Soul of the Fire (Sword of Truth 5)

Zedd brushed his hands clean of the straw and straightened his robes. His back ached. At last he embraced the healer. “Thank you, Nissel, for all your help. It is deeply appreciated.”

She giggled softly against his shoulder. “For you, anything.” Upon parting, she pinched his bottom.

Zedd gave her a wink. “How about some of that tava with honey, honey?”

Nissel blushed. Ann’s gaze shifted from one to the other. “What are you telling her?”

“Oh, just told her I appreciated her help and asked if we might have something to eat.”

“Those are the itchiest blankets I’ve ever seen,” Ann grumbled as she scratched furiously at her arms. “Tell Nissel she has my appreciation, too, but if you don’t mind, I’ll skip having my bottom pinched for it.”

“Ann adds her sincere appreciation to mine. And she is much older than I.” Among the Mud People, age lent weight to words.

Nissel’s face wrinkled with a grin as she reached up and gave his cheek a doting pinch. “I will get you both some tea and tava.”

“She seems to have grown quite fond of you.” Ann smoothed back her hair as she watched the healer duck under the hide covering the door.

“And why not?”

Ann rolled her eyes and then brushed straw from her dark dress. “When did you learn the Mud People’s language? You never mentioned to Richard or Kahlan that you knew their language.”

“Oh, I learned it a very long time ago. I know a lot of things; I don’t mention them all. Besides, I always think it best to leave yourself a little wiggle room, should it come in useful, such as now. I never really lied.”

She conceded the point with a sound deep in her throat. “While it might not be a lie, it is still a deception.”

Zedd smiled at her. “By the way, speaking of deceptions, I thought your performance was brilliant. Very convincing.”

Ann was taken aback. “Well, I… well, thank you, Zedd. I guess I was pretty convincing.”

He patted her shoulder. “That you were.”

Her smile turned to a suspicious scowl. “Don’t you try to sweet-talk me, old man. I’m a lot older than you and I’ve seen it all.” She shook her finger up at him. “You know good and well I’m cross with you!”

Zedd put his fingertips to his chest. “Cross? With me? What have I done?”

“What have you done? Need I remind you of the word Lurk?” She stalked around in a little circle, arms raised, wrists bent over, fingers clawed, mimicking a fiend. “Oh, how frightening. Here comes a Lurk. Oh, how terrifying. Oh, how very scary.”

She stamped to a halt before him. “What was going through your witless head! What possessed you to spout such a nonsensical word as Lurk! Are you crazy?”

Zedd pouted indignantly. “What’s wrong with the word Lurk?”

Ann planted her fists on her wide hips. “What’s wrong with it? What kind of a name is Lurk for an imaginary monster!”

“Well, quite a good one, actually.”

“A good one! I nearly had heart failure when you first said it. I thought for sure Richard was going to realize we were making up a story and suddenly burst out laughing. It was all I could do to keep from laughing myself!”

“Laugh? Why would he laugh at the word Lurk? It’s a perfectly good word. Has all the elements of a frightening creature.”

“Have you gone loony? I’ve had ten-year-old boys I’ve caught at mischief come up with stories of pretend monsters plaguing them. They could, on the spot, when I snatched them by the ear, think up better names for those monsters than a ‘Lurk.’

“Do you know the time I had keeping a straight face? Had it not been for the seriousness of our problem, I’d not have been able to do so. When you then again today insisted on repeating it I feared our ruse would be unmasked for sure.”

Zedd folded his arms. “I didn’t see them laughing. The three of them thought it was frightening. I think it had Richard’s knees knocking there for a moment when I first revealed the name.”

Muttering, Ann slapped her forehead. “Only luck preserved our artifice. You could have ruined it with such foolishness.” She shook her head. “A Lurk. A Lurk!”

Zedd surmised it was probably her frustration and genuine fear bubbling to the surface, so he let her rant as she paced. Finally, she came to a halt, peering up with sputtering ire.

