'Here we go. While he is still sleeping.'
'How would you know that? He was sober, he didn't drink with the others. He just left his wine untouched and went there...'
'That's why you're the idiot and I'm the leader in our group. I've added the concoction to his tea, and he drank the whole cup of it.'
'Hell, Kahlan, you're a devious woman! I hope you haven't added some to mine!'
'I did. Just another one.'
'You'd better stop your silly jokes, or...'
'Or what? Relax, Richard, I'm only joking. I wouldn't spend it on you. Just one hit with a club would do the job anyway. You sleep like a stone.'
'I won't...'
'Tsshh... let's go'.
The two of them crawled silently to the place where the strange man was sleeping holding a pouch tight to his chest. He was snoring like he was trying to scare away all the beasts in the forest. Well, there were none anyway. They were looking at his chest rise and fall, again and again, before they decided to act. Richard used his knife to cut the strings of the pouch, and Kahlan snatched it before it could fall on the ground. She tried to run away, but at the same moment a knife pierced Richard's chest, right through his heart. That strange man wasn't really sleeping... He caught her long hair and made her lose her balance. She fell, her head pounding with the unexpected impact, her vision going blurred.
'Who are you to rob me? Another whore who thinks I didn't pay her enough,' the man growled. 'Tell me just one reason I shouldn't kill you on the spot.'
She found her small knife hidden in her boot and then hid it in her fist. In case there was a trouble... well, she was taught how to handle this.
'You aren't going away until you tell me who sent you. Who are you working for? Try to scream, and this knife pierces your heart.'
'I... My name is Kahlan... I didn't want to rob you... My friend, Richard, it was his job. I...'
She started to cry, a practiced maneuver she had learnt even before she started to rob people, in the orphanage. Crying always made people obey. But it didn't work on that man.
'And I'm Jack. At least I will know what name to add to my list of idiots I had to kill.' He pulled his knife out of Richard's body and tried to had a better hold on the blood slickened grip.
She screamed and poked his face with her small knife. She didn't know which part of his face she hit, but his grip on her hair loosened, and she was able to start running away. He cursed, but didn't stumble, as if he was made of stone, though made nothing to chase her. He even seemed relaxed, as if it was just what he was waiting for.
That was the feeling of freedom that overwhelmed her when she'd run a hundred steps, trying to reach the biggest trees and hide behind them. That was when the arrow pierced her arm. She turned to look and saw Jack holding a bow. She cried and lost her pace, but she was still running to safety, as it seemed to her. Then another arrow stung her back and was somehow deflected by her shoulder blade. She fell, and her head found a root or a stone... no matter what, it was hard enough to render her unconscious.
When she opened her eyes, she was grateful she was still alive. But that feeling passed immediately after she saw the man sitting next to her.
'I haven't run away from you, have I?' was all she managed to say, silly as it was.
'No, you haven't. No one escapes me. I'm Death himself.'
'You're just boasting,' she said, having nothing to lose.
'Maybe I am.' He turned his face to her and she saw that one of his eyes was patched with a piece of black cloth. 'But no one was that close to have me. That's why you're still alive. I want to talk.'
'I don't! You bastard! You kill people and rob them, and then you want to talk! Go to hell!' She spat at him, but it was like spitting at the mountain which just didn't care.
'If you say so, Kahlan. If you say so.'
Then he hit her head with his fist.
And then there was silence.