Richard grinned at her. “Yes, that is indeed wonderful.” He noticed Rachel’s doll and the bundle with the bread nestled between her and Chase. He also noticed her eyes going to Siddin, as if she had seen him before.
Kahlan put a hand on Rachel’s leg. “Why did you run off? You scared us with worry for you.”
Rachel flinched at Kahlan’s touch. She hugged one arm to Chase and thrust a hand in her pocket. She didn’t answer Kahlan’s question, but looked instead toward Siddin. “Why do you have him?”
“Kahlan rescued him,” Richard said. “The Queen had him locked up in the dungeon. That’s no place for a child, so she took him out.”
Rachel looked down at Kahlan. “Wasn’t the Queen mad?”
“I don’t allow anyone to hurt children,” Kahlan said. “Not even a queen.”
“Well, don’t just stand there staring. I brought you all horses. Mount up. I figured I’d catch you today. I have a wild boar roasting back at the place you stayed last night, just this side of the Callisidrin.”
With one hand on the saddle and the other arm holding Siddin, Zedd leapt to a horse. “Wild boar! What kind of fool are you? Leaving a wild boar roasting unprotected! Anyone could just come along and take it!”
“Why do you think I want you to hurry? The place is filthy with wolf tracks, though I doubt they’d come near a fire.”
“Don’t you dare hurt that wolf,” Zedd warned. “He’s a friend of the Mother Confessor.”
Chase cast an eye to Kahlan, then to Richard, before turning his horse and leading them into the setting sun. Richard was heartened by having Chase back. It made him feel, once again, that anything was possible. After she had mounted, Kahlan took Siddin, the two of them talking and laughing as they rode.
At the camp, Zedd wasted no time before checking the roasting boar, and pronounced it fit to eat. He shifted his robes and sat down, waiting with a grin on his wrinkled face for someone with a knife to carve dinner. Siddin, with a grin frozen on his face, too, leaned against Kahlan after she sat down. Richard and Chase started carving up the boar. Rachel sat close to Chase’s side, watching him, keeping an eye to Kahlan, her doll in her lap, and the loaf of bread, wrapped in the cloth, at her hip.
Richard cut a big piece and handed it to Zedd. “So, what happened? With my brother, I mean.”
Chase grinned. “When I told him the things you told me to tell him, he said that if you were in trouble, he was going to help. He pulled together the army, and we sent most of them into defensive positions along the boundary, with the wardens commanding them. After the boundary came down he refused to wait behind. He led a thousand of his best men into the Midlands. They’re all bivouacked up in the Rang’Shada right now, waiting to help you.”
Richard had stopped carving, frozen in astonishment. “Really? My brother said that? He came to help? And with an army?”
Chase nodded. “He said if you’re in this, then he is too.”
Richard felt a pang of regret that he had doubted Michael, and elation that his brother would drop everything to come help. “He wasn’t angry?”
“I thought sure he would be, and give me grief over this, but he only wanted to know about you, what risk you were at, and where you were. He said he knew you, and if you thought it was this important, then he did too. He offered to come along, but I wouldn’t let him. He’s with his men, probably waiting in his tent right now, pacing back and forth. I have to tell you, it surprised me too.”
Richard’s eyes were wide in wonder. “My brother and a thousand of his men, in the Midlands, come to help me.” He looked at Kahlan. “Isn’t that wonderful?” She only smiled at him.
Chase gave him a stern look while he carved. “For a while, I thought you were finished, when I saw your trail going into Agaden Reach.”
Richard looked up. “You went into the Reach?”
“Do I look stupid? You don’t become head of the boundary wardens by being stupid. I started thinking of how I was going to tell Michael you were dead. Then I found your trail coming out of the Reach.” His brow wrinkled together. “How did you manage to come out of the Reach alive?”
Richard gave him a grin. “I think the good spirits…”
Rachel screamed.
Richard and Chase spun with their knives. Before Chase could use his knife, Richard stopped him.
It was Brophy. “Rachel? Is that you, Rachel?”
She took her doll’s foot from her mouth. Her eyes were wide. “You sound like Brophy.”
