Zedd grinned. “Did they ask why you said no?”
“I didn’t say no. I only slapped them so hard it made their heads ring like a bell.”
Zedd laughed until she was caught up in it. Trimack came at last to a halt before them. “Commander General Trimack, may I introduce the Lady Bevinvier.” Trimack gave a smart bow. “As are you, as am I, this lady is one who is at the task of keeping harm from getting a glance at Lord Rahl. I would like her to have a heavy guard at all times while she is in the palace. Lord Rahl needs her help, and I don’t want her life risked again as it was today.”
“While she is in the palace she will be as safe as a babe in her mother’s arms. By my honor.” He turned and gave a coded tap to his shoulder. A good two dozen men of the First File came at a dead run, freezing to a halt at attention, not even breathing hard. “This is the Lady Bevinvier. Every one of your lives before hers.”
With a sharp snap, every fist came to an armored heart as one. Two of them took Jebra’s weight from Zedd. She kept one hand tightly closed around the Stone. The purse of gold bulged in a pocket of her long, green skirt. It was covered most of the way down with dried blood.
Zedd addressed the men holding her up. “She will need suitable quarters, and meals brought in. Please see to it she is not disturbed by anyone but me.” He looked at her tired blue eyes and gently touched her arm. “Rest well, child. I will visit you in the morning.”
She smiled weakly. “Thank you, Zedd.” As the soldiers helped her away, the wizard turned his attention to Trimack. “There is a woman staying in the palace, a Lady Ordith Condatith de Dackidvich. Lord Rahl is going to have enough trouble without her kind around. I want her out of here before the day is finished. If she refuses to leave, offer her the choice of a carriage or a noose.”
Trimack grinned wickedly. “I will see to it personally.”
“If there are any others you know of about the palace, who are of her temperament, feel free to make them the same offer. New rule brings change.” Zedd couldn’t see auras, but he was sure that if Jebra had been standing there, she would have seen Trimack’s brighten.
“Some are uncomfortable with change, Wizard Zorander.” The man had spoken more than his simple words.
“Are there any above you in command in the palace? Other than Lord Rahl?”
Trimack clasped his hands behind his back as his eyes swept the hall. “There is one named Demmin Nass, commander of the quads, who gave orders to all but Darken Rahl.”
Zedd let out a heavy breath at that memory. “He is dead.”
Trimack nodded with what might have been relief. “Below the palace, quartered in the chambers of the plateau, there are perhaps thirty thousand men of the army. Their generals outrank me in the field, but in the palace the word of the commander general of the First File is law. Some of them I know will welcome the change. Some will not.”
“Richard is going to have a difficult enough time being the magic against magic—underworld magic—without troubles from steel. You have a free hand, Commander, to do as you see fit to protect him. Err on the side of duty.”
Trimack grunted acknowledgment, then went on. “The People’s Palace, one roof though it may be, is a city. Thousands live here. Merchants and supplies, trains of wagons to lone peddlers, come and go in an endless stream in all directions except to the east, across the Azrith Plains. The roads in are the arteries that feed the heart of D’Hara—the People’s Palace.
“The inside of the plateau is chambered with twice the number of rooms of the palace above ground. As with any city of this size, the motives of the multitudes coming here are beyond our ability to judge with absolute certainty.
“I will have the great inner doors closed and seal off the palace above ground. It is something that has not been done in a few hundred years, and it will cause worry among the people of D’Hara, but I would risk the worried talk. The only way to the palace itself, if not through the inside entrances, is up the cliff road on the east side. I will keep the bridge up.
“That still leaves us with thousands in the palace proper. Any of them could have designs not to our liking. Worse, there are thousands of battle-tested soldiers in the belly of the palace, many led by men I would not want getting a glance at Lord Rahl. I have a feeling the new Lord Rahl is not the kind of Rahl they are used to dealing with, and they are not going to like the change.
“D’Hara is a vast empire, the supply routes long. Perhaps it is time some of these divisions were sent out to see to the safety of these routes, especially the ones to the far south, near the wilds, where I have heard rumor there is unrest and trouble. And perhaps from the ranks of the ones I trust, the size of the First File could be increased threefold.”
Zedd studied Trimack’s face as the man continued to scan the hall. “I am no soldier, but your ideas make sense. The palace must be made as secure as possible. How you do it is up to you.”
“I will give you a list then, in the morning, of the generals to be trusted and those to worry about.”
“Why would I need such a list?”
Trimack’s intense gaze was steady. “Because orders such as these must come from one with the gift.”
Zedd shook his head, muttering, “Wizards should not be ruling people. It’s not right.”
“It is the way in D’Hara. Magic and steel. I want to protect Lord Rahl. This is what I think needs to be done.”
Zedd stared off into the distance, feeling the ache of exhaustion in his bones. “Do you know, Trimack, that I have fought and killed wizards who wanted to take it upon themselves to rule?”
When an answer didn’t come, Zedd turned back to the officer. Trimack was studying him. “Given the choice, Wizard Zorander, I would choose to serve one who bears command as a burden, to one who wears the mantle as a right.”
