"Terry Goodkind - Sword Of Truth 10 - Phantom" - читать интересную книгу автора (Goodkind Terry)

In loving memory of Keith Parkinson.




Those who have come here to hate should leave now, for in their hatred they only betray
themselves.
translated from The Book of Life


PHANTOM

CHAPTER 1
[11] [12]
Kahlan stood quietly in the shadows, watching, as evil knocked softly on the door. Huddled
under the small overhang, off to the side, she hoped that no one would answer that knock. As
much as she would like to spend the night in out of the rain, she didn't want trouble to visit
innocent people. She knew, though, that she had no say in the matter.
The light of a single lantern flickered weakly through the slender windows to either side of the
door, reflecting a pale, shimmering glow off the wet floor of the portico. The sign overhead, hung
by two iron rings, grated and squealed each time it swung back and forth in the wind-borne rain.
Kahlan was able to make out the spectral white shape of a horse painted on the dark, wet sign.
The light from the windows wasn't enough to enable her to read the name, but because the other
three women with her had talked of little else for days, Kahlan knew that the name would be the
White Horse Inn.
By the smell of manure and wet hay, she judged that one of the dark buildings nearby had to be a
stable. In the sporadic displays of distant lightning, she could just make out the hulking shoulders
of dark structures standing like ghosts beyond the billowing sheets of rain. Despite the steady
roar of the deluge and the rumble of thunder, it appeared that the village was sound asleep.
Kahlan could think of no better place to be on such a dark and wretched night than bundled up
under bed covers, safe and warm.
A horse in the nearby stable whinnied when Sister Ulicia knocked a second time, louder, more
insistently, evidently intending herself to be heard over the riot of rain, yet not so loud as to

file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/Terry%20Goodkind%20-%20Sword%20Of%20Truth%2010%20-%20Phantom.htm (3 of 416)8-12-2006 23:46:31
 file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/Terry%20Goodkind%20-%20Sword%20Of%20Truth%2010%20-%20Phantom.htm


sound hostile. Sister Ulicia, a woman given to reckless impulse, seemed to be taking a
deliberately restrained approach. Kahlan didn't know why, but imagined that it had to do with the
reason they were there. It also might have been nothing more than the random nature of her
moods. Like lightning, the woman's smoldering bad temper was not only dangerous but
unpredictable. Kahlan couldn't always tell exactly when Sister Ulicia would lash out, and just
because she so far hadn't didn't mean that she wouldn't. Neither of the other two Sisters was in
any better mood or any less inclined toward losing their temper. Kahlan supposed that soon
enough the three of them would be happy and quietly celebrating the reunion.
Lightning flashed close enough that the blinding but halting incandescence briefly revealed a
whole street of buildings crowded close around the muddy, rutted road. Thunder boomed through
the mountainous countryside and shook the ground beneath their feet.
Kahlan wished that there was something52;like the way lightning revealed things otherwise