'Almost every one is! Almost every one!' She pointed a single finger at Richard without looking at him. 'Are you going to risk the world, because you love this man? Risk sending everyone into the terror of the dark times, just because you would selfishly want the son of this man to live?'
'Shota,' Richard's voice was surprisingly calm. 'Most Confessors bear girls. You are worrying about something that probably won't even happen. We may not even have children. Not all couples conceive. You are extending your worries along a lot of forks in the road.'
Richard suddenly slid down the wall, landing with a grunt. In a rage, Shota grabbed his shirt in her fists and lifted him, slamming him against the wall, knocking the wind from his lungs. 'Do you think I am as stupid as you? I know the flow of time! I am a witch woman! I told you before, I know how certain events flow and unfold! If you lie with this woman, she will have a male child! She is a Confessor! Every Confessor bears a Confessor! Always! If you give her a child, it will be a boy!'
She slammed him against the wall again. Kahlan winced at the sound of his head hitting the wall. Shota's behavior was frightening, and seemed out of character. She had impressed Kahlan before as menacing in the extreme, but she also seemed intelligent and reasonable. At least to an extent. She seemed different now, unstable.
Richard didn't try to remove her hands, but Kahlan could see he was getting angry. 'Shota -'
She slammed him up against the wall again. 'Keep your tongue still or I will cut it out!'
Richard's rage looked to match Shota's. 'You were wrong before, Shota! Wrong! There are many ways for events to flow forward in time. Had I listened to you the last time, and killed Kahlan when you wanted me to, Darken Rahl would rule us all now! And it would have been because I followed your stupid advice! It was through her that I defeated Darken Rahl! If I had done as you wished, we would have lost!'
His chest heaved as he glared at her. 'If you have come all this way to threaten us about some perceived threat, you have wasted your time. I didn't do it your way the last time, and I will not do it your way now! I will not kill her nor will I give her up on your word! On anyone's!'
Shota stared at him a moment and then removed her hands from his shirt. 'I did not come here about some "perceived" threat to the future,' she whispered. 'I did not come here to argue with you about making babies with Confessors, Richard Rahl.'
Richard jerked back in shock. 'I'm not...'
'I came here, because I may want to kill you for what you have done, Richard Rahl. That you two ignorant children want to go make babies is a flea on the back of the true monster you have already created.'
'Why are you calling me that?' Richard whispered.
Shota studied his pale face. 'Because that is who you are.'
'I am Richard Cypher. George Cypher was my father.'
'You were raised by a man named Cypher. You were sired by one named Darken Rahl. He raped your mother.'
Richard's face turned whiter. Kahlan ached for him. She understood now, knew it was true. This was what she had seen in him; she had seen the face of his father, Darken Rahl. She tried desperately to free herself, to go to him, but couldn't.
Richard shook his head. 'No. That's not true. It just isn't possible.'
'True,' Shota snapped. 'Your father was Darken Rahl. Your grandfather is Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander.'
'Zedd?' he whispered. 'Zedd is my grandfather?' He straightened. 'Darken Rahl... No, he can't be. It's not true.'
He turned and looked up at Kahlan. He saw it in her face, saw that she knew it was. He turned back to Shota. 'Zedd would have told me. He would have. I don't believe you.'
'I don't care,' she said in a flat tone. 'I don't care what you believe. I know the truth.' Her emotion came back. 'And the truth is you are the bastard son of a bastard son of a bastard son! And each one of those bastard sons, all the way back, had the gift. Worse, Zedd has the gift. You have the gift, but it is from two bloodlines of wizards.' She glared at his wide eyes. 'You are a very dangerous person, Richard Rahl.' Richard looked like he might fall down. 'You have the gift. In this case, I would be more inclined to call it a curse.'
'I would agree with you about that,' Richard whispered.
