She looked up again at the pretty clouds. Just as she did, some big dark thing swooped low over the trees a little way up the hill. It must be some big bird, she thought. Ravens were big, and dark. It must be one of those noisy ravens. She picked up some more sticks. Then she saw a bunch of blueberry bushes, low against the ground in an open place, their leaves starting to turn a flaming red. She threw the sticks down.
She was so hungry, she sat down on the berry bushes and started eating them as fast as she could pick. It was getting late in the year, and the berries were starting to get dry and shriveled, but they were still good. In fact, they tasted wonderful. She started putting one in her pocket for each one she ate. She moved on her hands and knees, picking berries, eating them, and putting them in her pocket. It was getting darker. Once in a while, she looked up at the pretty clouds. They were getting a darker color. Purple.
When her stomach felt better, and her pocket was full, she picked the sticks up and went back to the wayward pine. Once back inside, she untied the cloth that was around the bread and dumped the berries from her pocket onto the cloth. She sat down and ate the berries off the cloth as she chatted with Sara, offering to share her berries as she ate. Sara didn’t eat many. Rachel wished she had a mirror. She wished she could look in a mirror at her hair. Earlier in the day, she had seen herself in a dark pool. Her hair looked so wonderful, all even. Richard was such a nice man to cut it for her.
She missed Richard. She wished he were here now, to run away with her, to hug her. He gave the bestest hugs in the whole world. If Kahlan weren’t so mean, he could give her hugs too. Kahlan would find out then how wonderful his hugs were. For some reason, Rachel missed her, too. Her stories, and her songs, and her fingers on her forehead. Why did she have to be so mean and say she was going to hurt Giller? Giller was one of the nicest men in the world. Giller gave her Sara.
Rachel broke the sticks as best she could, so they would fit in the circle of stones she had made. After stacking them carefully, she pulled out the fire stick.
“Light for me.”
She set the fire stick down on the cloth with the berries and then warmed her hands and ate a few berries while she told Sara some of her troubles, how she wished Richard were hugging her, how she wished Kahlan weren’t mean, how she hoped Kahlan didn’t hurt Giller, how she wished she had something other than berries to eat.
Some bug bit her on the neck. She let out a little squeal and swatted it. There was a little bit of blood on her hand when she took it away. And a fly.
“Look, Sara. Look at how that stupid fly bit me. It made blood.”
Sara seemed sorry for her sting. Rachel ate a few more berries.
Another fly bit her neck. Rachel swatted it, not squealing this time. There was another spot of blood on her hand.
“That hurt!” she told Sara. With a frown, she threw the squished fly in the fire.
The fly that bit her on the arm made her jump. She slapped it flat. Another bit her neck. Rachel flailed at the flies in the air around her face. Two more bit her neck, making blood before she smacked them. Tears welled up in her eyes from the pain of the stings.
“Get away!” she yelled as she waved her hands around.
Some were inside her dress, biting her chest and back. More bit her neck.
Rachel started screaming as she batted at the flies, trying to get them off. Tears streamed down her cheeks. A fly bit the inside of her ear, making her scream even louder. The sound of it buzzing in her ear made her cry and scream as she dug with her finger, trying to get it out. She thrashed her arms as she yelled.
Rachel screamed in a high pitch as she stumbled out of the wayward pine, wiping flies off her eyes. She ran, arms lashing out, trying to get the flies away. The flies followed her as she ran and screamed.
Something in front of her made her stop dead in her tracks.
Her wide eyes worked their way up the giant, fur-covered body of the thing. Its belly was pink, and had flies on it.
Against the fading colors of the sky, it slowly unfolded huge wings, spreading them wide. Not wings covered with feathers, wings covered with skin. Rachel could see big blood veins in them, throbbing.
With all her courage, she put her shaking hand in her pocket. The fire stick wasn’t there. Her legs wouldn’t move. She didn’t even feel the flies that were biting her. She heard a sound like a cat purring, but a lot louder. Her eyes went up further.
