'Go,' she groaned in a deep vibrating voice. 'Hurry. Get him before he has us all.' She held her trembling left wing out.
Richard stroked her snout. 'I'll be back. Hang on.'
Richard drew the sword as he charged up the hill of steps. He didn't need to call forth the anger; it was with him before he had even touched the hilt. He ran in a blind rage toward doors between the colossal columns.
As he ran through the doors, a handful of soldiers charged out of the darkness. Without pause, Richard scythed into them. His blade flashed in the torchlight coming from the vast halls inside. Richard danced with the spirits. His blade was fluid grace among the hacking soldiers.
The first, he cut in half, breastplate and all. Every charge was met with swift steel. In a matter of moments, the fifteen men lay scattered across the bloody floor, and then Richard was moving again.
So much for his welcome back. He remembered the D'Haran army pledging their loyalty to him the last time he had been here, when he had killed Darken Rahl. Maybe they just didn't know who he was. More likely, they knew precisely who he was.
Richard chose a hall that led in the direction of the Garden of Life. Three levels of balconies looked down on the hall. Most of the torches were dark. He saw no people as he ran past a devotion square with white sand raked in circles around a pitted rock.
From a staircase at the side, a half-dozen Mord-Sith charged down, running toward him. Each wore her red leather uniform, and each had an Agiel in her hand. Through the rage, he realized that he couldn't use the sword on them, or they would capture him by its magic. He was furious. He needed to get to Darken Rahl. He didn't need to have to deal with these deadly women.
Reluctantly, Richard sheathed his sword and drew his knife. Denna had told him once that if he had just used his knife instead of his sword, he would have had her. He was not going to be able to outrun them; he was going to have to kill them.
The biggest, a blonde-headed woman at the lead, held her hands out as he went for her. 'Lord Rahl, no!'
The other five slid to a stop behind her. Richard slashed at her, but she lurched back into a half crouch with her hands held out to the sides.
'Lord Rahl! Stop! We are here to help you!'
Though he had put the sword away, he had no shortage of rage of his own. He had to get to Darken Rahl if he was to get to Kahlan. 'Help me in the afterlife - you will be there shortly!'
'No, Lord Rahl! I am Cara. We are here to help you. You cannot go that way. That hall is not secure.'
Richard stood panting, knife in hand. 'I don't believe you. You want to capture me. I know very well what Mord-Sith do to their captives.'
'I knew Denna, your mistress. You wear her Agiel. Mord-
Sith do not live to hurt their captives any longer. You set us free. We would never hurt the one who set us free. We revere you.'
'When I left here, I told the soldiers to burn all those outfits and give you new clothes. I ordered the Agiel taken from you. If you revere me, why have you not followed my orders?'
A sly smile touched her lips as she lifted an eyebrow over a cold, blue eye. 'Because you cannot free us just to enslave us in a life you choose. We are free to choose for ourselves. You made that possible.
'We chose to fight to protect our Lord Rahl. We have sworn to lay down our lives for you, if necessary. Not only the men of the First File can protect you. We have chosen to be your personal bodyguards. Not even the First File dared argue with us. We take orders from no one but Lord Rahl.'
'Then I order you to leave me alone!'
'I'm sorry, Lord Rahl, but we cannot follow that order.'
Richard didn't know what to believe. This could just be a trap. 'I'm here to stop Darken Rahl. I have to get to the Garden of Life. If you don't get out of my way, I will have to kill you.'
'We know where you go,' Cara said. 'We will take you, but you must not go that way. We do not hold all the palace. That way is not safe. In fact, this whole section of the palace is in the hands of the insurgents. The First File would have lost a thousand men to come down here. We told them we would go, that it would be less risk to you. For that reason only, they agreed.'
Richard started angling around the women. 'I don't believe you, and I can't risk what you would do if you are lying. This is too important. If you try to stop me, I will have to kill you.'
'If you go that way, Lord Rahl, you will die. Please, let me whisper a secret message in your ear.' Cara handed her Agiel to a woman behind her. 'You may hold your knife to me. I am without a weapon.'
Richard gripped her hair in one fist, and held the razor-sharp knife to her throat. If she so much as flinched, he intended to cut her throat. Cara put her mouth close to his ear.
'We are here to help you Lord Rahl,' she whispered. 'It is the... toasted toads' truth.'
Richard straightened. 'Where did you hear such a thing?'
'Do you know its meaning? Commander General Trimack said that it is a coded message from First Wizard Zorander, so that you would know we are loyal to you. He told me to tell no one but you.'