'You know you have the gift? We are going to have no argument about that?' Richard could only nod. 'The rest of it I could not care less about. You are the son of Darken Rahl, and on the other side, the grandson of Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander. He is the father of your mother. If you choose to ignore the truth of that, I don't care. Believe as you will. Delude yourself as you will. I am not here to argue your ancestry.'
Richard leaned back until the wall stopped him. He ran his fingers through his hair. 'Go away, Shota. Please, go away.' His voice sounded as if all life had gone out of him. 'I don't want to hear anything else you have to say. Just go away. Leave me alone.'
'I am disappointed in you, Richard.'
'I don't care.'
'I didn't know you were this stupid.'
'I don't care.'
'I thought George Cypher meant something to you. I thought you had some kind of honor.'
His head came up. 'What do you mean?'
'George Cypher raised you. Gave you his time, his love. He taught you, cared for you, provided for you. Shaped you. And you would throw that away because someone else raped your mother? That is what is important to you?'
Richard's eyes lit with fire. His hands started coming up. Kahlan thought he was going to try to strangle Shota, but then his hands sank back to his sides. 'But... if Darken Rahl is my father...'
Shota threw her arms up in the air. 'What? You are suddenly going to start acting like him? You are going to spontaneously start doing vile things because you now know? You fear you will go out and kill innocent people because you learned your real father is Darken Rahl? You will ignore the things you learned from George Cypher because you find your name is Rahl? And you call yourself the Seeker. I am disappointed in you, Richard. I thought you were your own man. Not the reflection of others' impressions of your ancestors.'
Richard hung his head as Shota frowned angrily and watched him in silence. At last he took a deep breath. 'I'm sorry, Shota. Thank you for not letting me be any more stupid than I already am.' His eyes were wet as he turned to Kahlan. 'Please, Shota, let her down.'
Kahlan felt the pressure lift, and she slid down the wall, her boots thumping against the ground. The glare Shota gave her made her stay where she was, even though she wanted to go to Richard. He stared at his boots.
Shota put her fingers under his chin and lifted his head. 'You should be happy; your father was not ugly. Some of his looks are the only thing of his you have. That, and a bit of his temper. And the gift.'
Richard pulled his chin away from her fingers. The gift. I don't want the gift. I don't want anything to do with it. I wouldn't call anything I got from Darken Rahl a gift. I hate it! I hate magic!'
'It comes from Zedd, too,' Shota said with surprising compassion. 'From both sides. That is the way you get the gift; it is passed down, sometimes skipping one, or even many generations. Sometimes not. You received it from both sides. In you, it is more than a single dimension. It is a very dangerous mix.'
'Passed down. Like any other deformity.'
With a sneer, Shota gripped his face in her long fingers. 'Remember that before you lie with her. From Kahlan, the boy would be a Confessor. From you - he would have the gift. Can you even fathom the danger of that? Can you conceive of a Confessor with the gift? A male Confessor? I doubt you can. You should have killed her when I told you to, you ignorant child, before you found a way to be with her. You should have killed her.'
Richard glared at her. 'I've heard enough of that talk. I intend to hear no more of it. I told you before; it is through Kahlan I defeated Darken Rahl. Had I killed her, he would have won. I hope you didn't waste your journey here just to repeat this nonsense.'
'No,' Shota said quietly. 'None of these things matter. That is not why I am here. I came because of what you have done, not because of what you might do someday. What you have already done, Richard, is worse than anything you could ever do with this woman. No monster you conceive with her could equal the monster you have already created.'
Richard frowned. 'I stopped Darken Rahl from ruling the world. I killed him. I created no monster.'
She shook her head slowly. The Magic of Orden killed him. I told you; he mustn't open a box. You didn't kill him, you let him open one of the boxes of Orden. The Magic of Orden killed him. You were supposed to kill him before he opened one of the boxes.'
'I couldn't! That was the only way! There was no other way to kill him! And what difference does it make anyway? He's dead!'
'It would have been better if you had let him win than let him open the wrong box.'
