Chainfire: Chainfire Trilogy Part 1

"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 way 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."

Her nose wrinkled up. "What?"

"The sliph."

Everyone looked back down the walkway as if the sliph might be standing there waiting for them to come and travel with her.