They would most likely do what they thought they had to do. Richard didn’t believe that they would give him any warning. Before he knew what had hit him it would be over.
He hated to admit it to himself, but he knew that Zedd was capable of such a thing. After giving Richard the Sword of Truth, when they were on their way to try to recover the boxes of Orden that Darken Rahl had put into play, Zedd had once said that so many lives were at stake that he would not hesitate to kill even Richard, if necessary, to save all those innocent people. He had told Richard how, to be the Seeker and carry the Sword of Truth, he had to be ready to be just as committed to their cause, that he had to understand the larger picture.
It was hardly out of the question to imagine Zedd now being willing to use magic to try to erase Richard’s memory of Kahlan—a memory that Zedd thought was a sickness that was harming him and their cause and thereby endangering the lives of millions.
“I think you’re right,” Richard admitted in a dejected voice. “They will try to stop me.” He picked up the two small books lying on the table and slipped them into a back pocket. “I think we had better get out of here before they can do that.”
“We? You want me to go with you?”
Richard paused and shrugged self-consciously. “Nicci, you and Cara are the only true friends I have right now. You’ve been there to help me when I needed it most. I can’t afford to leave valued friends behind just when I’m beginning to figure out what’s going on. Once I do have it figured out I may need your help with it, but even if I don’t I’d like you there with me just for the advice and support you give me.
“I mean, if you’re willing to come. I’d not force you, of course, but I’d like you to come.”
Nicci smiled that rare smile she had, the smile that revealed the nobility of the woman Nicci really was, the smile he had only seen since she had come to love life.
Chapter 59
Cara stood impatiently waiting on the other side of the shield. Rikka, standing guard near the iron door, was watching out into the tower room. Both turned when they saw the red glow and heard Richard coming. He saw packs and other gear collected into a neat pile just inside the door. He pulled his pack out from among the others and stuffed the two books inside.
“We’re leaving, then?” Cara asked.
Richard put his arms through the straps and hiked the pack up onto his back. “Yes, and I think we best not waste any time.”
As he picked up his bow and quiver, everyone else started gathering their own things.
It appeared that Cara, wanting Nicci to be near Richard so that she would be handy to help protect him, had brought the sorceress’s things along as well. Richard wondered how much of wanting Nicci along had to do with what Shota had said.
He saw that Rikka, too, had a pack. He almost asked her what she thought she was doing, but realized then that she was Mord-Sith and she would say that her place was with him. He had spent so much time with only Cara protecting him that he thought it would feel a bit odd having more than one Mord-Sith around again.
“Everyone ready?” he asked as he saw them all tightening straps and buckles.
After each woman nodded, Richard led the grim-faced group out the doorway. He knew that Cara might have followed him without question, but she wouldn’t blindly follow Nicci or anyone else’s orders without good reason, so he suspected that Cara had probably asked a lot of pointed questions—something Mord-Sith were wont to do—and found out why they had to leave.
At the base of the tower, Richard ran his hand along the iron railing as he started around the walkway, but then a sudden realization brought him to a halt. Everyone waited, watching him, wondering why he had stopped.
Richard looked at Nicci’s puzzled blue eyes. “They’re not going to trust you in this.”
“What do you mean?” Nicci asked.
“It’s too important. They aren’t going to leave it to you to do as they instructed. They will be concerned that you’ll lose your courage, or that you might fail and allow me to slip away.”
Cara stepped closer. “You mean you think they will come looking for you?”
“No, not looking for me,” Richard said, “but I bet that somewhere between here and the way out of the Keep they will be lying in wait, just in case I get past Nicci and try to leave. If we come upon them unexpectedly then it will be too late.”
“Lord Rahl,” Rikka said, “Mistress Cara and I would not allow anyone to harm you.”
Richard lifted an eyebrow. “I’d just as soon not have it come to that. Those three think they need to help me. They aren’t intent on harming me—at least not intentionally. I don’t want you two to hurt them.”
“But if they surprise us with the intent of using their magic on you, you can’t expect us to let them do it,” Cara said.
Richard met her gaze for a moment. “Like I said, I don’t want it to come to that.”