Glowing green eyes glared down at her. The purring sound was a low growl.
The mouth opened with a louder growl, lips pulling back, showing its long, curved teeth.
Rachel couldn’t run. She couldn’t move. She couldn’t even scream. She shook as her wide eyes looked up into those mean eyes that glowed green. She forgot how to move her feet.
A big claw reached for her.
She felt something warm running down her legs.
38
Richard folded his arms and leaned back against the rock. “Enough!”
Zedd and Kahlan both turned their heads, seeming to have forgotten he was even there. He had been listening to the two of them arguing for at least the last half hour as they sat in front of the fire, and was tired of it. In fact, he was just plain tired. Dinner was long since done and they should be getting some sleep, but instead they were trying to decide what they would do tomorrow when they reached Tamarang. Now, instead of arguing, they started presenting their cases to him.
“I say we march in there and I deal with Giller. He is my student. I will get him to tell me what’s going on. I’m still Wizard of the First Order. He will do as I say. He will give me the box.”
Kahlan pulled her Confessor’s dress from her pack and held it up to Richard. “This is the way we deal with Giller. He is my wizard and he will do as I say because he knows the consequences.”
Richard let out a deep breath as he rubbed his eyes with his fingertips. “You both want to eat a chicken we haven’t even plucked yet. We aren’t even sure whose chicken it is.”
“What do you mean?” Kahlan asked.
Richard leaned forward. Now he had their attention, at last. “At the very least, Tamarang is giving a sympathetic ear to D’Hara. At the very worst, Darken Rahl is there. Most likely, the fact is somewhere between the two. If we march in there and tell them what we want, they might not like it. Tamarang has a whole standing army to express to us how much they don’t like it. Then what? Are the three of us going to fight a war with their army? How is this going to get us the box? How is it going to even get us to Giller? If we have to fight, I’d rather it be on the way out, not on the way in.”
Richard expected one of them to express some sort of objection while they sat as if being scolded, but neither did, so he went on.
“Maybe Giller is waiting and hoping someone will come, so he can help them get away with the box. Then again, maybe he will not be so willing to part company with it. But we won’t know if we never make it to him, now, will we?” He addressed Zedd. “You told me the box has magic, and a wizard, or Rahl, can feel that magic, but a wizard can also cover the feeling of that magic with a wizard’s web, so the box can’t be detected. That could be why Queen Milena wanted a wizard—to hide the box from Rahl, and use it as a bargaining tool. If we create a big commotion, and scare Giller, no matter how he feels about us, he may be frightened, and use the opportunity to escape. It could also be that Rahl is just waiting for the quarry to be flushed from cover, and then he will pounce.”
Zedd turned to Kahlan. “I think the Seeker has some good points. Perhaps we should hear him out?”
Kahlan smiled a little. “I believe you are correct, good wizard.” She turned to Richard. “What is your way?”
“You’ve dealt with this Queen Milena before, right? What sort of person is she?”
Kahlan needed no time to give it any thought. “Tamarang is a minor and relatively insignificant land. Still, Queen Milena is as pompous and arrogant as any queen comes.”
“A small snake, bu
t a snake that can kill us nonetheless,” Richard noted.
Kahlan nodded. “But a snake with a big head.”
“Small snakes have to be careful, cautious, when they don’t know what they are up against. The first thing we have to do, is to give her a worry. Make her unsure enough not to bite us.”
“What do you mean?” Kahlan asked.
“You said you’ve dealt with her before. Confessors go to the lands to take confessions, and to inspect the prisons, to find out what they will. She wouldn’t want to close Tamarang to a Confessor, would she?”
“Not if she has half a brain,” Zedd chuckled.
“Well, that’s what we do then. You put your dress back on, and do your duty. Simply a Confessor doing what Confessors are expected to do. She may not like it, but she will treat you well; she will want you to be happy. She will want you to see what you will, and then be on your way. The last thing she will want is to raise a fuss. So, you inspect her dungeon, smile, or frown, or whatever it is you do, and then before we’re on our way, you say you want to speak to your former wizard.”