'You're crazy! What could be worse than Darken Rahl gaining the Magic of Orden and ruling the world unchallenged!'
Her eyebrows lifted. The Keeper,' she whispered. 'It would have been better to let Darken Rahl rule us, or behead us, or even torture us to death, than what you have allowed to happen.'
'What are you talking about?'
The Keeper of the underworld is kept in his place, kept from the world of the living, by the veil. The veil holds him and his minions back. Holds the underworld back. It keeps the dead from the living. What you have done has torn that veil. Already, some of the Keeper's assassins have been loosed.'
The screelings...' Richard whispered.
Shota nodded. 'Yes. By freeing the Magic of Orden, you have allowed its magic to somehow tear the veil to the underworld. If it tears enough, the Keeper will be freed. You can't even conceive of what that means.' Shota lifted the Agiel at his neck. 'It will make what was done to you with this seem like a lover's kiss compared to what he will do. To everyone. It would have been better to have let Darken Rahl win, than to have let this happen. You have condemned everyone to a fate beyond horror.'
She gripped the Agiel in her fist. 'I should kill you for what you have done. I should make you suffer unspeakably. Do you have any idea how much the Keeper would like to settle his gaze upon one with the gift? Do you have any idea how much he wants those with the gift? Or how much he wants witch women?'
Kahlan saw tears run down Shota's cheeks. With a flush of understanding that sent an icy ripple of panic through her, Kahlan realized Shota wasn't angry. She was afraid.
That was why she was here: not because she was angry at Kahlan being alive, or at them having a child. She was here because she was terrified. The idea of Shota, a witch woman, being afraid was worse than anything her own mind could conjure.
Richard stared at her, his eyes wide. 'But... there must be something we can do, some way to stop it.'
'We?' she screamed, jabbing her finger at his chest. 'You! Only you, Richard Rahl! Only you! Only you can fix it!'
'Me! Why me?'
'I don't know,' she cried through gritted teeth. 'But you are the only one with the power.' She pounded her fist against his chest. 'You!' She kept hitting his chest as he just stood there. 'You are the only one who has a chance! I don't know why, but only you can fix it. Only you can repair the tear in the veil.' Shota was sobbing now. 'Only you, you stupid, foolish child.'
Kahlan was dazed by the magnitude of what was happening. The idea of the Keeper being loose was beyond comprehension. The dead in the world of the living; she couldn't imagine the horror of it, but seeing Shota's fear put dimension to the dread.
'Shota... I don't know anything about it. I don't have any idea of how to...'
Shota was still hitting his chest as she cried. 'You must. You must find a way. You have no idea what the Keeper would do to me, what he'd do to a witch woman. If you won't do it for me, do it for yourself. He would be no easier on you than me. And if you won't do it for yourself, do it for Kahlan. He would have her for an eternity of pain for no other reason than that you love her. He would do it to her just to make it worse for you. We will all be held on the cusp between life and death for all eternity, twisting in anguish.' She was sobbing uncontrollably now. 'Our souls will be stripped from us... He will have our souls... forever.'
Shota hit Richard's chest again. He put his arms around her and pulled her against him, comforting her as she cried. 'Forever, Richard. Soulless minds trapped by the dead. An eternity of torment. You are too stupid to even comprehend it. You could never even imagine the horror of it, until it happens.'
Kahlan stood next to Richard, putting her hand reassuringly on his shoulder. She felt no anger at the sight of him. comforting Shota. She could see how terrified the witch woman was. Kahlan couldn't share the same level of terror, because she didn't know the things Shota knew. But in some ways, seeing Shota's reaction was knowing enough.
'Screelings came into the Reach,' she cried.
Richard looked down at her. 'Screelings! In Agaden Reach?'
'Screelings, and a wizard. A particularly nasty wizard. Samuel and I escaped with little more than our lives.'
