The geometric patterns were complex, and Zedd knew they must be done without error, and in the
proper order, each line drawn at the proper time, in the proper sequence. They could not be
corrected or erased and started over if there was a mistake. A mistake was death.
All of this endeavor was simply to tell which box was the one Rahl wanted; he could open one at
any time, the book stated. Zedd knew from other books of instruction that all this effort was a
precaution against the magic being used easily. No one was simply going to decide to be the master
of the world. and read how in a book of magic. Zedd, as much as he knew, didn't have the required
knowledge to carry out the instructions. Darken Rahl had been studying for this moment almost his
whole life. His father had probably begun the instruction when he was young. Zedd wished the
wizard's fire that had killed his father had killed Darken Rahl, too. He considered that thought a
moment, and then took it back.
Darken Rahl stared at the black boxes. "Continue." `
Darken Rahl's face turned slowly to Richard. "Go on."
"There . must be more."
Rahl grabbed Richard's throat. "Did you learn it all? The entire book?"
Rahl's face reddened. "That can't be right! That isn't the right box! The box with two shadows is the
one that will kill me! I told you, I learned that much! I learned which one will kill me!"
Darken Rahl released his throat. "I don't believe you." He looked to Michael. "Cut her throat."
Rahl held his hand up to Michael, but kept his eyes on Richard. "I don't believe you. Unless you tell
me the truth, right now, I will cut her open. I will kill your mistress."
"Last chance, Richard. Tell me the truth, or she dies."
Zedd came to his feet. He watched the knife at Kahlan's throat; her, green eyes were wide; he
watched Darken Rahl. Rahl had obviously found some of the information from a source other than
the Book of Counted Shadows, and that information was in conflict with the information in the
book. This was not uncommon; surely Darken Rahl must know that. When there was a conflict, the
information in the instruction book for that specific magic must always take precedence. To do
otherwise was always fatal-it was a safeguard to protect the magic. Zedd hoped against hope that
Rahl's arrogance would make him go against the book.
"I am, I swear on Mistress Kahlan's life. Every word I told yon is true."
"At last," he whispered. "The magic of Orden is mine."
"Thank you, my son, for coming back, for helping Father Rahl. You will be rewarded for helping
me, as I promised. You have delivered to me that which is mine. I can feel it. It's marvelous. I can
feel the power."
Had he the power, Zedd would have made Wizard's Life Fire, and put his life into it. But he had no
power here, no power in the face of Master Rahl. He felt very tired, very old. He knew he would
not get the chance to get much older. Darken Rahl would see to that. But it was not himself he
grieved for-it was everyone else.
The white sand turned a golden color, continued turning darker, to a burnt brown. The light around
Rahl darkened to amber. His head came down, his eyes coming open, his smile fading.
A smile spread on Richard's face. He went and retrieved the Sword of Truth, the anger of the
sword's magic flooding into his gray eyes. Zedd came to his feet. The light around Darken Rahl
turned an ugly brown. His blue eyes went wide.
Richard, his chest heaving, stood transfixed, watching.
Michale's face paled. He stared in shock as Chase cut down one of the men. Kahlan drove her
elbow into Michael's gut and grabbed the knife, twisting it from his hand. Disarmed, Michael
scanned about with quick jerks of his head, his eyes wild, and raced off down a path between the
trees.
Zedd stood as Richard did, spellbound, their stares riveted to Darken Rahl as he struggled, trapped
in the grip of the magic of Orden. Violet light and dark shadows held him tight in the air above the
black hole.
The Seeker stepped closer to the circle of black sand. "Why, only what you wanted, Master Rahl,"
he said innocently. "I have told you what you wanted to hear."
Richard nodded. "Yes, I did. I just didn't tell you all of them. I left out most of. the paragraph at the
end. Be cautioned. The effect of the boxes is fluid. It shifts with the intent. To be Master of all, so
you may help others, shift one box to the right. To be Master of all; so all will do your bidding,
shift one box to the left. Rule as you have chosen. Your information was correct; the box with two
shadows was the one that would kill you."
Richard Smiled. "Was I? Wizard's First Rule. It's the first rule because it's the most important. You
should have guarded better against it. That's the price of arrogance. I accept my vulnerability, you
don't.
"It can't be! It's not possible! How could you have known how to do this!"
Darken Rahl's face distorted in pain. He laughed and screamed.
Zedd pointed a long finger. "I saw her leave that way." Richard slid the sword back into its
scabbard as he turned his eyes to the figure held in the shadows and light. "Good-bye, Father Rahl.
I trust you will die without my watching it."
'Zedd stood alone with Darken Rahl. He watched as transparent fingers of smoke entwined around
the white robes, pinning Rahl's arms to his sides. Zedd stepped closer, the blue eyes coming to the
old wizard.