“You think she should go alone?” Zedd protested.
“No. Kahlan doesn’t have a wizard with her; the Queen would see that as a tempting vulnerability. We don’t want her mouth to water.”
Zedd folded his arms. “I will be her wizard.”
“No, you will not be her wizard! Darken Rahl is killing people as we speak, looking for you. If you remove the wizard’s web, let them know who you are, we’ll have trouble down around our ears before we can get away with the box. Who knows what reward there is on your wrinkled hide. You will be her protection, but you will be anonymous protection. You will be…” Richard tapped the sword hilt, thinking. His eyes came back down. “You will be a cloud reader. A trusted advisor to the Mother Confessor in the absence of a wizard.” Richard frowned slightly at Zedd’s grumble. “I’m sure you know how to play the part.”
“Then you will hide your sword, your identity, from her as well?” Kahlan asked.
“No. The presence of the Seeker will give her pause, something else to worry about, something to keep her fangs in her mouth until we’re away. The whole point is to give her something she’s familiar with, a Confessor, so as not to raise an alarm. At the same time, give her something to keep her worried, a cloud reader and the Seeker, so she would rather be rid of us than find out what sort of trouble we might be able to cause. The way you two want to do it gets us in a fight, a fight where one or all of us could be hurt. My way puts us at minimum risk of a fight, and if it comes, at least it will be when we’re on our way out with the box.” He gave each of them a stern look. “You do remember the box, don’t you? In case you’ve forgotten, that is what we’re after, not Giller’s head in a basket. Whose side he’s on is not an issue. We must only get the box, no more.”
Kahlan folded her arms with a frown; Zedd rubbed his chin while he looked into the fire. Richard let them mull it over for a while. He knew that the way they wanted to do it was sure to cause trouble, and that soon enough they would both realize it.
Zedd turned back to him. “Of course you are right. I agree.” His thin face turned to Kahlan. “Mother Confessor?”
She studied Zedd’s face a moment before looking up at Richard. “Agreed. But Richard, the two of you will have to play the part of courtiers to the Mother Confessor. Zedd knows the protocol, but you don’t.”
“I hope not to be there long. Just tell me what I need to know to get by for a short time.”
Kahlan drew a deep breath. “Well, I guess the most important thing is to look like you are part of my escort, be… respectful.” She cleared her throat, diverting her eyes. “Just pretend like I am the most important person you have ever been around, and treat me in that manner, and no one will question. Every Confessor allows her attendants different liberties, and as long as you are deferential, no one will think anything of it if you should happen to do something not quite proper. Even if you think my behavior… odd, just play along. All right?”
Richard watched her a moment while she studied the ground. He rose to his feet. “It would be my honor, Mother Confessor.” He gave a bow.
Zedd cleared his throat. “A little deeper, my boy. You are not traveling with a mere Confessor. You are an escort to the Mother Confessor herself.”
“All right,” Richard sighed. “I’ll do my best. Now, get some sleep. I’ll take first watch.” He started walking toward the trees.
“Richard,” Zedd called after him. He stopped, turning back. “There are many in the Midlands who have magic. Many different, and dangerous, types of magic. There is no telling what manner of sycophants Queen Milena has surrounded herself with. You pay attention to what Kahlan and I tell you, and do your best not to cross anyone. You may not know who, or what, her attendants are.”
Richard drew his cloak around himself. “In and out with minimum fuss. That’s what I want too. If all goes well, tomorrow at this time we will have the box and our only worry will be to find a hole to hide in until winter.”
“Good. You have it right, my boy. Good night.”
In a spot thin of brush, Richard found a moss-covered log to sit on while he kept an eye toward the camp and the surrounding woods. He checked to make sure the moss was dry. He didn’t want to sit in damp moss and then have wet pants to make him colder. The moss was dry, so he rearranged his sword, sat down, and wrapped his cloak tight. Clouds hid the moon. If it wasn’t for the fire lending the little illumination it did to the surrounding woods, it would be the kind of dark that made you think you were blind.
