Page 89 of The Third Kingdom (Sword of Truth 13)

“Richard,” she said, reaching out and running a finger over the ancient symbol on the ring, “where did this come from?”

Richard gave her the oddest look. “From a distant ancestor of yours.”

“What are you talking about?”

He waved off the question. “Part of the long story for later.”

“If I survive this touch of death and live long enough. If I can even be cured of it.”

Nicci laid a hand on Kahlan’s arm and smiled warmly. “I didn’t mean to frighten you. It’s serious, and I don’t want to fool you and say it’s not, but I’m confident that I can take care of it. You will both be fine.”

Kahlan nodded, feeling a bit better, but still sensing the odd mood.

“All right,” Richard said. “We need to see to that cure.” He turned to the soldiers. “Get the horses ready and let’s head back to the palace.”

“Won’t be too soon for me,” one of them said. “I’ve had enough of the Dark Lands to last me a lifetime.”

“I’d have to agree with that,” Richard said as they started for the stables.

“We’ll be home before you know it,” Zedd said with a reassuring smile back over his shoulder as he stepped out to lead the way for Richard and Kahlan. Kahlan thought the smile looked forced.

“Richard,” Kahlan whispered as she leaned close to him, “What’s wrong with Cara? She looks … I don’t know. She doesn’t look right. Something is wrong. What is it?” She glanced around at the soldiers of the First File. “And where’s Ben. Shouldn’t he be here?”

Richard’s face paled. “We lost Ben.”

Kahlan felt like the ground fell out from under her. She suddenly understood the uneasy, unspoken feeling she was picking up from everyone.

“What?”

Gaze downcast, Richard swallowed. “I tried … we all tried. We couldn’t…”

A lump rising in her throat, Kahlan turned and ran to Cara, taking hold of her arms to stop the woman. “Cara…”

Looking into those blue eyes, Kahlan couldn’t speak past that lump in her throat.

Cara nodded knowingly, her lip trembling just a little. She put her hand on the back of Kahlan’s head and pulled it against her shoulder.

“He gave his life to protect us,” Cara said. “It was what he would have wanted. I’m proud of him.”

“Me too,” Kahlan said through her tears. “Dear spirits, please protect him, now.”

CHAPTER

86

Richard, off by himself, leaned back against the coarse face of a small outcropping of granite ledge, watching the small campfire in the distance. He could make out the shapes of the sleeping men. The light from the fire reflected up on a short, protective wall of rock nearby and up against the bottoms of the broad limbs of pines towering all around them. The smell of the fire’s smoke and the popping of the wood as it burned were comfortingly familiar—even if these woods, and this dark land, weren’t.

The moon was hidden behind a thick overcast, but at least it had stopped raining. The cloud cover, though, made it the darkest of nights. Such nights were always disquieting. They always made him feel like he was being watched from the darkness.

Richard was standing watch. Everyone, of course, had objected.

He had overruled them. He wanted to be alone.

Richard was relieved to be headed back to the People’s Palace at last, to say nothing of having Kahlan and most of his friends safe. He didn’t know what they were going to do about the spirit king that Hannis Arc had called back from the world of the dead. He didn’t know what they were going to do about the barrier to the third kingdom being down and all the half people and walking dead being loose. He didn’t know what Hannis Arc was up to, either, but he knew it couldn’t be anything good.

And he certainly didn’t know how he was supposed to end prophecy.

Maybe the omen machine, buried for millennia under the Garden of Life, would have an answer to that question. An odd thought, that. A machine devoted to prophecy maybe being able to tell him how to end its purpose for existing.

Something told him, though, that Regula—as the omen machine was called—held the key to everything. As did his discovery of the message left for him, for fuer grissa ost drauka, back in the caves of Stroyza.

It was all too much to be a coincidence.

He supposed that after they got back, and Nicci and Zedd were finally able to heal him and Kahlan, he would have a chance to figure it out. He knew that in order to do that he would need to find the rest of the book Regula, the book about the omen machine that had long ago been hidden in the Temple of the Winds—hidden there back in the great war, in the time of Magda Searus and Wizard Merritt. Back when the barrier to the third kingdom had been built.

Magda and Merritt had left him a ring to remind him of what was at stake. In the back of his mind, he couldn’t stop thinking about their message to him.

One problem at a time, he told himself with a sigh, one problem at a time. Don’t think of the problem, think of the solution, Zedd would say.

He reminded himself to think of the positives, of all that he had gained.

They had Kahlan back and she was safe. He had managed to get Zedd and Nicci and most of the soldiers out of a prison guarded by the underworld itself. He supposed he had already gotten farther, and done more, than he would ever have thought he would be able to.

He would just have to confront the rest of the problems in due course. Now that they were back together, he would have Zedd and Nicci to help, and at the palace there would be others with vast experience, such as Nathan, the prophet.

Richard spotted Cara walking toward him in the near darkness. He stayed where he was leaning against the rock, watching her come.

She finally slowed to a stop in front of him.

“Lord Rahl, may I speak with you?”

“Of course you can, Cara. You know that.”

She nodded, not wanting to meet his gaze.

“Lord Rahl, I have come to ask something of you.”

He shrugged. “What would you like?”

Her head finally came up. She

looked into his eyes. “I would like to have my freedom.”

Richard blinked. “Your freedom?”

“That’s right. I have served you honorably. Now, in return for my service, I ask that you grant me my freedom.”

“Cara, I can’t do that.”

She lifted her chin. “May I ask why not?”

“Because I don’t own you. You are already free. I’ve always told you that you and the rest of the Mord-Sith stay with me by your own choice. You are all free to walk away at any time. That’s what we fought the war about. I have no hold over you but your desire to stay.”

She nodded with a brave look. “I know. But I am still Mord-Sith. As Mord-Sith, I ask to be released. I ask you to grant my request, grant me my freedom.”

Richard watched her eyes for a very long time. He had to wait until he was sure his voice would not fail him.

“Granted.”

She nodded sadly and turned to leave, but stopped then and turned back. “And may I keep my Agiel? I would like to have it so that I may know when you have been healed and your gift is back. If I have the Agiel with me, then when I feel its power return, I will know that you are well again.”

“Of course.” He gestured vaguely, his heartache making it difficult to speak. “Cara, I’m so sorry about Ben.”

She nodded her appreciation. “They may have been trying to take his soul, but they in fact stole mine.”

Richard wanted to do the impossible and make it right for her. Nothing could have made him sadder than knowing that there was no way he could.

“I wish you would stay with Kahlan and me. We care about you. We love you.”

She thought a moment. “I know you do. I will miss you both.”

“Where are you going?”

“I need to do some killing.”

Richard had thought as much. He had a thousand arguments. He showed his profound respect for her by not putting words to any of them.

“I understand.”

She swallowed. “Thank you, Lord Rahl.”

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