Constance turned to Richard. "Well. I hear you are to be granted an audience with Master Rahl
today. If you are still alive afterward, you will be seeing more of me. Alone. I want a piece of you,
as it were, when he's finished with you."

He spoke before he thought. "The year they chose you, Mistress Constance, must have been a year
of desperate need; otherwise, one of such limited intelligence would never have been selected to be
Mord-Sith. Only the most ignorant would put their own petty ambitions above the value of a friend.
Especially a friend who has sacrificed much for you. You are not worthy to kiss Mistress Derma's
Agiel." Richard smiled smoothly, confidently, as she stood startled. "You had better hope Master
Rahl kills me, Mistress Constance, because if he doesn't, then the next time I see you, I'm going to
kill you for what you've done to Mistress Denna."

Constance stared in shock, then suddenly drove her Agiel toward him. Denna's longer arm came up.
She slammed her own Agiel against Constance's throat, holding her back. Constance's eyes bulged
in surprise. She coughed blood, and dropped to her knees, clutching her hands to her throat.

Denna stared down at her a moment before starting off without a word. Richard followed, attached
by the chain. He sped up to walk beside her.

Denna kept her eyes ahead, showing no emotion. "Just try and guess how many hours that has
earned you."

Richard smiled. "Mistress Denna, if there is a Mord-Sith who could raise a scream from a dead
man, it would be you."

"And if Master Rahl doesn't kill you, how many hours?"

"Mistress Denna, there are not enough hours in a lifetime. to dim my pleasure at what I have done."

She smiled a little, but didn't look over. "I'm glad, then, that it was worth it for you." She gave him
a sidelong glance. "I still don't understand you. As you said, we can be no more, no less, than who
we are. I regret I can be no more than I am, and I fear you can be no less. Were we not warriors
fighting on opposite sides in this war, I would keep you as a mate for life, and work to see you die
of old age."

Richard was warmed by her gentle tone. "I would try my best to live a long life for you, Mistress
Denna."

They walked on through the halls, past the devotion squares, past the statues, past the people. She
took him upstairs, through vast rooms of exquisite decorations. She stopped in front of a pair of
doors covered in carvings of rolling hills and forests, all sheathed in gold.

Denna turned to him. "Are you prepared to die this day, my love?"

"The day is not over yet, Mistress Denna."

She slipped her arms around his neck, kissing him tenderly. She pulled her face away a few inches,
stroked the back of his head. "I'm sorry, Richard, that I do these things to you, but I have been
trained to do them, and can do nothing less; I live only to hurt you. Know that it is not by choice,
but by training. I can be no more than what I am: Mord-Sith. If you are to die this day, my love,
then make me proud, and die well."

He was mate to a madwoman, he thought sadly. And one not of her own making.

She pushed the doors open and entered a grand garden. Richard would have been impressed, had
his mind not been on other things. They went down a path between flowers and shrubs, past short,
vine covered stone walls, and small trees, to an expanse of lawn. A glass roof let in the light,
keeping the plants healthy and in flower.

In the distance were two identically huge men. Their folded arms tad metal bands with sharp
projections just above their elbows` Guards of some sort, Richard thought. To their side stood
another man. Imposing muscles flexed on his smooth chest. His short-cropped blond hair stood up
in spikes, with a single black streak running through it.

Near the center of the lawn, near a circle of white sand, in a warm shaft of late-afternoon sunlight,
stood a man with his back to them. The sunlight made his white robes and shoulder-length blond
hair glow. Sparks of the sunlight glinted off the gold belt and curved dagger at his waist.

As Richard and Denna approached him, Denna dropped to her knees, putting her forehead to the
ground. Richard had been instructed and did the same as he pushed his sword out of the way.

Together, they chanted. "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."

They chanted only once, then waited, Richard trembling slightly. He remembered that he was never
to get near Master Rahl, to stay away from him, but couldn't remember who told him so, only that it
was important. He had to concentrate on Denna's braid, to control the anger at what Master Rahl
had done to her.

"Rise, my children."

Richard stood with his shoulder close against Mistress Denna while intense blue eyes studied him.
That the Master's face looked kind, intelligent, pleasant, did not calm Richard's churning fears, and
the thoughts that boiled just below the surface of his mind. The blue eyes glided to Denna.

"You look surprisingly well this morning, my pet."

"Mistress Denna is as good at taking pain as giving it, Master Rahl," Richard heard himself say.

The blue eyes returned to his. The calmness, the peace, in Rahl's face made Richard quiver. "My
pet has told me you are nothing but trouble. I am pleased to see she has not lied to me. But not
pleased to find it true." He clasped his hands in a relaxed manner. "Well, no matter. How good to
meet you at last, Richard Cypher."

Denna drove the Agiel into his back with a sharp jab to remind him of what it was he was supposed
to say. "It is my honor to be here, Master Rahl. I live only to serve. I am humbled in your
presence."

A small smile came to Rahl's lips. "Yes, I am sure you are." He studied Richard's face for an
uncomfortable moment. "I have some questions. You are going to give me the answers."

Richard felt himself shaking slightly. "Yes, Master Rahl."

"Kneel," he said softly.

Richard went to his knees with the aid of the Agiel on his shoulder. Denna stepped behind and put a
boot to each side of him. She pressed her thighs against his shoulders, bracing against them for
leverage as she held his hair in her fist. She pulled his head back a little, making him look up into
the Master's blue eyes. Richard swallowed in terror.

Darken Rahl looked down without emotion. "You have seen the Book of Counted Shadows
before?"

Something powerful in the back of his mind told Richard he shouldn't answer. When he said
nothing, Denna tightened her grip on his hair, and pushed the Agiel against the base of his skull.

There was a stunning explosion of pain in his head. Denna's grip on his hair was all that kept him
upright. It was as if she had compressed the pain of an entire training session into that one touch.
He couldn't move, breathe, or even cry out. He was beyond being in pain; the shock took
everything from him, and in its place left an all-consuming agony of fire and ice. She took away the
Agiel. He didn't know where he was, who he was, or who was holding him, only that this was more
pain than he had ever known before, and that there was a man in front of him, dressed in a white
robe.

Blue eyes looked down at him. "You have seen the Book of Counted Shadows before?"

"Yes," he heard himself say.

"Where is it now?"

Richard hesitated. He didn't know how to answer; he didn't know what the voice wanted. The pain
exploded in his head again. When it stopped, he felt tears running down his cheeks.

"Where is it now?" the voice repeated.

"Please, don't hurt me anymore," he cried. "I don't understand the question."

"What is there not to understand? Simply tell me where the book is now."

"The book, or the knowledge of the book?" Richard asked fearfully.

The blue eyes frowned. "The book."

"I burned it in a fire. Years ago."

Richard thought the eyes were going to tear him apart. "And where is the knowledge?"

Richard hesitated too long. When he was aware again, Denna yanked his head up to look into the
blue eyes again. Richard had never felt so alone, so helpless, so afraid.

"Where is the knowledge that was in the book?"

"In my head. Before I burned the book, I learned the words, the knowledge."

The man stood staring, unmoving. Richard cried softly.

"Recite the words of the book."

Richard desperately didn't want the Agiel in the back of his head again. He shook with the fear of
it. "Verification of the truth of the words of the Book of Counted Shadows, if spoken by another,
rather than read by the one who commands the boxes, can only be insured by the use of a Confessor
...." Confessor.

Kahlan.

The name Kahlan went through Richard's mind like a bolt of lightning. The power roared to life,
blasting away the fog with the burning, white-hot glare of his memories. The door to the locked
room in his mind was flung open. It all came back to him, brought back by the power as it rose in
him. Richard was one with the power, at the thought of Darken Rahl having Kahlan; hurting her.

Darken Rahl turned to the other men. The one with the black stripe came forward.

"You see, my friend? The fates work for me. She is already on her way here with the Old One. Find
her. See to it she is brought to me. Take two quads, but I want her alive, do you understand?" The
man gave a nod. "You and your men will have the protection of my spell. The Old One is with her,
but he will have no weapon against an underworld spell, if he is even alive by then." Rahl's voice
became harder. "And Demmin, I don't care what your men do to her, but she had better be alive
when she gets here, and able to use her power."

A little of the color left the man's face. "I understand. It will be done as you wish, Lord Rahl." He
bowed deep.

He turned and left after meeting Richard's eyes and giving a knowing smile.

Darken Rahl returned his blue eyes to Richard. "Continue."

Richard had gone as far as he was going to go. He remembered everything.

It was time to die.

"I will not. There is nothing you can do to make me tell you. I welcome the pain. I welcome death."

Before the Agiel could come, Rahl's eyes snapped up to Denna. Richard felt her fist loosen on his
hair. One of the guards marched forward, grabbed her by the throat with his big hand, squeezing,
until Richard could hear her struggling to breathe.

Rahl glared at her. "You told me he was broken."

"He was, Master Rahl." She struggled to speak as she was being choked. "I swear."

"I am very disappointed in you, Denna."

As the man lifted her feet off the ground, Richard could hear her sounds of pain.. Again, the power
turned white-hot in him. Denna was being hurt. Before anyone knew what was happening, he was
on his feet, the power of the magic raging through him.

Richard threw one arm around the man's thick neck, grasping his. opposite shoulder. He grabbed
the man's head with his other arm and in a blink gave a powerful twist. The man's neck snapped. He
went down in a heap.

Richard spun. The other guard was almost on him, his hand reaching out. Richard seized the man's
wrist and used his advancing weight to pull his adversary into the knife. He drove it in up to his fist
and gave a mighty pull, cutting all the way up to the man's heart as his blue eyes went wide in
surprise. His insides spilled across the ground when he hit.

Richard stood panting with the power. Everything in his peripheral vision was white. White from
the heat of the magic. Denna had her hands to her throat, clutching at the pain.

Darken Rahl stood calmly, licking the tips of his fingers as he watched Richard.

Denna brought on the pain of the magic enough to take Richard to his knees. He folded his arms
across his gut.

"Master Rahl," Derma gasped, "let me take him back for the night. I swear that in the morning, he
will answer anything you ask him. If he's still alive. Allow me to redeem myself."

"No," Rahl said, deep in thought, waving his hand a little. "I apologize, my pet. This is not your
failing. I had no idea what we were dealing with. Turn off the pain in him."

Richard recovered and returned to his feet. The fog had cleared from his head. He felt as if he were
waking from a dream only to find himself in a nightmare. The rest of him was out of the little
locked room in his mind, and he wasn't putting it away again. He would die with all of his mind, his
dignity, intact. He kept the anger choked off, but there was fire in his eyes. Fire in his heart.