Zedd sighed and nodded. “In the morning then. There is one other matter, the most important of all: I want the Garden of Life guarded. That is where the screeling first attacked. I don’t know if there will be more. There is a door up there that will have to be fixed. Put a ring of steel around the garden. Enough men that they have room only to swing an axe. No one, no one at all, is to be allowed to go in except myself or Richard, or by our order.
“Anyone attempting to go into that room is to be viewed as harm trying to get a look at Lord Rahl. Even one who tells you he is there only to pull weeds. And you can bet your mother’s honor that anything trying to get out is harm trying to have more than a look.”
Trimack clapped his fist to his armored chest. “To the last man, Wizard Zorander.”
“Good. Lord Rahl may need what’s in that room. I don’t dare to move those things for the time being. They are extremely dangerous. Take very seriously the guarding of that room, Commander. More screelings could come. Or worse.”
“How soon?”
“I would not have thought we would have seen the first for a year or more. At least months. That the Keeper could have loosed one of his assassins so soon is a great worry. I don’t know who it was sent for. It’s possible it was simply sent to kill whoever was around. The Keeper needs no reason to kill. I must leave the palace tomorrow to learn what I can before we are surprised again.”
Trimack pondered this with troubled eyes. “Do you know when Lord Rahl will return?”
Zedd shook his head. “No. I thought I was going to have time to teach him some of what he must know, but now I must send for him at once to meet me in Aydindril and see if we can discover what must be done. He is in great danger and knows nothing of it. Events have outpaced me. I have no idea what the Keeper is going to do next, but I now fear how deep his tendrils may be. That they were around Darken Rahl even before the veil was torn means I have already been an ignorant fool in this business.
“If Richard should happen to return unexpectedly, or if anything happens to me . . . help him. He sees himself as a woods guide, not the Lord Rahl. He will be distrustful. Tell him I said to trust you.”
“If he is distrustful, how shall I convince him to trust me?”
Zedd smiled. “Tell him I said it is the truth. The toasted toads’ truth.”
Trimack’s eyes widened with incredulity. “You wish the Commander General of the First File to say such a childish thing to the Lord Rahl?”
Zedd straightened his face and cleared his throat. “It’s a code, Commander. He will understand it.”
Trimack nodded, but looked skeptical. “I had better see to the Garden of Life, and the rest of it. No disrespect intended, but you look like you could use some rest.” He tilted his head toward where the army of maidservants were still cleaning blood off the marble floor. “All the healing you did looks to have tired you.”
“It did. Thank you, Commander Trimack. I will take your advice.”
Trimack’s fist snapped to his heart, the salute softened by the hint of a smile. He began to turn, but hesitated. His intense blue eyes looked back to the wizard.
“May I say, Wizard Zorander, that it’s a pleasure to at last have one with the gift in the palace who is more concerned with putting people’s guts back inside, than with spilling them out. I’ve never seen the like of it.”
Zedd didn’t smile. His voice was quiet. “I am sorry, Commander, that I could do nothing for that lad.”
Trimack gave a sorrowful nod. “I know that to be the truth, Wizard Zorander. The toasted toads’ truth.”
Zedd watched the commander stride across the hall, drawing armored men to him like a huge magnet. The wizard brought his hand up, staring at the gold chain looped over his sticklike fingers. He gave a pained sigh. Wizard business—using people. And now for the worst of it. He brought the black, tear-shaped stone from a pocket deep in his robes. The spirits be cursed, he thought, for the things a wizard must do.
He held the mounting where the blue Stone had been, and pressed the point of the smooth, black stone to it. Elemental power flowed from the fingers of each hand, joining in the middle, welding the stone to the mount.
Hoping he was wrong, Zedd brought forth a painful memory of his long-dead wife. With the way Jebra’s mind had shredded his barriers, it wasn’t difficult. When a tear ran over his cheek, he wet his thumb in it, and shut the memory away with the greatest of effort. He smiled a little at the irony that wizards had to use even themselves, and that the horrible memory at least brought with it one with a little pleasure to balance it.
Holding the black stone in the palm of one hand, he buffed its surface with the tear-dampened thumb. The stone turned a clear amber as he rubbed it with his thumb. His heart sank a little. There was no doubt now as to what it was.
Resigned to what must be done, Zedd wove a wizard’s web around the stone. The spell would work to hide the true nature of the stone from everyone, except Richard. More important, the web would draw Richard’s attention to the stone. If he ever saw it, the attraction would be planted firmly in his mind.
He glanced over at Chase, who was stretched out on his back on a marble bench across the hall. One foot was planted on the floor, and Rachel was sitting on the ground, an arm wrapped around his calf, her head against his knee. His other foot was on the bench. A bandaged forearm rested across his forehead.
Zedd sighed and started across the polished marble floor. He wondered for a moment what the boundary warden was supposed to guard, now that the boundary was gone. He stopped, standing over the two.
Without removing his forearm from his eyes, Chase spoke. “Zedd, my old friend, if you ever again have some ruthless, strong-armed witch of a healer pour a concoction that tastes that spirits-be-cursed foul down my gullet, I’ll twist your head around so you have to walk backward to see where you’re going.”
