Just then, Darken Rahl lifted his face, and looked right into Richard's eyes. A smile slowly spread on his lips.
Richard didn't know if Darken Rahl was really looking at him or not, but he didn't wait to find out. With desperate effort, he forced the image of the sword back into his mind, like slamming a door, at the same time banishing the black and white background.
With a gasp, Richard forced his eyes open. His chest heaved.
Sister Verna's eyes came opened, too. "Richard, are you all right? You've been at it an hour. I felt you trying to pull back, so I pulled with you. What happened? What did you see?"
"An hour?" Richard was still trying to catch his breath. "I saw Darken Rahl, and the skrin bone. He had a woman there, helping him draw spells in the sorcerer's sand."
Warren leaned over Richard's shoulder. "Maybe it was just a vision of a fear. It may not have been real."
"Warren could be right," Sister Verna said. She drew her lower lip through her teeth as she thought. "What did the woman look like?"
"Wavy, shoulder length, brown hair, maybe about your size. She was bent over drawing in the sand, so I couldn't see her eyes." Richard pressed his fingers to his forehead as he thought. "Her hand. She was missing the little finger on her right hand."
Warren groaned. Sister Verna's eyes slid closed.
"What? What's the matter?"
"Sister Odette," she said. "That's Sister Odette."
Warren nodded confirmation. "She has been gone for close to six months. I thought she went to get a boy."
"Curse the spirits," Richard said under his breath. He sprang to his feet. "Warren, run and get Du Chaillu. Tell her we must leave right now."
He ground his teeth in frustration. He had thought he had all the time he needed. Well, he still had enough time, if he hurried.
*****
Du Chaillu seemed in a trance as Richard pulled her forward by the hand. With the Sword of Truth in his other hand, Richard was in a world of his own, too. His thundering rage was a match for the angry black clouds. The spells of magic circled them like a pack of dogs around a porcupine, angry and insistent, but holding their distance as they searched for an opening.
Wisps of light emerged from the darkness and whirled around them, spiraling down to vanish into an aura that surrounded Du Chaillu. She seemed to be absorbing the magic, as Sister Verna told him she had done before. Together, they were the completed link Warren had told him the old books said would contain the power and bring the Towers down.
Through the waves of heat and the boiling mist, Richard saw the first tower. He pulled Du Chaillu onward, toward the glistening black wall that disappeared into the darkness overhead. Dust and dirt lifted around them as they rushed toward the arched opening in the wall. Spells snatched at them, but their light was sucked to Du Chaillu.
Richard acted without thought, not knowing what drove him onward, and not trying to stop it. If he was to succeed, if he was to save Kahlan, he had to let those things within himself guide him. He had to hope that if he truly had the gift, it would react on instinct, as Nathan had told him, and do what was needed.
Du Chaillu seemed not to notice the sparkling black sand they stood on in the center of the tower. She seemed lost in a private spell of her own, in the power passed down to her from those who built the towers and took her people's land. So far, she had done her half of what was needed; she had protected him. Now, Richard had to do his part.
On impulse, holding her hand tight in his, he lifted the sword high in the other, pointing it straight up. He lost himself in the fury of the magic, letting it overwhelm him. He felt the heat of it in the calm center he had always sought. He let the rage fill the void.
Lightning exploded from the sword, arcing up into the darkness overhead, jumping from one wall to the other, bathing them all in liquid light. The noise was deafening.
Fire raced through the black stone until the whole of the tower glowed, the stone turning white in the heat of the luminous discharge.
Richard felt as if the lightning were passing through him, too. It seared him with its power, erupting outward, and up through the sword. Only his rage enabled him to endure the ferocity of the onrushing force coming from within.
Flickering webs of lightning cascaded down the walls and across the black sand, until everything was alive with it. The black sand turned white, as had the walls, and the world burned with pulsing fire and light.
Abruptly, it ended. The lightning cut off, the fire winked out, and the roar of noise ceased, leaving silence ringing in his ears. The polished black stone of the tower was left a blinding white gloss.
