Wizard's First Rule (33 page)

“Sure. I’m an approved supplier; I get reimbursed from Hartland. Of course, that thieving council takes most of it back in taxes. I can put it in my tally book for the government to pay, if this is official business.”

“It is.”

Randy came back with the basin, water, and towels. Kahlan put a silver coin in his hand and asked him about caring for the horses. He looked to his father for approval. Bill nodded.

“Just tell me which horse is yours, and I’ll take extra good care of it,” Randy said with a big grin.

Kahlan smiled back. “They are all mine. Take care with each, my life depends on it.”

Randy got a serious look on his face. “You can count on me.” Unable to decide what to do with his hands, he finally jammed them in his pockets. “I won’t let anyone near them.” He backed toward the door again, and when all but his head was through it, added, “I just want you to know I don’t believe a word of what those men downstairs are saying about you. And I told them so.”

Kahlan smiled in spite of herself. “Thank you, but I do not want you to endanger
yourself on my account. Please stay away from those men. And do not mention that you talked to me, it will only embolden them.”

Randy grinned and nodded and left. Bill rolled his eyes and shook his head. He turned to Kahlan with a smile.

“You wouldn’t consider staying here and marrying the boy, would you? It would do him good to have a mate.”

An odd look of pain and panic flashed across Kahlan’s eyes. She sat on the bed, looking down at the floor.

“Just kidding, girl,” Bill said apologetically. He turned back to Richard. “I’ll bring you each a plate of supper. Boiled potatoes and meat.”

“Meat?” Richard asked suspiciously.

Bill chuckled. “Don’t worry, I wouldn’t dare serve those men bad meat. I could lose my head.”

In a few minutes he returned and set two steaming dishes of food on the table.

“Thank you for your help,” Richard said.

Bill raised an eyebrow. “Don’t worry, it will all be in my tally book. I’ll bring it to you in the morning to sign. There anyone in Hartland who will recognize your signature?”

Richard smiled. “I think so. My name is Richard Cypher. My brother is First Councilor.”

Bill flinched, suddenly shaken. “I’m sorry. Not that your brother is First Councilor. I mean that I’m sorry I didn’t know. I mean that if I had known, I’d have given you better accommodations. You can stay at my house. It’s not much but it’s better than this. I’ll take your things over right now….”

“Bill, it’s all right.” Richard went to the man and put a hand on his back, reassuring him. The proprietor looked suddenly less fierce. “My brother is First Councilor; I am not. The room is fine. Everything is fine.”

“You’re sure? Everything? You’re not going to send the army here, are you?”

“You’ve been a big help to us, honest. I have nothing to do with the army.”

Bill didn’t look convinced. “You’re with the head of the boundary wardens.”

Richard smiled warmly. “He’s a friend of mine. For many years. The old man, too. They’re my friends, that’s all.”

Bill’s eyes brightened. “Well, if that’s true, then how about if I add a couple extra rooms to the tally book? Seeing as how they won’t know you all stayed together.”

Richard kept smiling, and patted the man’s back. “That would be wrong. I won’t put my name to it.”

Breathing out with a sigh, Bill broke into a big grin. “So, you are Chase’s friend.” He nodded to himself. “Now I believe you. I haven’t been able to get that man to fatten my tally book in all the time I’ve known him.”

Richard put some silver in the man’s hand. “But this wouldn’t be wrong. I appreciate what you’re doing for us. I would also appreciate it if you would water the ale tonight. Drunken men die too easy.” Bill gave a knowing smile. Then Richard added, “You have dangerous customers.”

The man studied Richard’s eyes, glanced to Kahlan, then back again. “Tonight I do,” he agreed.

Richard gave him a hard look. “If anyone comes through that door tonight, I will kill them, no questions asked.”

Bill looked at him for a long moment. “I’ll see what I can do to keep that from happening. Even if I have to knock some heads together.” He went to the door. “Eat your supper before it gets cold. And take care of your lady, she has a good head on her shoulders.” He turned to Kahlan and winked. “And a pretty one, too.”

