Wizard's First Rule

She gave him a grave expression. "Richard, there are more important things at stake than friendship. Zedd knows this, and so do you; after all, you chose these things over his life when you had to."

Richard looked up at Zedd. How he wanted to talk to him. He needed him so badly right now. Could that be true, could he have chosen the box over Zedd's life that easily, without a second thought? "Shota, you promised to let him go."

Shota's eyes studied his face a moment. "I'm sorry, Richard." She waved her hand through the air in the direction of Zedd. Zedd wavered, and then disappeared. "That was only a little deception. A demonstration. It wasn't really the old wizard."

Richard thought he should feel angry, but he didn't. He felt just a little hurt at the deception, yet sad that Zedd wasn't here, with him. Then a wave of icy dread washed through him, raising bumps on his arms again.

"Is that really Kahlan? Or have you already killed her, and presented me with her image, another trick? Another demonstration?"

Shota's breast rose and fell as she took a deep breath. "I'm afraid," she sighed, "that she is real enough. And therein lies the problem."

Shota put her arm through his, taking him to stand in front of Kahlan. Samuel followed and stood by them. His arms were so long that as he stood erect, his yellow eyes moving warily back and forth between them, he casually drew lines and circles in the dirt of the road with his fingers.

Shota regarded Kahlan for a moment, seemingly lost in thought, as if pondering a dilemma. Richard just wanted the snakes off her. Despite the witch woman's words of help and friendship, Kahlan was still terrified, and it wasn't the snakes. It was Shota that her eyes followed, the way the eyes of an animal in a trap follow the trapper, not the trap.

"Richard," Shota asked, while she held Kahlan's stare, "would you be able to kill her if you had to? If she was a threat to your success, would you have the courage to kill her? If it meant the lives of everyone else? The truth, now."

Despite the disarming tone of Shota's voice, her words went through him like an ice dagger. Richard met Kahlan's widening eyes, then looked to the woman beside him. "She is my guide. I need her," he said simply, offhandedly.

Big almond eyes stared back at him. "That, Seeker, is not the question I asked."

Richard didn't say anything; he tried to betray nothing with his face.

Shota gave a smile of regret. "As I thought. And that is why you made a mistake with your wish."

"I made no mistake," Richard protested. "If I hadn't used it as I did, you would have killed her!"

"Yes," Shota nodded grimly, "I would have. The image of Zedd was a test. You passed the test, and as a reward, I gave you a wish, not that you might have something you want, but that I might do an onerous deed for you, because you lack the required courage. That was your second test. That test, dear boy, you failed. I must honor your wish. That is your mistake; you should have let me kill her for you."

"You're mad! First you try to tell me how you're not evil, how I should judge you by your actions, and now you prove your true self by telling me how I made a mistake by not allowing you to kill Kahlan! And for what! Some perceived threat? She has done nothing to threaten you, nor would she. She wishes only to stop Darken Rahl, same as me. Same as you!"

Shota listened patiently until he finished. The timeless look passed across her eyes again. "Were you not listening when I said not all acts are as they seem? That some are meant to save you? Once again you judge too quickly, without knowing all the facts."

"Kahlan is my friend. That is the only fact that matters."

Shota took a breath, as if she were trying to remain patient, as if she were trying to teach something to a child. Her expression made him feel somehow stupid.

"Richard. Listen to me. Darken Rahl has put the boxes of Orden in play. If he succeeds, there will be no one with the power to restrain him. Ever. A great many people will die. You. Me. It's in my own interest to help you because you are the only one who has a chance to stop him. How, or why, I don't know, but I can see the flow of power. You are the only one with a chance.

"That does not mean you will succeed, only that you have the chance. No matter how small, it is within you. Know also that there are forces to defeat you before you could bring your chance to bear. The old wizard does not have the power to stop Rahl. That's why he gave you the sword. I do not have the power to stop Rahl. But I do have the power to be of aid to you. That's all I wish to do. In so doing I help myself. I do not want to die. If Rahl wins, I will."

"I know all this. That's why I said you would answer my question without my having to use the wish."

"But there are other things I know, Richard, that you do not."