Wizard's First Rule

Zedd handed Siddin to Kahlan and, ignoring the body, began walking slowly around the circular room, a thoughtful frown on his face. He stopped and touched splinters of furniture that had been driven into the walls, as if the stone were made of butter.

Richard stood, transfixed, staring at Giller's body.

"Richard, come look at this," Zedd called to him.

The wizard reached out and ran a finger through a gritty black area on the wall. There were two black areas, in fact. They stood next to each other. Two blackened spots, in the shapes of men standing at attention, as if the men had gone and left their shadows behind. Just above each elbow, instead of the black, was a band of gold-colored metal melted into the stone of the wall.

Zedd turned, raising an eyebrow to him. "Wizard's fire."

Richard was incredulous. "You mean these were men?"

Zedd nodded. "Burned them right into the wall." He tasted the black smudge on the end of his finger. He smiled to himself. "But this was more than just wizard's fire." Richard frowned. Zedd pointed at the black on the wall. "Taste it."

Why?"

Zedd rapped Richard's head with his knuckles. "To learn something."

With a grimace, Richard ran his finger through the black grit, as Zedd had done. "It tastes sweet!"

Zedd smiled in satisfaction. "This is more than simple wizard's fire. Giller gave his life energy to it. He gave his life into the fire. This was a Wizard's Life Fire."

"He died, making this wizard's fire?"

"Yes. And it tastes sweet. That means he gave his life to save another. If he had done it only for himself, for instance to spare himself the torture, it would taste bitter. Giller has done this for another."

Zedd went and stood in front of Giller's body, swishing the flies away, twisting his own head around, trying to turn it upside down for a look. With a finger, he pushed a knotted cord of gut out of the way, so he could see Giller's face. He straightened.

"He has left a message."

"A message?" Kahlan asked. "What message?" "There is a smile on his face. A smile, frozen in death, meant to tell, anyone who knows of such things that he did not give up what was wanted." Richard stepped closer as Zedd pointed to the opening cut across the abdomen. "See here, the way this cut goes? This is done by one who practices the magic called anthropomancy, the divining of answers by the inspection of living entrails. Darken Rahl makes his cut very similar to the way his father did."

Richard remembered his own father, and how Rahl had done this very thing to him.

"You are sure it was Darken Rahl?" Kahlan asked.

Zedd shrugged. "Who else? Darken Rahl is the only one who would have been unharmed by a Wizard's Life Fire. Besides, this cut is his signature. Look here. See the end of the opening? See the way it starts to turn?"

Kahlan turned her face away. "What of it?"

"That's the hook. At least it should be. It should turn back in a hooked cut. While incantations are spoken, the hook is cut, binding the questioned to the questioner. The hook forces them to give up the answer to the question asked. But see here? The hook is begun, but it is not finished." Zedd gave a sad grin. "That is when Giller gave his life to the fire. He waited until Rahl was almost done, then, at the last instant, denied him what he sought. Probably the name of who has the box. Without life in them, his entrails could tell Rahl nothing."

"I never thought Giller capable of such a selfless act," Kahlan whispered.

"Zedd," Richard asked fearfully, "how could Giller have done it, taken the pain of having this done to him, and manage to leave a smile on his face?"

Zedd gave him a hard look that ran a chill up Richard's spine. "Wizards must know about pain. They must know it very well, indeed. It is to spare you that lesson that I would happily accept your choice not to be a wizard. It is a lesson few survive."

Richard wondered at the mysterious, secret things Zedd must know, but had never shared with him.

Tenderly, Zedd cupped a hand to the side of Giller's face. "You have done well, my student. Honor in the end."

"I bet Darken Rahl was livid," Richard said. "Zedd, I think we had better get out of here. This looks a little too much like bait on a hook to me."

Zedd nodded. "Wherever the box is, it is not here. At least Rahl does not have it-yet." He put his hands out. "Give me the boy. We need to leave as we came in. We don't want to tell them why we were really here."

Zedd whispered something in Siddin's ear, and the boy giggled, hugging the wizard's neck.

Queen Milena was still white, fumbling with the corner of her cape, as Kahlan strode purposefully but calmly up to her.

"Thank you for your hospitality," Kahlan said. "We will be leaving now."

The Queen bowed her head. "Always a pleasure to see the Mother Confessor." Her curiosity overcame her fear. "What of… Giller?"