Wizard's First Rule - Terry Goodkind [302]
It wasn’t long before he knew what it was. It was four horses galloping toward them. Only one had a rider.
CHAPTER 40
Richard touched the hilt of the sword for reassurance as he watched the four horses raising a cloud of dust that turned golden in the setting sun. Soon the sound of thundering hooves reached him. The lone rider bent over his mount, urging him on. Richard lifted the sword a little in its scabbard, checking that it was clear, then let it drop back. As the darkly clad rider approached, Richard realized he looked familiar.
“Chase!”
The boundary warden brought the horses to a skidding halt in front of them. He looked down as the dust drifted away. “You all look to be well.”
“Chase, is it ever good to see you!” Richard grinned. “How did you find us?”
He looked insulted. “I’m a boundary warden.” He thought that was explanation enough. “Find what you were after?”
“No,” Richard admitted with a sigh. He saw little arms clutching at Chase’s sides. A little face peeked around the black cloak. “Rachel? Is that you?”
Her face came farther out, a grin spreading on it. “Richard! I’m so happy to see you again. Isn’t Chase wonderful? He fought a gar and saved me from being eaten.”
“Didn’t fight him,” Chase grumbled. “Just put a bolt through his head, that’s all.”
“But you would have. You’re the bravest man I ever saw.”
With a pained frown, Chase rolled his eyes. “Isn’t she just about the ugliest child you have ever seen?” He leaned around and looked at her. “I can’t believe a gar would even want to eat you.”
Rachel giggled and hugged her arms to his sides. “Look, Richard.” She put a foot out toward him, showing off a shoe. “Chase brought down a buck. He said it was a mistake, because it was too big, so he traded it to a man, but all the man had to trade were these shoes, and this cloak. Aren’t they wonderful? And Chase says I can keep them.”
Richard grinned at her. “Yes, that is indeed wonderful.” He noticed Rachel’s doll and the bundle with the bread nestled between her and Chase. He also noticed her eyes going to Siddin, as if she had seen him before.
Kahlan put a hand on Rachel’s leg. “Why did you run off? You scared us with worry for you.”
Rachel flinched at Kahlan’s touch. She hugged one arm to Chase and thrust a hand in her pocket. She didn’t answer Kahlan’s question, but looked instead toward Siddin. “Why do you have him?”
“Kahlan rescued him,” Richard said. “The Queen had him locked up in the dungeon. That’s no place for a child, so she took him out.”
Rachel looked down at Kahlan. “Wasn’t the Queen mad?”
“I don’t allow anyone to hurt children,” Kahlan said. “Not even a queen.”
“Well, don’t just stand there staring. I brought you all horses. Mount up. I figured I’d catch you today. I have a wild boar roasting back at the place you stayed last night, just this side of the Callisidrin.”
With one hand on the saddle and the other arm holding Siddin, Zedd leapt to a horse. “Wild boar! What kind of fool are you? Leaving a wild boar roasting unprotected! Anyone could just come along and take it!”
“Why do you think I want you to hurry? The place is filthy with wolf tracks, though I doubt they’d come near a fire.”
“Don’t you dare hurt that wolf,” Zedd warned. “He’s a friend of the Mother Confessor.”
Chase cast an eye to Kahlan, then to Richard, before turning his horse and leading them into the setting sun. Richard was heartened by having Chase back. It made him feel, once again, that anything was possible. After she had mounted, Kahlan took Siddin, the two of them talking and laughing as they rode.
At the camp, Zedd wasted no time before checking the roasting boar, and pronounced it fit to eat. He shifted his robes and sat down, waiting with a grin on his wrinkled face for someone with a knife to carve dinner. Siddin, with a grin frozen on his face, too, leaned against Kahlan after she sat down. Richard and Chase started carving up the boar. Rachel sat close to Chase’s side, watching him, keeping an eye to Kahlan, her doll in her lap, and the loaf of bread, wrapped in the