“Words! That’s all you offer me! Not love! Not proof! Just words! Worthless words!”she held him by his hair, she drew her other hand back to slap him. His eyes winced shut. She couldn’t make herself do it; she couldn’t hit him. It was all she could do just to stay on her feet, not to fall to her knees and throw her arms around him and tell him how much she loved him, that everything was all right.it wasn’t all right. If he didn’t do this, he would die.was the only one who could save him. Even if it killed her.
“Don’t hit me anymore,” he whispered. “Please, Denna… Don’t.”swallowed back the wail that tried to escape her throat and made herself speak. “Look at me.” He did as she ordered. “I’m not going to tell you again, Richard. If you love me, you will accept the offer and put on the collar. If you don’t, I will make you regret disobeying me more than anything you have ever regretted in your life. Do it now, or it’s over. Everything is over.” His eyes faltered. She gritted her teeth. “I’m not going to tell you again, my pet. Put on the collar. Now!”knew, knew that “my pet” was what Denna had called him. Denna had told her with the rest of it. She knew what those two words meant to him. She had hoped she wouldn’t have to use them. Whatever link he had to sanity dissolved in that instant. She saw it in his eyes: the thing she feared more than death..released her grip on his hair as, on his knees, he turned to Sister Verna. She lifted the collar a little, holding it out to him. It looked dull, gray, dead in the cold light. Richard stared at it. Snowflakes drifted down in the still, quiet light. Expressionless, Sister Verna watched him.right,” he whispered. His shaking hand reached for the collar. His fingers touched it, curled around it. “I accept the offer. I accept the collar.”
“Then put it around your neck,” Sister Verna said in a soft voice, “and close it.”turned to Kahlan. “I would do anything for you,” he whispered.wanted to die.hands shook so much she thought he might drop the collar as he took it from Sister Verna. He held it, staring at it.then his hands stopped shaking. He took a deep breath and put the collar around his neck. It closed with a snap, and the seam disappeared, leaving a smooth ring of metal.shaft of light dimmed as if to twilight even though it was still day. Deep, ominous thunder rumbled in every direction out across the grasslands. It didn’t sound like any thunder Kahlan had ever heard before. She could feel it in the ground beneath her feet. She thought that maybe it had something to do with the magic of the collar, something to do with the Sisters.knew, when she glanced at Sister Verna and saw her eyes glide around, that it wasn’t.smoothly rose to his feet before the Sister. “You may find, Sister Verna, that holding the leash to this collar is worse than wearing it.” He gritted his teeth. “Much worse.”Verna’s voice remained calm. “We only want to help you, Richard.”nodded slightly. “I take nothing on faith. You will have to prove it.”a panic, a sudden thought came to Kahlan. “What is the third reason? What is the third reason for the collar?”turned to her with a glare that even his father could not have matched. For a moment, she forgot how to breathe.
“The first reason is to control the headaches and open my mind so that I may be taught to use the gift. The second reason is to control me.” His hand came up and grabbed her by the throat. His eyes sliced through her. “The third reason is to give me pain.”closed her eyes with a wail. “No! Dear spirits, no!”released her throat. His expression went slack, lost. “I hope I have proven my love for you, Kahlan. I hope you believe me now. I have given you everything. I hope it is enough; I have nothing else to offer. Nothing.”
“You have. More than you could ever realize. I love you more than anything in the world, Richard.”reached out to touch his cheek. He pushed her hand away. His eyes said it all; she had betrayed him.
