Wizard's First Rule

"It's just one little way the old rulers of Tamarang used to help confuse invaders from the Wilds. Sometimes it slowed them down a little, gave the defenders time to retreat and regroup if they needed to, then to fall on the attackers again."

He studied her face a moment, trying to judge if she was telling the truth. It infuriated him that he had to worry about whether Kahlan was telling him the truth.

"You're the guide," he said at last. "Lead on."

At his word, she turned without comment and walked on. Richard didn't know how much more of this he could take. She would only talk when it was required, wouldn't listen when he tried to make conversation, and backed away whenever he got close. She acted as if his touch would be poison, but he knew it was really her touch she worried about. He had hoped that the way she was talking when they had spotted the gars signaled a change, but he was wrong. She had quickly reverted to her dark mood.

She had reduced herself to a prisoner on a forced march; had reduced him to a reluctant jailer. He kept her knife in his belt. He knew what would happen if he gave it back to her. With every step, she was drifting farther and farther from him. He knew he was losing her, but didn't have the slightest idea what to do about it.

At night, when it was time for her watch, for him to sleep, he had to tie her hands and feet to prevent her from killing herself when he wasn't watching. When he bound her, she endured it limply. He endured it with great pain. Even then, he had to sleep with one eye open. He slept by her feet so if she saw or heard something, she could wake him. He was dead tired from the strain.

He wished they had never gone to. Shota. The idea that Zedd would turn on him was unthinkable; the idea that Kahlan would was unbearable.

Richard took out some food. He kept his voice cheerful, hoping to perk her up. "Here, have some of this dried fish?" He smiled. "It's really awful."

She didn't laugh at his joke. "No, thank you. I'm not hungry."

Richard struggled to keep the smile on his face, struggled to keep his voice from betraying his anger. His head was pounding. "Kahlan, you've hardly eaten for days. You have to eat."

"I said I don't want any."

"Come on, for me?" he coaxed.

"What are you going to do next? Hold me down and force it in my mouth?"

The calmness in her voice infuriated him, but he covered it as best he could with his tone, if not his words. "If I have to."

She spun at him, her chest heaving. "Richard, please! Just let me go? I don't want to be with you! Just let me go!" It was the first emotion she had shown since leaving Agaden Reach.

It was his turn to hide his emotions. "No."

She glared at him with fire in her green eyes. "You can't watch me every minute. Sooner or later…" "Every minute… if I have to."

They stood glaring angrily at each other; then the emotion on her face was gone, and she turned back to the road, walking on.

They had only stopped for a few minutes, but it had been enough for the thing that followed them to make another mistake, a rare one. It had let its guard down briefly, and let itself get too close-close enough for Richard to see its fierce yellow eyes again, if only for an instant.

He had been aware that they were being followed since the second day out of the Reach. Years spent alone in the woods made him aware when he was being followed, tracked. It was a game he and the other guides had played sometimes in the Hartland Woods, seeing how far they could follow each other without being detected. Whatever followed now was good at the game. But not as good as Richard. Three times now, he had seen the yellow eyes, when no one else would have.

He knew it wasn't Samuel; the yellow was different, darker, and the eyes were closer together-and it was smarter. It couldn't be a heart hound; they would have been attacked long before now. Whatever it was, it only watched.

Richard was sure Kahlan hadn't seen it; she was too far lost in her own dark thoughts. Sooner or later, the thing would make itself known, and Richard would be ready. But with Kahlan the way she was right now, he had his hands full, and he didn't need more trouble.

So he didn't turn and look, to show it that he suspected, didn't backtrack, and didn't snap a circle, as he and the other guides had called the maneuver, but rather, he let his eyes catch the glimpses when they did, without forcing a glance. He was reasonably sure the thing that followed didn't know he was aware of it. For now, that's the way he wanted to keep it. It left the advantage with him.