Soul of the Fire (Sword of Truth 5)

“Richard, we very well could be leaving inactive in Aydindril a spell that would be the solution to the chimes.”

“I’m the Seeker, remember?” Richard was thankful for Kahlan’s counsel, and he highly valued it, but now that he had heard what she had to say, analyzed the options, and made his decision, his patience was at an end. It was time to act. “Let me do my job.”

“Richard, this is—”

“You once swore an oath before Zedd—pledged your life in the defense of the Seeker. You thought it that important. I’m not asking for your life, only your understanding that I’m doing as I must.”

Kahlan took a breath, trying to be tolerant and calm with him when he was hardly hearing her. “Zedd urged us to do this for him so he would be able to counter the ebbing of magic.” She tugged his sleeve to get his attention. “We can’t all go rushing off to Anderith.”

“You’re right.”

Kahlan frowned suspiciously. “Good.”

“We’re not all going to Anderith.” Richard found their blanket and snatched it up. “As you said, Aydindril is important, too.”

Kahlan seized the front of his shirt and hauled him around to face her.

“Oh no you don’t.” She shook her finger in his face. “Oh no you don’t, Richard.

“We’re married. We’ve been through too much. We’re not going to separate now. Not now. And certainly not just because I’m angry with you for forgetting to tell Zedd about your first wife. I’ll not have it, Richard, do you hear me?”

“Kahlan, this has nothing to do—”

Her green eyes afire, she shook him by his shirt. “I’ll not have it! Not after all it took for us to be together.”

Richard glanced at Cara, not far away. “Only one of us needs to go to Aydindril.” He took her hand from his shirt, giving it a little squeeze of reassurance before she could say anything more.

“You and I are going to Anderith.”

Kahlan’s brow twitched. “But if we both…” She suddenly looked over at Cara.

Alarm shifted to the Mord-Sith. “Why are you both looking at me like that?”

Richard put an arm around Cara’s shoulders. She didn’t seem to like it one bit, so he took the arm away.

“Cara, you have to go to Aydindril.”

“We are all going to Aydindril.”

“No, Kahlan and I must go to Anderith. They have the Dominie Dirtch. They have an army. We have to get them to join us, and then prepare them for the coming of the Order. I need to see if there’s anything there that will help stop the chimes. We’re a lot closer to Anderith now than I would be if I had to go there from Aydindril. I can’t not look into it.

“It could be that we can stop the chimes and Anderith will surrender and we will be able to use the Dominie Dirtch to halt or even destroy Jagang’s army. Too much is at stake to let such opportunity slip through our fingers. It’s too important, Cara. Surely, you can see I have no choice?”

“No, you have a choice. We can all go to Aydindril. You are Lord Rahl. I am Mord-Sith. I must stay with you to protect you.”

“Would you rather I sent Kahlan?”

Cara pressed her lips tight but didn’t answer.

Kahlan took him by his arm. “Richard, as you said, you are the Seeker. You need your sword—without it you are vulnerable. It’s in Aydindril. So is the bottle with the spell, and Kolo’s journal, and libraries of other books that may hold the answer.

“We have to go to Aydindril. Had you only told Zedd, we might not be in this position, but now that we are, we must do as he asked.”

Richard straightened and looked her in the eye as she folded her arms. “Kahlan, I’m the Seeker. As the Seeker, I have an obligation to do what I think is right. I admit I made a mistake before, and I’m sorry, but I can’t allow that mistake to make me flinch from my duty as I believe it to be.

“As the Seeker, I’m going to Anderith. As Mother Confessor, you must do what your heart and duty dictate. I understand that. I want you with me, but if you must take another path, I will still love you the same.”

He leaned closer to her. “Choose.”

Her arms still folded, Kahlan regarded him in silence. At last, her ire melted and she nodded. She glanced briefly at Cara.

Seeming to think there was one person too many for the delivery of the inevitable orders, she spoke to him in a low voice. “I’m going to see how Du Chaillu is getting on.”

When Kahlan was out of earshot, Cara began to speak. “My duty is to guard and protect the Lord Rahl and I will not—”

Richard held up a hand to silence her.

“Cara, please, listen to me a minute. We’ve been through a lot together, the three of us. The three of us have been to the brink of death together. We each have the others to thank in more ways than one for our lives today. You are more to us than a guard and you know it.

“Kahlan is your sister of the Agiel. You are my friend. I know I mean more to you than simply being your Lord Rahl, or with the bond gone you wouldn’t have to stay with me. We are all bonded in friendship.”

“That is why I cannot leave you. I will not leave you, Lord Rahl. I will guard you whether or not you allow it.”

“How does it feel to be without your Agiel?”

She didn’t answer. It looked as if she didn’t trust herself to try to speak.

“Cara, would it surprise you to learn I feel the same way about the Sword of Truth? I have been without it longer than you have been without your Agiel. It’s an awful gnawing feeling in the pit of my stomach. A constant empty ache, like I need nothing so much as to feel that terrible thing in my hand. The same with you?”

She nodded.

“Cara, I hate that sword, the same as you surely, somewhere inside, must hate your Agiel. One time, you surrendered it to me. Remember? You and Berdine and Raina? I asked you to forgive me that I had to ask you to keep your weapon for now to help us in our struggle.”

“I remember.”

“I would like nothing more than not to need the sword. I would like the world to be at peace, and I could put that weapon in the Keep and leave it there.

“But I need it, Cara. Just as you need you Agiel, just as you feel an emptiness without it, feel vulnerable and defenseless and afraid, and ashamed to admit it, I feel the same. Just as you need your Agiel because you want nothing more than to protect us, I need my sword to protect Kahlan. If anything happened to her because I didn’t have my sword…

“Cara, I care about you, that’s why it’s important for you to understand. You are no longer just Mord-Sith, just our protector. You are more than that now. It’s important for you to think, and not simply to react. You must be more than Mord-Sith if you are to be of true help as our protector.

“I’m depending on you to continue to be an important person in this struggle, a person who can make a difference. Now you must go to Aydindril in my place.”

“I won’t follow those orders.”

“I’m not ordering you, Cara. I’m asking you.”

“That is not fair.”

“This isn’t a game, Cara. I’m asking for your help. You are the only one I can turn to.”

She scowled off toward the thunderstorm on the distant horizon as she pulled her long blond braid over her shoulder. She gripped it in her fist the way she gripped her Agiel in the heat of anger. The breeze fluttered the wisps of blond hair along the side of her face.

“If you wish it, Lord Rahl, I will go.”

Richard put a comforting hand on the back of her shoulder. This time she didn’t tense, but welcomed the hand.

“What do you wish me to do there?”

“I want you to get there and back as soon as possible. I need my sword.”

“I understand.”

When Kahlan glanced their way, Cara signaled for her and Kahlan returned at a trot.

Cara stiffened her back as she addressed Kahlan. “Lord Rahl has ordered me to return to Aydindril.”

“O

rdered?” Kahlan asked.

Cara simply smirked. She lifted the Agiel at Kahlan’s chest. “For a woods guide, he gets himself in a lot of trouble. As a sister of the Agiel, I would ask you to watch over him in my place, but I know I do not need to say the words.”

“I won’t let him out of my sight.”

“You need to catch up with General Reibisch’s army, first,” Richard said. “You can get horses from him and make better time to Aydindril.

“But I also very much need him to know what we’re doing. Tell him the whole story. Tell Verna and the Sisters, too. They will need to know, and they may have knowledge that would be of use.”