'A wizard!' With his hands on her shoulders, Richard pushed her away. 'What do you mean a wizard? There are no other wizards.'
'There is one in the Reach. The Screelings and the wizard are in Agaden Reach now. They are in my home. My home!'
Kahlan couldn't hold her tongue. 'Shota, are you sure it was a wizard? Could it be someone pretending to be a wizard? There are no more wizards. Except Zedd. They are all dead.'
Shota gave a tearful frown. 'Do you think anyone could deceive me about having magic? I know a wizard when I see one, and I know a wizard with the gift. I know wizard's fire. This one is a wizard with the gift, young though he is. I don't know where he came from, or why no one knew of him. But he was with screelings. Screelings!
'That can mean only one thing. This wizard has given himself over to the Keeper. He is doing the Keeper's bidding. He is working to tear the veil the rest of the way for the Keeper. It means the Keeper has agents in this world. Darken Rahl was probably one of them. That is why he was able to use Subtractive Magic.'
Shota turned to Richard. 'That the Keeper is using wizards means that it must take a wizard to tear the veil. You have the gift. You are a wizard. A stupid wizard, but a wizard nonetheless. I don't know why, but you are the only one with a chance to close the tear.'
Richard brushed a tear from Shota's cheek. 'What are you going to do?'
The fire came back to Shota's eyes. Her teeth clenched. 'I am going back to the Reach. I am going to take back my home.'
'But they chased you out.'
They took me by surprise,' she snapped. 'I only came here to tell you how stupid you are. And that you must do something about it. You must close the tear, or we are all...'
Shota turned her back to them. 'I am going back to the Reach. The Keeper is going to lose his agent. I am going to take the gift from him. Do you know how to remove the gift from a wizard?'
'No.' Richard looked interested. 'I didn't know it could be done.'
'Oh yes, it can be done.' She turned and arched an eyebrow. 'If you rip their skin off, the magic bleeds from them. That is the only way to remove the gift from a wizard. I am going to hang him up by his thumbs, and then I am going to skin him alive. Every inch of him. Then I am going to use his skin to cover my throne. Then I am going to sit on my throne, on his skin, and watch him scream to death as the magic bleeds from him.' She made a fist. 'Or I am going to die trying.'
'Shota, I need some help. I don't know anything about all this.'
Shota stared off flexing her fists. At last her hands relaxed and opened. There is nothing I can tell you that will help.'
'You mean there is something you can tell me, but it won't help.' Shota nodded. Richard sighed. 'What is it?'
She folded her arms against her stomach. Her eyes were wet again. 'You will be trapped in time. Don't ask what that means, because I don't know. You will have no chance of closing the veil unless you escape the trap. It will keep you locked away, and the Keeper will escape unless you are able to free yourself. Unless you learn something of the gift, you have no chance for either.'
Richard walked to the far side of the room. He stood with his back to them, one hand on a hip, his other combing through his hair. Kahlan didn't look at Shota. She didn't want to meet the witch woman's gaze if she didn't have to.
'Is there anything else?' Richard called over his shoulder. 'Anything you can tell me? Anything?'
'No. And believe me, if there was I would be more than anxious to offer it. I don't wish to meet the Keeper's gaze.'
Richard thought by himself for a time. At last, he came back and stood before Shota. 'I am having headaches. Bad headaches.'
Shota nodded. The gift.'
Three women came. They call themselves the Sisters of the Light. They said I have to come with them to learn to use the gift, or the headaches will kill me.' Richard studied her face. 'What do you know about them?'
'I am a witch woman. I don't know much about wizards. But the Sisters of the Light have something to do with wizards. With training them. That is all I know. I don't even know where they are from. They come once in a great while, when they find one has been born with the gift.'
'What if I don't go with them? Will I die, as they say?'
'If you don't learn to control the gift, the headaches will kill you. That much I know.'
'But are they the only way?'
