RICHARD FOLDED HIS ARMS and leaned back against the rock. "Enough!"
Zedd and Kahlan both turned their heads, seeming to have forgotten he was even there. He had been listening to the two of them arguing for at least the last half hour as they sat in front of the fire, and was tired of it. In fact, he was just plain tired. Dinner was long since done .and they should be getting some sleep, but instead they were trying to decide what they would do tomorrow when they reached Tamarang. Now, instead of arguing, they started presenting their cases to him.
"I say we march in there and I deal with Giller. He is my student. I will get him to tell me what's going on. I'm still Wizard of the First Order. He will do as I say. He will give me the box."
Kahlan pulled her Confessor's dress from her pack and held it up to Richard. "This is the way we deal with Giller. He is my wizard and he will do as I say because he knows the consequences."
Richard let out a deep breath as he rubbed his eyes with his fingertips. "You both want to eat a chicken. we haven't even plucked yet. We aren't even sure whose chicken it is."
"What do you mean?" Kahlan asked.
Richard leaned forward. Now he had their attention, at last. "At the very least, Tamarang is giving a sympathetic ear to D'Hara. At the very worst, Darken Rahl is there. Most likely, the fact is somewhere between the two. If we march in there and tell them what we want, they might not like it. Tamarang has a whole standing army to express to us how much they don't like it. Then what? Are the three of us going to fight a war with their army? How is this going to get us the box? How is it going to even get us to Giller? If we have to fight, I'd rather it be on the way out, not on the way in."
Richard expected one of them to express some sort of objection while they sat as if being scolded, but neither did, so he went on.
"Maybe Giller is waiting and hoping someone will come, so he can help them get away with the box. Then again, maybe he will not be so willing to part company with it. But we won't know if we never make it to him, now, will we?" He addressed Zedd. "You told me the box has magic, and a wizard, or Rahl, can feel that magic, but a wizard can also cover the feeling of that magic with a wizard's web, so the box can't be detected. That could be why Queen Milena wanted a wizard-to hide the box from Rahl, and use it as a bargaining tool. If we create a big commotion, and scare Giller, no matter how he feels about us, he may be frightened, and use the opportunity to escape. It could also be that Rahl is just waiting for the quarry to be flushed from cover, and then he will pounce."
Zedd turned to Kahlan. "I think the Seeker has some good points. Perhaps we should hear him out?"
Kahlan smiled a little. "I believe you are correct, good wizard." She turned to Richard. "What is your way?"
"You've dealt with this Queen Milena before, right? What sort of person is she?"
Kahlan needed no time to give it any thought. "Tamarang is a minor and relatively insignificant land. Still, Queen Milena is as pompous and arrogant as any queen comes." "A small snake, but a snake that can kill us nonetheless," Richard noted.
Kahlan nodded.. "But a snake with a big head."
"Small snakes have to be careful, cautious, when they don't know what they are up against. The first thing we have to do, is to give her a worry. Make her unsure enough not to bite us."
"What do you mean?" Kahlan asked.
"You said you've dealt with her before. Confessors go to the lands to take confessions, and to inspect the prisons, to find out what they will. She wouldn't want to close Tamarang to a Confessor, would she?"
"Not if she has half a brain," Zedd chuckled.
"Well, that's what we do then. You put your dress back on, and do your duty. Simply a Confessor doing what Confessors are expected to do. She may not like it, but she will treat you well; she will want you to be happy. She will want you to see what you will, and then be on your way. The last thing she will want is to raise a fuss. So, you inspect her dungeon, smile, or frown, or whatever it is you do, and then before we're on our way, you say you want to speak to your former wizard."
"You think she should go alone?" Zedd protested.
"No. Kahlan doesn't have a wizard with her; the Queen would see that as a tempting vulnerability. We don't want her mouth to water."
Zedd folded his arms. "I will be her wizard."
"No, you will not be her wizard! Darken Rahl is killing people as we speak, looking for you. If you remove the wizard's web, let them know who you are, we'll have trouble down around our ears before we can get away with the box. Who .knows what reward there is on your wrinkled hide. You will be her protection, but you will be anonymous protection. You will be . . . " Richard tapped the sword hilt, thinking. His eyes came back down. "You will be a cloud reader. A trusted advisor to the Mother Confessor in the absence of a wizard." Richard frowned slightly at Zedd's grumble. "I'm sure you know how to play the part."
