Wizard's First Rule (Sword of Truth 1)

“You are injured. From the gars?”

Richard shook his head. “In the cave.” His voice was quiet with the haunting fear of the memory. He sat down, leaning against the wall, watching his boots. “I had to go through a small hole in the rock. It was the only way. I became stuck.” He looked up at the big yellow eyes. “Since I left my home to stop Darken Rahl, I’ve been frightened often. But when I was stuck in that hole, in the dark, the rock pressing against me so tight I couldn’t breathe… well, that was one of the worst times. While I was stuck there, something grabbed my leg, dug into the flesh with sharp little claws. It did this to me as I tried to get away.”

Scarlet watched him in silence a long time, one claw over the egg. “Thank you, Richard Cypher, for doing as you said you would. For getting my egg back. You are brave, even if you are not a dragon. I never believed a man would risk himself so, for a dragon.”

“I did it for more than your egg. I did it because I had to, to get help finding my friends.”

Scarlet shook her head. “Honest, too. I think maybe you would have done it anyway. I am sorry you were injured, and that you had to be frightened so, to help me. Men try to kill dragons. You may be the first who has ever helped one. For any reason. I had my doubts.”

“Well, it’s a good thing you showed up when you did. Those gars almost had me. By the way, I thought I told you to stay put. What were you doing coming after me?”

“I’m embarrassed to admit, I thought you were trying to escape. I was coming for a closer look, when I heard the uproar. I will make it up to you. I will help you find your friends, as I promised.”

Richard grinned. “Thanks, Scarlet. But what about the egg? Can you leave it alone? Maybe Rahl will steal it again.”

“Not from here, he won’t. I searched a long time for this place after he stole my egg, so if I ever got it back, I would have a safe place for it. He will not be able to reach it here. As for leaving it, that is not a problem. When dragons hunt for food, they simply heat the rock with their flame, to keep the egg warm in their absence.”

“Scarlet, time is short. When can we start?”

“Right now.”

46

It was a frustrating day. Scarlet flew low over thick woods as they both scanned the roads and trails. Richard was discouraged that they had seen no sign of his friends. He was so exhausted that he could hardly hold on to Scarlet’s spikes as she flew him over the land, searching, but he didn’t want to rest; he had to find Zedd and Kahlan. On top of being tired, he had a terrific headache from concentrating his eyesight so. He forgot his fatigue, his lack of sleep, every time they spotted people on the ground, only to have to tell Scarlet each time that it wasn’t his friends.

The dragon went low, skimming the tops of pine trees at the edge of a field. She let out a piercing scream that made Richard jump and banked into a steep turn that made him dizzy. A buck broke into a run across the field, flushed from cover by the dragon’s roar. Building speed in a quick dive, she swooped into the field. Without effort, Scarlet snatched the deer from the tall brown grass, snapping its neck in the process. Richard felt intimidated by how easy it was for her to take the prey.

Scarlet pulled higher into the air, into the golden light of the setting sun, among the puffy clouds. Richard felt as if his heart were sinking with the sun. He knew Scarlet was heading back to her egg. He wanted to tell her to search some more, while there was still light, but he knew she had to get back to her nest, her egg.

In near darkness, Scarlet landed on the ledge of rock, waiting for him to climb down over her red scales before she hurried to her egg. Richard went to one side and curled up in his cloak, shivering with the cold.

After she checked her egg, cooed to it, and warmed it with fire, she turned to see about the buck. She paused to say to Richard, “You don’t look like you could eat much. I guess I could let you have some.”

“Will you cook it for me? I don’t eat raw meat.”

She said she would, so he cut himself a chunk, stuck it on the end of his sword, and, holding it up, turned his head from the heat while she blew a thin stream of flame over it. Richard returned to the side, eating his meal, trying not to watch as the dragon tore the buck apart with fang and claw, tossing great chunks in the air and swallowing with hardly a chew.

“If we don’t find your friends, what will you do?”

Richard swallowed. “We had better find them, that’s all.”

“The first day of winter is four days from tomorrow.”

With a finger and thumb, he pulled off a small strip of meat. “I know.”

“For a dragon, it is better to die than be ruled.”

Richard looked up at her as she swished her tail. “If choosing for yourself, maybe, but what of others? You chose to be ruled, to save your egg, to give it a chance at life.”

Scarlet grunted without answering and turned once more to her egg, stroking her talons over it.

Richard knew that if he couldn’t find the last box and stop Rahl, he would have to save everyone else’s life, he would have to spare Kahlan the torture of a Mord-Sith—he would have to agree to help Darken Rahl open the right box. Then Kahlan could live the kind of life a Confessor was used to.

It was a desperately depressing, though—that he could help Darken Rahl gain unchallenged power over everyone. But what choice did he have? Maybe what Shota said was right. Maybe Zedd and Kahlan would try to kill him. Maybe he should be killed for even thinking of helping Darken Rahl. If he had to choose, though, he would not let Kahlan be hurt by a Mord-Sith. He would have to help Rahl.

Richard lay back down, too sick at his choices to finish his meal. He put his head against his pack, pulling the cloak around himself, and thought about Kahlan. He was asleep in moments.

The next day, Scarlet took him into D’Hara, over where she said the boundary used to be, searching the roads and trails. Thin, h

igh clouds filtered the sunlight. Richard hoped his friends wouldn’t be this close to Darken Rahl, but if Zedd had sought the night stone before Rahl had destroyed it, and knew he had been at the People’s Palace, they would be heading there. The dragon swept low over people they saw, giving them a fright, but they weren’t the ones he sought.

Near midday, Richard saw them. Zedd, Chase, and Kahlan were riding horses on a trail near the main road. He yelled at Scarlet to take them down. The dragon rolled into a banking turn, diving toward the ground, a streak of red. The three riders saw them coming, stopped, and dismounted.

Scarlet spread her crimson wings, stopping their descent, and set them in a clearing next to the trail. Richard jumped off, running as he hit the ground. The three stood holding the reins to their horses. Chase held a mace in his other hand. Seeing Kahlan overwhelmed Richard with elation. Every memory of her was suddenly true to life in front of him. They stood still as he ran toward them, down a short, steep decline in the trail. Richard watched the ground so he wouldn’t trip over roots.

When he looked up, wizard’s fire was wailing toward him. He froze in surprise. What was Zedd doing? The ball of liquid fire was bigger than any he had seen before. It illuminated the trees all around with its blue and yellow flame, shrieking as it advanced. Richard watched, wide-eyed, as it came, tumbling, twisting, expanding.

With the fright of what was about to happen, Richard’s hand went to the hilt, feeling the word Truth press into the flesh of his palm. With a strong pull, he drew the sword, sending metallic ringing into the air. Released, the magic raced instantly through him. The fire was almost there. As he had done when he had been with Shota, he held the sword up, gripping the hilt in one hand, the point in the other, arms locked, holding it before him as a shield. Wrath took him, at the thought of Zedd betraying them. It couldn’t be Zedd.