Stone 32

**Chapter 32**

The lightning stops appearing for no clear reason. Richard plods on until he comes to another tower and decides to poke around in this one (after all, it worked so well last time). This tower has black sand on the floor, which sparkles prismatically just like the white sorcerer's sand did. Because he is creepy and horrible curious, Richard tastes the carbonized human remains covering this tower's inner surface. They are sweet, which means that the wizard who produced them committed magical suicide to save someone else.

Richard muses that *“This wizard had been altruistic, the other ignoble.”* This seems pretty harsh to me; all Richard knows about the other wizard is that he did not die willingly. Is it ignoble to commit suicide rather than face torture? I realize it's a sin according to some religions, but Richard seems to be equating it with active evil.

Although, to his credit, Richard does second-guess himself and ponder who he is to judge these ancient wizards. So there's that.

Richard is fascinated by the sparkly black sand: *“It seemed to draw light from nowhere and reflect it about the inside of the tower in winking colors.”* I'm pretty sure that, if it's “drawing light from nowhere,” that isn't properly called a reflecting. It sounds like the sand is glowing, though I don't know why Terry Goodkind can't just say that.

Richard scoops up some of the sparkly black sand that reflects nonexistent light to keep as a souvenir, collects his horses yet again, and continues on. He walks for an indeterminate length of time, hears mysterious voices, thinks he might be walking in circles, and suddenly Verna appears before him! She is wandering aimlessly and generally looks blissed-out. Despite the fact that he has steadfastly ignored all the other illusions (the voices and what-not) since the tower, Richard stomps forward and orders her to be gone. *“Do you hear? Listen to me! I said be gone!”*

Verna in turn orders *Richard* away, which creeps Richard out and makes him think maybe she isn't just a vision. He tries talking with her, and learns that Verna thinks she is with the Creator. She insists that he leave her alone, bur Richard continues pestering her until she knocks him away with a blast of pain. Richard then notices a bunch of wraiths up above them: *“insubstantial figures, seething, simmering with death*. *Their faces churned with steaming, shifting shadows that conjoined into glowing red eyes set in inky faces – hot tongues of flame alive with hate, glowering out from eternal night.”*

The wraiths are simmering with death, with faces that conjoin into eyes, and eyes that are tongues.

\~/\~/\~/

Richard senses danger (no kidding) and asks Verna if hurting people is her idea of Paradise. Verna comes to her senses and apologizes for hurting Richard. Richard points out the tongue-eyed wraiths, which Verna can now inexplicably see. A wraith descends and becomes solid, transforming into a poorly-described beast as it does. Richard skewers it, and it collapses. More wraiths transform, and Richard grabs Verna by the hair and twists her head around, forcing her to look at them.

More wraith-beasts attack. Richard kills them and the corpses turn into snakes and beetles. Richard and Verna try to flee, but Verna is trapped by a barrier of solid, sparkly air. She tells Richard to go on without her. No, actually she says *“Richard, I am trapped in this spell. I cannot leave it. It is me the spell captured, and recognizes. It is too late for me. Save yourself. Run. Without me, you may have a chance. Hurry. Go.”*

Should I add “take a drink for each redundancy and each run-on sentence?” Nah, I wouldn't last a page.

Richard grabs Verna and hacks through the barrier with his sword. But! Verna can't feel the gaps between the spells any more! This is treated as a shocking surprise, even though we already learned it 12 pages ago! She tells Richard to feel the way through, but he can't. They run around at random until Richard whistles for the horses, who come trotting through, ignoring the wraiths and snakes and other horrors.

Richard mounts, and tells Verna to do the same. She insists that they have to lead the horses, or the horses will be spooked by the random spells. Richard responds with a quote from his favorite book, *The Adventures of Bonnie Day,* which I shall now inflict on you.

*“Sister, you've told me you read* The Adventures of Bonnie Day. *Do you remember when the three heroes were taking the injured people to safety, and they came to the poison river that couldn't be crossed? What did they say? They said that the people just had to have faith that it could be done. Bonnie, Geraldine and Jessup led them across the river. Have faith, Sister. Mount up.”*

Richard is lecturing the Nun on having faith. \~/ And I can't help but wonder, how *did* the “three heroes” get across the poison river? I'll bet it was through cleverness, not blind action. That or luck.

Verna refuses. Richard points out that maybe the horses haven't been eating illusory grass; maybe they've been eating grass that Richard and Verna can't see because *they* are blinded by illusions. Lacking a better option, Verna mounts, and Richard kicks his horse into a gallop. The other horses follow, and Verna panics because they're headed straight for a cliff. Richard insists that it must be flat ground, but he and Verna see a cliff because of the illusions.

However, in a surprise twist, the cliff is real. The horses plunge over the edge, and they and Verna are killed instantly on impact. Richard is horribly mangled, and lives just long enough to think of Kahlan as he dies. It's a bit dark, but I must give Terry Goodkind kudos for eschewing the traditional happy ending by killing off his apparent main character halfway through the book. I wonder what Kahlan will do when she finds out?

Nah, I'm just kidding. Richard's right, of course.

Richard and Verna reach Europe, bicker a bit more, and the chapter ends.

Drinks: 4

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