“Do you?” He looked away. “I would like to believe you.”tried to swallow the painful, burning lump in her throat. “You promised me you would never doubt my love.”nodded slightly. “so I did.”she could have called lightning down on herself, she would have done it. “Richard… I know you don’t understand right now, but I only did what I had to—to help you live. To keep you from being killed by the headaches, the gift. I hope that someday you will understand. I will always wait for you; I love you with all my heart.”nodded tearfully. “If that’s true, then find Zedd. Tell him what you have done. Tell him.”Verna’s voice broke in. “Richard, take your things and go wait with the horses.”back at her, he nodded. He went to the far corner and picked up his cloak, bow, and pack. Reaching in, he pulled out the three leather thongs, the one with the Bird Man’s whistle, the one with Scarlet’s tooth, and the one with Denna’s Agiel. As Kahlan watched him hang the three of them around his neck, she wished she had something of her own to give him. She tried desperately to think of something.he went past her, she put a hand to his arm and stopped him. “Wait.” Kahlan pulled the knife from his belt. She held out a long lock of her hair and severed it with the knife. She didn’t even think about what she was doing, what happened when Confessors cut their own hair.a scream of pain, she found herself on the ground. The magic seared through her, burning every nerve in its passing. She fought to remain conscious as she gulped for air. She struggled against the wrenching pain of it.had to remain conscious, or Richard might leave before she could give it to him. She thought of only that, and forced herself to her feet. As she did so, the pain finally abated.panting, Kahlan pulled a small blue ribbon from the waist of the dress, cut it too, and after wrapping the long strand of hair around two fingers, tied it together in the middle with the ribbon. As he watched, she returned the knife to its sheath at his belt and put the lock of hair in his shirt pocket.
“To remind you always that my heart is with you… that I love you.”, he looked at her a long moment. “Find Zedd,” was all he said before turning and going through the doorway.stood, staring at the door after he was gone. She felt numb, empty, lost.Verna stopped next to her, watching the door with her. That was probably the most courageous act I have ever witnessed,” she said softly. The people of the Midlands are fortunate to have you as their Mother Confessor.”continued to stare at the door. “He thinks I betrayed him.” She turned and looked at the Sister, tears welling up in her eyes. “He thinks I betrayed him.”Sister studied her face for a time. “You have not. I promise you that in time I will help him to see the truth of what you have done this day.”
“Please,” she begged, “don’t hurt him.”Verna clasped her hands in front of herself and took a deep breath. “You have just hurt him to save his life. Would you have me do any less?”tear ran down her cheek. “I guess not. And I doubt you could do anything as cruel as what I have just done.”Verna nodded. “I fear you are right. But I will give you my promise that I will personally watch over him, and see to it that what is done is only what is necessary. I promise you that I will not let it go one inch beyond that. Not one breath. On my word as a Sister of the Light.”you.” She looked down at the knife in the other’s hand. The sister pushed it back up her sleeve. “You would have killed him. If he said no, you would have killed him.”nodded. “If he had said no, the pain and madness at the end would have been grotesque. I would have spared him that. But it doesn’t matter now. You have saved his life. Thank you, Mother Confessor… Kahlan.”Verna stepped toward the door. “sister? How long? How long will you have him? How long will I have to wait?”Sister didn’t turn. “I’m sorry, I can’t say. It takes as long as it takes. Much of it is up to him. It depends on how fast he learns.”smiled for the first time. “I think you will be surprised at how fast Richard learns.”Verna nodded. That is what I fear most. Knowledge before wisdom. It frightens me more than anything else.”
“I think, too, that Richard’s wisdom may surprise you.”
“I pray you are right. Good-bye, Kahlan. Don’t try to follow, or he will die.”
“Sister, one more thing.” The cold danger in her own voice surprised her. “If you are lying to me about any of it, if you kill him, I will hunt down every Sister of the Light. I will kill every last one. But not before each of you begs endlessly to die.”Sister stood still as stone a moment before nodding and then going on her way.followed her out and stood with the people outside as she watched the sister mount her horse. Richard already sat tall on a big bay gelding. His back was to her as he waited.’s heart was breaking. She wanted to see his face one more time, but he didn’t turn as the two of them started away.sank to her knees. “Richard,” she cried. “I love you.”seemed not to hear her as he and Sister Verna disappeared into the snowy grasslands. Kahlan sat on the ground, in her wedding dress, her head hanging down, crying. Weselan put an arm around her, comforting her.remembered what he had said: Find Zedd. She forced herself to her feet. The elders were all there. She looked around at them all.
“I must leave at once. I must get to Aydindril. I need some men to go with me, to help me, to be sure I make it.”came up next to her. “I go. And as many of my hunters as you wish. All of them, if you wish. We will take a hundred.”put a hand on his shoulder and gave him a little smile. Wo I do not wish it to be you, my friend, or your hunters. I will take only three men.” Everyone mumbled in confusion. “More would bring attention, maybe trouble. It will be easier with three to slip unnoticed. It will take less time that way.”took the hand away and pointed at a man who stood watching, glaring. “I choose you, Chandalen.” The two brothers were standing to his side. “And you, Prindin and Tossidin”stormed forward. “Me! Why would you want me!”
