Stone of Tears

Nathan looked haggard. “she’s resting more comfortably, but it’s too soon to tell. When she has rested, I will be able to do more.”

Thank you, Nathan. I know Ann could be in no better hands than yours.”

He added a grunt to his sour expression. “You’re asking me to heal my jailer.”

“Ann will appreciate it. Perhaps she will rethink your being held. If she doesn’t, I’ll come back and see what I can do.”

“Come back? Going somewhere, my boy?”

“Yes, Nathan, and I need your help.”

“If I help you, you might get it in your obstinate head to go off and destroy the world.”

And do the prophecies say you were sent to stop me?”

Nathan let out a tired sigh. “What is it you want?”

“How can I get through the barrier? My collar stops me.”

“What makes you think I would know?”

Richard took an angry stride toward the towering old wizard. “Nathan, don’t play games with me. I’m in no mood and this is too important. You’ve been through. You went with Ann to get the book from the Wizard’s Keep in Aydin-dril. Remember?”

He smoothed his sleeves down. “It’s a simple matter of shielding the Rada’Han. Ann helped me through; Sister Verna can do the same for you. I’ll tell her how.”

And what of the Valley of the Lost? Can I get back through that?”

Nathan, his eyes suddenly intent with a dark look, shook his head. “You have called too much power to yourself. The collar has helped it grow. You’ll also call the spells. Sister Verna can’t pass again; she has been through twice already. Additionally, she has too much power now. With passing twice, and taking the gift of the other two Sisters, she is locked here.”

Then how did you ever get through three times? You’re from D’Hara, that’s once. You went to the New World again with Ann, and came back. That makes three times. How did you do it, if it can’t be done?”

A sly smile came to his lips. “I did not go through the valley three times. Only once.” He held up a hand to silence Richard’s arguments. “Ann and I didn’t go through the valley. We went around the obstacle. We sailed around the ambit of the spells, far out to sea, landing finally in the southernmost reaches of Westland. It’s a long journey, and not easily done, but we made the crossing. Not many do.”

“By sea!” Richard glanced back to Sister Verna. “I don’t have that kind of time. Winter solstice is not even a week away. I have to go through the valley.”

“Richard,” Sister Verna said in a soft voice, “I can understand how you feel, but it will take almost that much time just to reach the Valley of the Lost. Even if you find a way through, there is no time to get where you want to go.”

Richard controlled his rage. “I am inexperienced at being a wizard. I cannot count on my gift. For that matter, I don’t care if I ever learn to use it.

“But I am also the Seeker. In that, Sister Verna, I am not so inexperienced. Nothing is going to stop me. Nothing. I’ve made a promise to Kahlan that if I must go to the underworld and battle the Keeper himself, in order to protect her, I will do it.”

Nathan’s expression darkened. “I have warned you, Richard. If that prophecy is not allowed to take place, the Keeper will have us all. You must not try to stop it. You have the power to hand the world of the living to the Keeper.”

“It’s just a meaningless riddle,” Richard growled in frustration, though he knew better.

Nathan’s scowl was the scowl of a Rahl, the scowl Richard had inherited. “Richard, death is intrinsic to life. The Creator brought it to be, too. If you make the wrong choice, all the living will pay the price of your pertinaciousness.

“And Richard, don’t forget what I told you about the Stone of Tears. If you misuse it to banish a soul to the depths of the underworld, you will destroy the balance between everything.”

“Stone of Tears?” Sister Verna said in a suspicious tone. “What would Richard have to do with the Stone of Tears?”

Richard turned back to Sister Verna. “We’re running out of time. I’m going to my room to get my things. We need to be on our way.”

“Richard,” Nathan said, “Ann has put her faith in you. She let you have the love of your family, so that perhaps you will better understand the true meaning of life. Please consider that when the time for choice is upon you.”

Richard looked up at Nathan for a long moment. Thank you for your help, Nathan, but I won’t let the one I love die for a riddle in an old book. I hope to see you again. There is much for us to talk about.”

Richard dumped the bowl full of gold coins into the bottom of his pack before stuffing the rest of his things in. He reasoned that if it helped him save Kahlan, then it was the least the palace could do, after all they had done to him.

The gold had been a kindness that lulled the rest of the young men at the palace into laziness. It harmed their humanity, as Nathan had said. Maybe that was why Jedidiah turned to promises from the Keeper.