Richard sat and brooded. He didn’t like the idea of Kahlan having to put on the dress and put herself at risk. He liked it less that it was his own idea. He wondered, and worried, at what she meant about her acting “odd,” and his playing along. He wondered, and worried even more at what she had said about pretending she was the most important person he had ever been around. He liked that not at all. He always pictured Kahlan in his mind as his friend, at the least. He didn’t like to picture her as the Mother Confessor. It was Confessor’s magic that made it impossible for them to be more than friends. He was afraid to see her as others saw her, as the Mother Confessor. Any reminder of what she was, her magic, only brought the hurt deeper into his heart.
It was the smallest of sounds that made him sit bolt upright.
The eyes were on him. They were close, and though he couldn’t see them, he could feel them. The knowledge that something was close, watching him, sent a chill across his skin. It made him feel naked. Vulnerable.
His eyes were wide, his heart pounding, as he looked straight ahead to where he knew the thing was. The silence, except for his heart beating in his ears, was oppressive. Richard held his breath, trying to hear.
Again came the soft sound of a foot being lowered stealthily to the forest floor. It was coming toward him. Richard’s wide eyes stared frantically into the blackness, trying to see a movement.
It was no more than ten paces away when the yellow eyes inched into view, hunkered low to the ground. The eyes were glowering right at him. The thing stopped. He held his breath.
With a howl, it sprang. Richard jumped to his feet, his hand going for the sword. When it bounded into the air, Richard saw that it was a wolf. The biggest wolf he had ever seen. It was to him before his hand even reached the hilt. The wolf’s front paws hit his chest square. The powerful impact drove him backward over the log he had been sitting on.
As he fell backward, his breath knocked from him, he saw behind him something more frightening than the wolf.
A heart hound.
The huge jaws snapped at his chest just as the wolf reached the heart hound and went for its throat.
Richard’s head hit something hard. He heard a yelp and the sound of teeth ripping tendon. Everything went black.
His eyes opened. Zedd was looking down at him, and had a middle finger to each side of Richard’s forehead. Kahlan was holding a torch. He felt dizzy, bu
t stood anyway on wobbly legs, until Kahlan made him sit on the log.
With a frown of concern, she stroked her fingers on his face. “Are you all right?”
“I think so,” he managed. “My head… it hurts.” He thought he might throw up.
Zedd took the torch from Kahlan and held it behind the log, casting light on the body of a heart hound, its throat ripped out. Zedd looked down at Richard’s sword, still in its sheath.
“How is it the hound didn’t have you?”
Richard felt the back of his head; it hurt like daggers twisting. “I… don’t know. It all happened so fast.” Then he remembered, like a dream when waking. He stood up again. “A wolf! It was a wolf that has been following us.”
Kahlan stepped closer, put an arm around his waist to steady him. “A wolf?” The odd tone of suspicion in her voice made him look to her narrowed eyes. “Are you sure?”
Richard nodded. “I was sitting here, and then all of a sudden I knew it was watching me. It came closer, and I saw its yellow eyes. Then it leapt at me. I thought it was attacking. It knocked me flat, right over the log. I never even had time to draw the sword, it was so fast. But it wasn’t attacking me. It was going for the heart hound behind me, protecting me. I never even saw the heart hound until I was falling backward. It must have killed the hound. That wolf saved my life.”
Kahlan straightened herself and put her fists on her hips. “Brophy!” she called into the darkness. “Brophy! I know you’re out there. Come here this instant!”
The wolf trotted into the torchlight with its head down and its tail between its legs. Its thick fur was a charcoal color from the tip of its nose to the tip of its tail. Fierce yellow eyes glowed from its dark head. The wolf dropped to its belly and crawled to Kahlan’s feet. Once there, it rolled onto its back with paws in the air, and whined.
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