“Because I must not fail. I know that if I took Savidlin, he would try his hardest, but if he failed, the Mud People would know he did his best. You are a better hunter of men. Richard told me once that if he had to pick one man to fight beside him, it would be you, even though you hate him.
“Where we go, men are the danger. If I don’t make it, if you fail me, everyone will think it is because you didn’t try your hardest. They will always think you let me die—let another Mud Person die—because you hate me and Richard. If you let me be killed, you will never be welcomed back to the Mud People. Your people.”stepped forward, his brother right next to him. “I will go. My brother, too. We will help you.”glared. “I will not! I will not go!”looked to the Bird Man. His brown eyes met hers, and then he turned an iron gaze on Chandalen. “Kahlan is a Mud Person. You are the bravest, most cunning fighter among us. It is your responsibility to protect us. All of us. You will do this. You will go with her. You will follow her orders and you will get her safely to where she wishes to go. Or, you will leave now, and never return. And Chandalen, if she is killed, don’t come back. If you do, we will kill you as we would kill any outsider with black painted on his eyes.”shook with rage. He threw his spear on the ground. Seething, he put fists to his hips. “If I am to leave our land there will have to be a ceremony to call the spirits to protect us on our journey It will take until tomorrow. We leave then.”eyes went to Kahlan. “I leave in one hour. You will be with me. You haw until then to prepare.”turned to the spirit house to change out of her wedding dress, into her traveling clothes, and to get her things together. She gratefully accepted Weselan’s offer to help.18, wet flakes of snow drifted down, sometimes falling harder, gathering in gusts and swirling into white curtains. Richard rode in a numb haze, behind Sister Verna, the third horse tethered to his and trotting along behind. When the snow swept down in dense flurries, the Sister was no more than a gray shape ahead of him.never occurred to him to wonder where they were going, or to close his cloak against the cold, biting wind. It didn’t matter; nothing mattered.thoughts seemed to float and dance with the snow, unable to settle. He had never loved anything in his life the way he loved Kahlan. She had become his life.she had sent him away.hurt too much to think of anything else. He was stunned that she would doubt his love, that she would send him away. Why would she send him away?mind drifted in and out of dense, desperate thoughts. He couldn’t understand how she could ask him to put on a collar to prove his love. He had told her what wearing a collar meant to him. Maybe he should have told her all of it. Maybe then she would have understood.chest ached where Darken Rahl had burned him. When he reached up and touched the bandage, he finally noticed that the snow flurries had stopped. The low, scudding clouds were broken in places, letting shafts of sunlight shine through. The grassland was a flat, dead brown, and the clouds a dull, dead gray. The landscape was a colorless, empty expanse.the angle of the sun he realized it was getting to be late afternoon. They had been riding for a long time, in silence; Sister Verna had said nothing to him.reached up and experimentally touched the collar for the first time. It was smooth, seamless, cold. He had said he would never wear a collar again. He had promised himself. Yet here he was wearing one. Worse, he had put it on himself, put it on because Kahlan had asked him to. Because she doubted him.the first time since he had put it on, he forced himself to think of something else. He couldn’t think about Kahlan anymore, couldn’t stand the pain. He was the Seeker; he had other things to think about, important things. With a gentle squeeze of his lower legs to the horse’s girth, he urged it ahead, pulling it close beside the Sister’s chestnut gelding.reached up to push back the hood of his cloak, and realized it wasn’t even up, so he ran his fingers through his wet hair instead. He looked over at Sister Verna.are some things we have to talk about. Important things you don’t know about.”glanced over without emotion. The edge of her hood partially blocked her face. “And what would those things be?”
“I am the Seeker.”looked away, returning her eyes to where they had been. “That is hardly something I don’t know.”calm, unconcerned attitude annoyed him. “I have responsibilities. I told you before: there are important things going on you know nothing about. Dangerous things.” She didn’t respond. It was as if he hadn’t spoken. He decided to cut right to the heart of it. “The Keeper is trying to escape the underworld.”