Shota shrugged. 'I don't know. But I know you must learn to use the gift, or you will not escape the trap, or be able to close the veil - or even survive the headaches.'
'So you are saying you think I should go?'
'No. I said you must learn to use the gift. There may be another way.'
'What way?'
'I don't know, Richard. I don't even know if there is another way. I'm sorry, but I can be of no help in this. I just don't know. Only a fool will give advice about something she doesn't understand. I can give you no advice in this.'
'Shota,' Richard pleaded, 'I'm lost. I don't know what to do. I don't understand any of it, the Sisters, the gift, or the Keeper. Isn't there anything you can tell me to help me?'
'I have told you everything I know. I feel as lost as you. Worse. I have no ability to influence what will happen. At least you have that. Dim as the chance is.' Shota's eyes glistened. 'I fear I am going to look into the Keeper's dead eyes. Forever. I haven't been able to sleep since I learned these things. If I knew anything, I would help. I just don't know anything about the world of the dead. It is not something the living have faced yet.'
Richard stared at the ground. 'Shota,' he whispered. 'I don't have any idea what to do. I'm afraid. I'm very afraid.'
She nodded. 'So am I.' She reached out and touched his face. 'Good-bye, Richard Rahl. Don't fight who you are. Use it.' She turned to Kahlan. 'I don't know if you can help him, but if there is a way, I know you will do your best.'
Kahlan nodded. That I will, Shota. I hope you get your home back.'
Shota gave her a small smile. 'Thank you, Mother Confessor.'
She turned and glided to the door, her wispy dress flowing behind. She pushed the door open. Samuel was waiting on the other side, his yellow eyes shining. Shota stopped in the doorway and stiffened.
'Richard, if you should happen to somehow close the veil, and save me from the Keeper, save everyone from the Keeper, I will be forever grateful to you.'
'Thank you, Shota.'
Her back was still to them. 'But know this: if you give the Mother Confessor a child, it will be a boy. It will be a Confessor. Neither of you will have the strength to kill him, even though you know the consequences.' She paused a moment. 'My mother lived in the dark times.' Her voice was like ice. 'I have the strength. And, I will use it. You have my word on that. But know that it will not be personal.'
The door squeaked closed behind her. The spirit house felt suddenly very empty. Very quiet.
Kahlan felt numb. She looked down at her hands. They were shaking. She wanted Richard to hug her, but he didn't do it. He was staring at the door. His face was white as snow.
'I don't believe this,' he whispered. He still stared at the door. 'How can this be happening? Am I dreaming all this?'
Kahlan felt as if her knees were about to buckle. 'Richard, what are we going to do?'
Richard turned to her, his eyes distant. They filled with tears. 'This has to be a nightmare.'
'If it is, I'm having the same one. Richard, what are we going to do?'
'Why does everyone ask me that? Why does everyone always ask me? What makes everyone think I am the one who knows?'
Kahlan stood woodenly, trying to make her mind work.
She couldn't seem to form a coherent thought. 'Because you are Richard. You are the Seeker.'
'I don't know anything about the underworld, the Keeper. The world of the dead.'
'Shota says no one living does.'
Richard seemed to come out of his daze. Abruptly he grabbed her shoulders. Then we must ask the dead.'
'What?'
The ancestors' spirits are dead. We can talk to them. I can ask for a gathering and ask them questions. We can learn from them. Maybe we can find out how to close the veil. Maybe I can find out how to stop the headaches, how to use the gift.' He gripped her arm. 'Come on.'
Kahlan almost smiled. He was indeed the Seeker. Richard pulled her through the passageways, running when they could see well enough. Clouds hid the moon and it was dark between the buildings. The air was like ice on her face, making tears run from the corners of her eyes.
When they reached the open field, there was light. Torches lit the people gathered there. They were all still bunched together with hunters shielding everyone; they didn't know the witch woman was gone. The entire village watched in silence as the two of them crossed the opening, the hunters parting for them as they approached the Bird Man and the other six elders. Chandalen stood to their side.
