Wizard's First Rule Read Online Free PDF Page A

survived.”
    She simply nodded. Richard looked out over the Ven, the forests where he was so at home. Sunlight made the green of the trees vibrant, lush. His eyes were drawn to the left, to spots of brown, the dead and dying trees that stood out among their healthy neighbors. Until that morning, when he found the vine and it bit him, he had had no idea that the vine was up by the boundary, spreading through the woods. He rarely went up into the Ven, that close to the boundary. Older people wouldn’t go within miles of it. Others went closer, if they traveled on Hawkers Trail, or to hunt, but none went too close. The boundary was death. It was said that to go into the boundary was not only to die but to forfeit your soul. The boundary wardens made sure people stayed away.
    He gave her a sideways glance. “So what about the other part? The part about us being alive. How did that happen?”
    Kahlan didn’t meet his gaze. “I think the good spirits protected us.”
    Richard didn’t believe a word of it. But as much as he wanted to know the answers, it was against his nature to force someone to tell something she didn’t want to. His father had raised him to respect another person’s right to keep his ownsecrets. In her own time she would tell him her secrets, if she wanted to, but he would not try to force her.
    Everyone had secrets; he certainly had his own. In fact, with his father’s murder and with today’s events he felt those secrets stirring unpleasantly in the back of his mind.
    “Kahlan,” he said, trying to make his voice sound reassuring, “being a friend means you don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to, and I’ll still be your friend.”
    She didn’t look at him, but nodded her agreement.
    Richard got to his feet. His head hurt, his hand hurt, and now he realized his chest hurt where the man had hit him. To top it off he remembered he was hungry. Michael! He had forgotten about his brother’s party. He looked at the sun and knew he was going to be late. He hoped he wouldn’t miss Michael’s speech. He would take Kahlan, tell Michael about the men, and get some protection for her.
    He held out his hand to help her up. She stared at it in surprise. He continued to hold it out for her. She gazed up into his eyes, and took the hand.
    Richard smiled. “Never had a friend give you a hand up before?”
    She averted her eyes. “No.”
    Richard could tell she felt uncomfortable, so he changed the subject.
    “When’s the last time you had something to eat?”
    “Two days ago,” she said without emotion.
    His eyebrows went up. “Then you must be even more hungry than I am. I’ll take you to my brother.” He peered over the edge of the cliff. “We’ll have to tell him about the bodies. He’ll know what to do.” He turned again to her. “Kahlan, do you know who those men were?”
    Her green eyes turned hard. “They are called a quad. They are, well, they are like assassins. They are sent to kill…” She caught herself again. “They kill people.” Her face regained the calm countenance it had when he first saw her. “I think that maybe the fewer people who know about me, the safer I will be.”
    Richard was startled; he had never heard of anything like this. He ran his fingers through his hair, trying to think. Dark, shadowy thoughts started to swirl again. For some reason, he was terrified of what she might say, but had to ask.
    He looked hard into her eyes, expecting the truth this time. “Kahlan, where did the quad come from?”
    She studied his face a moment. “They must have tracked me out of the Midlands, and through the boundary.”
    Richard’s skin went cold, and prickles bumped up along his arms in a wave that rolled up to the back of his neck, making the fine hairs there stand stiffly out. An anger deep within him awakened and his secrets stirred.
    She had to be lying. No one could cross the boundary.
    No one.
    No one could go into or come out of the Midlands. The