'Who is General Trimack?'
The commander general, First File of the palace guard. They are loyal to you. The First File is the ring of steel around the Lord Rahl. Wizard Zorander told General Trimack to guard the Garden of Life at all cost.
Two days ago that magic woman came. She killed nearly three hundred of our men getting into the Garden of Life. We tried to stop her, but we could not. We have no magic against her. She killed close to a hundred on her way out, tonight.
'We followed her out, and watched from a window on the third level. We saw her send lightning to strike your dragon from the sky. We saw you kill her. Only the true Lord Rahl could do that.
'Please, Lord Rahl, terrible things are happening in the Garden of Life. Let us take you there, so you may stop the evil spirit.'
Richard had no time to waste. They had to have gotten that message from Zedd. He had to trust them.
'All right, let's go. But I'm in a hurry.'
Grins came to each woman. Cara took back her Agiel and grabbed him by the shirt at one shoulder. Another of the Mord-Sith gripped his shirt at the other shoulder. They started running, dragging him along with them. Cara whispered that he should be as quiet as possible. The other four spread out in front, scouting the way.
They took him quickly, but silently, through small side halls and dark rooms. While the scouts slipped up narrow servants' stairs, Cara and the other pressed him up against the wall, crossing their lips with a finger, waiting until they heard a short whistle, then dashed up the stairs, pulling him along by his shirt.
At the top of the stairs, he nearly tripped over the body of one of the four Mord-Sith who had gone ahead. Her face had been split open by a sword. Eight D'Haran men in armor were sprawled in contorted positions down the hall, blood running from their ears. Richard recognized death caused by an Agiel.
One of the women in red leather at the end of the hall motioned them onward. Cara pulled him around a corner where the woman pointed, and up another staircase. He felt like a sack of laundry the way they yanked him this way and that, jamming him up against walls and in corners while others scouted a clear course.
He could hardly keep up with them as they ran down halls, still gripping his shirt at each shoulder, hauling him along. Richard lost track of where they were going as they went up stairs and through countless rooms. A few of the rooms had windows, and he could see that the sun was coming up.
Richard was winded when he finally recognized the broad corridor they entered. Hundreds of men in uniforms of mail and shiny breastplates all dropped to a knee when they saw him. The clatter of all their armor and weapons echoed down the wide hall. Every man put a fist over his heart. When they came up, one stepped forward.
'Lord Rahl. I am Commander General Trimack. We are close to the Garden of Life. I will lead you there.'
'I know where it is.'
'Lord Rahl, you must hurry. The rebel generals have launched an attack. I don't know if we will be able to hold this position long, but we will hold it to the last man while you are beyond.'
'Thank you, General. Just hold them off until I send that bastard Darken Rahl back to the underworld.'
The general gave a salute of his fist to his heart as Richard started moving. He trotted down a polished granite hall he remembered. It took him to the huge, gold-covered doors to the Garden of Life.
Nearly in a trance of rage, Richard burst through the doors, into the garden. The sun was up. Its first rays lit the treetops in the garden. Richard marched down the path, past the short, vine-covered walls, and out onto the grass.
In the center of the garden was a circle of white sand -sorcerer's sand. The round skrin bone sat in the center, with complicated lines drawn in the sand that encircled it. Beyond was the altar with the three boxes of Orden - the gateway to another world. Each was beyond black, seeming as if it would suck the light from the room.
From the opened box, a shaft of green light poured forth, up through the glass roof, and into the sky. Whatever Darken Rahl had been doing was opening the gateway. Sparkling light, blue, yellow, and red, spiraled around the shaft of green light.
The white, glowing form of Darken Rahl watched him stride across the grass. Richard stopped before the circle of sorcerer's sand, opposite him. A small smile spread on Darken Rahl's lips.
'Welcome, my son,' came the hiss of his voice.
Richard felt the scar of the handprint heat on his chest. He ignored the pain of it. Darken Rahl's glowing blue eyes moved to the Stone of Tears hanging from Richard's neck.
Darken Rahl's gaze locked on Richard's. 'I have spawned a great wizard. We would like you to join with us, Richard.'
Richard said nothing. He seethed with wrath as he watched Darken Rahl's smile widen. Through the fury of anger, the pounding wrath of magic, he watched, and he sought the calm center, too.
'We can offer you what no other can, Richard. What the Creator Himself cannot offer. We are greater than the Creator. We would like you to join with us.'
'What could you possibly offer me?'
Darken Rahl spread his glowing arms. 'Immortality.'
