Kahlan’s brow tightened as she appraised the outfit. “The wizards of that time wore this? I thought wizards always wore simple robes.”
“
Most of them did. One wore some of this.”
“
What kind of wizard wore an outfit like this?”
“
A war wizard.”
“
A war wizard,” she whispered in astonishment. Though he largely didn’t know how to use his gift, Richard was the first war wizard to have been born in nearly three thousand years.
Kahlan was about to launch into a raft of questions, but remembered that there were more consequential matters at the moment. Her mood sank. “Richard”—she looked away from his eyes—“there is someone here to see you …”
She heard the bedroom door squeak.
“
Richard?” Nadine, standing in the doorway, expectantly twisted her kerchief in her fingers. “I heard Richard’s voice.”
“
Nadine?”
Nadine’s eyes went as big as Sanderian gold crowns. “Richard.”
Richard smiled politely. “Nadine.” His mouth smiled, anyway.
His eyes, though, held no hint of a smile. It was as discordant a look as Kahlan had ever seen on his face. Kahlan had seen Richard angry, she had seen him in the lethal rage from magic of the Sword of Truth, when the magic danced dangerously in his eyes, and she had seen him with the deadly calm countenance invoked when he turned the blade white. In the fury of commitment and determination, Richard was capable of looking frightening.
But no look she had ever seen on his face was as terrifying to Kahlan as the one she saw now.
This wasn’t a deadly rage that gripped his eyes, or a lethal commitment. This was somehow worse. The depth of disinterest in that empty smile, in his eyes, was frightening.
The only way Kahlan could imagine it being worse would be if such a gaze were directed her way. That look, so devoid of fervor, if directed at her, would have broken her heart.
Nadine apparently didn’t know him as well as did Kahlan; she didn’t see anything but the smile on his lips.
“
Oh, Richard!”
Nadine dashed across the room and threw her arms around his neck. She seemed ready to throw her legs around Richard, too. Kahlan shot an arm out to stop Cara before the Mord-Sith could take more than a step.
Kahlan had to force herself to stand her ground and hold her tongue. Despite everything she and Richard meant to each other, she knew that this was something beyond her say. This was Richard’s past, and as well as she knew him, some of that past—his romantic past, anyway—was largely unknown territory. Up until that moment it had seemed unimportant.
Fearing to say the wrong thing, Kahlan said nothing. Her fate was in Richard’s hands, and those of a beautiful woman who at that moment had hers around his neck—but worse, her fate seemed once again in Shota’s hands.
Nadine began planting kisses all over Richard’s neck even as he tried to hold his head away from her. He placed his hands on her waist and pushed away.
“
Nadine, what are you doing here?”
“
Looking for you, silly,” she said in a breathless voice. “Everyone’s been puzzled—worried—since you disappeared last autumn. My father missed you—I’ve missed you. None of us knew what happened to you. Zedd’s missing, too. The boundary came down and then you came up missing, and Zedd, and your brother. I know you were upset when your father was murdered, but we didn’t expect you to run away.” Her words were running together in breathless excitement.
“
Well, it’s a long story, and one I’m sure you wouldn’t be interested in.”
True to Richard’s words, she didn’t seem to hear a bit of it, and simply rambled on.
“
I had so much to take care of, first. I had to get Lindy Hamilton to promise to get the winter roots for Pa. He’s been beside himself without you to bring him some of the special plants he needs that only you can seem to find. I’ve done my best, but I don’t know the woods like you. He’s hoping Lindy will be able to fill in until I can get you home. Then I had to think what to take, and how to find my way. I’ve been looking so long. I came to speak with somebody named Lord Rahl, hoping he could help me find you. I never in all the world dreamed I’d find you before I even talked to him.”
“
I am Lord Rahl.”
This, too, she seemed not to hear. She stepped back and looked him up and down. “Richard, what are you doing in that outfit? Who are you pretending to be? Get changed. We’ll go home. Everything’s fine, now that I’ve found you. We’ll be back home soon, and everything will be back to the way it was. We’ll be married and—”
“
What!”
