The Third Kingdom
From the internationally bestselling author of the Sword of Truth series, comes a new Richard and Kahlan novel, sequel to The Omen Machine.The bloodthirsty Jit is dead, and against all odds Richard and Kahlan have survived. But a new menace has attacked them in the Dark Lands. Infected with the essence of death itself, robbed of his power as a war wizard, Richard must race against time to uncover and stop the infernal conspiracy assembling itself behind the wall far to the north. His friends and allies are already captives of this fell combination, and Kahlan, also touched by death's power, will die completely ifRichard fails.Bereft of magic, Richard has only his sword, his wits, his capacity for insight – and an extraordinary companion, the young Samantha, a healer just coming into her powers.Compelling, fast-moving, and intense, The Third Kingdom is a powerful tale that welcomes new readers to Terry Goodkind's world, while opening up new vistas of worldbuilding for longtime readers of the adventures of Richard Rahl and Kahlan Amnell.
Читать The Third Kingdom онлайн беплатно
THE THIRD KINGDOM
Terry Goodkind
HarperVoyager an imprint of
HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd
1 London Bridge Street
London, SE1 9GF
First published in Great Britain by HarperVoyager 2013
Copyright © Terry Goodkind 2013
Jacket art and design © Rob Anderson at Revel Studios 2013
Terry Goodkind asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the authorâs imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.
Source ISBN: 9780007303717
Ebook Edition © August 2013 ISBN: 9780007493760
Version: 2016-08-31
Contents
We should eat them now, before they die and go bad,â a gruff voice said.
Richard was only distantly aware of the low buzz of voices. Still only half conscious, he wasnât able to figure out who was talking, much less make sense of what they were talking about, but he was aware enough to be disturbed by their predatory tone.
âI think we should trade them,â a second man said as he tightened the knot in the rope he had looped around Richardâs ankles.
âTrade them?â the first asked in a heated voice. âLook at the bloody blankets they were wrapped in and the blood all over the floor of the wagon. Theyâd likely die before we could ever trade them, and then theyâd go to waste. Besides, how could we carry them both? The horses for their soldiers and the wagon are all gone, along with anything else of value.â
The second man let out an unhappy sigh. âThen we should eat the big one before anyone else shows up. We could carry the smaller one easier and then trade her.â
âOr save her and eat her later.â
âWeâd be better off trading her. When else would we ever get a chance like this to get as much as she would fetch?â
As the two men argued, Richard tried to reach out to the side to touch Kahlan lying close up against him, but he couldnât. He realized that his wrists were bound tightly together with a coarse rope. He instead pushed at her with his elbow. She didnât respond.
Richard knew that he needed to do something, but he also knew that he would first need to summon not just his senses, but his strength, or he would have no chance. He felt worse than weak. He felt feverish with an inner sickness that had not only drained his strength but left his mind in a numb fog.
He lifted his head a little and squinted in the dim light, trying to see, trying to get his bearings, but he couldnât really make out much of anything. When his head pushed up against something, he realized that he and Kahlan were covered with a stiff tarp. Out under the bottom edge he could see a pair of vague, dark silhouettes at the end of the wagon beyond his feet. One man stepped closer and lifted the bottom of the tarp while the other looped a rope around Kahlanâs ankles and tied it tight, the way they had done with Richard.
Through that opening Richard could see that it was night. The full moon was up, but its light had a muted quality to it that told him the sky was overcast. A slow drizzle drifted through the still air. Beyond the two figures a murky wall of spruce trees rose up out of sight.
Kahlan didnât move when Richard pushed his elbow a little more forcefully against her ribs. Her hands, like his, lay nested at her belt line. His worry about what might be wrong with her had him struggling to gather his senses. He could see that she was at least breathing, although each slow breath was shallow.