"Did the Old One teach you that?" Rahl asked, a curious frown on his face.

`"Teach me what?"

"To partition your mind. That was how you kept from being broken."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"You put up a partition, to protect the core, sacrificed the rest to what would be done. A Mord-Sith
cannot break a partitioned mind. Punish, yes. Break, no." He turned to Denna. "Once again, I am
sorry, my pet. I thought you had failed me. You have not

None but the most talented could have taken him this far. You have done well, but this makes
matters altogether different."

He smiled, licked his fingertips, smoothed them over his eyebrows. "Richard and I are going to
have a private conversation now. While' he is in this room with me, I wish you to let him speak
without the pain of the magic. It interferes with what I may need to do. While he is here, he is to be
free of your control. You may return to your quarters. When I am done with him, and if he is still
alive, I will send him back to you, as promised."

Denna bowed deeply. "I live to serve, Master Rahl." .

She turned to Richard, her face crimson, and put a finger under his chin, lifting it a little. "Don't
disappoint me, my love."

The Seeker smiled. "Never, Mistress Derma."

He let the anger rage, just to feel it again, as he watched her walk away. Rage at her, and at what
had been done to her. Don't think of the problem, he told himself, think of the solution. Richard
turned to face Darken Rahl. The other's face was calm, and showed nothing. Richard made his do
the same.

"You know I want to know what the rest of the book says."

"Kill me."

Rahl smiled. "So eager to die, are we?"

"Yes. Kill me. Just like you killed my father."

Darken Rahl frowned, the smile still on his lips. "Your father? I have not killed your father,
Richard."

"George Cypher! You killed him! Don't try to deny it! You killed him with that knife at your belt!"

Rahl spread his hands in mock innocence. "Oh, I don't deny killing George Cypher. But I have not
killed your father."

Richard stood caught off guard. "What are you talking about?"

Darken Rahl strolled around him, watching his eyes as Richard tried to follow him by turning his
head. "It's quite good. It really is. The best I have ever seen. Done by the great one himself."

"What?"

Darken Rahl licked his fingers and stopped in front of him. "The wizard's web around you. I've
never seen one like it. It's wound around you tight as a cocoon. Been there a good long time. It's
quite intricate; I don't think even I could untangle it."

"If you are trying to convince me George Cypher is not my father, you have failed. If you are trying
to convince me you are mad, you needn't bother. That much I already know."

"My dear boy," Rahl laughed, "I couldn't care less who you believe your father to be. Nonetheless,
there is a wizard's web hiding the truth from you."

"Really? I'll play along. Who's my father, if it's not George Cypher?"

"I wouldn't know," Rahl shrugged. "The web hides it. But from what I've seen, I have my
suspicions." The smile left. "What does the Book of Counted Shadows say?"

Richard shrugged. "That's your question? You disappoint me."

"How so?"

"Well, after what was done to your bastard father, I thought sure you'd want to know the old
wizard's name."

Darken Rahl glared as he slowly licked his fingertips. "What is the old wizard's name?"

It was Richard's turn to smile. He spread his arms wide. "Cut me open. It's written on my guts. You
will have to find it there."

Richard kept the smirk on his face; he knew he was defenseless and was hoping Rahl would be
driven to kill him. If he was dead, the book died kith him. No box, no book. Rahl was going to die;
Kahlan would be safe then: That was all that mattered.

"In one week, it will be the first day of winter, and I will know the name of the wizard, and have
the power to snatch him from wherever he is, and bring his, hide to me."

"In one week, you will be dead. You have only two boxes.",

Darken Rahl licked his fingers again and smoothed them over his lips. "I have two right now, and
the third is on its way here, as we speak."

Richard tried not to believe him. He let his face show nothing. "A brave boast. But a lie,
nonetheless. In one week, you are going to die."

Rahl raised his eyebrows. "I speak the truth. You have been betrayed. The same one who has
betrayed you to me has also betrayed the box to me. It will be here in a few days."

"I don't believe you," Richard said flatly.

Darken Rahl licked his fingertips and turned, walking around the circle of white sand. "No? Let me
show you something."

Richard followed him to a wedge of white stone upon which sat a flat slab of granite held up by
two short fluted pedestals. In the center of the slab sat two of the boxes of Orden. One was ornately
jeweled like the one Richard had seen before. The other was as black as the night stone, its surface
a void in the light of the room: the box itself, its protective covering removed.

"Two of the boxes of Orden," Rahl announced, holding his hand out to them. "Why would I want
the book? The book would be useless to me without the third box. You had the third box. The one
who betrayed you told me so. If the box were not on its way, why would I need the book? I would
instead cut you open to get the location of the box."

Richard shook with anger. "Who betrayed me and the box? Tell me the name."

"Or what? Or you will cut me open and read the name on my guts? I will not betray the name of
one who has helped me. You are not the only one with honor."

Richard didn't know what to believe. Rahl was right about one thing. He wouldn't need the book if
he didn't have all three boxes. Someone really had betrayed him. It was impossible, but it must be
true.

"Just kill me," Richard. said in a weak voice, turning away. "I'm not going to tell you. You might as
well cut me open."

"First you must convince me you are telling the truth. You could be, deceiving me that you really
know the whole book. You may have read just the first page, and burned the rest, or simply be
inventing what you have told me of it."

Richard folded his arms and looked back over his shoulder. "And what possible reason could I have
for wanting you to believe me?"

Rahl shrugged. "I thought you cared about this Confessor. Kahlan. I had thought you cared what
happened to her. You see, if you can't convince me that .you are telling the truth, then I will have to
cut her open, and have a look at her entrails, see if they have anything to say about this."

Richard glared. "That would be the biggest mistake you could make. You need her to confirm the
troth of the book. If you harm her, you destroy your chance."

Rahl shrugged. "So you say. How would I know you really do know what the book says? It could
even be that this is the manner in which she will confirm the truth."

Richard said nothing, his mind racing in a thousand directions at once. Think of the solution, he
told himself, not the problem.

"How did you get the covering off that box, without the book?"

"The Book of Counted Shadows is not the only source of in-, formation about the boxes. There are
other places that are of aid to me." He looked down at the dark box. "It took a full day, and every
talent I have, to get the covering off." He looked back up, lifting an eyebrow. "It's held on with
magic, you know. But I did it, and I will be able to do it to the other two."

It was discouraging that Rahl had managed to get the covering off. To open a box, the covering had
to be removed. Richard had hoped that without the book, Rahl wouldn't be able to figure out how to
remove the covers, and not be able to open a box. That hope was now lost.

Richard stared blankly at the jeweled box. "Page twelve of the Book of Counted Shadows. Under
the heading Shedding the Covers, it says: The covering on the boxes may be removed by anyone
with the knowledge, not only the one who has put them in play." Richard reached out and lifted the
jeweled box off the granite. "Page seventeen, third paragraph down on the page. -If not, however,
in the hours of darkness, but in the hours of the sun, the covering may be removed from the second
box in the following manner. Hold the box where the sun may touch it, and face north. If there be
clouds, hold the box where the sun would touch it if they were not present, but face the west."
Richard held the box up in the late-day sunlight. "Turn the box that the small end with the blue
stone may face the quadrant with the sun. The yellow stone is to face asp. " Richard turned the box.
"With the second finger of the right hand on the yellow stone in the center of the top, place the
thumb of the right hand on the clear stone in the corner of the bottom. " Richard grasped the box as
directed. "Place the first finger of the left hand on the blue stone on the side facing away, the thumb
of the left hand on the ruby stone of the side closest. " Richard placed his fingers so. "Clear your
mind of all thought, and in its place, put nothing but the image of white with a square of black in its
center. Pull the two hands apart, taking the covering away with them."

As Rahl watched, Richard cleared his mind, pictured white with black in the center, and pulled. The
cover made a clicking sound, and came apart. He held the box just over the granite and pulled the
cover away as if he were putting an egg in a frying pan. Two equally black boxes sat side by side,
seeming as if they would suck the light from the room.

"Remarkable." Rahl breathed. "And you know every part of the book this well?"

"Every word." Richard glared. "What I have told you will be of no aid in removing the third cover,
however. They each come off differently."

Rahl gave a little wave of his hand. "No matter. I will get it off." He held an elbow in one hand and
touched a finger of the other to his chin, absorbed in thought. "You are free to go."

Richard frowned. "What do you mean, I am free to go? Aren't you going to try to get the book out
of me? Kill me?"

Rahl shrugged. "It would do me no good. The ways I have of getting information from you would
damage your brain. The information would be disjointed. ° If it were anything else, I would be able
to put the pieces together, and figure it out, but I can see the book is too specific for that. The
information would only end up being spoiled, and of no use to me. You, therefore, are of no use to
me right now, so you may go."

Richard was worried. There was something more to this. "Just like that? I may go? You must know
I will try to stop you."

Rahl licked his fingers. His eyes came up. "I'm not worried about anything you could do. But you
must be back here in one week, when I open the boxes, if you care at all what happens to
everyone."

Richard narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean, if I care what happens to everyone?"

"In one week, on the first day of winter, I'm going to open one of the boxes. I have been able to
learn, from sources other than the Book of Counted Shadows, the same sources that told me how I
might remove the cover, how to tell which box it is that would kill me. Beyond that, I will have to
guess. If I open the right one, I will rule unchallenged. If I open the other, the world will be
destroyed."

"You would let that happen?"

Darken Rahl's eyebrows lifted as he leaned toward Richard. "One world, or no world. That is the
way it shall be."

"I don't believe you. You don't know which box will destroy you."

"Even if I were lying, I would still have two chances in three of having my way. You would have
only one in three of it working out in your favor. Not good odds, for you. But, I'm not lying. Either
the world is destroyed, or I rule it. You must decide which you would rather have happen. If you
don't help me, and I open the wrong box, I will be destroyed, along with everyone else, including
those you care for. If you don't help me, and I open the one I want, then I will turn Kahlan over to
Constance, for training. A good long training. You will watch the whole thing before I kill you.
Then Kahlan will bear me a son, an heir. A son who will be a Confessor."

Richard went cold with pain worse than any Denna had given him. "You are trying to make me an
offer of some sort?"

Rahl nodded. "If you come back in time, and help me, you will be permitted to go about your life. I
will let you be."

"What about Kahlan?"

"She will live here, in the People's Palace, and be treated like a queen. She will have every comfort
any woman could' have; the kind of life a Confessor is used to. Something you could never provide
her. She will live a life of peace and safety, and she will bear me the Confessor son I wish. Either
way, she will bear me a son. That is my choice. Your choice is how: as Constance's pet, or as a
queen. So you see? I think you will be back. And if I am wrong..." He shrugged. "One world, or no
world."