The wolf’s tail swished back and forth. “That’s because I am Brophy!” He trotted over to her.
“Brophy, how come you’re a wolf?”
He sat on his haunches in front of her. “Because a kind wizard changed me into a wolf. That was what I wanted to be, and he changed me.”
“Giller changed you into a wolf?”
The breath caught in Richard’s throat.
“That’s right. It’s a wonderful new life I have.”
She threw her arms around the wolf’s neck. Brophy licked her face as she giggled.
“Rachel,” Richard said, “you know Giller?”
Rachel hugged an arm around Brophy’s neck. “Giller’s a nice man. He gave me Sara.” She gave a fearful look to Kahlan. “You want to hurt him. You’re the Queen’s friend. You’re mean.” She pushed against Brophy for protection.
Brophy gave her face a long lick. “You’re wrong, Rachel. Kahlan is my friend. She is one of the nicest people in the world.”
Kahlan smiled and held her hands out to Rachel. “Come here.”
Rachel looked to Brophy, who gave her a nod that it was all right. She went with a pout on her face.
Kahlan took Rachel’s hands in hers. “You heard me say something mean about Giller, didn’t you?” Rachel nodded. “Rachel, the Queen is a bad person. I didn’t know how bad until today. Giller used to be my friend. When he went to live with the Queen, I thought it was because he was bad too, and was on her side. I was wrong. I would never hurt Giller, now that I know he is still my friend.”
Rachel turned her eyes up to Richard.
“She’s telling you the truth. We’re on the same side as Giller.”
Rachel turned to Brophy. He nodded, too, that it was the truth.
“You and Richard aren’t friends of the Queen?”
Kahlan laughed a little. “No. If I have my way, she will not be the queen much longer. And as for Richard, well, he drew his sword and threatened to kill the Princess. I don’t think that makes him friends with the Queen.”
Rachel’s eyes got big. “Princess Violet? You did that to Princess Violet?”
Richard nodded to her. “She said some bad things to Kahlan, and I told her that if she did it again, I’d cut off her tongue.”
Rachel’s mouth dropped open. “And she didn’t say to chop off your head?”
“We are not going to let them chop off any more heads,” Kahlan said.
Rachel’s eyes filled with tears as she looked to Kahlan. “I thought you were mean, and that you would hurt Giller. I’m so happy you’re not mean.” She put her arms around Kahlan’s neck, hugging her tight. Kahlan hugged her back just as tight.
Chase leaned toward Richard. “You pulled a sword on a Princess? Do you know that’s a capital offense?”
Richard gave him a cool look. “If I had had the time, I would have put her over my knee and spanked her too.” Rachel giggled at that. Richard smiled at her. “You know the Princess, don’t you?”
The laughter left her. “I’m her playmate. I lived in a nice place with other children, but after my brother died, the Queen came and picked me out, to be the Princess’s playmate.”
Richard turned to Brophy. “He was the one?” The wolf nodded solemnly. “So you lived with the Princess. She’s the one who cut your hair all crooked, isn’t she? She hits you.”
Rachel nodded with a pout. “She’s mean to people. She’s starting to say to chop off people’s heads. I was afraid she would chop off my h
ead too, so I ran away.”
Richard eyed the loaf of bread she kept at her hip. He squatted down next to her. “Giller helped you run away, didn’t he?”
She was near tears. “Giller gave me Sara. He wanted to run away with me. But then a mean man came. Father Rahl. He looked real mad at Giller. Giller told me to run, and to hide until winter, then to find a new family to live with.” A tear ran down her cheek. “Sara told me he couldn’t come with me anymore.”
Richard glanced again at the loaf of bread. It was about the right size. He put his hands on her shoulders. “Rachel. Zedd, and Kahlan, and Chase, and I, are fighting against Darken Rahl, so that he won’t be able to hurt people anymore.”
She turned her head back to Chase.
Chase nodded. “He’s telling you the truth, child. You tell him the truth too.”