"Then you will hide your sword, your identity, from her as well?" Kahlan asked.
"No. The presence of the -Seeker will give her pause, something else to worry about, something to keep her fangs in her mouth until we're away. The whole point is to give her something she's familiar with, a Confessor, so as not to raise an alarm. At the same time, give her something to keep her worried, a cloud reader and the Seeker, so she would rather be rid of us than find out what sort of trouble we might be able to cause. The way you two want to do it gets us in a fight, a fight where one or all of us could be hurt. My way puts us at minimum risk of a fight, and if it comes, at least it will be when we're on our way out with the box." He gave each of them a stern look. "You do remember the box, don' you? In case you've forgotten, that is what we're after, not Giller's head in a basket. Whose side he's on is not an issue. We must only get the box, no more."
Kahlan folded her arms with a frown; Zedd rubbed his chin while he looked into the fire. Richard let them mull it over for a while. He knew that the way they wanted to do it was sure to cause trouble, and that soon enough they would both realize it.
Zedd turned back to him. "Of course you are right. I agree." His thin face turned to Kahlan. "Mother Confessor?"
She studied Zedd's face a moment before looking up at Richard. "Agreed. But Richard, the two of you will have to play the part of courtiers to the Mother Confessor. Zedd knows the protocol, but you don't."
"I hope not to be there long. Just tell me what I need to know to get by for a short time."
Kahlan drew a deep breath. "Well, I guess the most important thing is to look like you are part of my escort, be . . . respectful." She cleared her throat, diverting her eyes. "Just pretend like I am the most important person you have ever been around, and treat me in that manner, and no one will question. Every Confessor allows her attendants different liberties, and as long as you are deferential, no one will think anything of it if you should happen to do something not quite proper. Even if you think my behavior . . . odd, just play along. All right?"
Richard watched her a moment while she studied the ground. He rose to his. feet. "It would be my honor, Mother Confessor." He gave a bow.
Zedd cleared his throat. "A little deeper, my boy. You are not traveling with a mere Confessor. You are an escort to the Mother Confessor herself." "All right," Richard sighed. "I'll do my best. Now, get some sleep. I'll take first watch." He started walking toward the trees.
"Richard," Zedd called after him. He stopped, turning back. "There are many in the Midlands who have magic. Many different, and dangerous, types of magic. There. is no telling what manner of sycophants Queen Milena has surrounded herself with. You pay attention to what Kahlan and I tell you, and do your best not to cross anyone. You may not know who, or what, her attendants are."
Richard drew his cloak around himself. "In and out with minimum fuss. That's what I want too. If all goes well, tomorrow at this time we will have the box and our only worry will be to find a hole to hide in until winter."
"Good. You have it right, my boy. Good night."
In a spot thin of brush, Richard found a moss-covered log to sit on while he kept an eye toward the camp and the surrounding woods. He checked to make sure., the moss was dry. He didn't want to sit in damp moss and then have wet pants to make him colder. The moss was dry, so he rearranged his sword, sat down, and wrapped his cloak tight. Clouds hid the moon. If it wasn't for the fire lending the little illumination it did to the surrounding woods, it would be the kind of dark that made you think you were blind.
Richard sat and brooded. He didn't like the idea of Kahlan having to put on the dress and put herself at risk. He liked it less that it was his own idea. He wondered, and worried, at what she meant about her acting "odd," and his playing along. He wondered, and worried even more at what she had said about pretending she was the most important person he had ever been around. He liked that not at all. He always pictured Kahlan in his mind as his friend, at the least. He didn't like to picture her as the Mother Confessor. It was Confessor's magic that made it impossible for them to be more than friends. He was afraid to see her as others saw her, as the Mother Confessor. Any reminder of what she was, her magic, only brought the hurt deeper into his heart.
It was the smallest of sounds that made him sit bolt upright.
The eyes were on him. They were close, and though he couldn't see them, he could feel them. The knowledge that some- thing was close, watching him, sent a chill across his skin. It made him feel naked. Vulnerable.
His eyes were wide, his heart pounding, as he looked straight ahead to where he knew the thing was. The silence, except for his heart beating in his ears, was oppressive. Richard held his breath, trying to hear.