Richard could hardly breathe. "I don't think you know which box will destroy you."

"You will have to decide what you will believe. I feel no need to convince you." His expressiondarkened. "Choose wisely, my young friend. You may not like the choices I have given you, but
you will like the results of not helping me even less. Not all choices in life are ones you would like,
but those are all that are presented to you. Sometimes you must choose what is better for the ones
you love than yourself."

"I still don't think you know which box will kill you," Richard Whispered.

"Think what you will, but ask yourself if you are willing to bet Kahlan's future with Constance on
what you think. Even if you were right, it still gives you only one chance in three."

Richard felt empty, devastated. "Am I free to go now?"

"Well, there are a few other matters you may want to know about."

Richard felt himself abruptly paralyzed, as if invisible hands were gripping him. He couldn't move
a muscle. Darken Rahl reached into Richard's pocket and took out the leather pouch with the night
stone. Richard fought against the force that held him, but could not move. Rahl dumped the night
stone in-his hand. He held it up in his palm, smiling.

Shadow things began to materialize. They gathered around Rahl, their numbers growing. Richard
wished he could back away, but he couldn't move.

"Time to go home, my friends."

The shadows began swirling around Rahl, faster and faster, until they were a blur of gray. A howl
rose as they were sucked into the night stone in a whirl of shadows and shapes. Silence. They were
gone. The night stone turned to ash in Rahl's palm. He blew on it and the ash puffed into the air.

"The Old One has been checking on you, using the night stone to find where you are. The next time
he searches, he is going to have a very unpleasant experience. He is going to find himself in the
underworld."

Richard was furious at what Darken Rahl was doing to Zedd, and he was furious that he couldn't
move, that he was helpless and could only watch.

Richard relaxed his mind, shed the effort of trying to move, and replaced it with calm. He let his
mind be empty, let himself be soft, limp. The force melted away. He took a step forward, free of the
grip that had held him.

Rahl smiled warmly. "Very good, my boy. You know how to break a wizard's web, at least a little
one. But very good nonetheless. The Old One chooses his Seekers well." He nodded

"But you are more than a Seeker. You have the gift. I look forward to the day we will be on the
same side. I will enjoy having you around. The ones I have to deal with are very limited. After the
world is joined, I will teach you more, if you wish."

"We will never be on the same side. Never."

"That is your choice, Richard. I bear no ill will toward you. I hope we will become friends." Rahl
studied Richard's face. "There is one more thing. You may stay in the People's Palace, or you may
leave if you wish. My guards will accommodate you. You will, however, have a wizard's web
around you. Unlike the one you just broke, it will not affect you; but those who see you, and
therefore you will not be able to break it. It's called an enemy web. All will see you as their enemy.
That means that when your allies see you, they will see an enemy. Those who honor me will see
you as yourself, since you are my enemy, for the time being, and therefore already their enemy. At
least for now. But those who are your friends will see you as the person they fear most, their worst
enemy. I would like you to see the way people think of me, see the world through my eyes, see how
unjustly I am regarded."

Richard didn't have to try to hold back the anger; there was none. He felt an odd sort of peace. "Am
I free to go now?"

"Of course, my boy."

"What about Mistress Denna?"

"Once you leave this room, you will be back under her power. She still controls the magic of your
sword. Once a Mord-Sith has your magic, it is hers to keep. I cannot take it from her to give it back
to you. You must get it back yourself."

"Then how am I free to leave?"

"Isn't it obvious? If you want to leave, you must kill her."

"Kill her!" Richard was stunned. "Don't you think if I could kill her, I would have done so by now?
Do you think I would have endured what she has done to me if I could have killed her?"

Darken Rahl smiled a little smile. "You have always been able to kill her."

"How?"

"There is nothing that exists that has only one side. Even a piece of paper, thin as it is, has two
sides. Magic is not one dimensional either. You have been looking at only one side of it; most
people do. Look at the whole." He pointed at the bodies of his two guards. The guards Richard had
killed. "She controls your magic, yet you did this."

"But that's different, it won't work against her."

Rahl nodded. "Yes, it will. But you must be its master; half measures will get you in a lot of
trouble. She controls you with one dimension of your magic, the side you offered her. You must
use the other side. It is something all Seekers have been capable of, but none. has ever succeeded in
mastering. Perhaps you will be the first."

"And if I'm not? If I don't succeed at it?" Darken Rahl was sounding altogether too much like Zedd
for Richard's comfort. This was the way Zedd had always taught him-by making him think for
himself, find the answers in his own way, with his own mind.

"Then, my young friend, you are going to be in for a very rough week. Denna is not pleased at how
you embarrassed her. At the end of the week, she will bring you to me, and you will tell me your
decision; to help, or to let all your friends suffer and die."

"Just tell me how to use the magic of the sword, how to master it."

"Of course. Right after you tell me the knowledge in the Book of Counted Shadows." Rahl smiled.
"I didn't think so. Good night, Richard. Don't forget, one week."

The sun was fading as Richard left the garden and Darken Rahl. His mind was spinning with all the
things he had learned. That Darken Rahl knew which box would kill him was troublesome, but he
reasoned that Rahl might be using the Wizard's First Rule on him. Worse was that one of his own
had betrayed him. He liked that not one bit. What he liked less was that he knew who it had to be.
Shota had told him that Zedd and Kahlan would use their power against him. It had to be Zedd or
Kahlan. He couldn't make that fit, no matter how he tried, no matter how he reasoned it out. It
couldn't be either, yet it had to be one. He loved them both more than his need to live. Zedd had
told him he had to be prepared to kill any of them if they jeopardized winning, even if he thought
there was only a chance that they did. He forced the thought out of his mind.

He had to think of a way to get away from Denna. He could be of no help, and none of the rest of it
mattered if he couldn't get away from Denna. It would do him no good to think of the other
problems if he couldn't get away, and if he didn't figure it , out soon, then Denna was going to hurt
him, and he wouldn't be able to think anymore. The things she did to him made it too hard to think,
made him forget things. He had to concentrate on that problem first, and worry about the others
later.

The sword, he thought Denna controlled the magic of the sword. He didn't need the sword; maybe
he could just get rid of it, get rid of the magic she controlled. He reached for the hilt, but the pain of
the magic stopped him before he could even touch it.

He walked on through the halls, toward Denna's quarters. It was still a long way. Maybe he could
simply go another way, leave the People's Palace. Darken Rahl had told him none of the guards
would stop him. When the next intersection of halls came, he started to turn down one. The pain
dropped him to his knees. With great effort, he managed to get back to the hall he was supposed to
be in. He had to stop and rest, the pain having taken his breath away.

Close, just ahead, the way he was going, the bell for the evening devotion rang. He would go to the
devotion; that would give him time to think. He knelt, relieved that the pain of the magic didn't
come on. It was one of the squares with water. He liked them best; they were the most peaceful.
Close to the edge of the water, with people all about, Richard put his head to the tile floor and
began chanting, clearing his mind, letting himself go empty. He used the chanting to melt his
worries, his fears, his concerns. He put his thoughts of all the problems away, let his mind seek
peace, let it wander where it would. The devotion was over, it seemed, in no time. He stood;
refreshed, renewed, and started off again toward Denna's quarters.

The halls he passed through, the rooms and stairways, were breathtakingly beautiful, and Richard
again marveled at them as he passed. He wondered at how someone as vile as Darken Rahl would
care to surround himself with such loveliness.

Nothing was one-dimensional. Two sides to the magic

Richard thought about the times the strange power had come awake in him. When he had felt sorry
for Princess Violet, when the Queen's guard had tried to harm Denna, when he had felt the pain of
what had been done to Denna, when he thought of Rahl hurting Kahlan, when Rahl's guards had
tried to hurt Denna. He remembered that each time it had made part of his vision turn white.

Each time, he knew, it was the magic of the sword. But in the past the magic of the sword had been
rage, too. Yet this was a different kind of rage. He thought of how he used to feel when he drew the
sword in anger. The wrath, the fury, the want to kill.

The hate.

Richard stopped dead still in the center of the quiet hall. It was late and there were no people
around. He was alone. He felt a wave of cold wash through him,- prickling his skin.

Two sides. He understood.

The spirits help him, he understood.

He brought it forth, let it cast everything in a white sheen.

-+---
Cradled numbly in the white haze of the magic, pearly in a trance, Richard pushed the door to
Denna's quarters closed behind himself. He calmly held the power, held the whiteness of it, held the
joy and the sorrow of it. The quiet room was lit by one lamp on the bedside table, giving the softly
scented air a warm, flickering glow. Denna sat completely naked in the center of the bed. Her legs
were crossed, her braid undone, and her hair brushed out. The Agiel was on a gold chain around her
neck, hanging between her breasts. Her hands lay nested in her lap. She watched him with big,
wistful eyes.

"You have come to kill me, my love?" she whispered.

He nodded slowly, watching her. "Yes, Mistress."

She smiled a little. "That is the first time you have ever called me simply `Mistress.' You have
always called me Mistress Denna, in the past. It means something?"

"Yes. It means everything, my mate. It means I forgive you everything." "I have made myself
ready."

"Why are you naked?"

The lamplight reflected in the wetness of her eyes. "Because everything I have to wear is MordSith. I have nothing else. I did not wish to die in the clothes of a Mord-Sith. I -wish to die as I was
born. Denna. Nothing more." .

"I understand," he whispered. "How did you know I was coming to kill you?"

"When Master Rahl chose me to go after you, he said he wouldn't order me to go, but that I must
volunteer. He said the prophecies foretold of a Seeker who would be the first to master the magic of
the sword: the white magic. That this one would cause the blade of the sword to turn white. He said
that if you turned out to be the one of whom the prophecies spoke, it would mean that I was to die
by your hand, if you so chose. I asked to be sent, to be your Mord-Sith. Some of the things I have
done to you, I have done to no other, in the hope you would be the one and kill me for it. When you
did what you did to the Princess, I suspected. When you killed the two guards today, I knew. You
should not have been able to. I was holding you by the sword's magic at the time."

Everything was white around the childlike beauty of her face. "I'm so sorry, Denna," he whispered.

"You will remember me?"

"I will have nightmares the rest of my life."

Her smile widened. "I'm glad." She seemed genuinely proud. "You love this woman, Kahlan?"

He frowned a little. "How do you know that?"

"Sometimes, when I hurt men enough, and they don't know what they're saying, they cry for their
mothers, or their wives. You cried for one named Kahlan. You will choose her for your mate?"

