“And what truth do you see, Shota?” he whispered.
Her eyes had an intensity that halted his breath, her voice the sharp edge of a blade.
“Kahlan has a power, and if she isn’t killed, she will use that power against you.” She watched his eyes carefully as she spoke. “There can be no doubt of the truth of this. Your sword can protect you from the wizard’s fire, but it will not protect you from her touch.”
Richard felt the stab of her words, as if they cut through his heart.
“No!” Kahlan whispered. They both looked at her, her face wrinkled with pain at Shota’s words. “I wouldn’t! Shota, I swear, I couldn’t do that to him.”
Tears ran down her cheeks. Shota stepped close to her and reached through the snakes, touching her face tenderly, to comfort her.
“If you are not killed, child, I am afraid you will.” As a tear rolled down, her thumb brushed it back. “You have already come close, once,” Shota said with surprising compassion. “Within a breath.” She nodded slightly to herself. “This is true, is it not? Tell him. Tell him if I am speaking the truth.”
Kahlan’s eyes snapped to Richard. He looked into the depths of her green eyes and remembered the three times she had touched him when he had been holding the sword, and how that touch made the magic jump in warning. The last time, with the Mud People when the shadow things had come, the magic’s reaction had been so strong that he almost put the sword through her before he realized who it was. Kahlan’s eyebrows wrinkled together, her eyes shrinking from his gaze. She bit her bottom lip as a little moan escaped her throat.
“Is this true?” Richard asked in a whisper, his heart in his throat. “Have you come within a breath of using your power against me, as Shota says?”
Kahlan’s face drained of color. She let out a loud, painful moan. She closed her eyes and cried in a long, agonizing wail, “Please, Shota. Kill me. You must. I am sworn to protect Richard, to stop Rahl. Please,” she cried in choking sobs. “It’s the only way. You must kill me.”
“I cannot,” Shota whispered. “I have granted a wish. A very foolish one.”
Richard could hardly stand the pain of seeing Kahlan like this, asking to die. The lump in his throat threatened to choke him.
Kahlan suddenly cried out and threw up her arms, to make the snakes bite her. Richard lunged for them, but they were gone. Kahlan held out her arms, looking for snakes that were no longer there.
“I’m sorry, Kahlan. If I were to let them bite you, it would break the wish I granted.”
Kahlan collapsed to her knees, crying with her face against the ground, her fingers digging into the earth. “I’m so sorry, Richard,” she wept. Her fists grabbed at the grass, then his pants legs. “Please, Richard,” she sobbed. “Please. I’m sworn to protect you. So many have already died. Take the sword and kill me. Do it. Please, Richard, kill me.”
“Kahlan . . . I could never . . .” He couldn’t make any more words come.
“Richard,” Shota said, nearly in tears herself, “if she isn’t killed, then before Rahl opens the boxes, she will use her power against you. There is no doubt of this. None. It cannot be changed if she lives. I granted your wish, I cannot kill her. So you must.”
“No!” he shrieked.
Kahlan wailed again in anguish and pulled her knife. As she brought it up to plunge it into herself, Richard grabbed her wrist.
“Please, Richard,” she cried, falling against him, “you don’t understand. I have to. If I live I will be responsible for what Rahl will do. For everything that will happen.”
Richard pulled her up by her wrist and held her to him with one arm as she cried, keeping her arm twisted behind her back so she couldn’t use the knife on herself. He glared angrily at Shota, who stood with her hands loose at her sides, watching. Was any of this possible? Could it be true? He wished he had listened to Kahlan and never come here.
He relaxed his pressure on Kahlan’s arm when he realized by the way she cried that he was hurting her. He wondered numbly if he should let her kill herself. His hand shook.
“Please, Richard,” Shota said, tears in her own eyes, “hate me for who I am if you will, but do not hate me for telling you the truth.”
“The truth as you see it, Shota! But maybe not the truth as it will be. I will not kill Kahlan on your word.” Shota nodded sadly, looking at him through wet eyes.