Richard was too angry to laugh. 'When did you succumb to the delusion that I would believe anything you would have to say?'
'It is true, Richard,' he whispered. 'We have the power to grant it.'
'Just because you managed to get some of the Sisters to believe your lies, that does not mean I would.'
'We are the Keeper of the underworld. We control life, and death. We have the power to grant either, especially to one of your magic. You can be the master of the world of life. As I would have been, before you... interfered.'
'Not interested. Got anything better to offer?'
Darken Rahl's cruel smile widened. His eyebrows lifted. 'Oh, yes, my son,' he hissed. 'Oh, yes.'
He swept his hand out, over the circle of sand.
Shimmering light formed into a person kneeling forward. The light coalesced into a recognizable form.
Kahlan.
She was in her white Confessor's dress, kneeling forward. Her hair was cut short, just as in the vision he had had in the tower. A tear fell from her closed eyes as the side of her face pressed to the block. She mouthed his name, and that she loved him. Richard's heart pounded violently.
'The dragon is wounded, Richard. She cannot take you to Aydindril. Your time has run out. You have no option left but to let us help you.'
'What do you mean, "help?"'
Rahl's smile returned. 'I told you, we have the power over life and death. Without our help, this afternoon, before her people, this is what will happen.'
His glowing hand swept out again. The blade's broad edge glinted in the air above her. The axe descended, thunk-ing into the wooden block, sending out a spray of blood. Richard flinched.
Kahlan's head tumbled away. Bright red blood spread beneath her, soaking into the sand, into the white dress, as her body toppled to the side.
'Noooo!' Richard screamed, his fists at his sides. 'Noooo!'
Darken Rahl swept his hand over the body, and it vanished into sparkling light and faded away.
'Just as I have taken away the vision of what will happen this day, we can stop the reality. We can offer immortality not only to you, but if you join with us, to her, too.'
Richard stood stunned. It sank in, really sank in, for the first time. Scarlet was wounded. She could not fly him to Aydindril. This was winter solstice. Kahlan was going to die this day, and he had no way of getting to her. His breath came in ragged gasps.
The world was ending for him.
This was the meaning of the prophecy. If he took this offer, if he chose to stop her death, then the world would end for everyone else.
He thought of Chase, taking Rachel home to meet her new mother. He thought of all the happiness she would have in that life with love around her. He thought of his own life, with his father and mother, of the love, the happy times together, even the not so happy times, and how much it had meant to him.
He thought about the time he had spent with Kahlan, and the joy of being in love with her, and all the other people who must have had such joy, and would in the future. If there was a future.
'You can walk hand in hand with her, Richard. Forever.'
Richard's eyes came up from the white sand. 'Hand in hand, through the ashes of death. Forever.'
What would it do to Kahlan, to her love for him, if he offered her such a selfish destiny. She would be horrified. Then whenever she looked at him, she truly would see a monster. Forever.
He would live forever with her revulsion, not her love. Thus, in trying to save her, he would destroy not only everyone else, but her heart, too.
The price was too high, even for his love.
But this would end his life, his love, too.
Richard was consumed with rage and calm at the same time. He stared into the glowing eyes of evil. 'You would poison our love with your taint of hate. You don't even know the meaning of love.'
The wrath swelled to a wild storm within him. At least, he would extract his price for this. His vengeance.
Richard lifted the Stone of Tears in his fist. Darken Rahl staggered back a step.
'Richard, think about what you are doing.'
'You will pay for this.'
Richard pulled a handful of black sorcerer's sand from his pocket and cast it onto the circle of white sand.
Darken Rahl threw his arms open. 'No! You fool!'
The white sand writhed, as if alive, as if in pain. The symbols drawn in it twisted, contorting around themselves. The ground shook. Steaming fissures raced across the grassy ground.
Lightning flared up from the sparkling white sand, flicking about the Garden of Life. The room thundered with a riot of noise and blinding light. The sorcerer's sand melted into a liquid pool of blue fire. The air shuddered with violent concussions.
Darken Rahl shook his fists to the sky. 'No!'
His head came down, and when he saw Richard coming slowly toward him, the Stone of Tears held out in his fist, he went still. His hand came up in forbidding.
Richard staggered to a stop, the pain of the scar on his chest taking his breath. The agony seared through him. From deep within, he pulled resolve and made himself move despite the torment. Each step only increased the pain. It felt as if his flesh were burning off his bones and the marrow itself were boiling. In the calm at the center of the storm of anger, he was able to ignore it.
Richard pulled the Stone of Tears off over his head. He held the leather thong out in his hands, the Stone dangling before Darken Rahl's face. Rahl shrank back.
