Wizard's First Rule - Terry Goodkind [306]
In the exact center of the bridge, at a full gallop, he ran solidly into something that wasn’t there.
Stunned, Richard sat up, dumbfounded at finding himself on the ground, and seeing his big roan running with the other horses, then stopping with them as they halted and turned. The others looked back in confusion as Richard, still dazed and bewildered, rose painfully to his feet. He brushed himself off and started limping to retrieve his horse. Before he reached the center of the bridge, he smacked into it again. It felt like walking into a stone wall, but there was nothing there. He found himself sitting on the ground again. The others were around him this time as he got to his feet.
Zedd was off his horse, holding its reins in one hand, and helping Richard with the other. “What’s the matter?”
“I don’t know,” Richard managed. “It felt like I ran into a wall, right in the center of the bridge. I must have just fallen off, that’s all. I think I’m all right now.”
Zedd looked around, led him forward with a hand on his elbow. Before going far, he hit it again, but this time he had been moving slowly and wasn’t knocked from his feet, only back a few steps. He took one slow step forward, and came in contact with it again. Zedd gave a serious frown. Richard put his hands out, feeling the solid form of the smooth wall that wouldn’t let him pass but would let the rest of them through. The touch of it made him feel dizzy and sick. Zedd walked back and forth through the invisible barrier.
The wizard stood where the unseen wall stood. “Walk back to the end of the bridge, then walk to me.”
Richard felt the lump on his forehead as he walked back to the end of the bridge. Kahlan jumped off her horse, next to Zedd. Brophy came up beside her, to see what the trouble was. This time, as he walked, Richard held his hands out in front of himself.
Before he was halfway back, he made solid contact, and could go no farther, having to back away from the sickening feeling at its touch.
Zedd rubbed his chin. “Bags!”
The rest of them came to Richard, since he couldn’t come to them. Zedd led him forward again. When he made contact, he backed away a little.
Zedd took Richard’s left hand. “Touch it, with your other hand.”
Richard did as he was told until the sick feeling made him withdraw his hand. Zedd seemed to feel it, through Richard. By now, they were at the foot of the bridge. Every touch of the thing had made it move back the way they had come.
“Bags! And double bags!”
“What is it?” Richard demanded.
Zedd took a glance to Kahlan and Chase before he spoke. “It’s a keeper spell.”
“What’s a keeper spell?”
“It’s a spell drawn by that filthy artist, James. He’s drawn it around you, and then when you touched it the first time, it activated the spell. Once you touch it, it pulls tighter, like a trap. If we don’t get it off you, it will shrink until you are all that’s in it, and then you won’t be able to move.”
“Then what?”
Zedd straightened. “The touch of it is poison. When it finishes closing around you, like a cocoon, it will crush you, or the poison of it will kill you.”
Kahlan grabbed the sleeve of Zedd’s robes, panic in her eyes. “We have to go back! We have to get it off him!”
Zedd pulled his arm free. “Well, of course we do. We’ll find the drawing and erase it.”
“I know where the sacred caves are,” Kahlan offered as she grabbed hold of her saddle and put a foot in the stirrup.
The wizard turned to retrieve his horse. “We don’t have any time to waste. Let’s go.”
“No,” Richard said.
They all turned back to stare at him.
“Richard, we have to,” Kahlan said.
“She’s right, my boy. There’s no other way.”
“No.” He looked at their startled faces. “That’s what they want us to do. You said the artist couldn’t spell you or Kahlan, so he did it to me, thinking that would get us all back. The box is too important. We can’t take the risk.” He looked to Kahlan. “You just tell me where these caves are, and Zedd, you tell me how to erase the spell.”
Kahlan