Wizard's First Rule

"You must run away. Giller says not to go to your old wayward pine, they will find you there." Rachel's eyes got big when she heard this. "Go to a different wayward pine, then the next day, another, just keep running away and hiding until the winter comes. Then find some nice people who will take good care of you."

"All right, if Giller says so, that's what I'll do."

"Rachel, Giller wants you to know he loves you."

"I love Giller too," Rachel said, "more than anything."

The doll smiled.

All at once, the woods lit up with blue and yellow light. She looked up. Then came a sudden loud bang that made her jump. Her mouth dropped open; her eyes were wide as they would go.

A giant ball of fire came up from the-castle, from behind the walls.

The ball of fire lifted into the air. Sparks dropped from it, and black smoke rolled away. The fire turned to black smoke as it went higher, until it was all dark again.

"Did you see that?" she asked Sara.

Sara didn't, say anything.

"I hope Giller is all right."

She looked down at the doll, but she didn't say anything, or even smile back.

Rachel hugged Sara to her and, picked up the bundle.

"We better get going, like Giller said."

When she went past the lake, she threw the key to her sleeping box as far as she could, out into the water, and smiled when she heard it splash.

Sara didn't say anything as they rushed away from the castle, down the path. Rachel remembered what Giller said, that she shouldn't go to the same wayward pine. She turned and went down a deer trail, through the bramble, in a new direction.

West

CHAPTER 34

THERE WAS A SOUND. Small, soft, spitting.

In the fog of half sleep, half wake, it made no sense, no matter how hard he tried to understand it. Slowly at first, then with accelerating urgency, he came awake, aware of the aroma of cooking meat. Immediately, he regretted the experience of being conscious, the- memories of what had happened, his longing for Kahlan. His knees were pulled up to his chest with his head resting against them. The bark of the tree at his back dug painfully into his flesh, and his muscles were cramped to near paralysis from sleeping in the same position all night. With his head against his knees he couldn't see anything, except that it was only just.beginning to lighten with dawn.

There was someone, or something, near him.

Continuing to feign sleep, he took assessment of where hi, hands were in relation to — his weapons. The sword was a goodly reach, and then a long pull to draw it. The knife wasn't. His fingertips were touching the hickory handle. Flexing his finger; slowly, carefully, he worked the handle into his palm, tightening his grip around it. Whatever it was, was near to his left side. A spring and a thrust with the knife, he thought.

He took a careful peek. With a shock, he saw that it was Kahlan. She was sitting, leaning against the log, watching him. A rabbit was cooking on the fire. He sat up straight.

"What are you doing here?" he asked cautiously.

"Is it all right if we talk?"

Richard slid the knife back into its sheath, stretched his legs, rubbing the cramps from them. "I thought we did all our talking last night." He immediately winced at his own words. She gave him an unreadable look. "I'm sorry," he said, softening his tone. "Of course we can talk. What do you want to talk about?"

She shrugged in the dim light. "I've been doing a lot of thinking." She had a length of birch branch that he had cut the night before for the fire, and was stripping off pieces of white bark. "Last night, after I left, well, I knew you had a headache…"

"How did you know that?"

She shrugged again. "I can always tell, by the look in your eyes, when you have a headache." Her voice was soft, gentle. "I knew you hadn't been getting much sleep lately, and that it was my fault, so I decided that before I… before I left, I would stand watch for you while you slept. So I went over there," she pointed with the branch, "in those trees, where I could keep my eye on you." She looked down at the branch as she peeled off strips of bark. "I wanted to make sure you got some sleep."

"You were there the whole night?" Richard was afraid to hope at what this meant.

She nodded, but didn't look up. "While I was watching, I decided to make a snare, like you taught me, to see if I could catch you some breakfast. While I was sitting there, I did a lot of thinking. Mostly, I cried for a long time. I couldn't stand it that you thought those things about me. It hurt that you thought of me like that. It made me angry too." 10,

Richard decided it was best not to say anything while she struggled to find the words. He didn't know what to say, and was afraid if he said anything it might make her leave again. Kahlan pulled off a curl of birch bark and tossed it in the fire; where it sizzled and flared to flame.