Again came the soft sound of a foot being lowered stealthily to the forest floor. It was coming toward him. Richard's wide eyes stared frantically into the blackness, trying to see a movement.
It was no more than ten paces away when the yellow eyes inched into view, hunkered low to the ground. The eyes were glowering right at him. The thing stopped. He held his breath.
With a howl, it sprang. Richard jumped to his feet, his hand going for the sword. When it bounded into the air, Richard saw that it was a wolf. The biggest wolf he had ever seen. It was to him before his hand even reached the hilt. The wolf's front paws hit his chest square. The powerful impact drove him backward over the log he had been sitting on.
As he fell backward, his breath knocked from him, he saw behind him something more frightening than the wolf.
A heart hound.
The huge jaws snapped at his chest just as the wolf reached the heart hound and went for its throat.
Richard's head hit something hard. He heard a yelp and the sound of teeth ripping tendon. Everything went black.
His eyes opened. Zedd was looking down at him, and had a middle finger to each side of Richard's forehead. Kahlan was holding a torch. He felt dizzy, but stood anyway on wobbly legs, until Kahlan made him sit on the log.
With a frown of concern, she stroked her fingers on his face. "Are you all right?"
"I think so," he managed. "My head . . . it hurts." He thought he might throw up.
Zedd took the torch from Kahlan and held it behind the log, casting light on the body of a heart hound, its throat ripped out. Zedd looked down at Richard's sword, still in its sheath.
"How is it the hound didn't have you?"
Richard felt the back of his head; it hurt like daggers twisting
"I . . . don't know. It all happened so fast." Then he remembered, like a dream when waking. He stood up again. "A wolf! It was a wolf that has been following us."
Kahlan stepped closer and put an arm around his waist to steady him. "A wolf?" The odd tone of suspicion in her voice made him look to her narrowed eyes. "Are you sure?"
Richard nodded. "I was sitting here, and then all of a sudden I knew it was watching me. It came closer, and I saw its yellow eyes. Then it leapt at me. I thought it was attacking. It knocked me flat, right over the log. I never even had time to draw the sword, it was so fast. But it wasn't attacking me. It was going for the heart hound behind me, protecting me. I never even saw the heart hound until I was falling backward. It must have killed the hound. That wolf saved my life."
Kahlan straightened herself and put her fists on her hips. "Brophy!" she called into the darkness. "Brophy! I know you're out there. Come here this instant!"
The wolf trotted into the torchlight with its head down and its tail between its legs. Its thick fur was a charcoal color from the tip of its nose to the tip of its tail. Fierce yellow eyes glowed from its dark head. The wolf dropped to its belly and crawled to Kahlan's feet. Once there, it rolled onto its back with paws in the air, and whined.
"Brophy!" she admonished. "Have you been following us?"
"Only to protect you, Mistress."
Richard's jaw dropped. He wondered how hard he had been hit on the head. "He can talk! I heard him! That wolf can talk!"
Zedd and Kahlan both looked up at his wide eyes. Zedd glanced at her. "I thought you said you told him."
Kahlan winced a little. "Well, I guess I didn't remember to tell him everything." She frowned at Zedd. "It's hard to remember everything he doesn't know. We have lived it our whole lives. You just forget he hasn't." ,
"Come on," Zedd grumbled. "Let's go back to the camp. All of us."
The wizard led them with the torch, Kahlan following, the wolf slinking along at her side, ears lowered, tail dragging the ground
When they sat around the fire, Richard addressed the wolf as it sat on its haunches next to Kahlan. "Wolf, I guess . . ."
"Brophy. The name's Brophy."
Richard sat back a little. "Brophy. Sorry. My name is Richard, and this is Zedd. Brophy, I would like to thank you for saving my life."
"Don't mention it," he growled.
"Brophy," Kahlan said in a disapproving voice, "what are you doing here?"
The wolf's ears flattened. "There is danger for you. I have been protecting you."
"You have been released," she scolded.
"Was that you, last night?" Richard asked.
Brophy regarded him with yellow eyes. "Yes. Whenever you camped, I cleared the area of heart hounds. And a few other nasty things. Last night, close to morning, one came near to your camp. I took care of it. This hound tonight was hunting you. He could hear your heart beating. I knew Mistress Kahlan would be unhappy if he ate you, so I kept him from doing it."
