Wizard's First Rule (116 page)

Richard climbed higher, fighting the beasts back, killing any that got close enough. It was a futile effort, he knew; there were more than he would be able to hold back. He released himself into the anger of the sword’s magic, fighting with fury as he advanced into their ranks. He couldn’t fail Kahlan, not now. The air seemed filled with yellow teeth, all coming for him. Blood from the killing was everywhere. The world turned to red.

And then it turned to flame.

Fire erupted all about. Hounds howled in mortal pain. The dragon roared in anger. Scarlet’s shadow swept over him. Richard’s sword cut through the hounds that came close enough. The air smelled of blood and burning fur.

Scarlet’s claw gripped him around the middle, lifting him away from the leaping, snapping beasts. Richard panted in exhaustion from the fierce fight as the dragon flew to a clearing on another mountain. She set him gently on the ground and landed.

Richard, nearly in tears, threw his arms against her red scales, stroking them, and laid his head against her. “Thank you, my friend. You have saved my life. You have saved many lives. You are a dragon of honor.”

“I made a bargain, that is all.” She snorted a puff of smoke. “Besides, someone has to help you; you can’t seem to stay out of trouble on your own.”

Richard smiled. “You are the most beautiful beast I have ever seen.” Still panting as he tried to catch his breath, he pointed to the plateau. “Scarlet, I need to get to the People’s Palace. Will you take me? Please?”

“You didn’t find your friends? Your brother?”

He swallowed the lump in his throat. “My brother has betrayed me. Betrayed me, and everyone, to Darken Rahl. I wish people had half the honor of dragons.”

Scarlet gave a grumble, vibrating the scales on her throat. “I’m sorry, Richard Cypher. Climb on. I will take you.”

The dragon made slow, steady strokes of her wings, lifting him above the sea of clouds that covered the Azrith Plains, carrying him to the last place in the world he would wish to go, had he a choice. The journey, which would have taken him a good part of the day on a horse, took less than an hour on the dragon. She folded her wings back, diving toward the plateau. The wind tore at his clothes as she plunged downward. From the air, Richard could see how big the People’s Palace really was. It was hard to believe it had been made by men; it seemed beyond even a dream. It was like the biggest of cities, all melted together into one complex.

Scarlet flew once around the plateau, past towers, walls, and roofs. They flashed past in endless variety, making him dizzy. She lifted over the outer wall, and swooped down into a vast courtyard, fluttering her wings to stop their descent. There were no guards, no people, to be seen.

Richard slid down her red scales, landing on his feet with a thump. She swept her head about, then tilted it down, gazing at him. Her ears swiveled forward.

“Are you sure you want me to leave you here?” Richard nodded, casting his eyes to the ground. Scarlet snorted. “Then the six days are at an end. Our bargain is at an end. The next time I see you, you will be fair game.”

Richard smiled up at her. “Fair enough, my friend. But you’ll not get the chance. Today, I am going to die.”

Scarlet watched him with one yellow eye. “Try not to let that happen, Richard Cypher. I would still like to eat you.”

Richard’s smile widened as he rubbed a glossy scale. “Take care of your little dragon, when it hatches. I wish I had had a chance to see it. It will be beautiful too, I know. I realize you hate flying men about, because it’s against your will, but thanks for letting me know the joy of flying. I considered it a privilege.”

She nodded. “I like flying too.” She let out a puff of smoke. “You are a rare man, Richard Cypher. I have never seen one the match of you.”

“I am the Seeker. The last Seeker.”

She gave another nod of her big head. “Take care, Seeker. You have the gift. Use it. Use everything you have to fight. Don’t give in. Don’t let him rule you. If you are to die, die fighting with everything you have, everything you know. That is the way of a dragon.”

“If it were only that easy.” Richard looked up at the red dragon. “Scarlet, before the boundary came down, did you carry Darken Rahl into Westland?”

She gave a nod. “A number of times.”