He tightened his grip on her shoulders. “Rachel, did Giller give you that loaf of bread?” She nodded. “Rachel, we were going to Giller to get a box, a box to help us stop Darken Rahl from hurting people. Will you give it to us? Will you help us stop Rahl?”
Her watery eyes looked at him; then with a brave smile, she picked up the bread and handed it to him. “It’s in the loaf of bread. Giller hid it in there with magic.”
Richard threw his arms around her, nearly hugging the breath out of her. He stood, hugging her to him, and spun in circles until she giggled. “Rachel, you are the bravest, smartest, prettiest girl I have ever known!” When he set her down, she ran to Chase and crawled into his lap. He mussed her hair and put his big arms around her as she smiled and hugged him.
Richard picked up the loaf of bread in both hands. He held it out to Kahlan. She smiled and shook her head. He held it to Zedd.
“The Seeker found it,” Zedd smiled. “The Seeker should open it.”
Richard broke the bread open, and there inside was the jeweled box of Orden. He wiped his hands on his pants, pulled the box out, and held it up to the firelight. He knew from the Book of Counted Shadows that the glittering box they saw was only a covering for the real box underneath. He even knew from the book how to remove the cover.
He put the box in Kahlan’s lap. As she picked it up, she gave him the biggest smile he had ever seen. Before he even knew what he had done, he had leaned over and given Kahlan a quick kiss. Her eyes went wide, and she didn’t kiss him back, but the feel of her lips shocked him into realizing what he had done.
“Oh. Sorry,” he said.
She laughed. “Forgiven.”
Richard hugged Zedd as they both laughed. Chase laughed watching him. Richard could hardly believe that just a short time ago, he had almost given up, had no idea what to do next, where to go, or how to stop Rahl. And now they had the box.
He set it on a rock where they could all see it in the firelight while they had the best dinner Richard could ever remember. Richard and Kahlan told Chase some of what they had been through. To Richard’s delight, Chase was disturbed to learn that he owed his life to Bill, back at Southaven. Chase told them some of his own stories of bringing an army of a thousand men across the Rang’Shada. He enjoyed telling drawn-out tales of the foolishness of bureaucracy in the field.
Rachel cuddled in Chase’s lap while she ate and he talked. Richard thought it was interesting that she chose the most fearsome among them for comfort. When at last he finished his story, she looked up and asked, “Chase, where should I go, to hide until winter?”
He regarded her with a glower. “You’re too ugly to be left to wander about. A gar would eat you sure.” That made her laugh. “I have other children, they’re all ugly too. You’ll fit right in. I guess I’ll take you to live at my house.”
“Really, Chase?” Richard asked.
“I’ve come home enough times and had my wife present me with a new child. I think it’s about time I turned affairs about on her.” He looked down at Rachel, who clung to him as if he might float away. “But I have rules, you know. You have to follow my rules.”
“I’ll do anything you say, Chase.”
“Well, there you go, that’s the first rule. I don’t allow any of my children to call me Chase. If you want to be a member of my family, you have to call me Father. And about your hair, it’s too short. My children all have long hair and I like it that way. You’ll have to let your hair grow out some. And you’ll have a mother. You’ll have to mind her. And you’ll have to play with your new brothers and sisters. Do you think you can do all that?”
She nodded against him, unable to talk as she hugged him, tears glistening in her eyes.
They all excitedly ate their fill. Even Zedd seemed to have had enough. Richard felt exhausted, and at the same time full of energy, to finally have the box in their hands. They had done the hard part, they had found the box before Rahl. Now they had only to keep it from him until winter.
“We have been weeks in this quest,” Kahlan said. “The first day of winter is a month away. Earlier today, that seemed scarcely enough time to get the box. Now that we have it, it seems forever. What shall we do until it is finished?”
Chase spoke up first. “We have all of us to protect the box, and we have a thousand men to protect us. When we get back across the border, we will have many times that.”
She looked at Zedd. “Do you think that’s wise? We would be easy to find, a thousand men, I mean. Would it not be better to hide somewhere, by ourselves?”
