Wizard's First Rule - Terry Goodkind [63]
In the gathering gloom, Zedd patted Richard affectionately on the shoulder. “You have gotten it all right, my boy. All of it.” He broke into a broad grin. “I have chosen the Seeker well. I am proud of myself.” Richard and Kahlan laughed at Zedd’s self-congratulation.
Kahlan’s smile faded. “Zedd, I cut down the tree you planted in memory of your wife. That bothers me. I’m deeply sorry for doing it.”
“Don’t be, dear one, her memory has aided us. She has helped show the Seeker the truth, there could be no more fitting tribute to her.”
Richard didn’t hear them talking. Already he was looking to the east, to the massive wall of mountains, trying to think of solutions. Cross the boundary, he thought, cross the boundary without going through it. How? What if it was impossible? What if there was no way across the boundary? Would they be stuck here while Darken Rahl searched for the boxes? Were they to die without a chance? He wished there were more time and fewer limitations. Richard reprimanded himself for wasting time wishing.
If only he knew it could be done, then he could find out how. Something in the back of his mind nagged at him, insisting that it could be done, insisting he knew the truth of it. There was a way, there had to be. If he only knew that it was possible.
All around them, the night was coming alive with sounds. Frogs called from the ponds and streams, night birds from the trees, and insects from the grass. From the distant hills came the cry of wolves, mournful and plaintive against the dark wall of mountains. Somehow they had to cross those mountains, cross the unknown.
The mountains were like the boundary, he thought. You couldn’t go through them, but you could cross them. You had only to find a pass. A pass. Was it possible? Could there be one?
Then it struck him like a bolt of lightning.
The book.
Richard spun on his heels, excited. To his surprise Zedd and Kahlan were both standing quietly, watching him, as if waiting for a pronouncement.
“Zedd, have you ever helped anyone other than yourself go through the boundary?”
“Like who?”
“Anyone! Yes or no!”
“No. No one.”
“Can anyone other than a wizard send a person through the boundary?”
Zedd shook his head emphatically. “None but a wizard. And Darken Rahl, of course.”
Richard frowned at him. “Our lives depend on this, Zedd. Swear. You have never, ever, sent anyone other than yourself through the boundary. True?”
“True as a boiling bog full of toasted toads. Why? What have you thought of? Do you have a way?”
Richard ignored the question, too deep in his own stream of thought to answer, and instead turned back to the mountains. It was true; there was a pass across the boundary! His father had found it, and used it! That was the only way the Book of Counted Shadows could have been in Westland. He couldn’t have brought it with him when he moved here, before the boundary, and he couldn’t have found it in Westland; the book had magic. The boundary wouldn’t have worked if magic had been here then. Magic could only be brought into Westland after the boundary was up.
His father had found a pass, gone into the Midlands, and brought the book back. Richard was shocked and excited at the same time. His father had done it! He had gone across the boundary. Richard was elated. Now he knew there was a way across; it could be done. He still had to find the pass, but that didn’t matter for now. There was a pass; that was what mattered.
Richard turned back to the other two. “We will go have supper.”
“I put a stew on, just