug. Finally, he cleared his throat.

"Well, you, you do what the Imperial Order does-you kill people." He waved his biscuit awkwardly, as if it were a sword, stabbing the air. "You kill those who enslave people, and then you give the people who were enslaved their freedom so that peace can return."

Richard took a deep breath. He wasn't sure if Owen meant it the way it came out, or if it was just that he was having difficulty explaining himself in front of people who made him nervous.

"That's not exactly the way it is," Richard said.

"But that's why you came down here. Everyone knows it. You came down here to the Old World to give people freedom."

Elbows on his knees, Richard leaned forward rubbing his palms together as he thought about how much he wanted to explain. He felt a wave of calmness when Kahlan draped a gentle, comforting hand over the back of his shoulder. He didn't want to go into the horror of how he had been taken prisoner and taken from Kahlan, thinking he would never see her again.