"Arrogant to the end?"
Zedd shrugged. "The Seeker."
Zedd shook his head slowly, a wistful smile coming to his lips. "He is my grandson."
"I put a web around him because I did not want him to know who the blue-eyed bastard was who
raped his mother and gave him life."
"A little trick, to keep her safe." Zedd's expression darkened. "Though you didn't know who she
was, you hurt her. Without intending it, you also gave her happiness. You gave her Richard."
"When you raped my daughter, I knew I couldn't harm you, and my first thought was to comfort
her, protect her, so I took her to Westland. She met a young man, a man widowed with a baby son.,
George Cypher was a good, kind man; I was proud to have him as my daughter's husband. George
loved Richard as his own, but he knew the truth, except about me, who I was; that was hidden by
the web.
Darken Rahl shimmered in the shadows of the magic or Orden. He twisted in pain as he became
transparent as smoke. "To think, the Zorander and Rahl bloodlines, joined in one. Yet he is still my
heir. In a way," he managed, "I have won."
Vapor, smoke, shadows, and light spun in a roar. The ground shook violently. The sorcerer's sand,
now black as pitch, was sucked into the vortex. The whole of it rotated over the abyss, the sounds
of the world of life and the underworld mixing in a terrible howl.
A point of blinding light ignited in the center of the spinning mass. Zedd shielded his eyes. Beams
of white-hot light shot upward, through the windows overhead, into the sky, and downward, into
the blackness of the abyss. There was a piercing shriek. The air shimmered with the heat, light, and
sound. A flash lit everything around to white, and then there was silence.
The wizard felt his power seeping back into his bones. The ones who had drawn the spell against
him were gone. The effect of the spell was gone.
"I recall the webs. I am who I was before: Zeddicus Zu'1 Zorander, Wizard of the First Order. Let
all know it once more. And the rest, too." The people of D'Hara were linked to the House of Rahl, a
link forged in magic long ago by those who would rule; a link that chained the people of D'Hara to
the House of Rahl, and House of Rahl to them. With the webs removed, that link to the gift would
be felt by many, and let them know that Richard was now Master Rahl.
-+---
Richard found her, kneeling before one of the deserted devotion pools. The gag was still tied
around her neck, left there when she had pulled it from her mouth. Kahlan hunched over in tears,
her long hair cascading off her shoulders as she leaned forward, the knife gripped in both fists, the
point held to her chest. Her shoulders shook with her sobs. Richard came to a stop next to the folds
of her white dress.
"I must. I love you," Kahlan gave a little moan. "I have touched you with my power. I would rather
die than be your mistress. It is the only way to release you." She gave a tearful shudder. "I would
like you to give me a kiss, and then leave me. I don't want you to see it."
Her eyes snapped up to his. "What did you say?" she whispered.
Her green eyes stared in disbelief. "You can deny me nothing, once I have touched you with my
power."
She knelt, frozen, while he cleaned the red off her face. Richard looked into her wide eyes when he
finished. He tossed the rag aside, and knelt in front of her, slipping his arms around-her waist.
saw it. How could the power not have taken you?" _
"Protected? How?"
She gave him her special smile. "You felt that way? You had no doubt?"
lightning bolts on your face, I have to admit, I was worried. I
sword, trying to gain time to think. But then I realized it didn't
what. I wanted you to touch me more than anything, to prove my
Rahl's benefit."
Kahlan circled her arms around his neck, kissing him. They knelt on the tiles in front of the
devotion pool, pressed against one another. Richard kissed her soft lips the way he had dreamed a
thousand times of kissing her. He kissed her until he was dizzy, and then kissed her some more, not
caring that bewildered people who passed watched them.
Zedd stood with one hand on a bony hip, the other stroking his chin, as he inspected the altar and
other things behind it. Kahlan fell to her knees before him, taking his hands in hers, kissing them.
Zedd frowned down at her. "Well, it took him long enough."
Zedd looked indignant at the question. "I'm a wizard of the First Order. Of course I knew."
Zedd smiled. "Had I told you, dear one, it wouldn't have worked. The foreknowledge would have
interjected a grain of doubt. That single .grain would have caused failure. To be the true love of a
Confessor, there must be total commitment, to get past the magic. Without the willingness to give
himself over to you, selflessly, despite the knowledge of the consequence, it wouldn't work."
Zedd rubbed his chin in thought, looking up at the windows. "Well, only once before that I know
of." His eyes rested on the two of them. "But you can tell no one, just as I wasn't able to tell you.