Richard swallowed hard. "Thank you," he said in a weak voice.
"Richard," Zedd asked, rubbing his chin, "the hounds are underworld beasts. They haven't bothered you up until now. What's changed?"
Richard almost choked. "Well, Adie gave Kahlan a bone to carry, to get us through the boundary, and to protect us from underworld beasts. I had an old bone, that my father gave me, and Adie said it would do the same thing. But I lost it a day or two ago."
Zedd's face was wrinkled up in thought. Richard looked to the wolf, hoping to change the subject. "How come you can talk?"
Brophy drew his long tongue around his lips. "Same reason you can talk. I can talk because ..." He looked up at Kahlan. "You mean he doesn't know what I am?"
She gave him a look, and he sank to the ground, resting his head on his paws.
Kahlan locked her fingers around a knee, clicking her thumbnails together. "Richard, do you remember when I told you that sometimes, when we took a confession, the person turned out to be innocent? And once in a great while, one who was to be executed would ask to give a confession so as to prove his innocence?" Richard nodded. She cast an eye to the wolf. "Brophy was to be executed for killing a little boy . . . ."
"I don't kill children," the wolf growled, coming to his feet.
"Do you wish to tell the story?"
The wolf sank back down. "No, Mistress."
"Brophy would have rather been touched by a Confessor's power than be thought a child killer. Not to mention what else was done to that little boy. He requested a Confessor. It's something done only rarely-most men choose the executioner-but it meant that much to him. I told you we have a wizard with us, when we take confessions. One reason is for protection, but there is another reason. In a case like this, where the person is unjustly accused, and found to be innocent, he is still left touched by our power, he cannot be returned to who he was. So, the wizard changes him to something else. The changing takes away some of the magic, of the Confessor, and gives him enough concern for himself to start over with a new life."
Richard was incredulous. "You were innocent? And yet you are to be left like this? For life?"
"Completely innocent," Brophy confirmed.
"Brophy." Kahlan spoke his name in a rising tone Richard was familiar with.
The wolf sank back down. "Of killing that boy." His cowering eyes looked up at Kahlan as she watched him. "That's all I meant. Innocent of killing that boy."
Richard frowned. "What does that mean?"
Kahlan looked over to him. "It -means that when he gave his confession, he confessed to other things he was not accused of. You see, Brophy had been engaged in occupations of a dubious nature." She glanced down at the wolf. "At the gray edges of law."
"I was an honest businessman," the wolf protested.
Kahlan cast an eye toward Brophy while she spoke to Richard. "Brophy was a trader."
"My father was a trader," Richard said, his anger rising.
"I don't know what traders in Westland trade, but in the Midlands, some traders deal in things of magic." Richard thought about the Book of Counted Shadows. "So what?"
Kahlan lifted an eyebrow to him. "Some of them happen to be alive at the time."
Brophy rose up on his front paws. "How am I to tell? You can't always tell. Sometimes, you think something is just an artifact, like a book, that a collector will pay handsomely for. Sometimes it's something more, a stone, a statue, or a staff, or perhaps a . . . Well, how am I to know if they are alive?" .
Kahlan still had her eye on the wolf. "You traded things of magic other than books and statues," she scolded. "In this innocent business of his, he would also get himself into disagreements with people. Disagreements such as rights of ownership. When Brophy was a man, he was as big for a man as he is for a wolf. He sometimes used his size to `persuade' people to do as he wished. Is this not true, Brophy?"
The wolf's ears wilted. "It's true, Mistress. I have a temper. A temper as big as my, muscles. But it only came out when I was wronged. A lot of people think they can cheat traders; they think we are little more than thieves and will not stand up for ourselves. When I settled disagreements with my temper, they tended to. stay settled."
Kahlan gave the wolf a little smile. "Brophy had a reputation that, although not unearned, was larger than the truth." She looked up at Richard. "The business he was in was dangerous, and therefore very profitable. Brophy made enough money at it to support his `hobby.' Almost no one knew about it until after I touched him, and he made his confession."
The wolf put his paws over his head. "Oh, Mistress, please! Must we?"
Richard frowned. "What was this `hobby'?"