“One more thing, Bill. The boundary is failing. It will be down in a few weeks. Take care with yourself.”

The man’s chest rose as he took a deep breath. He held the doorknob as he looked into Richard’s eyes for a long moment. “I think the council named the wrong brother First Councilor. But then, they didn’t get to be councilors because they worry about doing right. I’ll come get you in the morning when the sun is up and it’s safe.”

When he left, Richard and Kahlan sat close on the small bench and ate their meal. Their room was at the back of the building, and the men downstairs were at the front, so it was quieter than Richard thought it would be. All they could hear from the crowd was a muffled hum. The food was better than Richard expected, or maybe it was just that he was famished. The bed looked wonderful to him, too, as he was dead tired. Kahlan noticed.

“You only had an hour or two of sleep last night. I will stand first watch. If the men downstairs decide to come up here, it will not be until later that they work up the courage. If they come, it would be better if you were rested.”

“Easier to kill people when you’re well rested?” He was immediately sorry it came out the way it did; he hadn’t meant it to sound harsh. He realized he was gripping his fork as if it were a sword.

“I’m sorry, Richard. I didn’t mean it that way. I only meant I don’t want you to get hurt. If you are too tired you will not be able to protect yourself as well. I’m afraid for you.”

She pushed a potato around the plate with her fork. Her voice was hardly more than a whisper. “I’m so sorry you had to be pulled into this mess. I don’t want you to have to kill people. I didn’t want you to have to kill those men downstairs. That’s the other reason I did what I did, so you would not have to kill them.”

He looked over at her as she stared down at her plate. It hurt his heart to see the look of pain on her face. He gave her a playful shove with his shoulder.

“I wouldn’t have missed this journey for anything. Gives me time to be with my friend.” She looked at him out of the corner of her eye as he smiled.

She smiled back and put her head against the side of his shoulder for a second before eating the potato. Her smile warmed him.

“Why did you want me to ask the boy to take care of the horses?”

“Results. That’s what you said was most important. The poor kid is hopelessly in love with you. Since you were the one who asked, he will guard the horses better than we could ourselves.” She looked at him as if she didn’t believe him. “You have that effect on men,” he assured her.

Her smile faded a little, taking on a haunted look. Richard knew he was getting too close to her secrets, so he said nothing else. When they finished eating, she
walked to the basin, dipped the end of a towel in the water, and went to Zedd. She wiped his face tenderly, then looked over to Richard.

“He is the same, no worse. Please, Richard, let me have first watch, get some sleep?”

He nodded, rolled himself into the bed, and was asleep in seconds. Sometime in the early morning she woke him for his watch. As she went to sleep he washed his face with the cold water, trying to wake up, then sat on the bench, leaning against the wall, waiting for any sign of trouble. He sucked on a piece of dried fruit, trying to get the bad taste out of his mouth.

An hour before sunrise, there was an urgent knock at the door.

“Richard?” a muffled voice called. “It’s Bill. Unbolt the door. There’s trouble.”

Kahlan sprang out of bed, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as Richard unbolted the door. She pulled her knife. Bill, breathing hard, squeezed in and pushed the door shut with his back. Beads of sweat dotted his forehead.

“What is it? What’s happened?” Richard asked.

“Everything was pretty quiet,” Bill swallowed, catching his breath. “Then a little while ago these two fellows showed up. Right out of nowhere. Big men, thick necks, blond hair. Good-looking. Armed to the teeth. The kind of men you try not to look in the eye.” He took a few deep breaths.

Richard stole a quick glance at Kahlan’s eyes. There was no doubt in them as to who the men were. Apparently the wizard trouble the quad had run into wasn’t trouble enough.

“Two?” Richard asked. “You’re sure there weren’t more?”

