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.“Did she, now.”“I told you before, if you beat the emperor’s team-if you beat them- then you will get your choice of a woman.But in the meantime you get no favors.I won’t tolerate anyone disobeying my orders-least of all the likes of you.”“I don’t know what she told you, Commander, but she came here with the intent of killing me.She wanted to make sure that the emperor’s team wouldn’t lose to us.”The commander squatted down, resting his forearm on his knee as he peered at the point man for his Ja’La team.He looked ready to murder Richard himself.“A poor lie, Ruben.”The knife that only a short time ago he’d taken away from the woman was in Richard’s hand, pressed up along the inside of his wrist.At this distance he could have gutted the commander before the man knew what had happened.But this was not the time or place.It wouldn’t help Richard get Kahlan back.Without taking his gaze off the commander’s eyes, Richard spun the knife through his fingers and caught the point between his first finger and^ thumb.It felt good to have a blade in his hand, any blade, even one this small.He held the handle of the knife out toward the commander.“This is why my leg was bleeding.She stabbed me with it.Where else do you think I could get a knife?”The significance-and the danger-of a knife being in Richard’s possession was not lost on the man.He glanced at the wound on Richard’s thigh and then took the knife.“If you want us to win this tournament,” Richard said with deliberate care, “then I need to get some rest.I would rest a lot easier if there were guards posted.If one skinny old woman, who probably has a bet on the emperor’s team, kills me while I’m asleep, then your team will be without a point man and has no chance to win.”“Think a lot of yourself, don’t you, Ruben?”“You think a lot of me, Commander, or you would have killed me long ago back in Tamarang after I killed dozens of your men.”With his tattooed scales faintly lit by campfires, the commander looked like a snake considering a meal.“It would appear that being point man is dangerous not just on the Ja’La field.” He finally rose up over Richard.“I’ll post a guard.Just keep in mind that a lot of people don’t think you’re so good-after all, you’ve already lost one game for us.”They had lost that game because Richard had tried to protect one of his men, a captive named York, whose leg had just been broken in a concentrated charge by the opposing team.He had been a valuable man, a good player, and therefore targeted.The way the Order played Ja’La, the rules allowed such things.With a badly broken leg York had suddenly become useless as a player, and as a slave.After he had been carried from the field, Commander Karg had unceremoniously cut the man’s throat.For protecting the downed player rather than continuing play by taking the broc upheld toward the opposing goal, the referee had penalized their team by banning Richard from the rest of the game.They had lost as a result.“The emperor’s team lost a game, too, as I hear tell,” Richard said.“His Excellency had that team put to death.His new team was created from the best men in all of the Old World.”Richard shrugged.“We lose players for various reasons, too, and they get replaced.Any number have been hurt and can’t play.Not long ago one of our men broke a leg.You did no less than the emperor did with his losers.“As I see it, the details of who used to be on his team don’t matter all that much.We’ve each lost a game.That makes us even.That’s all that really matters.We come into this contest on equal footing.They’re no better than us.”The commander arched an eyebrow.“You think you are their equal?”Richard didn’t shrink away from the man’s glare.“I am going to win us the chance to play the emperor’s team, Commander, and then we will see what happens.”A sly smile curved into the scales.“Hoping for your choice of a woman, Ruben?”Richard nodded without returning the smile.“As a matter of fact I am.”Commander Karg had no idea that Richard already knew the woman he wanted.He wanted Kahlan.He wanted her more than life itself.He intended to do whatever was necessary to get his wife away from the nightmare of captivity by Jagang and his Sisters of the Dark.Staring down at Richard, Commander Karg finally conceded with a sigh.“I’ll tell the guards that their lives depend on no one getting at my team while they sleep.”After the commander had vanished into the night, Richard lay back, at last letting his aching muscles relax.He watched guards in the distance rushing to set up a tight perimeter around the captive members of the team.The realization of what could be lost to nothing more than a conniving camp follower had spurred Commander Karg to action.At least the attack had served the purpose of making it possible for Richard to get the rest he needed.It wasn’t easy sleeping when anyone who wanted to could sneak up and cut your throat.Now, at least, he was temporarily safe, even if it had been necessary to surrender the knife.He still had the other one, though, the one he’d taken from the first woman.It was tucked away in his boot.Richard curled into a ball on the bare ground in an effort to stay warm as he tried to go to sleep.The ground had long ago lost any heat from the previous day [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]