“Lord Rahl,” Cara said in a low voice, “I simply can’t allow anyone to attack you in such a way, even if they think it’s to help you. You can’t equivocate in a situation like that. If they attack you, it must be stopped—period. If they were allowed to succeed, then you would never be the same again. You would no longer be the Lord Rahl we know, the Lord Rahl you are.”
Cara leaned even closer and fixed him with that look that Mord-Sith had that always made him sweat. “If they do attack you and are allowed to succeed because you fear to harm them, then when they are finished you will no longer remember this woman, Kahlan. Is that what you want?”
Richard clenched his jaw as he let out a deep breath. “No, it’s not. Let’s try to avoid having it come to such things. But if it does, then I guess you’re right. They can’t be allowed to do as they intend. But if we must stop them, let’s not use any more force than necessary.”
“Hesitation is a mistake that invites defeat,” Cara said. “I would not be Mord-Sith had I not hesitated when I was young.”
Richard knew she was right. The Sword of Truth had taught him that much, at least. The dance with death allowed no compromise between life and death.
He laid a hand on Cara’s shoulder. “I understand.”
Nicci gazed up the tower, her blue eyes taking in the doors all around it. “Where do you think they will wait?”
“I don’t know,” Richard said as he hooked his thumbs under the shoulder straps of his pack. “The Wizard’s Keep is immense, but in the end there’s only one way out. Since there are so many routes we could take, I’d guess it will be when we get nearer the courtyard out to the portcullis.”
“Lord Rahl,” Rikka spoke up, looking a little uneasy once he met her gaze, “there is another way out.”
Richard frowned at her. “What are you talking about?”
“There is another way out besides the main entrance. It is only accessible through passages deep in the Keep.”
“How do you know such a thing?”
“Your grandfather showed it to me.”
Richard didn’t have time to wonder at such a thing. “Do you think you can find it again?”
Rikka considered a moment. “I believe so,” she finally said. “I sure wouldn’t want to get us lost down in the Keep, but I believe I can find the way. Starting out from here we’re already part of the way, so it won’t be quite so hard.”
Richard went to rest his hand on the hilt of his sword as he considered. The sword wasn’t there. He rubbed his palms together, instead.
“Maybe it would be better if we went that way.”
Rikka turned, her blond braid whipping around as she did so, and started away. “Follow me, then.”
Richard let Nicci go ahead of him, then followed, letting Cara bring up the rear. He hadn’t gone a dozen steps when he stopped. He turned and looked back.
Everyone glanced to where he was looking and then watched him, puzzled by what he could be thinking.
“We can’t go that way, either.” He turned back to Rikka. “Zedd showed you that w
ay out of the keep. He knows Mord-Sith. he knows that despite how well you two got along, if presented with a choice, your loyalties will fall to me.
“Zedd is fond of using tricks. He will let Ann and Nathan guard the routes to the main entrance to the Keep. He will lie in wait on the route he showed you, Rikka.”
“Well, if there are only two ways out,” Nicci said, “that means they will have to split up to make sure both are blocked. That’s if Zedd goes through the thought process as you’ve laid it out. He might forget that he told Rikka about the other way out, or he might not think that she would tell you. That way still might be clear.”
Richard slowly shook his head as he stared off at something else—the wide platform partway back around the walkway around the stagnant water in the bottom of the gloomy interior of the tower.
“While what you say is possible, counting on Zedd to make such a strategic mistake would be foolish.”
Nicci was looking a bit worried. “Well, you can’t use your power without chancing calling the beast, but I certainly can use mine. And I have more power at my command than Zedd does. If they split up as you suggest, then we will not have all three to contend with at once.”
“No, but I’d not like to have that kind of a test, especially not in the Keep. It’s possible that there are defenses here that he has initiated to protect the First Wizard should he be attacked. You might simply try to catch him up in a conjured tangle to slow him down while we escape and it might be all it takes to trigger something lethal. Besides, even if you do manage to succeed at such a thing, he could still come after us.
Nicci folded her arms. “Then what, exactly, do you suggest we do?”
He turned back and once again met her blue eyes. “I suggest that we take a way out that they can’t follow.”