Wizard's First Rule

"Let's just try to have as good a time as we can for now, and you will be back with them before you know it."

The boy nodded again. "My name is Carl."

Rahl smiled. "Honored to meet you, Carl." He reached out and carefully picked the ant off the boy's face.

"Thanks," Carl said with relief.

"That's what I'm here for, Carl, to be your friend and help you in any way I can."

"If you're my friend, then dig me up and let me go home?" His eyes glistened wetly.

"Soon enough, my son, soon enough. I wish I could right now, but the people expect me to protect them from evil people who would kill them, so I must do what I can to help. You are going to be a part of that help. You are going to be an important part of the ceremony that will save your mother and father from the evil ores who would kill mum. -"You do want to protect your mother from harm, don't you?"

The torches flickered and hissed as Carl thought.

"Well, yes. But I want to go home." His lip began quivering again.

Darken Rahl reached out and stroked the boy's hair reassuringly, combing it back with his fingers, then smoothing it down. "I know, but try to be brave. I won't let anyone harm, you, I promise. I will guard you and keep you safe." He gave Carl a warm smile. "Are you hungry? Would you like something to eat?"

Carl shook his head.

"All right, then. It is late, I will leave you to rest." He stood, straightening his robes, brushing off grass.

"Father Rahl?"

Rahl stopped, and looked back down. "Yes, Carl?"

A tear rolled down Carl's cheek. "I'm afraid to be here alone. Could you stay with me?"

The Master regarded the boy with a comforting expression. "Why, of course, my son." Father Rahl lowered himself back down to the grass. "For as long as you want, even all night if you want me."

CHAPTER 20

GREEN LIGHT GLOWED ALL about as they cautiously shuffled their feet through the rubble of the hillside, climbing over or under tree trunks, kicking limbs aside when necessary. The iridescent green sheet of the boundary walls pressed against' them from both sides as they groped their way ahead. Blackness lay thick all about except for the uncanny illumination that made them feel as if they were in a cave.

Richard and Kahlan had come to the same decision at the same time. No choice had been left to the two of them; they couldn't go back, and they couldn't stay at the split rock, not with the grippers and shadow things coming for them, and so they were forced ahead, into the Narrows.

Richard had put the night stone away; it was useless for following the trail, as there was no trail to follow, and it made it difficult to tell where the boundary light changed to- the green wall. He hadn't put it back into its leather pouch, in case it was needed again in a' hurry, but had simply dropped it into his pocket.

"Let the walls of the boundary show us the way," he had said, his quiet voice echoing back from the blackness. "Go slow. If one wall turns dark, don't take another step, go a little more to the other side. That way we can stay between them, and get through the pass."

Kahlan had not hesitated, the grippers and shadows being a sure death; she had taken Richard's hand as they had stepped back into the green glow. Shoulder to shoulder, they had entered the invisible passage. Richard's heart pounded; he tried not to think about what it was they were doing-walking blindly between the walls of the boundary.

He knew what the boundary looked like from when he had been close to it with Chase, and again when the dark thing had tried to pull Kahlan in. He knew that if they stepped into the. dark wall, there would be no return, but that if they could stay in the green glow before the wall, then they at least had a chance.

Kahlan stopped. She pushed him to the right. She was close to the wall. Then it appeared on his right. They centered themselves and continued forward, finding that if they went slowly, carefully, they could stay between the walls, walking a thin line of life, with death to each side. Years of being a guide were of no help to him. Richard finally stopped trying to find a trace of the trail, and let himself feel the force of the walls pressing from each side, let the pressure be his guide. It was slow going, with no sign of the trail in sight, no view of the hillside around them, only the tight world of the luminous green light, like a bubble of life floating helplessly through an endless sea of darkness and death.