She blinked. “Married. We’ll be married, and have a house and everything. You can build us a better one—your old house won’t do. We’ll have children. Lots of children. Sons. Lots of sons. Big and strong like my Richard.” She grinned. “I love you, my Richard. We’re going to be married, at last.”
His smile, as empty as it had been, was gone, and in its place a serious scowl grew. “Where did you ever get an idea like that?”
Nadine laughed as she playfully ran a finger down his front. She finally glanced about. No one else was so much as smiling. Her laughter died out and she sought refuge in Richard’s gaze.
“
But, Richard … you and me. Like it was always supposed to be. We’ll be married. At last. Like it was always meant to be.”
Cara leaned toward Kahlan to whisper in her ear. “You should have let me kill her.”
Richard’s glare wiped the smirk from the Mord-Sith’s mouth and drained the blood from her face. He turned back to Nadine.
“
Where did you get such an idea?”
Nadine was appraising his clothes again. “Richard, you look foolish dressed like this. Sometimes I wonder if you have a lick of sense. What are you doing playing at being a king? And
where
did you get such a sword? Richard, I know you would never steal, but you don’t have the kind of money such a weapon would cost. If you won it in a bet or something, you can sell it so that we—”
Richard gripped her by the shoulders and gave her a shake. “Nadine, we were never engaged to be married, or even close. Where did you get a crazy idea like that? What are you doing here!”
Nadine finally wilted under his glower. “Richard, I’ve come a long way. I’ve never been out of Hartland before. It was hard traveling. Doesn’t that mean anything to you? Doesn’t that count for anything? I would never have left except to come get you. I love you, Richard.”
Ulic, one of Richard’s two huge bodyguards, ducked as he stepped through the doorway. “Lord Rahl, if you are not busy, General Kerson has a problem and needs to speak with you.”
Richard turned a hot glare toward the towering Ulic. “In a minute.”
Ulic, not used to Richard directing such a forbidding look, or tone, his way, bowed. “I will tell him, Lord Rahl.”
Puzzled, Nadine watched the mountain of muscle duck back out the doorway. “Lord Rahl? Richard, what in the name of the good spirits was that man talking about? What trouble have you gotten yourself into? You were always so sensible. What have you done? Why are you tricking these people? Who are you playing at being?”
He seemed to cool a bit and his voice turned weary. “Nadine, it’s a long story, and one I’m not in the mood to repeat just now. I’m afraid I’m not the same person … It’s been a long time since I’ve left home. A great many things have happened. I’m sorry you’ve come a long way for nothing, but what was once between us—”
Kahlan expected a sheepish glance her way. She never got one.
Nadine took a step back. She looked around at all the faces watching her: Kahlan, Cara, Berdine, Raina, and the silent hulk of Egan back near the door.
Nadine threw her hands up. “What’s the matter with all you people! Who do you think this man is? He’s Richard Cypher, my Richard! He’s a woods guide—a nobody! He’s just a simple boy from Hartland, playing at being somebody important. He’s not! Are you all blind fools? He’s my Richard, and we’re to be married.”
Cara finally broke the silence. “We all know quite well who this man is. Apparently, you do not. He is Lord Rahl, the Master of D’Hara, and the ruler of what was the Midlands. At least, he is the ruler of those who have so far surrendered to him. Everyone in this room, if not this city, would lay down their lives to protect him. We all owe him more than our loyalty; we owe him our lives.”
“
We can all only be who we are,” Richard told Nadine, “no more, and no less. A very wise woman told me that, one time.”
Nadine whispered her incredulity, but Kahlan couldn’t hear the words.
Richard put his arm around Kahlan’s waist. In that gentle touch, she read the message of comfort and love, and suddenly felt profound sorrow for this woman standing before strangers, exposing such personal matters of the heart.