“Where did you take him?”

“To a house, bigger than the other houses. It was made of white stone, with slate roofs. One time, I took him to another. A simple house. He killed a man there. I heard the screams. And once to another simple house.”

Michael’s house. And his father’s. And his own.

With the pain of hearing it, Richard looked down at his feet, nodding. “Thanks, Scarlet.” He fought back the lump in his throat, and looked back up. “If Darken Rahl ever tries to rule you again, I hope your little dragon will be safe, and you will be able to fight to the death. You are too noble to be ruled.”

Scarlet gave a dragon’s grin and lifted into the air. Richard watched as she circled overhead, looking down at him. Her head turned to the west and the rest of her followed. Richard watched a few minutes as she became smaller in the distance. He turned to the palace.

Richard eyed the guards at an entrance, prepared for a fight, but they only gave a polite nod. A guest returning. The vast halls swallowed him.

He knew the general direction of the garden room where Rahl kept the boxes, and headed that way. For a long time, he didn’t recognize the halls, but after a time, some of them started looking familiar. He recognized the arches and columns, the devotion squares. He passed the hall where Denna’s quarters were. He didn’t look down it as he walked past the intersection.

His mind was in a daze, overpowered by the decision he had made. He was overwhelmed by the very idea of being the one who would deliver the power of Orden to Darken Rahl. He knew he would be saving Kahlan from a worse fate, and many others from death, but he still felt like a traitor. He wished it could be anyone but him who would help Rahl. But no one else could. Only he had the answers Rahl needed.

He stopped at a devotion square with a pool and watched the fish gliding through the water as he stared at the ripples. Fight with everything he knew, Scarlet had said. What would that gain him? What would that gain anyone? The same in the end, or worse. He could gamble with his own life, but not with everyone else’s. Not with Kahlan’s. He was here to help Darken Rahl, and that was what he had to do. His mind was made up.

The bell for devotion tolled. Richard watched people gather around and bow down as they began chanting. Two Mord-Sith dressed in red leather approached and eyed him standing there. This was no time for trouble. He went to his knees, touched his forehead to the tile, and began chanting the devotion. Since he had already decided, there was no reason to think, and he let his mind go empty.

“
Master Rahl guide us. Master Rahl teach us. Master Rahl protect us. In your light we thrive. In your mercy we are sheltered. In your wisdom we are humbled. We live only to serve. Our lives are yours.
”

He chanted over and over, letting himself go, letting his worry go. His mind calmed as he sought the peace within and joined with it.

A thought caught the words in his throat.

If he was going to give a devotion, it was going to be one that meant something to him. He changed the words.

“Kahlan guide me. Kahlan teach me. Kahlan protect me. In your light I thrive. In your mercy I am sheltered. In your wisdom I am humbled. I live only to love you. My life is yours.”

The shock of realization made him sit bolt upright on his heels, his eyes wide.

He knew what he must do.

Zedd had told him, told him that most of the things people believed were wrong. Wizard’s First Rule. He had been the fool long enough, listened to others enough. He avoided the truth no longer. A smile spread on his face.

He stood. He believed with all his heart. Excited, he turned, stepping among the people chanting the devotion on their knees.

The two Mord-Sith rose. They stood grim-faced, shoulder to shoulder, blocking his way. He jerked to a halt. The one with blond hair and blue eyes brought her Agiel up in a menacing posture, waving it in front of him.

“No one is allowed to miss a devotion. No one.”

Richard returned the threatening glare. “I am the Seeker.” He lifted Denna’s Agiel in his fist. “Mate to Denna. I am the one who killed her. Killed her with the magic by which she held me. I have said my last devotion to Father Rahl. The next move you make will determine if you live or die. Choose.”

An eyebrow lifted over a cold blue eye. The two Mord-Sith glanced at each other, then stepped aside. Richard marched off to the Garden of Life, to Darken Rahl.

