2 - Stone of Tears

by Goodkind, Terry

In the distance, the red wings spread wide as the dragon plunged into a dive. Richard unhooked his pack from Bonnie, slinging it onto his back. He gave Bonnie's neck a good-bye hug. He hooked on the quiver, and slipped the bow over his shoulder. From the corner of his eye, he watched the dragon plummet straight down.

  'I'm going to have time. I must leave you now, Sister.'

  'What do you mean you are leaving? How?'

  At the last instant the dragon pulled out of the dive. Her long neck stretched out. Wings spread wide, she shot toward them at incredible speed, skimming along just above the ground.

  'I have only one chance to reach my goal in time. I must fly.'

  'Fly!' Warren and Sister Verna shouted together.

  Scarlet swept up with a roar. Everyone else saw her for the first time. Immense wings beat to slow the dragon's speed.

  Their clothes flapped in the sudden burst of wind. The grass all around flattened in the gusts. Warren, Sister Verna, and Du Chaillu stepped back in surprise. Scarlet settled to the ground as her forward speed was brought to a halt by her beating wings.

  'Richard,' Sister Verna said as she slowly shook her head, 'you have the oddest pets of anyone I've ever met.'

  'Red dragons are pets to no one, Sister. Scarlet is a dear friend.'

  Richard trotted toward the huge red dragon glistening in the sunlight. Scarlet snorted a small cloud of gray smoke.

  'Richard! How good to see you again. Since you called me so urgently with my tooth, I presume you are in trouble again. As usual.'

  'Trouble indeed, my friend.' Richard patted a glossy red scale. 'I've missed you, Scarlet.'

  'Well, I've already eaten. I guess I must instead give you a ride in the sky to work up an appetite. Then I will eat you.'

  Richard laughed. 'Where is your little one?'

  Her ears twitched. 'Off hunting. Gregory is not so little anymore. He misses you, and would like to see you.'

  'I would like to see Gregory, too. But I'm in a terrible hurry right now. I'm running out of time.'

  'Richard!' Du Chaillu ran toward him. 'I must go, too. I must go where my husband goes!'

  Richard leaned toward Scarlet's ear as she lowered her head and peered at him with one yellow eye. 'A little flame, Scarlet,' he whispered. 'Just for effect. Don't hurt her.'

  Du Chaillu leapt back with a squeal as a burst of fire charred the grass at her feet.

  'Du Chaillu, your land is returned to your people. You must stay with them. You are their spirit woman; they need you. They need your guidance. I would ask something else of you: protect the towers that are on your land. I don't know if they can bring any harm, but as the Caharin, I order that no one shall ever enter them. Guard them, and keep all others out, too.

  'Live in peace with others who would live in peace with you, but continue to practice with the blades so you may protect yourselves.'

  Du Chaillu drew herself up tall. The little strips of cloth on her prayer dress fluttered in the breeze, along with her thick black hair.

  'You are wise, Caharin. I will see that it is as you say, until you return to your wife and your people.'

  'Richard,' Sister Verna said. Her face held a serious look. 'Do you know where Kahlan is?'

  'Aydindril. She would have gone there; the prophecy takes place before her people. She will be in Aydindril.'

  'The time of choosing is upon you, Richard. Where are you going now?'

  He looked long into her steady gaze.

  'D'Hara.'

  After appraising him silently for a moment, she at last embraced him in a warm hug. She kissed his cheek. 'And then?'

  Richard raked his fingers through his thick hair. 'Somehow I will stop what is to happen in D'Hara, and then I must get to Aydindril before it's too late. Take care, my friend.'

  She nodded. 'Warren and I will see to the people here who have been released from the spells. They will need guidance. I have been a Sister of the Light for nearly two hundred years. All I ever wanted was to help people who needed it. But you had help. There is no excuse for taking you, or others. I want to try to set some of this right.'

  Warren gave Richard a firm hug. 'Thanks, Richard. For everything. I look forward to seeing you again.'

  Richard winked. 'Try not to have any adventures.'

  'I'll go with you,' Chase said.

  'No.' Richard wiped a hand over his face. 'No, go home, Chase. Take Rachel to her new mother, and her brothers and sisters. Emma will be worried sick by now. She hasn't seen you in ages. Go home to you wife and family. I'll need to be returning home soon, too.'

  Richard turned back to Sister Verna. 'We must do something about those six Sisters. They're sailing for Westland. The people there have no protection against magic. In West-land, those Sisters will be like hawks in a hatchery.'

  'I think that journey will take them some time. You have time enough for them, Richard.'

  'Good. Kahlan will want to wed before the Mud People. Then I may need to come and get some advice on how to handle those six. Talk to Nathan, and Ann. We can decide what to do then.'

  'Be careful,' Warren said. He stood stoically with his hands in the opposite sleeves of his robes. 'And I don't just mean with yourself. Don't forget the things Nathan and I have told you. Don't forget that everyone else is in danger from what you can do with the Stone of Tears. I don't think you have yet reached your time of choosing.'

  'I'll do my best.'

