Wizard's First Rule

Zedd cut her off. "Kahlan! I warned you about this. I told you; he picks himself. If I choose someone other than the true one, we all die. If you have a better way… put words to it!"

He swept her aside, came to the side of the table opposite Richard, and slammed the sword down in front of him. Richard jumped. He looked from the sword up into Zedd's fierce eyes as the other leaned over the table.

"This belongs to you," the wizard said. Kahlan turned her back to them.

Richard's gaze fell upon the sword. The silver scabbard gleamed with gold flourishes that embellished it in sweeps and waves. Steel crossguards swept out and down aggressively. Finely twisted silver wire covered the grip, and interwoven along the side of the braided silver, gold wire formed the word Truth. This, Richard thought, was the sword of a king. It was the finest weapon he had ever seen.

Slowly, he rose to his feet. Zedd picked up the scabbard by the point and held the hilt of the sword to Richard. "Draw it."

As if in a trance, Richard closed his fingers around the hilt and pulled the sword free, the blade making a ringing, metallic sound that hung in the air. Richard had never heard a sword make a sound quite like it. His hand closed tightly around the grip, and in his palm and on his fingers opposite he could feel the bumps of the gold wire that spelled out the word Truth on each side of the hilt pressing almost painfully into his flesh. Inexplicably, it felt precisely correct. The weight fit him exactly. He felt as if a part of him was now complete.

From deep within, he felt his anger stir, brought to life, searching direction. He was suddenly aware of the tooth against his chest.

As his rage rose, he felt an awakening power rushing into him from the sword: the twin to his own anger. His own feelings had always seemed independent, whole. This was like having an image in a mirror come to life. It was a terrifying specter. His anger fed on the force from the sword, and in return, the wrath from the sword fed on his anger. Together the twin storms spiraled through him. He felt like a helpless bystander, being dragged along. It was a frightening and at the same time seductive sensation that bordered on violation. Fearful perceptions of his own anger twisted with tantalizing promise. The bewitching emotions rushed headlong through him, seizing his anger, soaring with it. Richard struggled to control the rage. He was on the brink of panic. On the brink of abandon.

Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander threw his head back and spread his arms. To the sky, he called out, "Fair warning to those living and those dead! The Seeker is named!"

Thunder from the blue sky shook the ground and rolled off toward the boundary.

Kahlan fell to her knees in front of Richard, head bowed, hands held behind her back. "I pledge my life in the defense of the Seeker."

Zedd knelt beside her, his head bowed. "I pledge my life in the defense of the Seeker."

Richard stood gripping the Sword of Truth in his hand, eyes wide in breathless bewilderment.

"Zedd," he whispered, "what in the name of everything good is a Seeker?"

CHAPTER 9

WITH THE AID OF a hand to his knee, Zedd rose to his feet, rearranged his robes around his bony body, and held his hand out to Kahlan, who was staring at the ground. Noticing the hand, she took it, coming to her feet as well. Her face bore a distressed expression. Zedd considered her for a moment, and she nodded that she was all right.

Zedd turned to Richard. "What is a Seeker? A wise first question in your new capacity, but not one swiftly answered."

Richard gazed down at the gleaming sword in his hand, not at all sure he wanted anything to do with it. He slid it back into its scabbard, glad to be free of the feelings it invoked, and held it in both hands before him. "Zedd, I've never seen this before. Where have you kept it?"

Zedd smiled proudly. "In the cabinet, in the house."

Richard eyed him skeptically. "There's nothing in the cabinet but dishes and pans and your powders."

"Not that cabinet," he said, lowering his voice as if to thwart anyone who might be listening, "in my wizard's cabinet!" Richard straightened with a frown. "I've never seen any other cabinet."

"Bags, Richard! You're not supposed to see it! It's a wizard's cabinet; it's invisible!"

Richard felt more than a little stupid. "And how long have you had this?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe a dozen years or so." Zedd swept his slender hand in the air as if trying to brush the question away.

"And how did you come to have it?"