Zedd warily scanned the edges as they ascended the road up the side of the plateau, the surroundings brightening the higher they went. The three of them emerged from the fog into midmorning sunlight. Ahead, a drawbridge began lowering, the catch on the gears clattering as the span lowered across a chasm. Chase loosened the short sword in the scabbard over his shoulder when the lowering bridge revealed a couple of dozen soldiers waiting on the other side. Not one of the soldiers brought a weapon to hand, nor did they move to block the way, but stood at ease to the side, seemingly disinterested in the three.

Kahlan gave them no notice as she strode past. Chase did. He looked like a man about to preside over a slaughter. The guards nodded and smiled politely.

The boundary warden leaned a little closer to Zedd, but kept his eyes on the well-armed soldiers. “I don’t like this. It’s too easy.”

Zedd smiled. “If Darken Rahl is to kill us, he must first let us get to where we are to be killed.”

Chase frowned over at the wizard. “That doesn’t make me feel any better.”

Zedd put his hand on Chase’s shoulder. “No loss of honor, my friend. Go home, before the door closes behind us forever.”

Chase stiffened. “Not until it is done.”

Zedd nodded and walked a little faster to stay close to Kahlan. When they gained the top of the plateau, they were confronted by a huge wall stretching off to either side. The battlements at the top were alive with men. Kahlan didn’t pause, but marched toward the gate. Straining with the weight, two guards pushed the immense doors back as she approached. She didn’t lose a step as she went through the opening in the wall.

Chase glared at the captain of the guards. “You let anyone in?”

The captain gave a surprised stare. “She is expected. By Master Rahl.”

Chase grunted and followed after. “So much for our sneaking up on him.”

“One does not sneak up on a wizard of Rahl’s talents.”

Chase grabbed Zedd’s arm. “Wizard! Rahl is a wizard?”

Zedd frowned at him. “Of course. How do you suppose he is able to command magic the way he does? He is descended from a long line of wizards.”

Chase seemed annoyed. “I thought wizards were only supposed to help people, not rule them.”

Zedd let out a deep breath. “Before some of us decided to no longer interfere with the affairs of man, wizards used to rule. There was a rift—the wizard wars, as they were known. A few on their side survived, and continued to follow the old ways, continued to take power for themselves, continued to rule people. Darken Rahl is a direct descendant of that line—the house of Rahl. He was born with the gift; not all are. But he uses it only for himself; he is a person who does not bear the burden of conscience.”

Chase fell silent as they ascended a hillside of steps, passing into the shade between fluted columns, and through an opening surrounded by carved stone vines and leaves. They entered the halls. Chase’s head swiveled about, astonished by the size, the beauty, the sheer overwhelming volume of polished stone about them. Kahlan walked down the center of the vast hall, seeing none of it, the folds of her dress flowing fluidly behind her, the soft sound of her boots on the stone whispering into the cavernous distance.

People dressed in white robes strolled the halls. A few sat on marble benches, and others knelt at squares with a stone and bell, meditating. All wore the same perpetual smile of the divinely deluded, the peaceful countenance of those self-assured in their fantasy of certainty and understanding. Truth was only a shifting fog to them, to be burned off by the light of their convoluted reasoning. Followers, disciples, of Darken Rahl, one and all. Most paid the three no attention, giving them no more than a vacant nod.

Zedd caught a glimpse of two Mord-Sith, proud in their red leather, sauntering up a side hall toward them. When they saw Kahlan, saw the twin red lightning bolts of the Con Dar painted across her face, the two blanched, reversed course, and quickly vanished.

The route they followed took them to an intersection of enormous halls, built in
the pattern of a wheel. Stained-glass windows that formed the hub high overhead let in sunlight that streamed in colored shafts through the cavernous central area.

Kahlan stopped and turned her green eyes to the wizard. “Which way?”

Zedd pointed down a hall to the right. Kahlan started off without hesitation.

“How do you know where we’re going?” Chase asked.