"I cannot," he said past the lump in his throat. "She is a Confessor. Her power would destroy me."

"I'm sorry. This hurts you?"

He nodded slowly. "More than anything you have done to me."

"Good." Denna smiled sadly. "I'm glad the one you love is able to give you more pain than was L"
Richard knew that in her twisted way, Denna meant this as a comfort to him; that for her to be
happy that he would get more pain from another was a giving of her love. He knew that Denna
sometimes gave him pain to show that she cared for him. In her eyes, at least, if this other woman
could give him more pain, that was a demonstration of love.

A tear ran down his face. What had they done to this poor child?

"It is a different kind of pain. None could be your equal in the things you have done."

A tear of pride rolled down her cheek. "Thank you, my love," she breathed. She took the Agiel
from her neck and held it up hopefully. "Would you wear this, to remember me by? It will not hurt
you around your neck, or if you hold the chain, only if you hold the Agiel itself in your hand."

Richard held her face in the white glow. "It would be my honor, my mate." He bent, letting her put
it over his head, letting her give his cheek a kiss.

"How will you do it?" she asked.

He knew what she meant. He swallowed back the lump in his throat. His hand went smoothly to the
hilt of the sword.

Slowly, he drew the Sword of Truth. It didn't ring, the way it always had in the past.

It hissed. A white-hot hiss.

Richard didn't look, but he knew, knew the blade had turned white. He held her wet eyes. The
power flooded through him. He was at peace. All anger, all hate, all malice, was gone. Where he
had felt these things from the sword before, he now felt only love for this child, this vessel into
whom others had poured pain, this receptacle of cruelty, this innocent, tortured soul, who had been
trained to do the things she hated above all else: hurting others. His empathy with her made him
ache with sorrow for her; with love for her.

"Denna," he whispered. "You could just let me go; there is no need to do this. Please. Let me go.
Don't make me have to do this."

She held her chin up. "If you try to leave, I will stop you with the pain of the magic, and make you
sorry you have been trouble to me. I am Mord-Sith. I am your mistress. I can be no more than who
I am. You can be no less, my mate."

He nodded sadly, and put the tip of the sword between her breasts, the tears in his eyes and the
white glow making it difficult to see.

Denna gently took the tip of the sword and moved it up a few inches. "My heart is here, my love."

Holding the sword against her, he bent and put his left arm tenderly around her soft shoulders. He
held the power with all his strength as he kissed her cheek.

"Richard," she whispered, "I have never had a mate like you before. I'm glad I will have no other.
You are a very rare person. You are the only person since I was chosen who has cared that I was in
pain, or done anything to stop it. Thank you for last night, for teaching me what it could be like."

Tears dripped from his face. He held her close. "Forgive me, my love."

She smiled. "Everything. Thank you for calling me `my love.' It is good to hear it once in truth
before I die. Twist the sword, to be sure it is finished. And Richard, please, take my last breath? As
I have taught you? I wish you to have my last breath of life."

In a daze, he put his mouth over hers, kissing her, and didn't . even feel his right hand moving.
There was no resistance. The sword went through her as if she were gossamer. He felt his hand
twist the sword, and he took, her last breath of life.

He laid her gently back on the bed, lay down next to her, and cried uncontrollably as he stroked her
ashen face.

He grieved to undo what he had done

CHAPTER 4

4
IT WAS DEEP IN the night when he left Denna's quarters. The halls were empty except for
flickering shadows. Richard's footsteps echoed from the polished stone floors and walls as he
walked in a mournful daze, watching his shadow rotate around himself as he passed torches, feeling
comfort only at having his pack on his back once more, and to be leaving the People's Palace. He
didn't know where he was 'going, only that he was going to go away from here.

The pain of an Agiel in the small of his back slammed him to a halt, and brought sweat instantly to
his face as he tried to take a breath, but couldn't. Fire seared through his hips and legs.

"Going somewhere?" came a ruthless whisper.

Constance.

His shaking hand struggled to reach his sword. She laughed as she watched him. A vision of giving
her control of the magic, of the whole nightmare starting over again, flashed through his mind. His
hand backed away from the sword and kept the anger of the magic in check. She came around to
stand before him, her arm around him, holding the Agiel against his back, keeping his legs
paralyzed. She was wearing her red leather.

"No? Not ready to try to use the magic on me yet? You will. You will try before long; you will try
to save yourself with it," She smiled. "Save yourself the extra pain, use it now. Maybe I will have
mercy on you if you try it now."

Richard thought about all the ways Denna had given him pain, and how she had taught him to
tolerate it, so she could give him more. He brought to bear everything he had learned. He controlled
the pain, blocking it enough to draw a deep breath.

He swept his left arm around Constance, forcing her body tight against himself. He grabbed the
Agiel in his fist, Denna's Agiel, hanging from his neck. Pain shot up his arm. He endured it,
dismissed it. Constance gave a grunt as he lifted her off her feet, pulling her up his body. She tried
to press her Agiel harder into his back, but she didn't have the leverage, and he had her arm pinned,
so she couldn't move it.

When he had her lifted high enough, her contorted face in front of his, he pressed Derma's Agiel to
her chest. Her eyes widened. Her expression slackened. Richard remembered Denna holding her
Agiel against Queen Milena in this manner. It had the same effect on Constance. She shook, easing
the pressure against his back. Still, it was hurting him, as was the Agiel in his hand.

Richard gritted his teeth against the pain. "I'm not going to kill you with the sword. To do that, I
would have to forgive you everything. I could never bring myself to forgive you for betraying a
friend. I could forgive your deeds against me, but not those against your friend, Denna. That is the
one thing I could never forgive."

Constance gasped with the agony. "Please . . ."

"Promise made . . ." he sneered.

"No . . . please . . . don't."

Richard twisted the Agiel as he had seen Denna do to the Queen. Constance flinched, and went
limp in his grip. Blood ran from her ears. He let her lifeless body slip to the ground.

"Promise kept."

Richard stared a long time at the Agiel held tightly in his fist, before he realized it was causing
pain, and released it at last to hang from its chain around his neck.

He looked down at the dead Mord-Sith as he caught his breath. Thank you, Denna, he thought, for
teaching me to endure the pain. You have saved my life.

It took him the better part of an hour to find his way out of the labyrinth of halls, out into the frigid
night, to the expanse of grounds. He kept a tight grip on the hilt of the sword as he went past two
big guards at the open gate through the outer wall, but they only gave a polite nod of their heads, as
if he were an invited guest departing after a royal dinner.

He stopped, gazing out at the starlit country before him. He had never been so happy to see stars.
He turned about, looking at everything. The People's Palace, surrounded by imposing sheer walls,
sat atop an immense plateau that dropped off before him to a plain. The plateau stood hundreds of
feet above the barren land, but there was a road cut into the cliffs, switching back and forth,
descending to the flat land.

"Horse, sir?"

Richard spun around. One of the guards had spoken to him. "What?"

"I asked if you would like a horse brought up, sir. You look to be leaving. It's a long walk."

"What's a long walk?"

The guard gave a nod at the drop. "The Azrith Plains. You're looking to the west, across the Azrith
Plains. It's a long walk across. Would you like a horse?"

It unnerved him that Darken Rahl had so little concern for what he might do that he would let him
have a horse. "Yes, I would like a horse."

The guard blew a small whistle in a series of short and long bursts to anther man on the wall.
Richard heard the short tune repeated into the distance.

The guard resumed his post. "Won't be long, sir."

"How far to the Rang'Shada Mountains?"

The man frowned a little. "Where in the Rang'Shada? They run a long way."

"Northwest of Tamarang. As close as they come to Tamarang." He rubbed his chin in thought.
"Four, maybe five days." He considered the other guard. "Wouldn't you says"

The other shrugged. "If he rides hard, day and night, and changes horses often, maybe five, but I
doubt it could be done in four."

Richard's heart sank. Of course Rahl didn't care if he had. a horse. Where was he going to go?
Michael and the Westland army were four or five days away, in the Rang' Shada. He couldn't get to
them, and back, before the week was out, before the first day of winter.

But Kahlan had to be closer. Rahl had sent that man with the black stripe in his hair, and two quads,
to get her. What was she doing this close? He hack told them not to come after him. His anger
flashed at Chase for not following his instructions, for not keeping them all away. Then his anger
wilted. If it were him, he wouldn't have been able to sit back and not know what had happened to a
friend. Maybe they weren't in the mountains, but all on their way. But what good was an army
going to do? Ten good men in a place like this could hold off an army for a month.

Two soldiers in full battle armor came riding through the gate, bringing a third horse with them.

"Would you like an escort, sir?" the guard asked. "They're good men."

"No." Richard glared. "I will be going alone."

The guard waved the soldiers off.

"You'll be going west-southwest, then?" Richard didn't answer, so he went on. "Tamarang. The
place in the Rang'Shada you asked about. It's to the west-southwest. Piece of advice, if I may, sir?"

"Go on," Richard said cautiously.

"If you go that way, across the Azrith Plains, then near morning, you'll come to a boulder field
among sharp hills. There'll be a split in the road in a deep canyon. Take to the left."

Richard's eyes narrowed. "Why?"

`Because to the right, there be a dragon. A red dragon. A red dragon of a bad temper. Master Rahl's
dragon."

Richard mounted the horse and stared down at the guard. "Thanks for the advice. I'll remember."

He put heel to the horse and took to the steep road, down the side of the plateau, down the
switchbacks. Beyond one, he saw a drawbridge being lowered as he approached. By the time he
reached it, it was down and he never slowed, galloping the horse across the, heavy wooden planks.
He could see that the load was the only practical way up the cliffs of the plateau, and the yawning
gap spanned by the bridge would prove an impasse to any advancing army. Even without the
formidable force of defenders he knew was behind him, even without Darken Rahl's magic, the
simple inaccessibility of the People's Palace was defense enough.

As he rode, Richard unbuckled the hated collar and flung it into the night. He vowed that he would
never again wear a collar. Not for anyone. Not for any reason.

Running the horse across the plain, Richard looked over his shoulder at the black shape of the
People's Palace atop the plateau, looming up, blotting out an entire quadrant of stars. The cold air
against his face made his eyes water. Or else it was his thoughts about Denna. Try as he might, he
couldn't get her out of his mind. If it weren't for Kahlan, and Zedd, he would have killed himself
back there; he was hurting that much.

Killing with the sword in anger, out of rage and hate, was horrible. Killing with the sword's white
magic, out of love, was beyond horror. The blade had returned to its polished silver gloss, but he
knew how to make it white again. He hoped he would die before that was ever required. He didn't
know if he could ever bring himself to do it again.