Kahlan's smile widened. "Brophy had a weakness. Children. As he traveled around in search of things to trade, he would stop at orphanages and see to it they had what they needed to take care of the children. All the gold he made ended up in different orphanages, so the children could be cared for, and not go hungry. He twisted the arms of the people running the orphanages, to swear them to secrecy. He didn't want anyone knowing. Of course, he didn't have to twist very hard." Brophy's paws were still over his head, and his eyes squeezed tightly shut. "Mistress, please," he whined, "I have a reputation." He opened his eyes and rose up on his front paws. "And a well earned one at that! I've broken my share of arms and noses! I've done some pretty despicable deeds!"
Kahlan lifted an eyebrow to him. "Yes, you have. Some were reason enough to get you thrown in prison for a time. But none were reason enough to chop off your head." She looked back up at Richard. "You see, since Brophy had been seen around orphanages, and because of his reputation, no one was too surprised when he was accused of the murder of a little boy."
"Demmin Nass," Brophy growled. "Accused by Demmin Nass." His lips curled back, showing his long teeth as he growled.
"Why didn't the people at the orphanages stand up for you?"
"Demmin Nass," Brophy growled again. "He would have slit their throats."
"Who is this Demmin Nass?"
Kahlan exchanged a look with the wolf. "Remember when Darken Rahl came to the Mud People, and he took Siddin? Remember when he said Siddin was a gift for a friend? Demmin Nass is that friend." She gave Richard a meaningful look. "Demmin Nass has a very sick interest in little boys."
Richard felt a stab of fear, and pain, for Siddin, and for Savidlin and Weselan. He remembered his promise to try to find their boy. He had never felt so powerless.
"If I ever find him," Brophy growled fiercely, "I will settle a few scores. He's not fit to die. He must pay first for the things he's done."
"You just stay away from him," Kahlan warned. "He is a dangerous man. I don't want you hurt any more than you have been already."
The wolf's yellow eyes flared angrily at Kahlan for a moment before they cooled. "Yes, Mistress." He lay back down. "I would have faced the executioner with my head held high, the spirits know I may have earned it, but not for that. I would not let them kill me thinking I had done those things to children. So I demanded a Confessor."
"I didn't want to take his confession." Kahlan picked up a stick and pushed at the dirt. "I knew he wouldn't have requested a Confessor unless he was innocent. I talked to the judge; he said that in view of the crime, he would not commute the sentence. It was death or a confession. Brophy insisted upon the confession." Richard could see the firelight reflecting in the wetness of her green eyes. "Afterward, I asked him to pick another creature he would choose to be, if he had a choice. He chose a wolf. Why a wolf, I don't know." She smiled a little. "I guess it fits his nature."
"Because wolves are honorable creatures." Richard smiled. "You haven't lived in the forest, you've lived among people. Wolves are very social creatures, have strong ties and relationships. They are fiercely protective of their young. The whole pack will fight to protect them. And all members of the pack care for the young."
"You understand," Brophy whispered.
"Really, Brophy?" she asked.
"Yes, Mistress. I have a good life, now." His tail swished back and forth. "I have a mate! She's a fine wolf. She smells divine, and her nips give me shivers, and she has the cutest little .. . well, never mind." He looked up at Kahlan. "She is the leader of our pack. With me at her side, of course. She is pleased with me. She says I'm the strongest wolf she has ever seen. We had a litter, this last spring. Six. They're fine pups, almost grown now. It's a fine life, hard, but fine. Thank you, Mistress, for releasing me."
"I'm so glad, Brophy. But why are you here? Why aren't you back with your family?"
"Well, when you were coming down out of the Rang'Shada, you passed near my den. I sensed your presence. I found I could smell you. The urge to protect you was too strong to overcome. I know you are in danger, and I can't be at peace in my pack until I know you're safe. I must protect you."
"Brophy," she protested, "we're fighting to stop Darken Rahl. It's too dangerous for you to be with us. I don't want you to lose your life. You have already sacrificed too much to Darken Rahl, through Demmin Nass."
"Mistress, when I was changed to the wolf, it removed most of my need for you, my need to please you. Yet I would still die for you. It is still extremely difficult for me to go against your wishes. But in this, I must. I will not leave you to danger. I must protect you, or I could never be at peace. Command me to leave if you will, but I will not go. I will shadow you until you are safe from Darken Rahl."