“
Nadine,” Richard said in a quiet tone, “this is Kahlan, the wise woman I spoke of. The woman I love. Kahlan, not Nadine. Kahlan and I are soon to be married. We’re shortly going to leave to be wedded by the Mud People. Nothing in this world is going to change that.”
Nadine seemed afraid to take her eyes from Richard, as if she feared that if she did, it would become true.
“
Mud People? What in the name of the spirits are Mud People? Sounds dreadful. Richard, you …” She seemed to gather her resolve. She pressed her lips together and suddenly scowled. She shook her finger at him.
“
Richard Cypher, I don’t know what kind of foolish game you’re playing, but I’ll not have it! You listen to me, you big oaf, you go get your things packed! We’re going home!”
“
I am home, Nadine.”
Nadine, at last, could think of no counter.
“
Nadine, who told you all this … this marriage business?”
The fire had gone out of her. “A mystic named Shota.”
Kahlan tensed at the sound of that name. Shota was the true threat. No matter what Nadine said, or wanted, it was Shota who had the power to cause trouble.
“
Shota!” Richard wiped a hand across his face. “Shota. I might have known.”
And then Richard did the last thing Kahlan would have expected: he chuckled. He stood there, with everyone watching him, threw his head back, and laughed aloud.
Somehow, it magically melted Kahlan’s fears. That Richard would simply laugh off what Shota might do somehow trivialized the threat. Suddenly, her heart felt buoyant. Richard said that the Mud People were going to marry them, as they both wanted, and the fact that Shota wished otherwise was worth no more than a chuckle. Richard’s arm around her waist tightened with a loving squeeze. She felt her cheeks tighten with a grin of her own.
Richard waved an apology. “Nadine, I’m sorry. I’m not laughing at you. It’s just that Shota has been playing her little tricks on us for a long time. It’s unfortunate that she’s used you in her scheme, but it’s just one of her wretched games. She’s a witch woman.”
“
Witch woman?” Nadine whispered.
Richard nodded. “She’s taken us in with her little dramas in the past, but not this time. I no longer care what Shota says. I’m not playing her games anymore.”
Nadine looked perplexed. “A witch woman? Magic? I’ve been plied with magic? But she said that the sky had spoken to her.”
“
Is that so. Well, I don’t care if the Creator Himself has spoken to her.”
“
She said that the wind hunts you. I was worried. I wanted to help.”
“
The wind hunts me? Well, it’s always something with her.”
Nadine’s gaze drifted from his. “But what about us …?”
“
Nadine, there is no ‘us.’” The edge returned to his voice. “You, of all people, know the truth of that.”
Her chin lifted with indignation. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He watched her for a long moment, as if considering saying more than he finally did. “Have it your way, Nadine.”
For the first time, Kahlan felt embarrassed. Whatever the exchange had meant, she felt like an intruder hearing it. Richard seemed uncomfortable, too. “I’m sorry, Nadine, but I have things I have to take care of. If you need help getting home, I’ll see what I can do. Whatever you need—a horse, supplies, whatever. Tell everyone back in Hartland that I’m fine, and I send my best wishes.”
He turned to the waiting Ulic. “Is General Kerson here?”
“
Yes, Lord Rahl.”
Richard took a step toward the door. “I’d best go see what his problem is.”
General Kerson instead entered from right around the doorway when he heard his name. Graying, but muscular and fit, and a head shorter than Richard, he cut an imposing figure in his burnished leather uniform. His upper arms bore scars of rank, their shiny white furrows showing through the short, chain mail sleeves.
He clapped a fist to his heart in salute. “Lord Rahl, I need to speak with you.”
“
Fine. Speak.”
The general hesitated. “I meant alone, Lord Rahl.”
Richard looked in no mood to dally with the man. “There are no spies here. Speak.”
“
It’s about the men, Lord Rahl. A great many of them are sick.”
“
Sick? What’s wrong with them?”
“
Well, Lord Rahl, they … that is …”
Richard’s brow tightened. “Out with it.”