And yet, here he was, racing across the night, on his way to find Zedd and Kahlan, to find which of
them had betrayed the box to Darken Rahl, had betrayed everyone to Darken Rahl.

The whole thing didn't make any sense. Why would Rahl use the night stone to trap Zedd, if Zedd
was the traitor? And why would he send men after Kahlan, if she was the one? Yet Shota had said
each would try to kill him. It had to be one of them. What was he to do? Turn the sword white, and
kill both? He knew that was foolish. He would rather die himself first than harm either. But what if
Zedd was betraying them, and the only way to save Kahlan would be to kill his old friend? Or what
if it was the other way around? Would he still rather die first, then?

The important thing was to stop Rahl. He had to recover the last box. He had to stop wasting his
energy thinking about things he couldn't know. All that mattered was stopping Rahl; then
everything else would fall into place. He had found the box once; he would have to find it again.

But how? There was no time. How was he going to find Zedd and Kahlan? He was one man on a
horse, and there was a whole country to search. They wouldn't be traveling by road, not if Chase
was with them. Chase would keep them off the roads, well hidden. Richard didn't know the roads,
much less the trails.

This was a fool's task. There was too much country to search.

Darken Rahl had planted too many doubts in him. Swirling thoughts twisted on themselves, became
more and more confusing, hopeless. He felt that his own mind was his worst enemy right now.
Richard cleared his mind and chanted the devotion to keep himself from thinking. He smiled at the
stupidity of chanting a devotion to a man he wanted to kill, but he chanted anyway as he rode on
into the night. 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.

Twice, he walked the horse to rest it, but pushed on hard the rest of the time.. The Azrith Plains
seemed endless. The flat country, devoid of almost all vegetation, stretched on forever. The
chanting helped him keep his mind clear of all thoughts, except one: the horror of killing Denna.
That memory he couldn't shake. Those tears he couldn't keep back.

Dawn brought him his own shadow to chase. Boulders appeared, looking out of place on the flat
ground, casting long shadows of their own. They gathered in numbers as he rode. The terrain began
undulating, opening up in gullies, rising in ridges. He rode through narrow passes and rifts, down a
canyon with walls of crumbling rock. The road took- a bend to the left, with a narrower road to the
right. Richard took the horse to the left, remembering what the guard had told him.

Out of the clearness of his mind, a thought came to him. Richard brought the horse to a skidding
halt. He looked off down the right road. He thought about it a minute, then pulled the reins to the
right, urging the animal on, down the right-hand road.

Darken Rahl had told him he was free to go where he pleased

He had even let him have a horse so he might go where he wished. Maybe Darken Rahl wouldn't
mind if Richard borrowed his dragon.

Letting the horse pick its own way, he watched carefully all about, resting his hand on the hilt of
the sword. Surely a red dragon wouldn't be hard to spot. There was no sound but the horse's hooves
on the hard ground. Richard didn't know how far it was, and rode for a long time among the rubble
of boulders on the canyon floor. He began to worry that the dragon was gone, that maybe Rahl
himself was riding it somewhere. Maybe to get the box. He didn't know if his present course was a
good idea, but it was the only idea he could think of.

A blinding burst of fire erupted with a deafening roar. The horse reared. Richard leapt off, landed
on his feet, and scrambled behind a boulder as the air was filled with flying stones and fire. Shards
of rock ricocheted past his head. He heard the horse thud to the ground and smelled burnt hair. It
screamed a terrible neigh until there was a snapping of bones. Richard crouched tighter against the
rock, afraid to look.

As he listened to the periodic roar of fire, the breaking of bones, the ripping of flesh, Richard
decided that this had been a very stupid idea. He could hardly believe the dragon was so well
hidden that he hadn't even seen it. He wondered if it had seen him dive behind the boulder. At least
for the moment, it didn't seem so. He searched about for a way to escape, but the terrain was too
open to run without being seen. The sound of the horse being eaten made his stomach turn. At last
it ended. He wondered if dragons took naps after they ate. 'There were a few snorts. The snorts
came closer. Richard tried to make himself smaller.

Talons rasped over the boulder he was hiding behind and lifted it right off the ground, tossing it
aside. Richard looked up into piercing yellow eyes: Almost everything else was an intense red. The
head, with flexible black-tipped spikes around the base of the jaw and on the back of its skull
behind the ears, was at the end of a long, thick neck rising from an immense body. The sinewy tail
terminated in black-tipped spikes, like the ones on the head, only stiff and hard. The tail swished
idly, pushing rocks aside. As it flexed its wings, powerful muscles rippled beneath the glossy, red
interlocking scales on its shoulders. Razor-sharp teeth, stained red from its recent meal, sprouted
just inside the snarling lips and lined the long muzzle. The beast snorted. Smoke rose from nostrils
at the end of the tapered snout.

"What have we here?" came a decidedly female voice. "A tasty treat?"

Richard sprang to his feet and drew the sword, sending its ring into the air.

"I need your help."

"Only too glad to help you, little man. But not until after I eat you.,,

'I'm warning you, stay back! This sword has magic."

"Magic!" the dragon gasped in mock fright. It put a claw to its breast. "Oh, please, brave man, don't
slay me with your magic sword!" It made a smoky rumble that Richard took for laughter.

Richard kept the sword out, but felt suddenly foolish. "You intend to eat me, than?"

"Well, I must admit, more for the amusement than the taste."

"I had heard red dragons were an independent sort, but that you are little more than a lapdog to
Darken Rahl." A ball of flame boiled from the mouth, rising into the air. "I thought you might like
to be free of your bonds, and be independent once more."

The head, bigger than he, Richard was frightened to note, came closer, to within a few yards. Its
ears swiveled forward. A glossy red tongue, split at the end like a snake's, slithered out toward him,
making a curious investigation. Richard held the sword out of the way as the tongue raked up his
body from his crotch to his throat. It was a gentle touch, for a dragon, yet it knocked him back a
few steps.

"And how would a little man like you be able to do that?"

"I'm trying to stop Darken Rahl, kill him. If you helped me, then you would be free."

The dragon threw its head up, smoke puffing from its nostrils as it rumbled in laughter. The ground
shook. It looked down at him, blinked, then threw its head back again, rumbling in laughter once
more.

The rumbling died out and the head returned, the eyebrows bunching up in an angry frown. "I don't
think so. I don't think I would like to put my fate in a little man like you. I would rather put my
future in continuing to serve Master Rahl." It made a grunt, blowing small clouds of dust away to
the sides at Richard's feet. "The entertainment is over. Time for my tasty treat."

"All right. I'm prepared to die." Richard had to think of a stall, to give himself time to think. Why
would a red dragon be at the service of Darken Rahl? "But before you eat me, may I tell you
something first?"

"Speak," the dragon snorted. "But make it short."

"I'm from Westland. I've never seen a dragon before. I always thought they would be fearsome
creatures, and I must admit, you certainly are fearsome, but there is one thing I wasn't prepared
for."

"And what would that be?" ,,

"You are, without a doubt, the most stunningly beautiful creature I have ever seen."

It was the truth. Despite the deadly nature of it, it was strikingly beautiful. The neck of the dragon
made itself into an S shape as it pulled its head back, blinking in surprise. The eyes frowned a little,
doubting.

"It's true," Richard said. "I'm to be eaten. I have no reason to lie. You are beautiful. I never thought
I would see anything as magnificent as you. Do you have a name?"

"Scarlet."

"Scarlet. What a lovely name. Are all red dragons as stunning as you, or are you special?"

Scarlet put a claw to her breast. "That would not be for me to say." The head snaked its way toward
him again. "I have never had a man I was about to eat tell me such a thing."

An idea began forming in Richard's mind. He put the sword back in its scabbard. "Scarlet, I know a
creature as proud as you would not be at the beck of anyone, much less one as demanding as
Darken Rahl, unless there was terrible need. You are too beautiful and noble a creature for that."

Scarlet's head floated closer. "Why would you say such things to me?"

"Because I believe in the truth. I think you do too."

"What is your name?"

"Richard Cypher. I am the Seeker." Scarlet put a black-tipped talon to her teeth. "Seeker." She
frowned. "I don't believe I've ever eaten a Seeker before." A strange, dragon's smile crossed her
lips. "It will be a treat. Our talk is over, Richard Cypher. Thank you for the compliment." The head
floated closer, the lips pulling back in a snarl.

"Darken Rahl stole your egg, didn't he?"

Scarlet pulled back. She blinked at him, then threw her head back, jaws wide. An earsplitting roar
made the scales on her throat vibrate. Fire shot skyward in a booming blast. The sound echoed off
the cliff walls, causing little rock slides.

Scarlet's head whipped back to him, smoke rising from the nostrils. "What do you know about
that!"

"I know that a proud creature such as you would not subject herself to such demeaning duties,
except for one reason. To protect something important. Like her. young."

"So you know. That will not save you," she snarled.

"I also know where Darken Rahl is keeping your egg."

"Where!" Richard had to dive to the side to avoid the flames. "Tell me where it is!"

"I thought you wanted to eat me now."

One 'eye came close. "Someone should teach you not to be flippant," she rumbled.

"Sorry, Scarlet. It's a bad habit that has brought me to grief in the past. Look, if I help you get your
egg back, then Rahl would have no hold on you. If I could do that, would it be worth helping me?"

"Helping you how?"

"Well, you fly Rahl around. That's what I need. I need you to fly me around for a few days, help me
look for some friends of mine, so I can protect them from Rahl. I need to be able to cover a lot of
ground, search a lot of area. I think if I could do it from the sky, like a bird, I could find them, and
have enough time to stop Rahl."

"I don't like flying men about. It's humiliating."

"Six days from now, it will all be over, one way or another. It you help me, that's all I would need.
After that; it won't matter, one way or the other. How long will you have to serve Rahl if you don't
help me?" "All right. Tell me where my egg is, and I will let you go. Let you live."

"How would you know I was telling the truth? I could just invent a place, to save myself."

"Like dragons, real Seekers have honor. That much I know. So, if you really know, tell me and I
will free you."

"No."

"No!" Scarlet roared. "What do you mean `No'?"

"I don't care about my life. Just as you, I care about things more important. If you want me to help
you get your egg back, then you will have to agree to help me save the ones I care about. We will
get the egg first, then you help me. I think it more than a fair trade. The life of your offspring, in
exchange for flying me about for a few days."

Scarlet's piercing yellow eye came close to his face; her ears swiveled forward. "And how do you
know that once I have my egg, I will keep my end of the bargain?"'

