Wizard's First Rule - Terry Goodkind [271]
Richard swallowed back the dryness in his mouth. “Zedd… I… Do you think this book, the Book of Counted Shadows, would be able to tell us how to stop Rahl? How to keep him from using the boxes?”
Zedd shrugged his bony shoulders. “As I said, I’ve never opened the cover. But from what I know from other books of instruction, it would only be of aid to the person with the boxes; it’s designed to help use magic, not to help another in stopping its use. In all likelihood, it wouldn’t have helped us. My plan was to simply get the book, and destroy it, to keep Rahl from getting the information. Having the book lost to us leaves us with no alternative; we must find the last box.”
“But without the book, can Rahl still open the boxes?” Kahlan asked.
“With as much as he knows, I am sure he can. But he still wouldn’t know which one.”
“Then, with or without the book, he’s going to open a box,” Richard said. “He has to. If he doesn’t, he dies. He has nothing to lose. Even if you had recovered the book, he would still open a box—after all, there is a chance he will pick right.”
“Well, if he has the book, then he will know which to open. I was hoping that if we couldn’t find the last box, at least I could destroy the book, and keep it from Rahl, give us at least that one chance. The chance he might pick right—for us.” Zedd’s face soured. “I would give anything to destroy that book.”
Kahlan put her hand on Richard’s arm; he almost jumped. “Then Richard has done as the Seeker should; he has found where the box is. Queen Milena has it.” She gave Richard a smile of reassurance. “The Seeker has done his job well.” His mind was spinning too fast to return the smile properly.
Zedd drew a finger and thumb down opposite sides of his chin. “And how do you propose we get it from her? Knowing is one thing, getting is quite another.”
Kahlan gave Zedd a smooth smile. “Queen Milena is the one to whom the snake in the silver robes sold his services. He is about to have an unpleasant meeting with the Mother Confessor.”
“Giller? Queen Milena is the one Giller went to?” The wrinkles on Zedd’s face deepened with his scowl. “I think he will be astonished to meet my eyes again.”
She frowned. “You just leave this task to me. He is my wizard. I will deal with him.”
Richard’s eyes went back and forth between the two of them. He felt suddenly out of place. The great wizard and the Mother Confessor discussing how they would deal with an upstart wizard, as if they were talking of pulling weeds in a garden. He thought of his father, of how his father had told him he had taken the book to prevent it from falling into covetous hands. Darken Rahl’s hands. He spoke without thinking.
“Maybe he had a good reason for doing what he did.”
They both turned and looked at him, as if they had forgotten he was there.
“A good reason?” Kahlan snapped. “Greed was his good reason. He deserted me, and left me to the quads.”
“Sometimes people do things for reasons that aren’t what they seem.” Richard gave her an even look. “Maybe he thought the box was more important.”
Kahlan looked too surprised to speak.
Zedd frowned, his white hair looking wild in the firelight. “Perhaps you are right. It could be that Giller knew about the Queen having the box, and wanted to protect it. He certainly knew what the boxes were about.” He gave Richard an ironic smile. “Maybe the Seeker has given us a new perspective. Maybe we have an ally in Tamarang.”
“And maybe not,” Kahlan said.
“We will know soon enough,” the wizard sighed.
“Zedd,” Richard asked, “yesterday, we went to a place called Horners Mill.”
Zedd nodded. “I saw it. And I have seen many more just like it.”
Richard leaned forward. “It wasn’t Westlanders, was it? It couldn’t have been Westlanders. I told Michael to get the army together and protect Westland. I didn’t tell him to attack anyone. Certainly not helpless people. It couldn’t have been Westlanders; they wouldn’t do that.”
“No, it wasn’t anyone from Westland. I haven’t seen or heard from Michael.