"Brophy," Richard said. The wolf looked over to him. "I too want Kahlan protected, so she can do her job and help stop Rahl. I would be honored to have you along. You have already proven your value and your heart. If you can help protect her, you just ignore what she says and go right on protecting her."
Brophy looked up at her. Kahlan smiled at him. "He is the Seeker. I'm sworn on my life to protect him, as is Zedd. If that is his word, then I must go along."
Brophy's muzzle opened in surprise. "He commands you? He commands the Mother Confessor?"
"He does."
The wolf shook his head. "Wonder of wonders." He licked his lips. "By the way, I would like to thank you for the food you have left me."
Kahlan frowned. "What are you talking about?"
"Whenever he trapped food, he always left some for me."
"You did?" she asked.
Richard shrugged. "Well, I knew he was out there, and I didn't know what he was, but I didn't think he meant us harm. So I left him food, to let him know we didn't mean him any harm either." He smiled at the wolf. "But when you came at me back there, I surely thought I had made a mistake. Thank you again."
Brophy seemed uncomfortable with the gratitude, and stood. "I have been here long enough. I have woods to patrol. There might be things about. The three of you need not stand watch with Brophy on the job."
Richard pushed a stick at the fire, watching the sparks swirl into the air. "Brophy, what was it like when Kahlan touched you? When she released her power into you."
No one spoke. Richard looked into the wolf's yellow eyes. Brophy's head turned to Kahlan.
"Tell him," she whispered in a broken voice.
Brophy lay back down, folding one paw over the other, his head held high. He was silent for a long time before he spoke
"It's hard to remember everything of that time, but I will try to explain it the best I can." His head cocked a little to one side. "Pain. I remember the pain. It was exquisite, beyond anything you could imagine. The first thing I remember after the pain is fear. Overpowering fear I might be breathing wrong, and it would somehow displease her. I almost died from fear that I would displease her. And then when she told me what she wanted to know, it was a flush of the greatest joy I had ever known. Joy, because then I knew what I could do to please her. I was overjoyed that she had made a request of me, that there was something I could do to satisfy her. That's What I remember the most, the desperate, frantic need to do as she wanted, to satisfy her, and make her happy. Nothing else was in my mind, only to please her. To be in her presence was beyond bliss. The pleasure of being in her presence made me cry with elation.
"She told me to tell the truth, and I was so happy, because I knew I could do that. I was thrilled to have a task within my power. I started talking as fast as I could, to tell her all the truth I could. She had to tell me to slow down, because she couldn't understand me. If I had had a knife, I would have used it on myself for displeasing her. Then she told me it was all right, and 1 cried because she was not displeased with me. I told her what happened." His ears wilted a little. "After I told her I hadn't killed the boy, I remembered she put her hand on my arm-the touch nearly made me faint with pleasure and she said she was sorry. I misunderstood. I thought she meant she was sorry I hadn't killed the boy. I begged her to let me go kill another boy for her." Tears ran from the corners of the wolf's eyes. "Then she explained that what she meant was that she was sorry for me, for me being accused wrongly of the murder. I remember crying uncontrollably, because she had shown me a kindness, she was sorry for me, she cared for me. I remember what it felt like to be near her, to be in her presence. I guess it was a feeling of love, but words are so hollow, next to the power of the wanting of her."
Richard stood. He could only make himself take the briefest of glances at Kahlan, at her tears. "Thank you, Brophy." He had to pause a moment to make sure his voice wouldn't fail him. "It's late. We better get some sleep; tomorrow is an important day. I'm going to take my watch. Good night."
Brophy stood. "You three sleep. I will stand watch tonight."
Richard swallowed the lump. "I appreciate that, but I will stand my watch. If you wish, you may guard my back."
He turned and started to leave.
"Richard," Zedd called out to him. Richard stopped without turning. "What bone is it, that your father gave you?"
Richard's mind raced in a panic. Please, Zedd, he said to himself, if you have ever believed a lie I have told you, believe this one. "You must remember it. It was that little round one. You've seen it before, I know you have."
"Oh. Yes, I guess I must have. Good night."
Wizard's First Rule. Thank you, my old friend, he thought to himself, for teaching me how to protect Kahlan's life.
He walked on into the night, his head pounding with pain, from without, and from within
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