"Because," Richard whispered, "you know what it is like to fear for the safety of another, and you
have honor. I have no choice. I don't know any other way to save my friends from living the rest of
their lives as you are living now-under the heel of. Darken Rahl. I will be putting my life at great
risk to save your egg. I believe you to be a creature of honor. I will trust your word, with my life."

Scarlet gave a snort, backing away a little, peering at him. She folded her huge wings against
herself. Her tail swished about, knocking stones and a few small boulders skidding across the
ground. Richard waited. One arm cane forward; a single black tipped talon, thick as his leg, sharp
as his sword point, hooked through the sword's baldric, and gave a snug pull. Her head came close.

"Bargain struck. On your honor, on mine," Scarlet hissed. "But I have not given my word I will not
eat you at the end of the six days."

"If you help me save my friends, and stop Rahl, I don't care what you do to me after that." Scarlet
snorted. "Are short-tailed gars a threat to dragons?"

The dragon unhooked her talon from him, "Gars." She spat the name. "I have eaten enough of
them. They are no match for me, not unless there were eight of ten together, but gars don't like to
gather together in numbers, so that's not a problem."

"It's a problem now. When I saw your egg, there were dozens of gars around it."

Scarlet gave a grunt, and tongues of flame licked out between her teeth. "Dozens. That many could
pull me from the sky. Especially if I were carrying my egg."

Richard smiled. "That's why you need me. I will think of a plan."

-+---
Zedd screamed. Kahlan and Chase both jerked back. Kahlan's brow wrinkled. He had never done
this before when he had sought out the night stone. The sun was already down, but in the fading
light she could see his skin was nearly as white as his hair.

She grasped him by the shoulders. "Zedd! What is it?"

He didn't answer. His head fell to the side as his eyes rolled back. He still wasn't breathing, but that
much was normal; he hadn't breathed in the past when he sought the night stone. She exchanged a
worried glance with Chase. Kahlan could feel Zedd shivering under her hands. She shook him
again.

"Zedd! Stop it! Come back!"

He gave a gasp, then whispered something. Kahlan put her ear by his mouth. He whispered again.

Kahlan was horrified. "Zedd, I can't do that to you."

"What did he say?" Chase demanded.

She looked up at the boundary warden, her eyes wide in fear. "He said to touch him with my
power."

"Underworld!" Zedd gasped. "Only way."

"Zedd, what's happening?"

"I'm trapped," he whispered. "Touch me or I'm lost. Hurry."

"You better do as he says," Chase warned.

Kahlan didn't like that idea one bit. "Zedd, I can't do that to you!"

"It's the only way to break the hold. Hurry."

"Do it!" Chase bellowed. "There's no time to argue!" "May the good spirits forgive me," she
whispered as she closed her eyes.

She felt trapped by panic; she had no choice. Dreading what she was going to do, her mind fell
silent, calm. In the calm, she relaxed her restraint. She felt her power build, taking her breath away.
Released, the power slammed into the wizard. There was a hard impact to the air all about. Thunder
with no sound. Pine needles rained down all about. Leaning over them, Chase gave a little grunt of
pain; he was closer than he should have been. Silence fell over the woods. Still the wizard did not
breathe.

Zedd stopped shaking, his eyes came down, he blinked a few times, his hands came up and he
gripped Kahlan's arms. With a gasp, he took a breath.

"Thank you, dear one," he managed through the deep breaths.

Kahlan was surprised that. the power, the magic, didn't seem to have taken him. It should have. She
was relieved it hadn't, but astonished.

"Zedd, are you all right?"

The wizard gave a nod. "Thanks to you. But if you hadn't been here, or had waited any longer, I
would have been trapped in the underworld. Your power has brought me back."

"Why didn't it change you?"

Zedd straightened his robes, seeming a little embarrassed at his helpless predicament. "Because of
where I was." He held his chin up. "And because- I'm a wizard of the First Order. I used your
Confessor's power as a lifeline, to find my way back. It was like a beacon of light in the darkness. I
followed it back without letting it touch me."

"What were you doing in the underworld?" Chase asked before she had a chance.

Zedd gave a cross look to the boundary warden, and didn't answer. '

Kahlan's worry surged. "Zedd, answer the question. This never happened before. Why were you
pulled into the underworld?"

"When I seek the night stone, part of me goes to it. That's how I find it, and can tell where it is."

Kahlan tried not to think of what he was saying. "But the night stone is still in D'Hara. Richard is
still in D'Hara." She grabbed fists full of his robes. "Zedd . . ."

Zedd's eyes went to the ground. "The night stone is no longer in D'Hara. It's in the underworld." His
angry eyes came up to her. "But that doesn't mean Richard is not still in Dollars! It doesn't mean
anything has happened to him! Only the night stone."

With a strained expression, Chase turned to setting up the camp before darkness fell. Kahlan still
held Zedd's robes, frozen in terror.

"Zedd . . . please. Could you be wrong?"

He shook his head slowly. "The night: stone is in the underworld: But dear one, that doesn't mean
Richard is. Don't let your fear run away with you."

Kahlan nodded as she felt tears run down her cheeks. "Zedd, he has to be all right. He has to. If
Rahl has kept him there this long, he wouldn't kill him now."

"We don't even know that Rahl has him."

She knew he just didn't want to admit it out loud. Why else would he be at the People's Palace, if
Darken Rahl didn't have him?

"Zedd, when you sought the night stone before, you said you could feel him, that he was alive." She
almost couldn't bring herself to ask, could hardly get the words out, afraid of what he might say.
"Did you sense him in the underworld?"

He looked into her eyes a long time. "I didn't sense him. But I don't know if I would, if he were in
the underworld. If he were dead." When she started crying, he pulled her against him, hugging her
head to his shoulder. "But I think it was only the night stone there. I think Rahl was trying to trap
me there. He must have gotten the night stone from Richard, and then sent it to the underworld to
snare me."

"We're still going after him," she cried. "I'm not turning back."

"Well, of course we are."

Kahlan felt a warm tongue on the back of her hand. She stroked the wolf's fur as she smiled over at
him.

"We'll find him, Mistress Kahlan. Don't you worry, we'll find him." "Brophy's right," Chase called
over his shoulder. "I'm even looking forward to the lecture we'll be getting about coming after
him."

"The box is safe," the wizard said, "that's what matters. Five days from tomorrow is the first day of
winter, and then Darken Rahl will be dead. We will have Richard back after that, if not before."

"I'll get us there before then, if that's what you're getting at," Chase grumbled

CHAPTER 4

5
RICHARD HELD THE THICK spines of Scarlet's shoulders in a death grip as she made a banking
turn to the left. He had learned, much to his amazement, that when she leaned into a turn, it didn't
make him slide off the side, but pressed him harder against her. Richard found the experience of
flying at once exhilarating and frightening, like standing on the edge of an impossibly high cliffthat moved. The feel of her body lifting him into the air made him grin. Muscles flexed beneath
him as she stroked the air with her powerful wings, each beat giving a lift. When she folded her
wings back and dove toward the ground, the wind made his eyes water, and the feeling of falling
took his breath away and made him feel as though his stomach would rise inside him. He marveled
at the very idea of riding a dragon.

"Do you see them?" he called out over the sound of the wind.

Scarlet gave a grunt to indicate that she did. In the fading light, the gars looked like black dots
moving about on the rocky ground below. Steam trailed up from Fire Spring, and even this high up
Richard could smell the acrid fumes. Scarlet rose steeply into the air, making his legs press against
her as she lifted them higher; then she rolled into a sharp bank to the right.

"There are far too many," she called back.

Her head tilted behind, one yellow eye peering at him. Richard pointed.

"Go down there, behind those hills, and don't let them see us."

Scarlet climbed with strong strokes. When they were higher than they had been so far, she glided
away from Fire Spring. She swooped down, between the rocky slopes, threading her way back
toward where Richard had told her to land. With a silent flutter of wings, she gently settled on the
ground near the mouth of a cave, and lowered her neck so he could climb down. Richard knew she
didn't want him on her back any longer than necessary.

Her head swung around toward him, her eyes angry, impatient. "There are too many gars. Darken
Rahl knows I can't fight that many; that's why there are so many there-in case I ever found my egg.
You said you would think of a plan. What is it?"

Richard glanced over at the mouth of the cave. The Shadrin's cave, Kahlan had told him. "We need
a diversion, something to distract them while we get the egg."

"While you get the egg," Scarlet corrected, with a little flame to make her point.

He looked over at the cave again. "One of my friends told me the cave goes all the way through, to
where the egg is. Maybe I could go through, snatch the egg, and bring it back."

"Get going."

"Shouldn't we discuss if it's a good idea? Maybe we could think of something better. I've also heard
there might be something in the cave."

Scarlet brought her angry eye closer to him. "Something in the cave?" She snaked her head around
to the opening and sent a horrific blast of fire into the darkness. Her head came back. "Now there's
nothing in the cave. Go get my egg."

The cave was miles long. Richard knew the fire wouldn't have harmed anything farther back. He
also knew he had given his word. Collecting cane reeds growing nearby, he bound them together
with a sinewy vine into several bundles. He held one bundle up to Scarlet as she watched him

"Light the end of this for me?"

The dragon pursed her lips and blew a thin stream of flame across the end of the cane reeds.

"You wait here," he told her. "Sometimes it's better to be small than big. I won't be spotted so
easily. I'll think of something, and get the egg, and bring it back through the cave. It's a long way. It
may take until morning before I'm back. I don't know how close the gars will be behind me, so we
might need to leave in a hurry. Stay sharp, all right?" He hooked his pack over a spine on her back.
"Keep this for me. I don't want to carry more than I have to."

Richard didn't know if a dragon could look worried, but he thought she did.

"Be careful with the egg? It will hatch soon, but if the shell is broken now, before it is time . . ."

Richard gave her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, Scarlet. We're going to get it back."

She waddled to the cave entrance behind him, poking her head in, watching him disappear inside.

"Richard Cypher," she called after him, her voice echoing, "if you try to run away, I'll find you, and
if you come back without the egg, you will wish the gars had killed you, because I will cook you
slow, starting at your feet."

Richard stared back at the hulk filling the cave entrance. "I have given my word. If the gars get me,
I'll try to kill enough of them so you can get the egg and escape."

Scarlet grunted. "Try not to let that happen. I still want to eat you when this is done."

