Read Online Warheart by Terry Goodkind - Free Book Online

be lost for all time. Our only chance will be lost. We all will die. You will die–not only die, but fall into the hands of the Keeper of the underworld.
    â€œTo do those things, Richard needs to be here in this world. Every prophecy says as much.”
    Blood went to Red’s face as she leaned toward the sorceress. “Do you now begin to comprehend what I saw in the flow of time? Do you now begin to see why she should have done what I told her to do? Had she done as I told her she must, Richard would be alive.”
    â€œNo he wouldn’t!” Nicci said as she shot to her feet. “Don’t you see? Your view is limited because you can’t see what Richard will do. His involvement obscures your view of the flow of time with events involving him. Had the Mother Confessor done as you said, what would actually be the result?”
    Red swept an arm out in an angry gesture. “Richard would be alive to do as you say he must to stop Sulachan.”
    â€œNo, he wouldn’t. That’s the point. Because you see the flow of time it sometimes blinds you. You can’t see Richard’s actions because he is a pebble in the pond. You can’t see what more there is in that flow.”
    Red cooled a little and folded her arms. “I’m listening.”
    Nicci gestured down at Kahlan. “What would have happened had she killed me? She would still have been murdered, just as you saw, right?”
    â€œWell, yes.”
    â€œBut I would not have been there to heal her damaged body.”
    â€œRight,” Red said, “so you also would not have been there to end Richard’s life. He would be alive.”
    Nicci was shaking her head emphatically. “No. Only for the moment.”
    The witch woman frowned down at Kahlan a moment before turning her gaze back up to Nicci. “What are you talking about?”
    â€œRichard would have done it himself. Had I not been there to do it, he would have ended his own life in order to go after Kahlan. When he asked me to stop his heart, he told me that he didn’t want to live in a world without her. He said that if I wouldn’t do it he would use the sword to do it himself.
    â€œHad I not been there to heal her body right after she was stabbed to death, and then stop Richard’s heart, Kahlan would be dead, her body damaged beyond the ability to be a vessel for her spirit, with no hope of being healed, but Richard would have done the same thing. He would still have ended his own life to go to the world of the dead to either try to find a way to bring her back, or to protect her from the dark ones so she could have eternal peace and he could be with her there.”
    Red paced off a ways, considering. Kahlan couldn’t see her face. After a time she turned back.
    â€œDear spirits,” she whispered. “You may be right. He is as headstrong as they come when he has the bit between his teeth.
    â€œWith such a free will, and being gifted, it can’t be foreseen how the ripples he creates will interact with other people and other events. Doing as I said very well might have resulted in events turning out exactly as you say, with him dead in the end, and the Mother Confessor as well.”
    â€œI know they would,” Nicci said. “Not because I can see the flow of events in time, but because I know the man’s heart. He has often said that he would go to the underworld to get Kahlan. He meant those words. He was dead serious. He would have ended his own life to go after what matters to him more than life itself.
    â€œHad it happened your way, the three of us would all be dead. Instead, with the way it happened, it leaves Kahlan and me still alive. That means we can work to change things. Had it not happened this way, there would be no hope, but now, with us alive and able to work on the problem, there is at least a chance.
    â€œSulachan and Hannis Arc must be stopped before they can ever bring the