“Queen Milena has the last box of Orden.” She spoke in a voice barely more than a whisper. “But heed this warning: she will not have it for long. If, that is, you choose to believe the truth, as I see it.” She turned to her companion, “Samuel,” she said gently, “guide them out of the Reach. Do not take anything that belongs to them. I would be very displeased if you did. That includes the Sword of Truth.”
Richard saw a tear run down her cheek as she turned without looking at him and began walking up the road. She stopped in midstride and stood a moment—her beautiful auburn hair lay upon her shoulders and partway down the back of the wispy dress. Her head came up, but didn’t turn back to him.
“When this is over,” she said in a voice that broke with emotion, “and if you should happen to win . . . don’t ever come here again. If you do . . . I will kill you.”
She walked on, toward her palace.
“Shota,” he whispered hoarsely, “I’m sorry.”
She did not stop or turn, but continued on.
Chapter 32
When she came around the corner, she almost bumped into his legs, he was walking so quietly. She looked up the long silver robes to his face, far up in the air.
“Giller! You scared me!”
His hands were each stuck in the other sleeve. “Sorry, Rachel, I didn’t mean to frighten you.” He looked both ways down the hall and then lowered himself to the floor. “What are you about?”
“Errands,” she told him, letting out a deep breath. “Princess Violet says I’m to go yell at the cooks for her, and then I’m to go to the washwomen and tell them that she found a gravy stain on one of her dresses, and that she would never get gravy on one of her dresses, and that they must have done it, and if she ever finds they do that again, she’ll have their heads chopped off. I don’t want to say that to them, they’re nice.” She touched the pretty silver braiding on the sleeve of Giller’s robes. “But she said that if I don’t say it, I’ll be in a lot of trouble.”
Giller nodded. “Well, just do as she says, I’m sure the washwomen will know they aren’t really your words.”
Rachel looked in his big dark eyes. “Everyone knows she gets her own gravy on her own dresses.”
Giller laughed a quiet laugh. “You’re right, I’ve seen her do it myself. But it brings no fortune to pull the tail of a sleeping badger.” She didn’t understand, and made a face. “That means you will get in trouble if you point it out to her, so it’s best to keep still.”
Rachel nodded—she knew that that was true. Giller looked up and down the hall again, but there was no one else there.
He leaned closer and whispered, “I’m sorry I haven’t been able to talk to you, to check. Did you find your trouble doll?”
She nodded with a smile. “Thank you so much, Giller. She’s wonderful. I’ve been put out twice more since you gave her to me. She told me how I mustn’t talk to you unless you say it’s safe, so I just waited, like she said. We talked and talked, and she made me feel so much better.”
“I’m glad, child.” He smiled.
“I named her Sara. A doll’s got to have a name, you know.”
“Is that so?” He lifted an eyebrow. “I never knew that. Well, Sara is a fine name for her then.”
Rachel grinned—she was happy that Giller liked her doll’s name. She put one arm around his neck and her face by his ear. “Sara’s been telling me her troubles too,” she whispered. “I promised her I would help you. I never knew you wanted to run away too. When can we leave, Giller? I’m getting so afraid of Princess Violet.”
His big hand patted her
back when she hugged him. “Soon, child. But there are things we must prepare first, so we aren’t found out. We wouldn’t want anyone to follow us, to find us and bring us back, now, would we?”
Rachel shook her head against his shoulder—then she heard footsteps. Giller stood up, looking down the hall.
“Rachel, it would be very bad if we were seen talking. Someone might . . . find out about the doll. About Sara.”
“I better go,” she said in a hurry.
“No time. Stand against the wall, show me how brave, and quiet you can be.”
She did what he told her and he stood in front of her, hiding her behind his robes. Rachel heard the clinking of armor. Just some guards, she thought. Then she heard the little barks. The Queen’s dog! It must be the Queen and her guards! They would be in a fine mess if the Queen found her hiding behind the wizard’s robes. She might find out about the doll! She scrunched up tighter in the dark folds. The robes moved a little when Giller bowed.