Zedd leaned back and rubbed his full stomach. “We could hide better by ourselves, but we would also be more vulnerable, if discovered. Perhaps Chase is correct. There would be a lot of protection among a force that large, and if we had to, we could still leave them and go to cover.”
“We better get an early start,” Richard said.
It was barely light when they were off, the horses to the road, Brophy to woods, shadowing them, or at times scouting ahead. Chase, bristling with weapons, led them at a trot, Rachel holding him tight. Kahlan, back in her forest garb, and with Siddin sitting at her lap, rode next to Zedd. Richard had insisted that Zedd carry the box; it was wrapped in the cloth that held the bread before, and tied to the horn of his saddle. Richard followed behind, watching everything as they rode quickly into the cold morning air. Now that they had the box, he felt suddenly vulnerable, as if somehow everyone would know, just by looking at them.
Richard could hear the waters of the Callisidrin before they rounded the curve to the bridge. He was glad to see the road deserted. Chase spurred his horse to a gallop as he approached the big wooden bridge, the rest of them giving a heel to their horses to keep pace. Richard knew what Chase was doing. The boundary warden had always told him that bridges were the bane of the unwary. Richard watched in every direction as the other three galloped across in front of him. He saw nothing.
In the exact center of the bridge, at a full gallop, he ran solidly into something that wasn’t there.
Stunned, Richard sat up, dumbfounded at finding himself on the ground, and seeing his big roan running with the other horses, then stopping with them as they halted and turned. The others looked back in confusion as Richard, still dazed and bewildered, rose painfully to his feet. He brushed himself off and started limping to retrieve his horse. Before he reached the center of the bridge, he smacked into it again. It felt like walking into a stone wall, but there was nothing there. He found himself sitting on the ground again. The others were around him this time as he got to his feet.
Zedd was off his horse, holding its reins in one hand, and helping Richard with the other. “What’s the matter?”
“I don’t know,” Richard managed. “It felt like I ran into a wall, right in the center of the bridge. I must have just fallen off, that’s all. I think I’m all right now.”
Zedd looked around, led him forward with a hand on his elbow. Before going far, he hit it again, but this time he had been moving slowly and wasn’t knocked from his feet, only back a few steps. He took one slow step forward, and came in contact with it again. Zedd gave a serious frown. Richard put
his hands out, feeling the solid form of the smooth wall that wouldn’t let him pass but would let the rest of them through. The touch of it made him feel dizzy and sick. Zedd walked back and forth through the invisible barrier.
The wizard stood where the unseen wall stood. “Walk back to the end of the bridge, then walk to me.”
Richard felt the lump on his forehead as he walked back to the end of the bridge. Kahlan jumped off her horse, next to Zedd. Brophy came up beside her, to see what the trouble was. This time, as he walked, Richard held his hands out in front of himself.
Before he was halfway back, he made solid contact, and could go no farther, having to back away from the sickening feeling at its touch.
Zedd rubbed his chin. “Bags!”
The rest of them came to Richard, since he couldn’t come to them. Zedd led him forward again. When he made contact, he backed away a little.
Zedd took Richard’s left hand. “Touch it, with your other hand.”
Richard did as he was told until the sick feeling made him withdraw his hand. Zedd seemed to feel it, through Richard. By now, they were at the foot of the bridge. Every touch of the thing had made it move back the way they had come.
“Bags! And double bags!”
“What is it?” Richard demanded.
Zedd took a glance to Kahlan and Chase before he spoke. “It’s a keeper spell.”
“What’s a keeper spell?”
“It’s a spell drawn by that filthy artist, James. He’s drawn it around you, and then when you touched it the first time, it activated the spell. Once you touch it, it pulls tighter, like a trap. If we don’t get it off you, it will shrink until you are all that’s in it, and then you won’t be able to move.”
“Then what?”
Zedd straightened. “The touch of it is poison. When it finishes closing around you, like a cocoon, it will crush you, or the poison of it will kill you.”
Kahlan grabbed the sleeve of Zedd’s robes, panic in her eyes. “We have to go back! We have to get it off him!”
Zedd pulled his arm free. “Well, of course we do. We’ll find the drawing and erase it.”