Du Chaillu seemed still not to notice what was around her, and Richard pulled her onward, to complete the task for which they both had been born.
In the white tower, as he held the sword high, he expected the flash of heat and light again, but it did not come. Instead, the counter to it, the balance to it, exploded forth.
Concussion ripped the air, threatening to strip flesh from bone, as black lightning blasted upward, a void in the light. Like the lightning before, Richard felt the might of the power erupting from deep within himself, as if his very soul were pouring it forth. The snaking void in the light raked the walls, and, with a thunderous roar, pierced a void into the darkness above.
As the black lightning twisted into the darkness overhead, shadows oozed down the white walls, making it seem they were melting into the depths of eternal night. Darkness reached the ground, and flowed toward them, soaking into the white sand, turning it black.
Richard never gave thought to trying to escape the encroaching night. When it reach them, he felt as if they were being plunged into icy water. Du Chaillu, her eyes closed, shivered with the touch of it. Richard noted it, but through the wrath of the sword's magic, it was a distant sensation that only fed the anger.
It seemed the whole world had vanished forever into inky obscurity. Light, and vision, were beyond even memory.
Richard felt the undulating, twisting rope of the black lightning, the void in the world of life, cut off. Sudden silence replaced the cacophony. He could hear himself breathing hard. He could heard Du Chaillu doing the same. Light and life and warmth emerged from the cold void.
Outside, through the arches in the stone, now glossy black where it was once white, Richard could see light coming through the thinning fog. The ground that before was baked and barren was now green and lush. Still holding hands, he and Du Chaillu stood in the archway, watching the haze and smoke lift on a world no one had seen in thousands of years.
Hand in hand, they walked out into the cool air, across the thick grass, and through shafts of sunlight. The storms of spells were gone, the dark clouds they spawned evaporating as they lifted. The air smelled fresh and clean. The feel of life vibrated around them.
The valley, off to the pale blue line of mountains in the distance was lush and green. Groves of trees were gathered in places along meandering streams. Gentle rises overlaid each other in differing shades of green.
Richard could understand why the Baka Ban Mana would want their land back. It was a place that simply looked like home. This was a place of light and hope that would have stayed in a people's heart throughout all the dark centuries. It was not a place that belonged to them—it was they, that belonged to this place.
"You have done it, Caharin," Du Chaillu said. "You have returned our home from beyond the mist."
Richard saw a few people scattered about in the distance, those who had been trapped in spells for untold years. They wandered aimless and confused. He had to find two who he knew.
Sister Verna and Warren galloped toward them, bringing his horse. Before they had completely stopped, Richard was up on Bonnie. Du Chaillu thrust a hand up. She wanted to go with him. Reluctantly, He pulled her up behind.
"Richard," Warren said, "that was astonishing! How did you do it?"
"I haven't the slightest idea, Warren. I had been hoping you could explain it to me."
r /> Richard galloped Bonnie off in the direction he remembered seeing Chase and Rachel when he had been through the Valley the first time. Warren and Sister Verna followed after. It wasn't long before he found them sitting on the bank of a brook. Chase, with his arm around Rachel's shoulders, and his usual look of strained tolerance nowhere in evidence, looked confused.
Richard swung his leg over Bonnie's neck and leapt down. "Chase! Are you all right?"
"Richard? What's going on? Where are we? We were coming to get you. You can't go..." He looked around. "You can't go into the Valley. Zedd needs you. The veil is torn."
"I know." Richard handed the reins to Sister Verna and quickly introduced everyone. "My friends will explain it all to you." He put a knee to the ground in front of Rachel. The dark, amber colored Stone of Tears hung on a chain around her neck, just as he remembered it. "Rachel, are you all right? How do you feel?"
She blinked up at him. "I was in a nice place, Richard."
"This is a nice place, too. You will be fine, now. Rachel, did Zedd give you that stone?"
She nodded. "He said you might want it, and I was to keep it for you, until you came to get it."