“Only saw two come in, but that was enough.” Bill’s wide eyes looked out from under his curly eyebrows. “One was tore up pretty good, arm in a sling, big claw cuts down his other arm. Didn’t seem to bother him any, though. Anyway, they started asking about a woman that sounded a lot like your lady here. Except she isn’t wearing a white dress like they described. They started for the stairs, and a quarrel broke out about who was going to do what with her. Your red-haired friend jumped the one with the sling and slit his throat from ear to ear. The other fellow cut down a bunch of my customers in a heartbeat. I’ve never seen anything like it. Then all of a sudden he just wasn’t there anymore. Vanished into nothing. There’s blood everywhere.

“The rest of the lot are down there right now arguing about who’s going to be first to…” He glanced at Kahlan, leaving the rest unsaid. He wiped his forehead with the back of his arm. “Randy’s bringing the horses to the back; you have to get out now. Head for Adie’s. The sun’s an hour away, the hounds two, so you’ll be all right. But not if you delay.”

Richard grabbed Chase’s legs. Bill his shoulders. He told Kahlan to bolt the door and get their things together. With Chase in their arms they trudged down the back stairs and out into the darkness and rain. Lamplight coming from the windows reflected in the puddles, giving the wet, black forms of the horses yellow highlights. Randy was waiting, looking worried as he held the horses. They dropped Chase in a litter and ran as quietly as possible up the stairs. Bill scooped Zedd into his arms, while Richard and Kahlan threw on their cloaks and grabbed the packs. The three of them, Bill, Richard, then Kahlan, raced down the stairs and for the door.

As they burst out the door they almost tripped over Randy, sprawled on the ground. Richard looked up just in time to see the red-haired man lunging. He leapt back, narrowly missing the sweep of the long knife. The man went face-first into the mud. With surprising quickness he came to his knees, enraged, and then went rigid, the sword point an inch from his nose. The air rang with the sound of steel. The man looked up with vicious, black eyes. Water and mud ran from the strings of his hair. Richard flicked the sword a quarter turn in his hand and whacked him hard over the head with the flat of the blade. He went down in a limp heap.

Bill laid Zedd in the litter while Kahlan turned Randy over. One eye was swollen shut. Rain splattered on his face. He groaned. When he saw Kahlan with his one good eye he broke into a grin. Relieved that he wasn’t hurt worse, she gave him a quick hug and helped him up.

“He jumped me,” Randy said apologetically. “I’m sorry.”

“You are a brave young man. You have nothing to be sorry for. Thank you for helping us.” She turned to Bill. “You, too.”

Bill smiled and gave a nod. Zedd and Chase were quickly covered with blankets and oilcloth and the packs loaded. Bill told them that Adie’s supplies were already on Chase’s horse. Richard and Kahlan mounted their horses. She flipped the silver coin to Randy.

“Payment on delivery, as promised,” she told him. He caught the coin and grinned.

Richard bent down and clasped hands with Randy and thanked him earnestly, then pointed angrily at Bill.

“You! I want you to add everything to your tally book. Include all the damage, all your time and trouble, even the grave markers. I want you to add a fair fee for saving our lives. If the council doesn’t want to approve payment, you tell them that you saved the life of the brother of the First Councilor, and Richard Cypher said if they don’t pay, I’ll personally have the head of the man responsible and I will put it on a pike on the front lawn of my brother’s house!”

Bill nodded and laughed over the sound of the rain. Richard pulled back on the reins to keep his horse in place as it danced about, eager to go. He pointed down at the unconscious man in the mud. He was furious.

“The only reason I didn’t kill this man is because he killed a man worse than himself, and in so doing may have unwittingly saved Kahlan’s life. But he is guilty of murder, intent to murder, and intent to rape. I suggest you hang him before he wakes.”

Bill looked up at him. “Done.”

“Don’t forget what I said about the boundary. Trouble comes. Take care with yourself.”

Bill held Richard’s gaze as he put his hairy arm around his son’s shoulders. “We won’t forget.” A slight smile curled the corners of his mouth. “Long life to the Seeker.”

Richard looked down at him in surprise and then grinned. Smiling quenched some of the fire of his rage. “When I first saw you,” Richard said, “my thought was that you were not a devious man. I find I was mistaken.”