'Everyone is safe,' Kahlan reassured them. 'The witch woman is gone.'
There was a collective sigh of relief. Chandalen thumped the butt of his spear on the ground. 'Again you bring trouble!'
Richard ignored him and asked her to translate. He took in the elders and let his gaze settle on the Bird Man. 'Honored elder. The witch woman was not here to harm anyone. She was here to warn me about a great danger.'
'You claim,' Chandalen snapped. 'We do not know this to be true.'
Kahlan knew Richard was struggling to keep calm. 'Do you doubt that if she wanted to send you to the spirit world, she could have done it?' Chandalen answered only with a glare. The Bird Man gave Chandalen a look that seemed to shrink him a few inches. He looked to Richard. 'What danger?'
'She says we are in danger of the dead escaping into the world of the living.'
'They cannot come into the world of the living. The veil keeps them back.'
'You know of the veil?'
'Yes. Each level of the dead, the underworld as you call it, is sealed with a veil. When we hold a gathering, we invite our ancestors' spirits to visit us, and they are able to come through the veil for a short time.'
Richard studied the Bird Man's face a moment. 'What else can you tell me about the veil?'
The other shrugged. 'Nothing. We know only what our ancestors' spirits have told us about it: that they must pass through it to come to us when we call them, and that it holds them back the rest of the time. They tell us that there are many levels of the underworld, the dead, and that they are in the uppermost level, and so they can come. Those who are not honored are in lower levels, and may not come. Their spirits are locked away forever.'
Richard met the eyes of all the elders. 'The veil is torn. If it isn't sealed again, the world of the dead will swallow us all.' Gasps spread back through the gathered people. Fearful whispering broke out. Richard's gaze went back to the Bird Man. 'Please, honored elder, I request a gathering. I must have the help of our ancestors' spirits. I must find a way to seal the veil before the Keeper of the dead escapes. The spirit ancestors may be able to help. I must know if they can help.'
Chandalen thumped his spear. 'Lies! You carry us the lies of a witch woman. We should not call the honored spirits of our ancestors for the words of a witch woman! The spirits of our ancestors are called only for our people, not a witch woman! They will strike all our people dead for such blasphemy!'
Richard glared at him. They are not being called by a witch woman. It is I who makes the request, and I am one of the Mud People. I ask for the gathering to help me keep our people from being harmed.'
'You bring death to us. You bring strangers. You bring the witch woman. You only wish to help yourself. How did this veil become torn?'
Richard unbuttoned his sleeve and pushed it up his arm. He slowly pulled the Sword of Truth. Holding Chandalen's glare, he drew the sword across his forearm, turning it to wipe both sides in the blood. He jammed the point in the ground and rested both hands over the hilt.
'Kahlan, I want you to translate something. Don't leave out a single word.' Richard returned his glare to Chandalen. His voice was calm, almost gentle, but his eyes shone with lethal intent. 'Chandalen, if I hear one more word from you tonight, even if it is to agree with me and offer your help, I will kill you. Some of the things the witch woman told me have put me in the mood to kill. If you give me any more reason - it will be you I kill.'
The eyes of all the elders widened. Chandalen opened his mouth to say something, but at seeing the look on Richard's face, he shut his mouth and folded his arms. His glower was fierce, but no match for Richard's. At last he glanced to the ground.
Richard spoke again to the Bird Man. 'Honored elder, you know my heart. You know I would do nothing to harm our people. I would not ask this if it were not important, or if I had any other choice. Please, may I have a gathering so I may ask our ancestors' spirits how I can stop this threat to our people?'
The Bird Man turned to the other elders. Each nodded in turn. Kahlan knew they would; it was only a formality. Sav-idlin was their friend, and the others had dealt with Richard before; there was not one of them who wanted to challenge him. The real decision was the Bird Man's. He watched each elder nod, and then turned back to Richard.
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