Wizard's First Rule (26 page)

“I was worried about you, I heard the howling. I was going to come and help. Zedd and Kahlan talked me out of it.” Richard thought Chase would be angry, but he wasn’t.

“Thanks, but don’t do it again. While you were standing there thinking about it, they almost had you. Zedd and Kahlan were right. Don’t argue with them the next time.”

Richard felt his ears burning. He knew they were right, but it didn’t make him feel any better about not helping a friend.

“Chase,” Kahlan asked, “you said they had gotten someone, was that true?”

His face was cold stone in the moonlight. “Yes. One of my men. I don’t know which one.” He turned back to the trail and rode on in silence.

They set up camp on a high hill to give a clear view of anything that approached. Chase and Zedd tended to the horses while Richard and Kahlan started the fire, unpacked bread, cheese, and dried fruit, and began cooking a simple stew. She went with him and scouted for firewood among the sparse trees, helping carry it back. He told her the two of them made a good team. She smiled a little smile and turned away. He took her arm and turned her back.

“Kahlan, if it had been you, I would have come after you,” he said, meaning more than the words he spoke.

She studied his eyes. “Please, Richard, don’t even say that.” She gently pulled her arm away and went back to camp.

When the other two, back from tending the horses, came into the firelight, Richard could see that the scabbard strapped over Chase’s shoulder was empty, the short sword missing. One of his battle axes and several long knives were gone, too. Not that this left him defenseless—far from it.

The mace hanging from his belt was covered in blood from one end to the other, his gauntlets were soaked with it, and it was splattered everywhere on him. Without comment he pulled a knife, pried a three-inch yellowish tooth from the mace where it was wedged between two of the blades, and threw the tooth over his shoulder into the darkness. After wiping the blood off his hands and face he sat down in front of the fire with the others.

Richard tossed a stick in the fire. “Chase, what were those creatures that were after us? And how could anything go in and out of the boundary?”

Chase picked up a loaf of bread and tore off about a third. He met Richard’s eyes. “They’re called heart hounds. They’re about twice the size of a wolf, big barrel chests, heads are kind of flat, big snout full of teeth. Fierce. I’m not sure what color they are. They only prowl at night, until today, that is. But it was too dark in those woods to tell, and anyway, I was kind of busy. There were more than I’ve ever seen together before.”

“Why are they called heart hounds?”

Chase chewed a piece of bread as he stared back with intense eyes. “That’s a matter of some debate. Heart hounds have big rounded ears, good hearing. Some say they can find a man by hearing the beating of his heart.” Richard’s eyes widened. Chase took another bite of bread, chewing for a minute. “Others say they’re called heart hounds because that’s how they kill. They come at your chest. Most predators go for the throat, but not heart hounds; they go straight for your heart, and they have big enough teeth to get the job done. It’s the first thing they eat, too. If there’s more than one hound, they’ll fight over the heart.”

Zedd dished himself a bowl of stew and handed the ladle to Kahlan.

Richard was losing his appetite, but he had to ask. “And what do you think?”

Chase shrugged. “Well, I’ve never sat real quiet in the dark next to the boundary, just to find out if they could hear my heart beating.” He took another bite of bread, looking down at his chest as he chewed. He pulled the heavy mail away from himself. There were two long ragged rips in the chain. Broken pieces of yellow
teeth were jammed into mangled links. The leather tunic behind it was soaked with hound’s blood. “The one that did this had the blade of my short sword broken off in his chest, and I was still on my horse at the time.” He looked back to Richard and raised an eyebrow. “That answer your question?”

Bumps ran up Richard’s arms. “What about the way they can go in and out of the boundary?”

Chase took the bowl of stew from Kahlan as she handed it to him. “They have something to do with the magic of the boundary; they were created with it. They are the boundary’s watchdogs, so to speak. They can go in and out without being claimed by it. But they’re tied to it too, and can’t go far from it. With the boundary weakening, they’ve been straying farther and farther all the time. That makes traveling Hawkers Trail dangerous, but to go another way would add a good week to the journey to Kings’ Port. The cutoff we took is the only one that veers away from the boundary until we get to Southaven. I knew I had to reach you before you passed it, or we would have had to spend the night back there, with them. Tomorrow, in the daylight, when it’s safer, I’ll show you the boundary, how it’s weakening.”

Richard nodded as they all went back to their own thoughts.

“They are tan,” Kahlan said softly. They all turned to her. She sat staring into the fire. “The heart hounds are tan, with short fur, like that on the back of a deer. They are seen everywhere now in the Midlands, having been released from their bonds when the other boundary failed. Crazed with lack of purpose, now they even come out in the daytime.”

The three men sat motionless, considering her words. Even Zedd stopped eating.

“Great,” Richard said under his breath. “And what else does the Midlands have that is even worse?”

He didn’t mean it as a question, more as a curse of frustration. The fire crackled, warm on their faces.

Kahlan’s eyes were in a faraway place. “Darken Rahl,” she whispered.

Richard sat away from the camp, leaning against a cold rock, his cloak wrapped tightly around himself as he looked out toward the boundary. What little wind there was bore a breath of ice. Chase had given him the first watch, Zedd was to have the second, and the warden the third. Kahlan had protested when she wasn’t given a watch, but in the end went along with Chase’s wishes.

Moonlight illuminated the open land between where he sat and the boundary. It was an expanse of gentle hills, a few trees and small streams; a pleasant-looking place, considering how near it was to the grim boundary woods. Of course, the woods had probably been pleasant at one time, too, before Darken Rahl had put the boxes in play, and started the destruction of the boundary. Chase had said he didn’t think the heart hounds could stray this far, but if he was wrong, Richard intended to see them coming. He ran his hand over the hilt of his sword for reassurance, fingering the word
Truth
on it, tracing its raised letters absently while he scanned the night sky, vowing not to let the gars take him by surprise again. He was glad he was given the first watch, since he wasn’t sleepy. He was fatigued, but not sleepy. Still, he yawned.