'You will wear this in the depths of death. Forever.' Richard stepped closer. 'Kneel.'
The glowing form sank to its knees. The glowing eyes stayed on the Stone in the air above. Richard lowered the leather thong, to hang it over the head of his father's spirit. He paused.
Over Darken Rahl's head, behind him, he saw the altar that held the boxes. The open one in the center, alive with things beyond knowing, was sending its green light upward in a beacon.
Richard remembered what Ann, Nathan, and Warren had told him. If he used the Stone for selfish reasons, for hate, it would tear the veil. He wanted more than anything to send" Darken Rahl to the depths of the underworld, to punish him forever for what he had done. But that would only accomplish what he had already decided was beyond price.
Besides, he had brought this on himself. That he had not done it intentionally made no difference. Life was not fair, it simply existed. If you accidentally stepped on a poison snake, you got bitten. Intentions were irrelevant.
'I have caused my own grief,' Richard whispered. 'I must suffer the consequences of my own actions. I cannot make others pay for what I have caused, intentionally or not.'
Richard hung the Stone of Tears back around his own neck. Darken Rahl came to his feet in alarm.
'Richard... you don't know what you're saying. Punish me. Hang the stone around my neck. Have your vengeance!'
Richard turned partway toward the center of the Garden of Life and held out his hand. The round skrin bone, in the pool of blue fire, hurtled to his palm. His magic protected him.
He held the skrin bone up high. In the grip of rage, in the grip of calm, he called the power onward. It erupted from his fist.
Lightning, yellow and hot, shot forth into Darken Rahl.
Lightning, black and cold, shot forth into Darken Rahl.
They twisted together in the unleashed wrath of the skrin.
A ripple of total darkness swept across the room, and when it lifted, the lightning, and Darken Rahl, were gone. The skrin bone felt cool in his fist.
The green light from the box glowed brighter, making the room hum. Richard pulled the Stone of Tears from his neck. The leather thong fell away as the Stone turned to black in his palm.
Richard thrust out his hand. The Stone of Tears flew to the green light, floating in it a moment, rotating in the beam. The green light faded as the Stone of Tears sank toward the box, becoming transparent, until it passed from existence. The beacon of green light vanished, plunging the Garden of Life into silence.
Richard held the skrin bone out in his fist, and once again the twin lightning erupted, thundering across the distance. Flashes of white-hot light and ice-cold blackness washed over him. When it ended, and silence rang in his ears once more, the three boxes sat on the altar.
Each was closed.
Richard knew they could not be opened again without the book, and the book existed only in his head. The boxes of Orden, and the gateway they represented, would remain closed for all time.
Richard heard a metallic snap. He felt something brush at his neck, felt something fall at his feet.
He looked down to see the collar, the Rada'Han, on the ground. It was off his neck. He was free of it.
The pain, too, was gone. He felt his chest. The scar was gone.
In the silence, Richard stood dazed. He wasn't sure what had just happened. He didn't know how he had done it.
It was over.
For him, everything was over.
Kahlan was going to die this day.
And then he was running. The day wasn't over yet.
As he emerged from the doors of the Garden of Life, the five Mord-Sith surrounded him. He ignored them as he ran. In the corridor beyond, a sweaty, dirty General Trimack waited with hundreds of men just as grimy-looking. Many were bloody.
With a cacophony of clanging armor and weapons, the men as far as he could see down the smoky corridor fell to their knees, fists clapped to hearts. General Trimack returned to his feet. As he took three long strides toward Richard, Cara moved protectively in front of him.
'Get out of my way, woman!'
Cara didn't budge. 'No one touches Lord Rahl.'
'I'm his protection just as much as..."
'Stop it, both of you.'
Cara relaxed and stepped to the side. General Trimack gripped Richard by the shoulders. 'Lord Rahl, you've done it. It took a long time, but you did it.'
'Done what? What do you mean it took a long time?'
His eyebrows lifted. 'You've been in there most of the day.'
Richard's breath faltered. 'What?'
'We fought them fiercely for hours, but we were being pushed back. We were outnumbered ten or fifteen to one. Then you sent the lightning. I've never seen anything like it.
'Wizard Zorander told me that the palace is a huge power spell drawn on the ground of the plateau, drawn to protect and give power to the Lord Rahl. I never would have believed it until I saw it myself. The whole of the palace was alive with lightning. It flickered through every wall in the place.
