Wizard's First Rule - Terry Goodkind [305]
He set it on a rock where they could all see it in the firelight while they had the best dinner Richard could ever remember. Richard and Kahlan told Chase some of what they had been through. To Richard’s delight, Chase was disturbed to learn that he owed his life to Bill, back at Southaven. Chase told them some of his own stories of bringing an army of a thousand men across the Rang’Shada. He enjoyed telling drawn-out tales of the foolishness of bureaucracy in the field.
Rachel cuddled in Chase’s lap while she ate and he talked. Richard thought it was interesting that she chose the most fearsome among them for comfort. When at last he finished his story, she looked up and asked, “Chase, where should I go, to hide until winter?”
He regarded her with a glower. “You’re too ugly to be left to wander about. A gar would eat you sure.” That made her laugh. “I have other children, they’re all ugly too. You’ll fit right in. I guess I’ll take you to live at my house.”
“Really, Chase?” Richard asked.
“I’ve come home enough times and had my wife present me with a new child. I think it’s about time I turned affairs about on her.” He looked down at Rachel, who clung to him as if he might float away. “But I have rules, you know. You have to follow my rules.”
“I’ll do anything you say, Chase.”
“Well, there you go, that’s the first rule. I don’t allow any of my children to call me Chase. If you want to be a member of my family, you have to call me Father. And about your hair, it’s too short. My children all have long hair and I like it that way. You’ll have to let your hair grow out some. And you’ll have a mother. You’ll have to mind her. And you’ll have to play with your new brothers and sisters. Do you think you can do all that?”
She nodded against him, unable to talk as she hugged him, tears glistening in her eyes.
They all excitedly ate their fill. Even Zedd seemed to have had enough. Richard felt exhausted, and at the same time full of energy, to finally have the box in their hands. They had done the hard part, they had found the box before Rahl. Now they had only to keep it from him until winter.
“We have been weeks in this quest,” Kahlan said. “The first day of winter is a month away. Earlier today, that seemed scarcely enough time to get the box. Now that we have it, it seems forever. What shall we do until it is finished?”
Chase spoke up first. “We have all of us to protect the box, and we have a thousand men to protect us. When we get back across the border, we will have many times that.”
She looked at Zedd. “Do you think that’s wise? We would be easy to find, a thousand men, I mean. Would it not be better to hide somewhere, by ourselves?”
Zedd leaned back and rubbed his full stomach. “We could hide better by ourselves, but we would also be more vulnerable, if discovered. Perhaps Chase is correct. There would be a lot of protection among a force that large, and if we had to, we could still leave them and go to cover.”
“We better get an early start,” Richard said.
It was barely light when they were off, the horses to the road, Brophy to woods, shadowing them, or at times scouting ahead. Chase, bristling with weapons, led them at a trot, Rachel holding him tight. Kahlan, back in her forest garb, and with Siddin sitting at her lap, rode next to Zedd. Richard had insisted that Zedd carry the box; it was wrapped in the cloth that held the bread before, and tied to the horn of his saddle. Richard followed behind, watching everything as they rode quickly into the cold morning air. Now that they had the box, he felt suddenly vulnerable, as if somehow everyone would know, just by looking at them.
Richard could hear the waters of the Callisidrin before they rounded the curve to the bridge. He was glad to see the road deserted. Chase spurred his horse to a gallop as he approached the big wooden bridge, the rest of them giving a heel to their horses to keep pace. Richard knew what Chase was doing. The boundary warden had always told him that bridges were the bane of the unwary. Richard watched in every