“We do not speak his name. You are not to speak it as you have just done. It brings his attention. When we must speak of him, he is addressed as the Nameless One.”was talking to him as if he were a child. Kahlan’s life was in danger and this woman was treating him like a child. “I don’t care what you call him, he’s trying to get out. And I assure you, I already have his attention.”last she looked over, unconcerned. The Nameless One is always trying to get out.”took a deep breath and tried again. The veil to the underworld is torn. He is going to get out.”Verna turned to him once more, this time pulling the edge of the hood back to get a better look. Curly brown hair peeked out the edge of the dark, heavy hood. She had an odd frown. A frown of amusement. There was a wisp of a smile at the corners of her mouth.Creator himself put the Nameless One where he is. The Creator himself placed the veil with His own hand to keep him there.” Her smile swelled a little as her eyebrows came closer together, creasing her weathered brow. The Nameless One cannot escape the prison the Creator has placed him in. Do not be afraid, child.”in rage, Richard wheeled his bay mare around toward the Sister. The two horses jostled, whinnying and tossing their heads. Richard firmly snatched the reins of the Sister’s surprised horse to keep it from rearing, or bolting.leaned toward her, his chest heaving in fury. “I will not be called names! I will not have names put to me because I wear a collar! I am Richard! Richard Rahl!”Verna didn’t flinch. Her voice remained calm and smooth. “I’m sorry, Richard. It was only force of habit. I am used to dealing with ones much younger than you. I meant nothing demeaning by it.”way she stared at him made him feel suddenly foolish, embarrassed. Made him feel like a child. He released the reins. “I apologize for yelling. I’m not in a very good mood.”frowned again. “I thought your name was Cypher.”tugged his cloak over his chest where the bandage covered his burn. “It’s a long story. George Cypher raised me as his son. I only found out a short time ago that I am in truth the son of Darken Rahl.”frown deepened. “darken Rahl. The one with the gift you killed? You killed your father?”
“Don’t look at me like that. You didn’t know him. You have no idea what kind of man he was. He imprisoned and tortured and killed more people than you or I could imagine. The idea of him being with my mother makes me sick. But that is the truth of it. I am his son. If you expect me to be sorry I killed him, you will have longer than eternity to wait.”Verna shook her head with what seemed genuine concern. “I’m sorry, Richard. Sometimes the Creator weaves a tangled cloth for our lives, and we are left to wonder why. But I am sure of one thing: He has reasons for what He does.”. He was getting babble from this woman. He urged his horse around and started out again. “I’m telling you, the veil is torn, and the Keeper is going to get out.”voice lowered dangerously. “The Nameless One.”glanced over, annoyed. Tine. The Nameless One. I couldn’t care less what you want to call him, but he is going to get out. We are all in great danger.”was in great danger.didn’t care if this sorceress of a Sister burned him to a cinder; his life meant nothing to him anymore. His only concern was Kahlan’s safety.Verna’s quizzical frown and smile returned. “Who told you such a thing?”
“Shota, a witch woman, she told me the veil was torn.” He left out that Shota had also told him he was the one who had torn it. “she said it was torn and if it wasn’t fixed, the Kee—the Nameless One would escape.”Verna smiled. Her eyes sparkled. “A witch woman.” She laughed a little. “And you believed her? You believed a witch woman? You think witch women speak the truth in such simple fashion?”, Richard glanced at her from the corner of his eye. “she seemed pretty sure of it to me. She wouldn’t lie about something this important. I believe her.”Verna seemed to think the whole thing amusing. “If you had ever had occasion to deal with a witch woman before, Richard, you would know that they have an odd view of the truth. They can be well intentioned at times, but witch women speak in words that rarely come to pass the way they sound.”truth of that took some of the steam out of him. Sister Verna certainly seemed to know about witch women. In fact, she seemed to share his own view of them. “she seemed pretty sure of what she was saying. She was afraid.”
“I am sure she was. A wise person is always afraid of the Nameless One. But I wouldn’t put much stock in what she says.”
“It’s not just what she says. Other things have happened, too.”looked over curiously. “such as?”
“A screeling.”set her calm brown eyes back ahead. “A screeling. You have seen a screeling, yes?”