  Scarlet lowered herself so he could climb up onto her shoulders. He gripped the black-tipped spines and hauled himself up. Richard gave a slap to a red scale.

  'To D'Hara, my friend. Again.'

  With a roar of flame, Scarlet launched into the sky.

  CHAPTER 68

  In the distance, in the predawn gloom, he could see the green glow. It rose from the People's Palace, through the glass roof of the garden of life, like a beacon. Richard had seen that color of green from only one place. The underworld.

  The icy wind tore at his clothes as Scarlet's wings beat with a steady cadence. She had put strenuous effort into the flight to D'Hara. She understood the danger posed by the Keeper. The underworld would take her, too. And she hated Darken Rahl. He had stolen her egg before and used it to enslave her.

  As she began her descent, she peered back, her ears turning toward him. There will be enough time, Richard. We can still make it to Aydindril. It is only just dawn.'

  'I know you'll get me there, Scarlet. I'll try not to give you too much time to rest.'

  Scarlet banked to the left, steepening their descent down toward the courtyard where they had been before. It was a place the huge dragon could land in the dark with room to spare. The palace's vast jumble of roofs and walls rushed up toward them with frightening speed. Richard's toes tingled with the feeling of floating off her back as she plummeted.

  Suddenly, from the darkness below, a blinding flash of lightning crackled up all about them. It left yellow lines of afterimage in his vision. Before Richard could make sense of it, another came.

  Scarlet roared in pain and pitched to the left. They dropped into a sickening spiral toward the ground. Richard gripped her spines as the huge dragon tried to recover.

  On the vast steps rotating below, he saw the woman illuminated by the light of the next bolt of lightning she sent forth from her hands. Once again, Scarlet roared in pain. He couldn't see the woman in the darkness when the lightning cut off.

  Scarlet struggled to check the uncontrolled descent.

  Richard knew that another bolt of the lightning would finish her. He tore the bow from his back and yanked an arrow from the quiver.

  'Scarlet! Make fire so I can see her!'

  As Richard drew the string to his cheek, Scarlet let out a fiery roar of pain and anger. In its red glow, he saw the woman raise her arms again. Before he could call the target, the spiral took her out of his line of sight.

  'Scarlet! Look out!'

  Scarlet drew back her right wing, and they tipped the other way. The yellow lightning
streaked past to the left, just missing them. The ground was coming up fast.

  In the flickering red light of the dragon's blast of fire, Richard saw her raise her hands again. He drew the bowstring and twisted his body with their motion to keep her in sight.

  Before she could disappear again, he called,the target. The instant it came to him, the arrow was away.

  'Turn!'

  Scarlet beat her right wing, making them wobble in the air as the yellow bolt erupted past, between the dragon's neck and wing. Almost before it began, the lightning cut off.

  A ripple of total blackness passed over them. The arrow had found its mark. The Keeper now had Sister Odette.

  With a hard jolt, they hit the ground. Richard was thrown off, and tumbled across the ground. He sat up and shook his head, then sprang to his feet.

  'Scarlet! Are you hurt bad? Are you alive?'

  'Go,' she groaned in a deep vibrating voice. 'Hurry. Get him before he has us all.' She held her trembling left wing out.

  Richard stroked her snout. 'I'll be back. Hang on.'

  Richard drew the sword as he charged up the hill of steps. He didn't need to call forth the anger; it was with him before he had even touched the hilt. He ran in a blind rage toward doors between the colossal columns.

  As he ran through the doors, a handful of soldiers charged out of the darkness. Without pause, Richard scythed into them. His blade flashed in the torchlight coming from the vast halls inside. Richard danced with the spirits. His blade was fluid grace among the hacking soldiers.

  The first, he cut in half, breastplate and all. Every charge was met with swift steel. In a matter of moments, the fifteen men lay scattered across the bloody floor, and then Richard was moving again.

  So much for his welcome back. He remembered the D'Haran army pledging their loyalty to him the last time he had been here, when he had killed Darken Rahl. Maybe they just didn't know who he was. More likely, they knew precisely who he was.

  Richard chose a hall that led in the direction of the Garden of Life. Three levels of balconies looked down on the hall. Most of the torches were dark. He saw no people as he ran past a devotion square with white sand raked in circles around a pitted rock.

  From a staircase at the side, a half-dozen Mord-Sith charged down, running toward him. Each wore her red leather uniform, and each had an Agiel in her hand. Through the rage, he realized that he couldn't use the sword on them, or they would capture him by its magic. He was furious. He needed to get to Darken Rahl. He didn't need to have to deal with these deadly women.

  Reluctantly, Richard sheathed his sword and drew his knife. Denna had told him once that if he had just used his knife instead of his sword, he would have had her. He was not going to be able to outrun them; he was going to have to kill them.

  The biggest, a blonde-headed woman at the lead, held her hands out as he went for her. 'Lord Rahl, no!'

  The other five slid to a stop behind her. Richard slashed at her, but she lurched back into a half crouch with her hands held out to the sides.

