Temple of the Winds Read Online Free PDF Page A

leather outfit creaked as she rested her forearms on her knees. She was rolling her Agiel in her fingers, waiting.
    Once his retching had ceased, Cara snatched a fistful of his hair. Her long blond braid slid across the back of her broad shoulders as she leaned closer.
    “ That was a big mistake. A very big mistake,” she said with silky satisfaction. “You should never have tried to use your magic against a Mord-Sith. You had it right for a moment, but then you let me make you angry enough to use your magic. Who’s the fool now?”
    “ What’s … a … Mord-Sith?” he managed between gasps.
    Cara twisted his head upward until he cried out. “Your worst nightmare. The purpose of a Mord-Sith is to eliminate threats like you.
    “ I now command your magic. It’s mine to use, and you, my pet, are helpless to do anything about it, as you will soon learn. You should have tried to strangle me, or beat me to death, or to run, but you should never, ever, have tried to use magic against me. Once you use your magic against a Mord-Sith, it’s hers.”
    Kahlan stood transfixed. That was what a Mord-Sith had done to Richard. That was how he had been captured.
    Cara pressed her Agiel against the man’s ribs. He shivered as he screamed. Blood soaked through his tunic in a spreading stain.
    “ Now, when I ask a question,” she said in a quiet, authoritative tone, “I expect an answer. Do you understand?”
    He remained silent. She twisted the Agiel. Kahlan winced when she heard his rib pop. He flinched and gasped, holding his breath, unable to scream.
    Kahlan felt as if she were frozen in place, unable to move a muscle. Richard had told her that Denna, the Mord-Sith who had captured him, had liked to crack his ribs. It made each breath agony, and screaming, which she soon provoked, excruciating torture. It also left the victim that much more helpless.
    Cara rose. “Stand.”
    The man staggered to his feet.
    “ You are about to find out why I wear blood-red leather.” Unleashing a mighty swing, launched with an angry cry, Cara clouted his face with her armored fist. As he went down, blood sprayed across the bookcase. As soon as he hit the floor, she straddled him, a boot to each side of his hips.
    “ I can see what you’re envisioning,” Cara told him. “I saw the vision of what you want to do to me. Naughty boy.” She stomped a boot down on his sternum. “That was the least of what you will suffer for that thought. You had better learn real fast to keep ideas of resistance out of your mind. Got it?”
    She bent and drove her Agiel into his gut. “Got it?”
    His scream sent a shiver up Kahlan’s spine. She was sickened by what she was watching, having once felt the profoundly painful touch of an Agiel, but worse, knowing that this was what had been done to Richard, and yet she didn’t make a move to stop it.
    She had offered this man mercy. If he had had his way, he would have killed Richard. He had promised to kill her, too, but it was that threat against Richard that kept her silent, and prevented her from stopping Cara.
    “ Now,” Cara said with a sneer. She jabbed her Agiel against his cracked rib. “What is your name?”
    “ Marlin Pickard!” He tried to blink away the tears. A sheen of sweat covered his face. Blood frothed at his mouth as he panted.
    She pressed her Agiel against his groin. Marlin’s feet kicked out helplessly as he wailed.
    “ The next time I ask a question, don’t make me wait for an answer. And you will address me as Mistress Cara.”
    “ Cara,” Kahlan said in a quiet tone, still seeing the vision of Richard in place of the man, “there is no need to …”
    Cara looked over her shoulder, glaring with cold blue eyes. Kahlan turned away and with trembling fingers wiped a tear as it rolled down her cheek. She lifted the glass chimney of the lamp on the wall and used the one she held to light it. When the wick took to flame, she set her lamp down on a side table and replaced its