"That's why I'm here, Rachel. May I have it, then?"
She smiled and pulled it over her head. Richard unclasped the chain and pulled the Stone off. Holding it in his hand, he could feel its warmth, and Zedd's presence.
The chain was too small for him. He handed it back to Rachel, telling her it looked prettier on her that it would on him, and then strung the Stone onto a leather thong he had ready.
He hung the Stone of Tears around his neck, along with the Agiel and the dragon's tooth. From the corner of his eye, he watched the distant dot growing in the sky.
"Richard," Warren said, "after seeing what I just saw, with the Towers, I have no doubt you can do what you say you can do, but you have no time to reach where you must go. Tomorrow, the world is going to end if you don't get there. What are you going to do?"
"Where is it we are going, my husband," Du Chaillu asked.
"'We' are not going anywhere, Du Chaillu. You are staying here, with your people."
"Husband?" Chase said, a scowl finally starting to creep onto his face.
"I am not her husband. It's just some silly idea she got in her head." Richard watched the red shape growing, high up in the sky. "Look, I don't have time to explain it. Sister Verna and Warren can tell you about it."
Sister Verna, a suspicious frown on her face, took a step toward him. "What are you going to do? Warren was right, you have no time."
In the distance, the red wings spread wide as the dragon plunged into a dive. Richard unhooked his pack from Bonnie, slinging it onto his back. He gave Bonnie's neck a good bye hug. He hooked on the quiver, and slipped the bow over his shoulder. From the corner of his eye, he watched the dragon plummet straight down.
"I'm going to have time. I must leave you now, Sister."
"What do you mean you are leaving? How?"
At the last instant the dragon pulled out of the dive. Her long neck stretched out. Wings spread wide, she shot toward them at incredible speed, skimming along just above the ground.
"I have only one chance to reach my goal in time. I must fly."
"Fly!" Warren and Sister Verna shouted together.
Scarlet swept up with a roar. Everyone else saw her for the first time. Immense wings beat to slow the dragon's speed.
Their clothes flapped in the sudden burst of wind. The grass all around flattened in the gusts. Warren, Sister Verna and Du Chaillu stepped back in surprise. Scarlet settled to the ground as her forward speed was brought to a halt by her beating wings.
"Richard," Sister Verna said as she slowly shook her head, "you have the oddest pets of anyone I have ever met."
"Red dragons are pets to no one, Sister. Scarlet is a dear friend."
Richard trotted toward the huge red dragon glistening in the sunlight. Scarlet snorted a small cloud of gray smoke.
"Richard! How good to see you again. Since you called me so urgently with my tooth, I presume you are in trouble again. As usual."
"Trouble indeed, my friend." Richard gave a pat to a glossy red scale. "I've missed you, Scarlet."
"Well, I've already eaten. I guess I must instead give you a ride in the sky to work up an appetite. Then I will eat you."
Richard laughed "Where is your little one?"
Her ears twitched. "Off hunting. Gregory is not so little anymore. He misses you, and would like to see you."
"I would like to see Gregory, too. But I'm in a terrible hurry right now. I'm running out of time."
"Richard!" Du Chaillu ran toward him. "I must go, too. I must go where my husband goes!"
Richard leaned toward Scarlet's ear as she lowered her head and peered at him with one yellow eye. "A little flame, Scarlet," he whispered. "Just for effect. Don't hurt her."
Du Chaillu leapt back with a squeal as a burst of fire charred the grass at her feet.
"Du Chaillu, your land is returned to your people. You must stay with them. You are their spirit woman; they need you. They need your guidance. I would ask something else of you: protect the towers that are on your land. I don't know if they can bring any harm, but as the Caharin, I order that no one shall ever enter them. Guard them, and keep all others out, too.
"Live in peace with others who would live in peace with you, but continue to practice with the blades so you may protect yourselves."
Du Chaillu drew herself up tall. The little strips of cloth on her prayer dress fluttered in the breeze, along with her thick black hair.