“Your Majesty,” Giller said as he stood back up.
“Giller!” she said in her mean voice. “What are you doing lurking about up here?”
“Lurking, Your Majesty? It was my understanding I was in your employ to see to it there was no lurking going on. I was merely checking the magic seal on the jewel room to make sure it hadn’t been tampered with.” Rachel heard the little dog sniffing around the bottom of Giller’s robes. “If it is your wish, Your Majesty, I will leave matters to the fates, and not investigate where I feel a worry.” The little dog came around the side of the robes, close to her—she could hear the sniff, sniff, sniff. Rachel wished he would leave, before she got found out. “We will all just go to bed at night with a simple prayer to the good spirits that when Father Rahl arrives, all will be well. And if anything is amiss, well, we can simply tell him we didn’t want to have any lurking about, so we didn’t check. Perhaps he will be understanding.”
The little dog started to growl. Rachel was getting tears in her eyes.
“Don’t get your feathers ruffled, Giller, I was simply asking.” Rachel could see the little black nose sticking under the robes. “Precious, what have you found there? What is it, my little Precious?”
The dog growled and gave out a little bark. Giller backed up a little, pushing her tighter to the wall. Rachel tried to think about Sara, wishing she were with her right now.
“What is it, Precious? What do you smell?”
“I’m afraid, Your Majesty, I have also been lurking about in the stables, I’m quite sure that is what your dog smells.” Giller’s hand went into his robes right by her head.
“The stables?” Her mean voice wasn’t quite gone. “What could there possibly be for you to investigate in the stables?” Rachel could hear her voice getting louder—the Queen was bending over, to get her dog. “What are you doing there, Precious?”
Rachel sucked the hem of her dress, to keep from making a noise as she shook. Giller’s hand came out of his robe. She saw a pinch of something between his thumb and finger. The dog pushed his head under the robe and started barking. Giller opened his fingers, and sparkling dust dropped down on the dog’s head. The dog started sneezing. Then Rachel saw the Queen’s hand come and pull him away.
“There, there, my little Precious. It’s all right now. Poor little thing.” Rachel could hear her kissing the dog’s nose the way she liked to do all the time—then she sneezed, too. “As you were saying, Giller? What business does a wizard have in the stables?”
“As I was saying, Your Majesty”—Giller’s voice could get kind of mean, too, but Rachel thought it was funny when it was the Queen he was sounding mean to—“if you were an assassin, and you wanted to come into a Queen’s castle and put a big fat arrow through her, do you think you would rather walk right in the main gate, bold as day? Or would you rather ride with your long bow in a wagon, hiding, maybe under some hay, or behind some sacks? Then come out in the dark of the stables.”
“Well . . . I . . . but, are there, do you think . . . have you found something . . .”
“But, since you don’t want me lurking about in the stables either, well, I’ll just scratch that off my list too! But if you don’t mind, from now on, when we are in public view I will be standing well clear of you. I don’t want to be in the way if some of your subjects choose to show their love for their Queen from afar.”
“Wizard Giller”—her voice got real nice, like when she talked to the dog—“please forgive me. I have been on edge lately, what with Father Rahl coming soon. I just want everything to go well—then we will all have what we want. I know you only have my best interest at heart. Please, do carry on, and forget the momentary foolishness of a lady.”
“As you wish, Your Majesty.” He bowed again.
The Queen started hurrying away, down the hall, sneezing—then Rachel heard her thumping footsteps and the clinking armor stop.
“By the way, wizard Giller,” she called back, “did I tell you? A messenger came. He said Father Rahl will be here sooner than expected. Much sooner. Tomorrow in fact. He will be expecting the box, of course, to seal the alliance. Please see to it.”
Giller’s leg jerked so hard it almost knocked Rachel over. “Of course, Your Majesty,” he bowed again.