“Just where in Creation did you ever get such an asinine name for a monster? Lurk indeed,” she added in a mutter.

Zedd scratched his neck as he cleared his throat. “Well, actually, in my youth when I was first married, I brought home a kitten for my new bride. She loved the little thing, and laughed endlessly at its antics. It pleased me to my toes to see the tears of joy in Erilyn’s eyes as she laughed at that little ball of fur.

“I asked her what she wished to name the kitten, and she said that she enjoyed so much watching the way it incessantly lurked about, pouncing on things, that she would call it Lurk. That was where I got the name. I always like it, because of that.”

Ann rolled her eyes. She sighed as she considered his words. She opened her mouth to say something, but closed it again and, with another sigh, instead give his arm a consoling pat.

“Well, no harm done,” she conceded. “No harm done.” She bent and with a finger hooked the blanket. As she stood folding it, she asked, “What about the bottle? The one you told Richard was in the First Wizard’s enclave at the Keep? What trouble is it likely to cause when he breaks it?”

“Oh, it was just a bottle I picked up in a market when I was traveling one time. When I saw it, I was immediately taken with the mastery it must have taken to make such a beautiful, graceful piece. After a long negotiation with the peddler, I finally wore him down and purchased it for a exceptionally good price.

“I liked the bottle so well that when I returned, I set it up on that pedestal. It was also a reminder of how, because of my skill at bargaining, I had obtained it at a remarkably good price. I thought it looked nice, there, and it made me proud of myself.”

“Well, aren’t you the cleaver one,” Ann sniped.

“Yes, very. Not long after, I found a bottle exactly like it for half the price, and that was without haggling. I kept the bottle there on that pedestal to remind myself not to get cocky, just because I was First Wizard. It’s just an old bottle kept as a lesson; no harm will come when Richard breaks it.”

Ann chuckled as she shook her head. “If not for the gift, I fear to think what would have become of you.”

“What I fear is that we are about to find out.”

Already, as his magic was failing, he felt aches in his bones, and lassitude in his muscles. It would get worse.

Ann’s smile faded at the grim reality of his words.

“I don’t understand it. What you told Richard was true. Kahlan would have to be his third wife to have called the chimes into this world. We know the chimes are here, yet it’s impossible.

“Even given the convoluted ways magic can interpret incidents to constitute the fulfillment of requirements and conditions to trigger an event, she can be counted as no more than his second wife. There was that other one, that Nadine girl, and Kahlan. One and one equals two; Kahlan can be no more than number two.”

Zedd shrugged. “We know the chimes have been unleashed. That is the problem we must address, not the how of it.”

Ann grudgingly nodded her assent. “Do you think that grandson of yours will do as he says and go straight to the Keep?”

“He promised he would.”

Ann’s eyes turned up to him. “We are talking about Richard, here.”

Zedd opened his hands in a helpless gesture. “I don’t know what else we could have done to insure he goes to the Keep. We gave him every motivation, from noble to selfish, to rush there. He has no wiggle room. We made the consequences, should he fail to do as we told him he must, frighteningly clear to him.”

“Yes,” Ann said, smoothing the blanket folded over her arm, “we did

everything except tell him the truth.”

“We mostly told him the truth of what would happen if he doesn’t go to the Keep. That was the important part and no lie, except that the truth is even more grim than we painted it for him.

“I know Richard. Kahlan loosed the chimes to save his life; he would be bound and determined to set it right, to help. He could only make what is bleak worse. We can’t allow him to play with this fire. We gave him what he needs most: a way to help.

“His only safety is the Keep. The chimes can’t get him where they were called forth, and the Sword of Truth is the only magic likely to still work. We will see to this. Who knows, without him in their grasp, the threat could even die out on its own.”

“Slim thread to hang the world on. However, I suppose you’re right,” Ann said. “He is one resolute man—like his grandfather.”