The mountains that were part of the boundary lay off at the edge of darkness, beyond the tangled mat of woods, rising up like the spine of a dark beast too big to hide itself. Richard wondered what manner of things were looking back at him from that black maw. Chase had said the boundary mountains diminished as they went south, and would be all but gone where they were going.

Unexpectedly, Kahlan, her cloak also wrapped snug about, slipped up silently in the darkness and wedged herself tight against him for warmth. She didn’t talk, simply sat close. Stray wisps of her silky hair touched the side of his face. The handle of her knife jabbed into his side, but he didn’t say anything for fear that if he did she would move away. He didn’t want her to move.

“The others asleep?” he asked quietly, glancing over his shoulder. She nodded. “How can you tell?” he asked with a smile. “Zedd sleeps with his eyes open.”

She smiled back. “All wizards do.”

“Really? I thought it was just Zedd.”

As he scanned the valley for any movement, he could feel her eyes on him. He looked back at her. “Aren’t you sleepy?” She was so close he didn’t have to speak in much more than a whisper.

She shrugged. The light breeze pulled some of her long hair across her face.
She reached up and pulled it back. Her eyes found his. “I wanted to tell you I was sorry.”

He wished she would lay her head on his shoulder, but she didn’t. “About what?”

“About what I said to you before, that I wouldn’t want you to come after me. I did not want you to think I don’t appreciate your friendship; I do. It’s just that what we are doing is more important than any one person.”

He knew she had meant much more than she said, just as he had. He looked into her eyes, felt her breath on his face.

“Kahlan, do you have someone?” He feared the arrow to his heart, but had to ask. “Someone at home who waits for you, I mean? A love?”

He held the gaze of her green eyes for a long time. She didn’t look away, but her eyes filled with tears. More than anything he wanted to put his arms around her and kiss her.

She reached up, letting the backs of her fingers brush his face gently. She cleared her throat. “It is not that simple, Richard.”

“Yes it is. Either you do or you don’t.”

“I have obligations.”

For a time it seemed she was going to tell him something, tell him her secret.

She looked so beautiful in the moonlight, but it wasn’t only the way she looked, it was what was inside her, everything from her intelligence and courage to her wit, and the special smile she gave only to him. He would slay a dragon, if there were such a thing, just to see that smile. He knew he would never want anyone else for as long as he lived. He would rather spend the rest of his life alone than with someone else. There could be no one else.

He desperately wanted to hug her close. He ached to taste her soft lips. But he was inexplicably getting the same feeling he had had before he crossed the bridge. It was a strong feeling of warning, stronger than his desire to kiss her. Something told him that if he did, it would be crossing one bridge too many. He remembered how the magic flared when she had touched his hand as he held the sword. He had been right about the bridge, so he didn’t put his arms around her.

She broke the gaze with a glance to the ground. “Chase said the next two days are going to be rough. I guess I had better get some sleep.”

He knew that whatever was going on in her head, he had no say in it. He couldn’t force her. It was something she had to handle herself.

“You have an obligation to me too,” he said. She looked back to him with a questioning frown, and he smiled. “You have promised to be my guide. I intend to hold you to that promise.”

She smiled and could only nod, too close to tears to speak. She kissed the end of her finger and pressed it against his cheek, then slipped back into the night.

Richard sat in the dark, trying to swallow past the lump in his throat. Long after she was gone he could still feel the place on his cheek where she had put her finger, her kiss.

The night was so still that Richard felt as if he were the only one in the whole world. Stars flickered, looking like Zedd’s magic dust frozen in place as the
moon stared silently down at him. Not even the wolves sang tonight. Loneliness threatened to crush him.

He found himself wishing something would attack just so he would have something else to think about. He pulled out his sword, and for something to do, polished its already gleaming blade with the corner of his cloak. It was his sword to use as he saw fit; that’s what Zedd had told him. Whether Kahlan liked it or not, he was going to use it to protect her. She was hunted. Anything that tried to touch her was going to have to come through his sword first.

The thought of her hunters, the quads, and Darken Rahl made his anger heat. He wanted them to come now so he could put an end to the threat. He hungered for them. His heart pounded. His jaws clenched.

He realized suddenly that it was the sword’s anger awakening his. The sword was free from its scabbard and the mere thought of something threatening Kahlan was making its anger, and his anger, come forth. He was startled at how it had seeped into him, so quiet, so unseen, so seductive. Simply perception, the wizard had said. What was the sword’s magic perceiving in him?

Richard slid the sword back into its scabbard, put back the anger, feeling the gloom seep through him once again as he resumed his scan of the countryside and sky. He stood and walked around to relieve the cramps in his legs, then sat once more against the rock, inconsolable.

An hour before his watch was due to end, he heard quiet footsteps he recognized. It was Zedd, a piece of cheese in each hand, with no cloak, wearing only his simple robes.

“What are you doing up? It’s not time for your watch yet.”

“I thought you might like the company of a friend. Here, I brought you a piece of cheese.”

“No, thanks. About the cheese, I mean. I could use the friend part, though.”

Zedd sat down next to him, folding his bony knees up to his chest, pulling the robes down over them, making himself the center of a little tent. “What’s the problem?”

Richard shrugged. “Kahlan, I guess.” Zedd didn’t say anything. Richard looked over. “She’s the first thing in my mind when I wake and the last thing in my mind before I sleep. I’ve never felt like this before, Zedd, never felt this alone before.”