Giller waited until the Queen was gone and then pulled Rachel up with big hands around her waist and field her against his hip with an arm. His cheeks weren’t red, as they usually were—they were more white. He put his finger against her lips, and she knew he wanted her to keep quiet. He stretched his neck, looking up and down the hall again.
“Tomorrow!” he muttered to himself. “Curse the spirits, I’m not ready.”
“What’s wrong, Giller?”
“Rachel,” he whispered, his big hook nose close to hers, “is the Princess in her room right now?”
“No,” Rachel whispered back. “She went to pick out fabric for a new dress, for when Father Rahl comes to visit.”
“Do you know where the Princess keeps her key to the jewel room?”
“Yes. If she doesn’t have it with her, she keeps it in the desk. In the drawer on the side by the window.”
He started off down the hall, toward Princess Violet’s room. His feet were so quiet on the carpets that she couldn’t even hear his footsteps as he carried her. “Change of plans, child. Can you be brave for me? And Sara?”
She nodded that she could and put her arms around his neck to hold on as he walked fast. He went past all the dark wooden doors that were pointed at the tops, until he got to the biggest one, a double door set back in a little hall, with stone carving all around. That was the Princess’s room. He squeezed her tight.
“All right,” he whispered, “you go in and get the key. I’ll stay out here and stand guard.”
He set her down on the floor. “Hurry now.” He closed the door behind her.
The curtains were pulled back, letting in the sunlight, so she could see right away that the room was empty. None of the servants were cleaning or anything. The fire was burned out, and the servants hadn’t yet come and made another for tonight. The Princess’s big canopy bed was already made up. Rachel liked the bedcover with all the pretty flowers. It matched the gathered canopy and curtains. She always wondered why the Princess needed such a big bed. It was big enough for ten people. Where she came from, six girls slept together in a bed half the size of this one, and the bedcover was plain. She wondered what the Princess’s bed felt like. She had never once even sat on it.
She knew Giller wanted her to hurry, so she crossed the room, walking over the fur rug, to the polished desk with the pretty swirled wood. She put her fingers through the gold handle and slid the drawer open. It made her nervous to do it, even though she had done it before when the Princess had sent her to get the key, but she had never done it before without being told to by the Princess. The big key to the jewel room was lying in the red velvet pocket, right next to the little key to her sleeping box. She put the key in her pocket and slid the drawer clo
sed again, making sure it was shut all the way.
As she started for the door, she looked at the corner where her sleeping box was. She knew Giller wanted her to hurry, but she ran over to the box anyway—she had to check. She crawled inside, into the dark, and went to the back corner where the blanket was pushed up in a pile. Carefully, she pulled the blanket back.
Sara looked back at her. The doll was right where she had left her.
“I have to go quick,” she whispered. “I’ll be back later.”
Rachel kissed the doll’s head and covered her back up with the blanket, hiding her in the corner so no one would find her. She knew it was trouble to bring Sara to the castle, but she couldn’t bear to leave her in the wayward pine, all alone. She knew how lonely and scary it got in the wayward pine.
Finished, she ran to the door, pulled it open a crack, and looked up at Giller’s face. He nodded to her and motioned with his hand that it was all right to come out.
“The key?”
She pulled it out of the pocket where she kept her magic fire stick, to show him. He smiled and called her a good girl. No one had ever called her a good girl before, at least not for a long time. He picked her up again and walked fast down the hall and then down the dark, narrow servants’ stairs. She could hardly ever hear his footsteps on the stone. His whiskers tickled her face. At the bottom he set her down again.
“Rachel,” he said, squatting down close to her, “listen carefully, this is very important, this is no game. We must get out of the castle, or we will both get our heads chopped off, just like Sara told you. But we must be smart about it, or we will get caught. If we run away too quickly, without doing the right things first, we will be found out. And if we are too slow, well, we just better not be too slow.”
Wizard's First Rule tsot-1 Page 51