Richard smiled and went into the darkness. The blackness swallowed up the light of the torch,
making him feel as if he were walking into nothingness. Only a small spot of ground before him
was lit. As he went on, the floor of the cave sloped downward, descending into cold, still air. A
ceiling of rock appeared, and walls, as the way narrowed into a tunnel that snaked deeper. The
tunnel opened into a huge room. The path led along a narrow ledge at the edge of a still, green lake.
Flickering torchlight showed a jagged ceiling and walls of smooth stone. The ceiling sloped
downward as he went into a wide, low passage. He had to bend over to pass through. For a good
hour, he walked, hunched over, his neck starting to hurt from holding it sideways. Occasionally he
pressed the torch to the rock ceiling to shed its ash and keep it burning brightly.

The darkness was oppressive; it surrounded him, followed him, sucked him deeper, calling him
onward with unseen sights. Delicate, colorful formations of rock grew like vegetation, flowering
and blossoming from solid rock. Sparkling crystals flashed at him as he passed with the torch, its
flame the only sound, echoing back to him from the blackness.

Richard went through rooms of astounding beauty. Into the darkness rose immense columns of
rippled stone, some ending before they reached their destination, with mates hanging down trying
to meet them halfway. Crystalline sheets flowed over the walls in places, like melted jewels.

Some passages were clefts in the rock he had to squeeze through, others holes he had to traverse on
hands and knees. The air had an odd-lack of smell. This was a place of perpetual night; no light,
nothing alive, ever touched it. As he walked on and on, warm from the effort, the chill of the air
made steam rise from his skin. When he held the torch near his other hand, he could see vapor rise
from each finger, like life's energy draining away. Although it wasn't frigid, the way winter was
frigid, it was the kind of cold that would bleed a person of all their heat if they stayed here long
enough. A slow sucking death. Without the light he would be lost in a matter of minutes. This was
a place that could kill the unwary, or the unlucky. Richard checked the torch and extra cane reeds
often.

Eternal night wore on slowly. Richard's legs were tired from the constant climbing and descending.
In fact, all of him was tired. He hoped the cave would end soon; it seemed he had walked the whole
night. He had no idea of time.

The rock closed around him. The flat shelf of the roof lowered until he was walking hunched over
again, and lowered more until he was on his hands and knees, the ground cold and wet with slimy
mud that smelled of rot. It was the first thing he had smelled in a long time. His hands were cold
with the wet, stinking mud.

The way diminished to a single small opening, a black hole in the torchlight. Richard didn't like
how small it looked. Air moaned through the passage, making the flame flap and whip. He held the
torch into the hole, but could see nothing but blackness beyond. He pulled back the torch,
wondering what he should do. It was an awfully small hole, flat on the top and bottom, and he had
no idea how long it was, or what was through on the other side. Air was coming through, so it must
lead to the other end of the cave, to the gars, the egg, but he didn't like how small it was.

Richard backed away., There might be other routes from farther back, in one of the other rooms,
but how much time could he waste searching, only to fail? He came back to the hole, staring at it
with rising dread.

Trying not to think about his fear, he took off the sword, held it with the spare reeds and torch out
ahead of himself, and pushed into the hole. He was immediately frightened of the way the rock
pressed against him, top and bottom. Arms straight out, head turned sideways, he wriggled his way
in deeper. The closeness increased, making him wiggle and snake his way, inches at a time. Cold
stone pressed against his back and chest. He couldn't take a deep breath. The smoke from the torch
burned his eyes.

He squeezed deeper, tighter. He rocked his shoulders forward and back, pulling one leg a few
inches, then the other, feeling like a snake trying to shed its skin. The torch showed only blackness
ahead. Anxiety gripped him. Just get through, he told himself, just push ahead and get through.

With the toes of his boots braced against rock, Richard gave himself a push as he wiggled. The
push wedged him tight. He tried to push again. He didn't move. Angry, he pushed harder. Still he
didn't move. Panic ignited in him. He was stuck. Rock was pressing his chest and back together,
and he could hardly get a breath. He envisioned the mountain of rock that was pressing on his back,
unimaginable weight towering above him. Fearful, he wiggled and squirmed, trying to back up, but
couldn't. He tried to grasp something with his hands to get leverage to push back against. It didn't
help. He was stuck. Panting, he couldn't get enough breath. He felt as if he were suffocating, his
lungs burning for air, as if he were drowning, unable to breathe.

Tears filled his eyes, and fear gripped his throat. His toes scraped at the rock, trying to move him
one way or the other. He didn't budge. The way his arms were pinned ahead of him reminded him
of the way Denna had kept him in the shackles. Helpless. Not being able to move his arms made it
worse. Cold sweat covered his face. He started gasping in panic, feeling as if the rock were moving,
pressing harder. Hopeless, he wanted someone to help him. There was no one who could.

With a grunt of desperate effort, he moved ahead a few inches. That only made it worse, tighter. He
heard himself crying in hysteria. Gasping for air. Felt the rock crushing him.

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 the devotion over and over, focusing his mind on it, until his breathing slowed, until he
was calm once more. He was still stuck, but at least his mind was working again.

Something touched his leg. His eyes went wide.

It was a tentative, timid touch. Richard kicked his leg. At least he kicked it as best he could in the
confines of the hole. It was more of a jerk. The touch left.

It came back. Richard froze. This time, it went up inside his pant leg. Cold, wet, slimy. Slithering,
the hard-tipped thing worked up his leg, caressing his skin, to the inside of his thigh. Richard
kicked and jerked his leg again. This time, it didn't leave. The tip moved in probing touches.
Something along the length of it pinched his skin. Panic threatened to take him again, but he fought
it back.

Now he had no choice. Richard expelled the air from his lungs, having had the thought before, but
having been afraid to try it. When his lungs were empty, and he was as small as he could make
himself, he pushed with his toes, pulled with his fingers, and wriggled with his body. He moved
ahead about a foot.

It was tighter yet. He couldn't inhale. It hurt. He fought to keep the panic down. His fingers felt
something. An edge of the opening, maybe. Maybe the opening to the hole he was in. He squeezed
even more air out of his lungs. The thing gripped his leg painfully, urgently. He heard an angry,
clicking growl. He pulled with his fingers, seizing the edge, and pushed with his toes. He moved
ahead. His elbows were up to the edge. Something sharp along the length of the thing on his leg,
sharp like little cat's claws; sank into his flesh. Richard couldn't cry out. He squeezed ahead. Fire
burned into the flesh of his leg.

The torch, cane reeds, and his sword fell away. Clattering, the sword slid down the rock. Using his
elbows for leverage, he squeezed the upper half of his body through the opening, gasping for air in
deep draughts. The hooks pulled his leg. Richard wriggled the rest of the way out of the hole,
sliding, falling headfirst down steep, smooth rock.

The torch burned on the curving bottom of the egg-shaped chamber. His sword was just beyond it.
As he slid headfirst, his hands out in front, he stretched for his sword. The hooked claws in the
flesh of his leg brought him up short, holding him upside down. Richard screamed out in pain, the
sound echoing around the chamber. He couldn't reach the sword.

Painfully, slowly, he was dragged back up by claws in his leg. They tore the flesh. He screamed
again. Another appendage slipped up the other pant leg, feeling his calf muscle with its hard tip. ,,

Richard pulled his knife and twisted himself in half to reach the thing that held him. Over and over
he drove the blade into it. From deep in the hole came a high-pitched squeal. The claws retracted.
Richard fell, sliding along the rock, coming to a stop next to the torch. Grasping the scabbard in
one hand, he drew the sword as snakelike appendages came out of the hole, wriggling about in the
air, searching. They probed their way down the rock toward him. Richard swung the sword,
lopping off several of the arms. With a howl, they all whipped back into the hole. There was a low
growl from the depths of the blackness.

In the flickering light of the torch that lay on the stone floor, he could see a bulk squeezing out of
the opening, expanding as it exited. He couldn't reach it with the sword, but he knew he didn't want
to let it into the chamber with him.

An arm whipped around his waist, lifting him. He let it. An eye peered down; glistening in the
torchlight. He saw wet teeth. As the arm pulled him toward the teeth, he drove the sword through
the eye. There was a howl, and the arm released him. He slid to the bottom once more. The whole
creature pulled back into the hole, and the arms whipped about, yanking in after it. The howls faded
back into the distant darkness, and were gone.

Richard sat on the floor, shaking, running his fingers through his hair. At last his breathing slowed
and his fear settled. He felt his leg. Blood soaked his. pants. He decided there was nothing he could
do about it right now; he had to get the egg first. Dim light came from across the chamber.
Following the large tunnel on the other side, he came at last to the opening of the cave.

Faint light of dawn and the chirping of birds greeted him. Below, he could see dozens of gars
prowling about. Richard settled behind a rock to rest. He could see the egg below, with steam rising
around it. He could also see that the egg was far too big to carry back through the cave. Besides, he
didn't ever want to go into a cave again. What was he going to do if he couldn't carry it back
through the cave? It would be light soon. He had to think of an answer.

Something bit his leg. He smacked it. It was a blood fly.

He groaned to himself. Now the gars would find him. They were being drawn by the blood. He had
to think of something.

A second fly bit him, and he had a thought. Quickly, he took the knife and cut off strips of the wet,
blood-soaked pant leg. He used them to wipe the blood off his leg, then tied a rock on the end of
each.

Richard put the Bird Man's whistle between his lips and blew hard as he could. He blew over and
over. Picking up a strip of cloth tied to a rock; he swung it in a circle over his head, letting go,
letting it sail out and down. Among the gars. He threw the blood-soaked strips farther and farther to
his right, into the trees. He couldn't hear them, but he knew the blood flies were roused. That much
fresh blood would have them in a feeding frenzy.

Birds, hungry birds, a few at first, then hundreds, then thousands, swooped and dived down on Fire
Spring, eating flies as they went. There was mass confusion. Gars howled as the birds swooped up
and pecked flies off their bellies, or snatched them from the air. Gars were running everywhere;
some took to the air. For every bird a gar caught out of the air, a hundred took its place.

Richard ran down the hill in a crouch, from rock to rock. There was no worry of being heard; the
birds were making far too much noise for that. The gars were frantic, swinging at the birds, chasing
them, howling and screaming. The air was thick with feathers. If only the Bird Man could see this,
he thought, smiling.

Richard broke from the rock and ran toward the egg. In the chaos, gars began falling on one
another, ripping and tearing. One saw him. He ran it through with the sword. The next he only cut
off at the knees. It fell to . the ground howling. Another came and he took off a wing, and yet
another, both arms. He deliberately didn't kill them, but let them flap around on the ground,
howling and screaming, to add to the mayhem. In the disorder, gars that saw him didn't even attack.
But he did.

