Wizard's First Rule - Terry Goodkind [269]
Richard looked up. “We didn’t exactly invite him.”
“He killed a lot of them,” Kahlan said in a quiet voice, still looking down at her plate, chewing slowly.
Zedd stared at the top of her head, then slowly sank back down. “I’m sorry,” he said softly. “So, what did the ancestors’ spirits tell you?”
Richard gave a shrug. “That we had to go to see a witch woman.”
“Witch woman!” Zedd’s eyes narrowed. “What witch woman? Where?”
“Shota. In Agaden Reach.”
Zedd winced, almost dropping his plate, the air making a sound going through his bared, gritted teeth as he drew a sharp breath. “Shota!” He looked around as if someone might hear. He lowered his voice, directing a harsh whisper to Kahlan as he leaned closer to her. “Bags! What would possess you to guide him into Agaden Reach! You are sworn to protect him!”
“Believe me,” she said, looking him in the eye, “I did not want to do it.”
“We had to,” Richard said, coming to her defense.
Zedd cast an eye to him. “Why?”
“To find out where the box is. And we did, too, Shota told us.”
“Shota told you,” Zedd mocked, scowling at him. “And what else did she tell you? Shota tells you nothing you want to know without telling you something you don’t.”
Kahlan gave Richard a sidelong glance. He didn’t return it. “Nothing. She told us nothing else.” He held Zedd’s eyes without backing down. “She told us that Queen Milena, in Tamarang, has the last box of Orden. She told us because her life too depends on this.”
Richard held Zedd’s glare. He doubted that his old friend believed him, but he didn’t want to tell him what Shota had said. How could he tell Zedd that one, or two, of them might end up being traitors? That Zedd would use wizard’s fire against him, that Kahlan would touch him with her power? He feared that maybe it would be justified; after all, he was the one who knew about the book. They didn’t.
“Zedd,” he said softly, “you told me you wanted me to get us to the Midlands, and that you had a plan once we were here. You were struck down by that underworld beast, you were unconscious, we didn’t know when, or if, you would wake. I didn’t know what to do, I didn’t know what your plan was. Winter is coming. We have to stop Darken Rahl.”
His voice turned harder as he went on. “I have been doing the best I could without you. I’ve lost track of the number of times we have nearly been killed. All I knew to do was try to find the box. Kahlan helped me, and we found out where it is. It has cost us both dearly. If you don’t like what I have done, then take your cursed Sword of Truth back, I am near to being fed up with it! With everything!”
He threw his plate on the ground, walking off a ways into the dark, standing with his back to them, a lump growing in his throat. The dark trees in front of him became watery. It surprised him the way the anger had reached up and taken him. He had wanted to see Zedd so badly, and now that he was here, he was angry with him. He let the ire rage, waiting for it to die of its own accord.
Zedd and Kahlan exchanged a look. “Yes,” he said softly to her, “I can see that you have indeed told him.” He set his plate on the ground, stood, and gave her a pat on the shoulder. “I’m sorry, dear one.”
Richard didn’t move when he felt Zedd’s hand on his shoulder.
“I’m sorry, my boy. I guess you have been having a hard time of it.”
Richard nodded as he stared into the darkness. “I killed a man with the sword. With the magic.”
Zedd waited a short while before he spoke. “Well, I know you, I’m sure you had to.”
“No,” Richard said in a painful whisper. “I didn’t have to. I thought I was protecting Kahlan, protecting her life. I didn’t know she was a Confessor, that she needed no protection. But I surely wanted to. And I surely enjoyed it.”
“You only thought you did. That was the magic.”
“I’m not so sure. I’m not sure what is becoming of me.”
“Richard, forgive me for sounding as if I were angry with you. It is myself I’m angry with. You have done well, it is I who have failed.”
“What do you mean?”
Zedd patted his shoulder. “Come