  'Lord Rahl! Stop! We are here to help you!'

  Though he had put the sword away, he had no shortage of rage of his own. He had to get to Darken Rahl if he was to get to Kahlan. 'Help me in the afterlife - you will be there shortly!'

  'No, Lord Rahl! I am Cara. We are here to help you. You cannot go that way. That hall is not secure.'

  Richard stood panting, knife in hand. 'I don't believe you. You want to capture me. I know very well what Mord-Sith do to their captives.'

  'I knew Denna, your mistress. You wear her Agiel. Mord-

  Sith do not live to hurt their captives any longer. You set us free. We would never hurt the one who set us free. We revere you.'

  'When I left here, I told the soldiers to burn all those outfits and give you new clothes. I ordered the Agiel taken from you. If you revere me, why have you not followed my orders?'

  A sly smile touched her lips as she lifted an eyebrow over a cold, blue eye. 'Because you cannot free us just to enslave us in a life you choose. We are free to choose for ourselves. You made that possible.

  'We chose to fight to protect our Lord Rahl. We have sworn to lay down our lives for you, if necessary. Not only the men of the First File can protect you. We have chosen to be your personal bodyguards. Not even the First File dared argue with us. We take orders from no one but Lord Rahl.'

  'Then I order you to leave me alone!'

  'I'm sorry, Lord Rahl, but we cannot follow that order.'

  Richard didn't know what to believe. This could just be a trap. 'I'm here to stop Darken Rahl. I have to get to the Garden of Life. If you don't get out of my way, I will have to kill you.'

  'We know where you go,' Cara said. 'We will take you, but you must not go that way. We do not hold all the palace. That way is not safe. In fact, this whole section of the palace is in the hands of the insurgents. The First File would have lost a thousand men to come down here. We told them we would go, that it would be less risk to you. For that reason only, they agreed.'

  Richard started angling around the women. 'I don't believe you, and I can't risk what you would do if you are lying. This is too important. If you try to stop me, I will have to kill you.'

  'If you go that way, Lord Rahl, you will die. Please, let me whisper a secret message in your ear.' Cara handed her Agiel to a woman behind her. 'You may hold your knife to me. I am without a weapon.'

  Richard gripped her hair in one fist, and held the razor-sharp knife to her throat. If she so much as flinched, he intended to cut her throat. Cara put her mouth close to his ear.

  'We are here to help you Lord Rahl,' she whispered. 'It is the ... toasted toads' truth.'

  Richard straightened. 'Where did you hear such a thing?'

  'Do you know its meaning? Commander General Trimack said that it is a coded message from First Wizard Zorander, so that you would know we are loyal to you. He told me to tell no one but you.'

  'Who is General Trimack?'

  The commander general, First File of the palace guard. They are loyal to you. The First File is the ring of steel around the Lord Rahl. Wizard Zorander told General Trimack to guard the Garden of Life at all cost.

  Two days ago that magic woman came. She killed nearly three hundred of our men getting into the Garden of Life. We tried to stop her, but we could not. We have no magic against her. She killed close to a hundred on her way out, tonight.

  'We followed her out, and watched from a window on the third level. We saw her send lightning to strike your dragon from the sky. We saw you kill her. Only the true Lord Rahl could do that.

  'Please, Lord Rahl, terrible things are happening in the Garden of Life. Let us take you there, so you may stop the evil spirit.'

  Richard had no time to waste. They had to have gotten that message from Zedd. He had to trust them.

  'All right, let's go. But I'm in a hurry.'

  Grins came to each woman. Cara took back her Agiel and grabbed him by the shirt at one shoulder. Another of the Mord-Sith gripped his shirt at the other shoulder. They started running, dragging him along with them. Cara whispered that he should be as quiet as possible. The other four spread out in front, scouting the way.

  They took him quickly, but silently, through small side halls and dark rooms. While the scouts slipped up narrow servants' stairs, Cara and the other pressed him up against the wall, crossing their lips with a finger, waiting until they heard a short whistle, then dashed up the stairs, pulling him along by his shirt.

  At the top of the stairs, he nearly tripped over the body of one of the four Mord-Sith who had gone ahead. Her face had been split open by a sword. Eight D'Haran men in armor were sprawled in contorted positions down the hall, blood running from their ears. Richard recognized death caused by an Agiel.

  One of the women in red leather at the end of the hall motioned them onward. Cara pulled him around a corner where the woman pointed, and up another staircase. He felt like a sack of laundry the way they yanked h
im this way and that, jamming him up against walls and in corners while others scouted a clear course.

  He could hardly keep up with them as they ran down halls, still gripping his shirt at each shoulder, hauling him along. Richard lost track of where they were going as they went up stairs and through countless rooms. A few of the rooms had windows, and he could see that the sun was coming up.

  Richard was winded when he finally recognized the broad corridor they entered. Hundreds of men in uniforms of mail and shiny breastplates all dropped to a knee when they saw him. The clatter of all their armor and weapons echoed down the wide hall. Every man put a fist over his heart. When they came up, one stepped forward.