He killed two by the egg. With his forearms, he lifted the egg from its resting place. It was hot, but
not hot enough to burn. The egg was heavier than he expected, and it took both arms to carry it.
Wasting no time, he ran to the left, toward the gully between the hills. Birds flew in every direction,
some crashing into him. It was chaos. Two gars came for him. He set down the egg, killed the first,
and took the legs off the second. He ran with the egg as fast as he could without risking a fall.
Another gar came. He missed with the first swing, but ran it through when it leapt for him.

Breathing hard with the effort, Richard ran between the hills. His arms were painfully weary from
the weight of the egg. Gars landed about him, their green eyes enraged. He set down the egg and
swung at the first gar to come, taking off part of a wing and its head. With howls, the others rushed
him.

Trees and rocks all about lit with bright light as flame incinerated several of the beasts. Richard
looked up and saw Scarlet hovering over his head, beating her giant wings and raking everything
around him with flame. She reached down with one claw, snatched up the egg, reached down with
the other, gripped his middle, and lifted him away. They took to the air as two gars came for him.
One he caught with the sword, the other burst into flame and fell away.

Scarlet roared in anger at the gars as she lifted into the sky with Richard hanging from her claw. He
decided that this wasn't his favorite way to fly, but it was still better than being back with the gars.
Another gar came up from underneath, reaching for the egg. Richard whacked off a wing. It spun,
howling, toward the ground. No more came.

Scarlet carried him high into the air, up and away from Fire Spring. Hanging in her claw, he felt
like a meal being taken back to the young. Her grip was hurting his ribs a little, but he didn't
complain. He didn't want her to loosen her hold on him; it was a long way down.

They flew for hours. Richard managed to rearrange himself and get a little more comfortable in her
talons as he watched the hills and trees pass below. He saw streams and fields, even a few small
towns. The hills grew, becoming rocky, as if the stone were sprouting from the landscape. Jagged
rock cliffs and peaks rose up before them. Stroking the air smoothly, Scarlet lifted them higher,
over rock Richard thought would scrape his feet. She took them into a desolate land, barren of life.
Brown and gray stone looked to have been haphazardly stacked up by a giant, like coins on a table,
into thin columns, some singular, others clumped in bunches, still more having toppled.

Beyond and above the columns of rock stood massive, craggy stone cliffs, riddled with splits and
cracks, shelves and projections. A few clouds drifted past the face of the cliffs. Scarlet banked
toward a wall of rock. It seemed to Richard that they would run smack into it, but before they did,
she brought them up short with a fluttering of her huge wings, setting him on a ledge before landing
herself.

At the back of the ledge was an opening into the rock. Scarlet squeezed her bulk through. In the
back, in the cool darkness, was a nest of rock, where she placed the egg, then breathed fire over it.
Richard watched as she stroked the egg with a claw, turning it gently, inspecting it, cooing to it.
She played fire gently over the egg, turning her head, listening, watching.

"Is it all right?" Richard asked quietly.

Her head turned to him, a dreamy look in her yellow eyes. "Yes. It is well."

Richard nodded. "I'm glad, Scarlet. I really am."

He started toward her as she lay down next to the egg. Her head came up in warning.

He halted. "I just want my pack. It's hanging on a spike, on your shoulder." "Sorry. Go ahead."

Richard retrieved the pack and went to the side, against the wall, a little closer to the light. He
glanced over the ledge. It looked to be thousands of feet down. Richard fervently hoped Scarlet was
a dragon of her word. He sat down and pulled out a fresh pair of pants.

He found something else, too: the, jar from Denna's room. Inside was some of the aum. cream he
had made when Rahl had hurt her. She must have taken what was left over and put it in his pack.
Looking down at the Agiel, he smiled sadly at the memory of her. How could he care about
someone who had done those things to him? He had forgiven her, that was how, forgiven her with
the white magic.

The aum cream felt wonderful. He let out a little moan. It cooled the burning of his wounds,
soothed the pain. Richard said a silent thank-you to Denna for putting it in his pack. He took off the
shredded remnants of his pants.

"You look funny without your pants."

Richard spun around. Scarlet was watching him.

"Those are not reassuring words for a man to hear from a female, even if the female is a dragon."
Turning his back to her, he pulled on his fresh pants.

"You are injured. From the gars?"

Richard shook his head. "In the cave." His voice was quiet with the haunting fear of the memory.
He sat down, leaning against the wall, watching his boots. "I had to go through a small hole in the
rock. It was the only way. I became stuck." He looked up at the big yellow eyes. "Since I left my
home to stop Darken Rahl, I've been frightened often. But when I was stuck in that hole, in the
dark, the rock pressing against me so tight I couldn't breathe . . . well, that was one of the worst
times. While I was stuck there, something grabbed my leg, dug into the flesh with sharp little
claws. It did this to me as I tried to get away."

Scarlet watched him in silence a long time, one claw over the egg. "Thank you, Richard Cypher, for
doing as you said you would. For getting my egg back. You are brave, even if you are not a dragon.
I never believed a man would risk himself so, for a dragon." "I did it for more than your egg. I did it
because I had to, to get help finding my friends."

Scarlet shook her head. "Honest, too. I think maybe you would have done it anyway. I am sorry
you were injured, and that you had to be frightened so, to help me. Men try to kill dragons. Youmay be the first who has ever helped one. For any reason. I had my doubts."

"Well, it's a good thing you showed up when you did. Those gars almost had me. By the way, I
thought I told you to stay put. What were you doing coming after me?"

"I'm embarrassed to admit, I thought you were trying to escape. I was coming for a closer look,
when I heard the uproar. I will make it up to you. I will help you find your friends, as I promised."

Richard grinned. "Thanks, Scarlet. But what about the egg? Can you leave it alone? Maybe Rahl
will steal it again."

"Not from here, he won't. I searched a long time for this place after he stole my egg, so if I ever got
it back, I would have a safe place for it. He will not be able to reach it here. As for leaving it, that is
not a problem. When dragons hunt for food, they simply heat the rock with their flame, to keep the
egg warm in their absence."

"Scarlet, time is short. When can we start?"

"Right now."

CHAPTER 4

6
IT was w FRUSTRATING day. Scarlet flew low over thick woods as they both scanned the roads
and trails. Richard was discouraged that they had seen no sign of his friends. He was so exhausted
that he could hardy hold on to Scarlet's spikes as she flew him over the land, searching, but he
didn't want to rest; he had to find Zedd and Kahlan. On top of being tired, he had a terrific headache
from concentrating his eyesight so. He forgot his fatigue, his lack of sleep, every time they spotted
people on the ground, only to have to tell Scarlet each time that it wasn't his friends.

The dragon went low, skimming the tops of pine trees at the edge of a field. She let out a piercing
scream that made Richard jump and banked into a steep turn that made him dizzy. A buck broke
into a run across the field, flushed from cover by the dragon's roar. Building speed in a quick dive,
she swooped into the field. Without effort, Scarlet snatched the deer from the tall brown grass,
snapping its neck in the process. Richard felt intimidated by how easy it was for her to take the
prey.

Scarlet pulled higher into the air, into the golden light of the setting sun, among the puffy clouds.
Richard felt as if his heart were sinking with the sun. He knew Scarlet was heading back to her egg.
He wanted to tell her to search some more, while there was still light, but he knew she had to get
back to her nest, her egg.

In near darkness, Scarlet landed on the ledge of rock, waiting for him to climb down over her red
scales before she hurried to her egg. Richard went to one side and curled up in his cloak, shivering
with the cold.

After she checked her egg, cooed to it, and warmed it with fire, she turned to see about the buck.
She paused to say to Richard. "You don't look like you could eat much. I guess I could let you have
some."

"Will you cook it for me? I don't eat raw meat."

She said she would, so he cut himself a chunk, stuck it on the end of his sword, and, holding it up,
turned his head from the heat while she blew a thin stream of flame over it. Richard returned to the
side, eating his meal, trying not to watch as the dragon tore the buck apart with fang and claw,
tossing great chunks in the air and swallowing with hardly a chew.

"If we don't find your friends, what will you do?"

Richard swallowed. "We had better find them, that's all."

"The first day of winter is four days from tomorrow."

With a finger and thumb, he pulled off a small strip of meat. "I know."

"For a dragon, it is better to die than be ruled."

Richard looked up at her as she swished her tail. "If choosing for yourself, maybe, but what of
others? You chose to be ruled, to save your egg, to give it a chance at life."

Scarlet grunted without answering and turned once more to her egg, stroking her talons over it.

Richard knew that if he couldn't find the last box and stop Rahl, he would have to save everyone
else's life, he would have to spare Kahlan the torture of a Mord-Sith - he would have to agree to
help Darken Rahl open the right box. Then Kahlan could live the kind of life a, Confessor, was
used to.

It was a desperately depressing thought-that he could help Darken Rahl gain unchallenged power
over everyone. But what choice did he have? Maybe what Shota said was right. Maybe Zedd and
Kahlan would try to kill him. Maybe he should be killed for even thinking of helping Darken Rahl.
If he had to choose, though, he would not let Kahlan be hurt by a Mord-Sith. He would have to help
Rahl.

Richard lay back down, too sick at his choices to finish his meal. He put his head against his pack,
pulling the cloak around himself, and thought about Kahlan. He was asleep in moments.

The next day, Scarlet took him into D'Hara, over where she said the boundary used to be, searching
the roads and trails. Thin, high clouds filtered the sunlight. Richard hoped his friends wouldn't be
this close to Darken Rahl, but if Zedd had sought the night stone before Rahl had destroyed it, and
knew he had been at the People's Palace, they would be heading there. The dragon swept low over
people they saw, giving them a fright, but they weren't the ones he sought.

Near midday, Richard saw them. Zedd, Chase, and Kahlan were riding horses on a trail near the
main road. He yelled at Scarlet to take them down. The dragon rolled into a banking turn, diving
toward the ground, a streak of red. The three riders saw them coming, stopped, and dismounted.

Scarlet spread her crimson wings, stopping their descent, and set them in a clearing next to the trail.
Richard jumped off, running as he hit the ground. The three stood holding the reins to their horses.
Chase held a mace in his other hand. Seeing Kahlan overwhelmed Richard with elation. Every
memory of her was suddenly true to life in front of him They stood still as he ran toward them,
down a short, steep decline in the trail. Richard watched the ground so he wouldn't trip over roots.

When he looked up, wizard's fire was wailing toward him. He froze in surprise. What was Zedd
doing? The ball of liquid fire was bigger than any he had seen before. It illuminated the trees all
around with its blue and yellow flame, shrieking as it advanced. Richard watched, wide-eyed, as it