'Every one of the those bastard generals who was loyal to Darken Rahl was cut down by the lightning. Their troops who fought on were ripped apart by it, too. Those who laid down their weapons and joined us were unharmed.'
Richard didn't know what to say. 'I'm glad, General, but I can't take credit. I was in there the whole time. I'm not even sure what I did in there, much less what happened out here.'
'We are the steel against steel. You did your part. You were the Lord Rahl, the magic against magic. We are all proud of you.' General Trimack gave Richard a clap on the shoulder. 'Whatever you did, you must have chosen right.'
Richard put his fingers to his forehead, trying to think. 'What time is it?'
'Like I said, you were in there most of the day, while we fought out here. It's near to late afternoon.'
Richard clutched at his chest. 'I have to go.'
He started running. Everyone charged off after him. Before long, he was confused by the huge, converging halls. He slid to a stop on the slick marble floor and turned to Cara at his hip.
'Which way!'
'To where, Lord Rahl?'
'Where I came in! The fastest way!'
'Follow us, Lord Rahl.'
Richard ran behind the five Mord-Sith. Behind him came what seemed to be the entire army of the palace. The racket of all the armor and boots echoed off the walls and ceilings high overhead. Columns, arches, staircases, devotion squares, and intersections of halls flew past. They raced down halls and down stairs.
Richard was winded when nearly an hour later he went through the doors between the giant columns and out into the cold air. Soldiers poured out behind. He ran down the steps four at a time.
Scarlet lay on her side in the snow, the glossy red scales rising and falling with her labored breathing.
'Scarlet! You're still alive!' Richard rubbed her snout. 'I was so worried.'
'Richard. I see you have managed to survive. It must not have been as difficult as you thought.' She struggled to give a dragon's grin. It faded. 'I'm sorry, my friend, but I cannot fly. My wing is injured. I tried, but until it is healed, I'm afraid I'm stuck on the ground.'
Richard shed a tear on her snout. 'I understand, my friend. You got me here. You saved the world of life. You are a heroine more noble than any in history. Will you be all right? Will you be able to fly again?'
She managed a weak laugh. 'I will fly again. But not for a month or so. I will recover. It is not so bad as it seems.'
Richard turned to the officers behind. 'Scarlet is my friend. She has saved us all. I want you to bring her food. Whatever she needs, until she is recovered. Protect her as you would me.'
Fists went to hearts.
Richard grabbed the general's arm. 'I need a horse, a strong horse. Right now. And I need to know how to get to Aydindril.'
The general turned. 'Get a strong horse, now! You, go get maps to Aydindril for Lord Rahl!'
Men started running. Richard turned back to the dragon.
'I'm so sorry you're suffering, Scarlet.'
Scarlet's chuckle rumbled deep in her throat. 'The injury is not so painful. Look over there, around the side.'
Her head, at the end of her long neck, followed him around. Richard was astonished to see an egg nestled in a crook of her tail.
A big, yellow eye peered at him. 'I just gave birth. That is most of my weakness. Just as well I'm to be aground.'
She played fire over the egg. Tenderly, she stroked her talons over it. As Richard watched, he thought about the beauty of life, and how happy he was that others could continue to have it.
But the vision of the falling axe kept playing over and over in his head. He couldn't stop the horror of it. His hands shook. It could be happening at that very moment. His breathing came in ragged pulls.
At last a man came running with a map. He held it out and pointed. 'Here, Lord Rahl, is Aydindril. This is the fastest route. But it will still take you several weeks.'
Richard stuffed the map in his shirt as another soldier galloped up on the horse. Richard retrieved his pack and bow from the snow where they had fallen when Scarlet had come to ground.
General Trimack held the reins to the muscular horse while Richard quickly lashed his things to the saddle. 'There is food in the saddlebags. When will you return, Lord Rahl?'
Richard's mind was in a fog, racing in a thousand directions at once. All he could see was the axe falling.
He leapt up into the saddle. 'I don't know. When I can. Carry on until then. And continue to guard the Garden of Life. Don't let anyone go in there.'
'Safe return, Lord Rahl. Our hearts are with you.'
Fists went to chests as he urged the powerful horse into a gallop and charged at full speed through the huge gates that stood open for him.
CHAPTER 69
Richard cursed under his breath when the horse dropped dead under him. He picked himself up, when he had stopped rolling through the snow, and started pulling his things off the lifeless, lathered beast. He felt an ache of sorrow for the horse; it had given him everything it had.
He had lost count of how many horses had died under him. Some simply stumbled to a stop and refused to move anymore. Some dropped to a walk and would run no more. Some gave everything until their hearts quit.
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