"You are wise, Caharin, I will see that it is as you say, until you return to your wife and your people."
"Richard," Sister Verna said. Her face held a serious look. "Do you know where Kahlan is?"
"Aydindril. She would have gone there; the prophecy takes place before her people. She will be in Aydindril."
"The time of choosing is upon you, Richard. Where are you going, now?"
He looked long into her steady gaze.
"D'Hara."
She gazed silently at him. At last, she put her arms around him and gave him a warm hug. She kissed his cheek. "And then?"
Richard raked his fingers through his thick hair. "Somehow I will stop what is to happen in D'Hara, and then I must get to Aydindril before it is too late. Take care, my friend."
She nodded. "Warren and I will see to the people here who have been released from the spells. They will need guidance. I have been a Sister of the Light for nearly two hundred years. All I ever wanted was to help people who needed it. But you had help. There is no excuse for taking you, or others. I want to try to set some of this right."
Warren gave Richard a firm hug. "Thanks, Richard. For everything. I look forward to seeing you again."
Richard winked. "Try not to have any adventures."
"I'll go with you," Chase said.
"No." Richard wiped a hand over his face. "No, go home, Chase. Take Rachel to her new mother, and her brothers and sisters. Emma will be worried sick by now. She hasn't seen you in ages. Go home to you wife and family. I will need to be returning home soon, too."
Richard turned back to Sister Verna. "We must do something about those six Sisters. They're sailing for Westland. The people there have no protection against magic. It Westland, those Sisters will be like hawks in a hatchery."
"I think that journey will take them some time. You have time enough for them, Richard."
"Good. Kahlan will want to wed before the Mud People. Then I may need to come and get some advice on how to handle those six. Talk to Nathan, and Ann. We can decide what to do then."
"Be careful," Warren said. He stood stoically with his hands in the opposite sleeves of his robes. "And I don't just mean with yourself. Don't forget the things Nathan and I have told you. Don't forget that everyone else is in danger from what you can do with the Stone of Tears. I don't think you have yet reached your time of choosing."
"
I'll do my best."
Scarlet lowered herself so he could climb up onto her shoulders. He gripped the black tipped spines and hauled himself up. Richard gave a slap to a red scale.
"To D'hara, my friend. Again."
With a roar of flame, Scarlet launched into the sky.
68
In the distance, in the predawn gloom, he could see the green glow. It rose from the People's Palace, through the glass roof of the garden of life, like a beacon. Richard had seen that color of green from only one place. The underworld.
The icy wind tore at his clothes as Scarlet's wings beat with a steady cadence. She had put strenuous effort into the flight to D'Hara. She understood the danger posed by the Keeper. The underworld would take her, too. And, she hated Darken Rahl. He had stolen her egg before and used it to enslave her.
As she began her descent, she peered back, her ears turning toward him. "There will be enough time, Richard. We can still make it to Aydindril. It is only just dawn."
"I know you'll get me there, Scarlet. I'll try not to give you too much time to rest."
Scarlet banked to the left, steepening their descent down toward the courtyard where they had been before. It was a place the huge dragon could land in the dark with room to spare. The Palace's vast jumble of roofs and walls rushed up toward them with frightening speed. Richard's toes tingled with the feeling of floating off her back as she plummeted.
Suddenly, from the darkness below, a blinding flash of lightning crackled up all about them. It left yellow lines of afterimage in his vision. Before Richard could make sense of it, another came.
Scarlet roared in pain and pitched to the left. They dropped into a sickening spiral toward the ground. Richard gripped her spines as the huge dragon tried to recover.
On the vast steps rotating below, he saw the woman illuminated by the light of the next bolt of lightning she sent forth from her hands. Once again, Scarlet roared in pain. He couldn't see the woman in the darkness when the lightning cut off.
Scarlet struggled to check the uncontrolled descent. Richard knew that another bolt of the lightning would finish her. He tore the bow from his back and yanked an arrow from the quiver.