No matter how much pain it may cause, no matter the consequences, you can never tell. If even one
other knows, it could be passed on, destroying forever the chance for others. It's one of the ironies
of magic; you have to accept failure before you can have success. It is also one of the burdens of
magic; you must accept the results, even the death, of others, to protect the hope for the future.
Selfishness costs the lives, the chances, of those yet unborn." Kahlan nodded. "I promise."
Zedd gave Richard a look he found unexpectedly uncomfortable. "Darken Rahl is dead." Zedd put a
thin hand on Richard's shoulder, his bony fingers gripping tightly. "You have gotten it right,
Richard, all of it. You scared the wits out of me. I have never seen a performance to match it."
Zedd nodded, his white hair sticking out in every direction, looking wild. "More than a trick, my
boy. More than little."
Richard's mood darkened at seeing his brother. Michael's defiant eyes came up to meet Richard's
gaze.
Richard thought about all he had been though, about all that Zedd, and Chase, and Kahlan had been
through. He thought about all those he knew who had died at Rahl's hands, and the countless
number of dead he would never know of. The suffering, the cruelty, the brutality. He thought of all
the tyrants allowed to flourish under Darken Rahl, all the way from Darken Rahl himself down to
Princess Violet. He thought of those he had killed. He felt pain and grief at the things he had had to
do.
Richard leaned a little closer to his brother. "Give me the loser's salute, Michael."
Richard nodded as he straightened. He looked deep into his brother's eyes as he took the sword
away. Richard pulled the anger back, tried to make the sword turn white. It -would not. He slid the
blade home into its scabbard.
Chase's big fist grabbed Michael by the hair. Michael screamed out, falling to his knees, giving the
loser's salute.
Richard stared down at his brother, who was on his knees before him, his hands together,
imploring. Richard held out the Agiel in his fist,, feeling the pain it gave him, tolerating it,
remembering it, the visions flashing through his mind. "Darken Rahl told you what he was going to
do to me. You knew. You knew what was going to happen to me, and you were indifferent because
it brought you personal gain. Michael, I forgive everything you have done against me."
Michael screamed and cried as Chase dragged him away. Richard watched in pain, shaking, as his
brother was taken to his execution.
Richard's thoughts masked the pain it was giving him. He looked to Zedd, standing before him with
his bony, leathery hand over his, saw things in his friend's eyes he had never seen before, a shared
understanding of the pain. He released the Agiel.
"For now, I do. It was a promise I made to one who I killed. One who helped teach me how much I
love you. Darken Rahl thought this would defeat me. Instead, it taught me how to defeat him. If I
discard it now, I would be denying what is inside me, what 1 am."
Richard looked around the Garden of Life, thinking about Darken Rahl's death, and about his
father's death. He had seen justice done. He grieved a moment when his memories touched his
father. But then the pain lifted as he realized that he had completed the task his father had given
him. Richard had remembered every word of the secret book perfectly. His duty was done. His
father could rest in peace.
Richard grinned, putting an arm around each of them as he led them out of the Garden of Life. He
took them to a dining hall he remembered. People sat at tables as if nothing had changed. The three
of them found a table in the corner. Servers brought plates of rice, vegetables, brown bread, cheese
and bowls of steaming spice soup. The surprised but smiling servers kept bringing more as Zedd
resolutely emptied the plates of food.
"What's the matter?" Zedd asked.
Zedd sniffed it and took a bite. "Nothing wrong with the cheese, my boy."
Zedd was only too happy to comply. Richard and Kahlan ate spice soup and brown bread, and
smiled as they watched their old friend eat. Zedd had his fill at last, and they resumed their journey
out of the People's Palace.
The three emerged from the cavernous halls out into the winter sunlight. The hillside of steps
cascaded down before them, to the huge expanse of courtyard. The three paused at the brink.
Richard gasped when he saw the numbers gathered there.
Zedd's hand on his back started him down the steps. It felt a little too much like a push. Kahlan took
his arm, giving it a squeeze, and held herself tall as they descended the series of steps and
expansive landings. Chase watched Richard's eyes as he came. Richard saw Rachel beside him,
clutching one arm around his leg, holding Sara in the other hand. Sharing the grip with the doll was
Siddin's hand. Siddin saw Kahlan and broke from the hand, running to meet her. Kahlan laughed
and scooped him up in her arms. He grinned at Richard and jabbered something Richard didn't
understand, before throwing his arms around Kahlan's neck. After she hugged him and whispered
to him, she put him down, holding his hand tightly.
The commander of the Westland army stepped up next to the captain. "As does the Westland
army."
Richard stared numbly at them, blinking. He felt the anger heat in him.
Richard gazed out over the sea of heads. All eyes were on him. He glanced over to Michael's gory
head stuck on the pole. He closed his eyes a moment, then turned to some men of the Home Guard,
and pointed to the head.
