Stone of Tears

Richard shifted his pack in annoyance. “You’re right. If it’s really them, they’re gone for now, but I know where they’re going. We’ll have to deal with them later. At least the Palace of the Prophets is safe. We have more important things to tend to right now. Let’s get the horses, and be on our way.”

Chapter 67

Kahlan ran down the dark stone corridors and through the tomblike chambers. The first rays of light splashed golden patches against the coarse, dark gray granite wall opposite the windows as she raced up an east stairway. Her heart pounded with the effort. She had not stopped running since Jebra had told her that she had spied a light in the Wizard’s Keep: that Zedd was back.

She remembered what it felt like to run with long hair: the weight of it, the way it streamed out behind, flowing with her strides. She felt none of that now. But it didn’t matter; she felt only desperate elation that Zedd was back. She had been waiting so long. She screamed his name as she ran.

Bursting into the cluttered reading room she stumbled to a panting halt. Zedd stood behind a table with books and papers scattered over it, just as she remembered it from the last time she had seen it, months ago. Candles on stands gave the small room an intimate glow. The reading room had but a single window, facing the still murky western sky.

A big man with bushy eyebrows, mostly gray hair, and a weathered, creased face looked up from a walking stick he was inspecting. Adie sat in a chair to the side, her head flitting toward sounds. Zedd cocked his head with a curious frown.

“Zedd!” She gulped air. “Oh, Zedd, I’m so relieved to see you.”

“Zedd?” He turned toward the big man. “Zedd?” The big man gave a nod. “But I like Ruben.”

“Zedd! I need your help!”

“Who be there?” Adie said from the chair.

“Adie, it’s me. Kahlan.”

“Kahlan?” She twitched her head toward Zedd. “Who be Kahlan?”

Zedd shrugged. “A pretty girl with short hair. She seems to know us.”

“What are you talking about! Zedd, I need help! Richard is in trouble! I need you!”

Zedd’s brow wrinkled in bewilderment. “Richard. I know that name. I think…”

Kahlan was frantic. “Zedd, what’s the matter! Don’t you know me? Please Zedd, I need you. Richard needs you.”

“Richard…” He rubbed his smooth chin as he stared in thought at the table. “Richard…”

“Your grandson! Dear spirits, don’t you know your own grandson!”

He stared at the table, thinking. “Grandson… I seem to remember… no, can’t say I do.”

“Zedd! Listen to me! The Sisters of the Light have him! They’ve taken him away!”

Kahlan stood silently catching her breath. Zedd’s hazel eyes rose slowly to meet her gaze. His face lost its curiosity as his eyebrows drew in to hood his glare. “The Sisters of the Light have Richard?”

Kahlan had seen wizards angry, but she had never seen a look in any wizard’s eyes like the look in Zedd’s eyes.

“Yes,” she said. She wiped her sweaty palms on her hips as she watched a crack run up the stone of the wall behind him. They came and took him.”

Zedd put his knuckles to the table and leaned toward her. That’s not possible. They couldn’t take him unless they got one of their cursed collars around his neck. Richard would not put a collar around his neck.”

Kahlan’s knees were beginning to tremble. “He did.”

His seething expression seemed it might ignite the very air. “Why would he put their collar around his neck, Confessor?”

“Because,” she said in a small voice, “I made him put it on.”

The candles on one of the stands close to him abruptly melted, dripping their wax to hissing puddles on the floor. The iron arms that had held the candles drooped down, like a plant needing water. The big man shrank back toward the wall of shelves.

Zedd’s voice came in a dangerous whisper. “You did what, Confessor?”

The room echoed with silence as she stood quivering. “He didn’t want to. I had to do it. I told him that he had to put it on to prove he loved me.”

Kahlan thought she felt herself hit the wall. She couldn’t understand why she was sprawled on the floor. She pushed herself up with shaking arms. She gasped as she was suddenly jerked to her feet and slammed against the wall again.

Zedd, his eyes wild, was right in front of her. “You did that to Richard!”

Kahlan’s head spun. Her own voice sounded distant. “You don’t understand. I had to. Zedd, I need your help. Richard told me to find you, and tell you what I had done. Please Zedd, help him.”

In a rage, Zedd backhanded her across the face. She skinned her hands on the stone floor as she went down. He yanked her to her feet and slammed her to the wall once more.

“I can’t help him! No one can! You fool!”

Tears ran down her face. “Why? Zedd, we have to help him!”

She brought up her arms in front of her face to ward him off when he drew his hand back again. It didn’t help. Her head smacked the wall again. The room spun. She shook all over. She had never seen a wizard in a rage so out of control. Kahlan knew he was going to kill her for what she had done to Richard.