“Seen it! It attacked me! Screelings are from the underworld. They are sent by the Nameless One. It was sent through a tear in the veil, to kill me!”smile returned. “You have quite an imagination, Richard. You have listened to too many children’s songs.”restrained his renewed anger. “What do you mean?”
“Screelings are indeed from the underworld, as are other beasts. The heart hounds, for example. But they are not “sent.” They simply escape. We live in a world that lies between good and evil; between the light and the dark. The Creator did not intend this to be a perfect world, safe from all harm. We cannot understand His reasons, always, but He has them, and He is perfect. Perhaps the Screelings are meant to show us the dark side. I don’t know. But I do know they are simply an evil that sometimes comes. I have seen this happen before to ones with the gift. It is possible that the gift draws them. A test perhaps. A warning, perhaps, of the rancid evil that awaits those who stray from the light.”
“But… there are prophecies that say they are sent when the veil is torn, sent by the Nameless One.”
“How could that be, Richard? Has the veil ever been torn before?”
“How should I know?” He thought a minute. “But I don’t see how it could have been. If it were, how could it have been mended? And it wouldn’t have gone unnoticed. What are you getting at?”
“Well, if the veil has never been torn, how could the screel-ings have been sent before? How would we know what they were? How could they have a name already put to them?”was Richard’s turn to frown. “Maybe we only know them as screelings because they have been named in the prophecy.”
“You have read this prophecy?”
“Well, no. Kahlan told it to me.”
“And she read it herself, with her own eyes, yes?”
“No. She learned it when she was young.” Richard’s irritated frown deepened. “In a song. She learned it from wizards.”
“In a song.” Sister Verna didn’t look over, but her smile widened. “Richard, I do not mean to belittle your fears, but things repeated, over and over, especially in a song, have a way of changing.
“As for prophecies, well, they are harder to understand than a witch woman. We have vaults full of them at the palace. As part of your studies, perhaps you will be allowed to work with them. I have read all of them we have, and I can tell you that they are beyond the minds of most. If you aren’t cautious, you can find a prophecy that will say whatever you want to hear. Or at least you will think it is what you want to hear. Some wizards devote their lives to the study of them, and yet even they understand only a tiny fraction of their truth.”
“This is a danger not to be taken so lightly.”
“Do you think the veil is torn that simply? Have faith, Richard. The Creator placed the veil. Have faith in Him.”rode in silence for a time. Sister Verna did seem to make sense. He felt as if his understanding of the world was tilting.it was difficult for him to think too hard on the subject; Kahlan kept creeping back into his mind. His anguish at her wanting him to put on a collar to prove his love, knowing it would take him from her, tore at his heart. The betrayal burned painfully in his chest.picked at the reins with his thumbnail. At last he turned once more to the Sister. “That’s not all. I haven’t told you the worst of it.”smiled a motherly smile. “There is more? Tell me then. Perhaps I can put your fears to rest.”let out a deep breath, trying to release at least a little of the pain with it. “The man I killed, Darken Rahl, my father, well, when he died, he was sent to the underworld. To the Kee… the Nameless One. Last night, he escaped. Escaped through the tear in the veil. He is back in this world, back to tear the veil the rest of the way.”
“And you know he was sent to the Nameless One. You were in the underworld to see him arrive there, at the side of the Nameless One, yes?”woman had a way of poking his temper awake. He tried to ignore the sting of the jab. “I talked to him when he came back to this world. He told me. He told me he was here to tear the veil the rest of the way. He said the Keeper would have us all. A dead man, come back to this world. Do you see? The only way his spirit could be here is if he came through the veil.”
“You were just sitting there, and this dead man walked up and spoke to you, yes?”frowned deeply at her, but she didn’t look over to see it. “It was at a gathering, with the Mud People. I was trying to talk to their ancestors” spirits, to try to find out how to close the veil, and he appeared.”
“Ahhh.” She nodded in satisfaction. “I see.”
“What does that mean!”Verna’s face set into an expression of tolerance, born of explaining things to children. “did the Mud People have you drink or eat some sacred potion before you saw this spirit?”
“No!”
“You simply sat down with them and saw spirits, yes?”