They jumped and made for the head. Richard returned his gaze to the D'Haran officer standing
before him. Everyone waited.
Both men put a fist over their hearts in salute, giving a bow.
Richard stared in surprise, then dismissed it. The man, he decided, must just be used to saying
"Master Rahl."
"I have a job for you." The man waited in silence. "I think you would be good at getting it done. I
want you to collect all the Mord-Sith. Every last one." "Yes, sir." He looked a little pale. "They will
all be executed before sunset"
The man blinked in confusion. "What am I to do with them?"
The man's eyes went wide. "Kindness," he whispered, "and respect?"
He frowned. "And what if they refuse to change?"
The guard smiled, put his fist to his heart in salute, and gave a smart bow.
"Then help him, Zedd. Help him destroy them, or lock them away, or something. All right? I don't
want anyone to ever be hurt by an Agiel again."
"Probably not. But you can never tell about your First Rule, and it should gain time until we can get
everyone home again, and you can put the boundary back up. Then we'll be safe once more. Then
we'll be finished with the magic."
816
"Richard! Richard!" Scarlet called out, hopping from one foot to another, her wings held out,
quivering in excitement. Her huge, red head swept down to him. "My egg hatched! It's a beautiful
little dragon, just as you said it would be! I want you to come see it! It's so strong. I bet it flies
within a month." Scarlet seemed suddenly to notice all the men. Her head scanned about, surveying
them. Her big yellow eyes blinked, her head swept down to Richard. "Are we having trouble here?
Do we need some dragon fire?"
"Well, then, climb up and I'll take you to see the little one."
Scarlet eyed Kahlan up and down. "If she is with you, she is welcome."
With difficulty, Richard tore his eyes from her and looked up at Scarlet. "This little one was stolen
from the Mud People when you took Darken Rahl there. His mother will be as anxious to have him
back as you were to have your young one returned. After we see your little dragon, could you take
us there?"
Zedd stepped forward, his hands on his hips, his voice incredulous. "You would let a man fly upon
you? A red dragon? You would take him where he wishes to go?"
Richard gripped the spines and climbed onto Scarlet's shoulders as she lowered herself for him.
Kahlan handed Siddin up
Richard leaned a little toward Zedd. "Take care, my friend." He gave his old friend a big smile.
"The Bird Man will be happy to learn I have finally decided to take a Mud Woman as my wife.
Where will I find you?"
Richard gave the wizard his sternest frown, leaning down even more. "And then we are going to
have a talk. A long talk."
Richard smiled at Rachel, gave her and Chase a wave, then gave a pat to one of Scarlet's scales.
"To the sky, my red friend!"
-+---
Zedd stood watching the dragon shrinking in the sky, keeping his worries to himself. Chase stroked
Rachel's hair, and then folded his arms as he lifted an eyebrow to the wizard.
Zedd laughed. "That he does."
"What is it?" Zedd asked with a frown.
"What sort of trouble? And who are you?"
"What crypt?" The man's eyes looked surprised at the question. "Why, the crypt of Panis Rahl,
Master Rahl's grandfather, of course."
The head master put his fingers nervously to his lips. "I didn't see- it myself, Wizard Zorander, but
my people would never lie. Never. They told me, and they wouldn't lie."
His eyes darted about again, his voice lowered to a whisper. "The walls, Wizard Zorander. The
walls."
He looked up at the wizard, his eyes wide. "They are melting, Wizard Zorander. The walls in the
crypt are melting."
The man nodded vigorously. "Of course."
"Seal it shut?" he gasped.
The man nodded, snatched the pouch from Zedd's hand, and ran back up the steps as fast as his
short legs would take him. Another man, taller, with his hands in the opposite sleeves of his goldtrimmed white robes, passed him as he came down. Chase glared at Zedd, poking a big finger at the
wizard's chest.
Zedd cleared his throat. "Yes, well, we will have to have a talk."
Zedd peered up at the dragon disappearing in the sky. "Master Rahl will be away for a time."
"Yes." Zedd looked back to the man's waiting face. "Yes, he will return. You will just have to carry
on until then." The man shrugged. "We are used. to that, here at the People's Palace-waiting for the
Master to return." He turned and started off, but stopped when Zedd called him back.
The man smiled and held his arm out to the palace entrance. "Of course, Wizard Zorander. Allow
me show you to a dining hall."
The boundary warden looked down at Rachel. "Lunch?" She grinned and nodded in earnest. "All
right, Zedd. And where is it you're going?"
Chase lifted an eyebrow. "A little rest and relaxation?" He grinned.
"Why would you want to take Adie to Aydindril, to the Wizard's Keep, to read?"