Wizard's First Rule

"So you hugged Tinker when she came back because you loved her and you were worried about her."

"Yes."

Rahl leaned back a little, his blue eyes intense. "I see. And if you had beaten Tinker with your belt when she came back to you, what do you think she would have done?"

"I bet she might not have come back the next time. She wouldn't want to come back so I could beat her. She'd have gone somewhere else where people loved her."

"I see," Rahl said meaningfully.

Tears streamed down Carl's cheeks. He looked away from Rahl's eyes as he cried. At last, Rahl reached out, stroking back the boy's hair.

"I'm sorry, Carl. I did not mean to upset you. But I want you to know that when this is all over, and you go home again, that if you ever need a home, you will always be welcome here. You are a fine boy, a fine young man, and I would be proud to have you stay here, with me. Both you and Tinker. And I want you to know I trust you to think for yourself, and you may come and go as you please."

Carl looked up with wet eyes. "Thank you, Father Rahl."

Rahl smiled warmly. "Now, how about some food?"

Carl nodded his approval.

"What would you like? We have anything you could want."

Carl thought a minute, and a smile came to him. "I like blueberry pie. It's my favorite." He cast his eyes down, the smile fading. "But I'm not allowed to have it for breakfast." A big grin came to Darken Rahl's face. He stood. "Blueberry pie it is, then. I'll go get it and be right back."

The Master walked off through the garden to a small vine covered door at the side. The door opened for him as he approached, the big arm of Demmin Nass holding it back as Rahl passed through into the dark room. Foul-smelling gruel boiled in an iron kettle hung over a fire in a small forge. The two guards stood silently against the far wall, a sheen of sweat covering them.

"Master Rahl." Demmin bowed his head. "I trust the boy meets with your approval."

Rahl licked his finger tips. "He will do nicely." He smoothed his eyebrows down. "Dish me out a bowl of that slop so it can cool."

Demmin picked up a pewter bowl and started ladling gruel into it with the wooden spoon from the kettle.

"If everything is all right"-a wicked grin came over his pockmarked face-"then I will be off to pay our respects to Queen Milena."

"Fine. On the Way, stop and tell the dragon I want her."

Demmin stopped ladling. "She doesn't like me."

"She doesn't like anyone," Rahl said flatly. "But don't worry, Demmin, she will not eat you. She knows what I will do if she stretches my patience."

Demmin started ladling again. "She will ask how soon you will need her."

Rahl glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. "That is none of her concern, and tell her I said so. She is to come when I ask, and wait until I am ready." He turned and looked out a small slit, off through the foliage, at the side of the boy's head. "But I want you back here in two weeks."

"Two weeks, all right." Demmin set the bowl of gruel down. "But does it really need to take that long with the boy?"

"It does if I want to return from the underworld." Rahl continued to look out the slit. "It may take longer. Whatever it takes, it takes. I must have his complete trust, the freely given pledge of his unconditional loyalty."

Demmin hooked a thumb in his belt. "We have another problem." Rahl glanced back over his shoulder. "Is that all you do, Demmin? Go around looking for problems?"

"It keeps my head attached to my shoulders."

Rahl smiled. "So it does, my friend, so it does." He sighed. "Get it off your tongue, then."

Demmin shifted his weight to his other foot. "Last night I received reports that the tracer cloud has vanished."

"Vanished?"

"Well, not so much vanished, as hidden." He scratched the side of his face. "They said clouds moved in and hid it."

Rahl laughed. Demmin frowned in confusion.

"Our friend, the old wizard. It sounds like he saw the cloud and has been up to his little tricks to vex me. It was to be expected. This one is not a problem, my friend. It is not important."

"Master Rahl, that was how you were to find the book. Other than the last box, what could be more important?"

"I did not say the book was unimportant. I said the cloud was unimportant. The book is very important, that is why I would not trust it only to a tracer cloud. Demmin, how do you suppose I hooked the cloud to the Cypher boy?"

"My talents lie in areas other than magic, Master Rahl."