“Well, not exactly. There is a banquet first. For a couple of days. The elders eat and drink special things. But I never did. Then we were painted with mud, and then I went into the spirit house with the seven elders. We sat in a circle, and they chanted awhile. Then they passed around a basket and we took out a spirit frog, and rubbed the slime from its back onto our skin…”
“Frogs.” Sister Verna looked over. “red frogs, yes?”
“Yes. Red spirit frogs.”a smile she looked back ahead. “I know of them. And it made your skin tingle, yes? And it is then you saw spirits?”’s a pretty simplistic version, but I guess you could distill it down like that. What are you trying to say?”
“You have traveled the Midlands often? You have seen many of her peoples?”
“No. I’m from Westland. I don’t know much about the people of the Midlands.”nodded to herself again. There are many peoples in the Midlands, unbelievers, who do not know of the light of the Creator. They worship all sorts of things. Idols and spirits and such. They are savages who hold to customs of worship centered around these false beliefs. They mostly have one thing in common. They use sacred food or drink to help them “see” their “spirit protectors.’”looked over to make sure he was paying attention. The Mud People apparently use the substance on the red frogs to help them have these visions of what they wish to see.”
“Visions?”
“The Creator has placed many plants and animals in our world for us to use. The power of these things work in invisible ways. A tea, for example, of the bark of willow can help reduce a fever. We can’t see it work, but we know it does. There are many things that if eaten will make us sick, even kill us. The Creator gave us minds to learn the difference. There are some things that if eaten, or in the case of the red frogs, rubbed into our skin, will make us see things, just as we see things when we dream.
“Savages who don’t know better think the things they see are real. That is what happened to you. You rubbed the slime of a red frog into your skin and it gave you visions. Your rightful fear of the Nameless One made it all the more real to you. If these “spirits” were real, why would you need to use some special plant, or food, or drink, or in this case, red frogs, to see and talk to them?
“Please don’t think I am mocking you, Richard. The visions can seem very real. When you are under their influence, they can seem as real as anything. But they are not.”was reluctant to believe the Sister’s explanation, but he understood what she was talking about. From a young age, Zedd had taken him into the woods to find special plants to help people: aum to take away pain and help minor wounds heal faster, and wattle root to ease the pain of deeper wounds. Zedd had showed him other plants that would help fevers, digestion, the pain of childbirth, dizzy spells, and he had also told him about plants to avoid, plants that were dangerous, and plants that would make people see things that weren’t there: visions.he didn’t think he had imagined Darken Rahl. “He burned me.” Richard tapped his shirt where the bandage was. “I couldn’t have been having visions. Darken Rahl was there, he reached out and touched me, and it burned my skin. Pm not imagining that.”Sister gave a little shrug. “That could– be one of two things. After you rubbed the frog on your skin, you couldn’t see the room you were in, could you?”
“No. It just seemed to disappear into a dark void.”
“Well, see it or not, it was still there. And I’m sure the savages would have had a fire burning when you had this gathering. And when you were burned, you were not sitting in the same place, but you were standing, moving about, yes?”
“Yes,” he admitted reluctantly.pursed her lips. “In the deluded state you were in, you probably fell and burned yourself on a stick in the fire and imagined that it was this spirit doing the burning.”was beginning to feel decidedly foolish. Could the Sister be right? Was it all this simple? Was he really this gullible?
“You said it could be two things. What is the other?”Sister rode in silence for a moment. When her voice came, it came lower, darker, than it had before. The Nameless One always seeks to have us side with him. Though he is locked behind the veil, his tentacles can still reach into this world. He can still harm us. He is dangerous. The dark side is dangerous. When ignorant people dabble in things dark, they can call forth danger, call forth the attention of the Nameless One or his minions. It is possible you really were touched, burned, by one of the evil ones.” She glanced over. There are dangerous things people are too foolish to avoid. Sometimes, those things can kill.”voice brightened a bit. That is one of our jobs; trying to teach those who have not yet seen the light of the Creator to go toward that light, and stay away from the things dark, and dangerous.”couldn’t think of anything to counter the Sister’s explanations of events. The things she said made sense. If she were right, that would mean that Kahlan wasn’t really in danger; that Kahlan was safe. He wanted to believe that. He desperately wanted to believe that. But still…
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