Zedd grinned. Now he knew he had picked the right woman for the job.
“Did the medicine taste really awful, Chase?” Rachel asked.
He lifted his arm a little, letting it hover over his eyes as he looked down at her. “If you call me Chase again, you may find out.”
“Yes, Father.” She grinned. “I’m sorry she made you drink that awful medicine.” Her face turned to a pout. “But it scares me something fierce to see blood on you.” He grunted.
She peered at him. “Maybe the next time, if you take your sword out when I tell you to, you wouldn’t get blood on you and have to drink awful medicine.”
Zedd marveled at the childlike innocence of the perfectly delivered, stinging rebuke. Chase held his head up a little off the bench, with his arm frozen in the air several inches above his eyes, as he glowered at the little girl. Zedd had never seen a man struggle so mightily to keep from laughing. Rachel’s nose wrinkled up and she giggled at the strained face he was making.
“May the good spirits be mercifully kind to your future husband,” Chase said, “and at least grant him a few years’ peace until you lay your eyes on the poor, doomed fool.”
She frowned. “What does that mean?”
Chase swung his leg down and sat up. He scooped her up and plopped her down on his knee. “I’ll tell you what it means. It means that there’s a new rule. And this one you better not break.”
“No, Father, I won’t. What is it?”
“From now on,” he said with a scowl, his face close to hers, “if you need to tell me something important, and I don’t listen to you, you are to kick me. Hard as you can. And you just go on kicking me until I listen. Got it?”
She smiled. “Yes, Father.”
“I’m not joking. I mean it.”
She nodded earnestly. “I promise, Chase.”
The big man rolled his eyes and swept her to his chest with one arm, holding her to him the way she held her doll to herself. Zedd swallowed back the lump in his throat. At that moment, he didn’t like himself very much, and he liked the alternatives a lot less.
The wizard fell to one knee before her. The dried blood made his robes stiff at his knees. “Rachel. I must ask you to do something for me.”
She nodded. “What is it, Zedd?”
He brought his arm up, the gold chain hanging from his fingers. The stone swung back and forth under his hand. “This belongs to someone else. Would you wear it for now? Keep it safe? Someday Richard may come and get it from you, to take it where it belongs, but I don’t know when that will be.”
Chase’s fierce, hawkish eyes looked like what Zedd imagined a mouse must see an instant before the end.
“It’s very pretty, Zedd. I never wore such a pretty thing.”
“It’s also very important. As important as the box that Wizard Giller gave you to look after.”
“But Darken Rahl is dead. You said so. He can’t hurt us anymore.”
“I know, child, but this is still important. You did such a good and brave job with the box that I think you would be the best one to wear this necklace until the one it belongs to comes for it. You must wear it always until then. Don’t let anyone else even try it on for play. This is not something to play with.”
Her expression turned serious at the mention of the box. “I’ll take good care of it, Zedd, if you say it’s important.”
“Zedd,” Chase hissed as he pulled Rachel’s head to himself, cupping his hand over her ear so she couldn’t hear, “what do you think you’re doing? Is that what I think it is?”
Zedd gave him a forbidding look. “I’m trying to keep all the children of the world from having very bad nightmares. For eternity.”
Chase gritted his teeth. “Zedd, I don’t want . . .”
Zedd cut him off. “Chase, how long have you known me?” Chase glared, but didn’t answer. “In all the time you’ve known me, have you ever known me to bring harm to another, especially a child? Have you ever known me to put another at risk for anything foolish?”
“No,” Chase said in a voice like grating stone. “And I don’t want to see you start now.”
Zedd kept his own voice firm. “You will have to trust that I know what I’m doing.” His eyes flicked to where the screeling had killed the people. “What has hap
pened today doesn’t even begin to touch what is about to happen. If the veil isn’t closed, the suffering and death will be beyond your comprehension. I’m doing what I must, as a wizard. As a wizard, I recognize this little one, just as Giller recognized her. She is a ripple in the pond. She is destined to do important things.
“When we were in the tomb of Panis Rahl, earlier, checking to see that they were walling it in properly, I studied some of the runes on the walls. They weren’t all melted yet. They were in High D’Haran, and I don’t understand much of it, but I understood enough. They were instructions on going to the underworld. You know that stone table in the Garden of Life? It’s a sacrificial altar. Darken Rahl used it to go to the underworld, to travel under the boundaries.”
“But he’s dead. What does . . .”
“He killed children, and offered their unsoiled souls as a gift to the Keeper of the underworld to gain himself passage. Do you understand what I’m saying? He made pacts with the Keeper.
“That means the Keeper has been using people in this world. Where he has used one, he has surely used more. And now the veil is torn. That a screeling was here proves it beyond question.
“Many of the oldest prophecies, I believe, are about what’s beginning to happen now, and about Richard. Whoever wrote them was intending to send him help across time. I believe they are meant to aid him in the fight against the Keeper. But much has happened in the last few thousand years to muddy those words. I fear that it is the Keeper’s patient work that has obfuscated the meaning of the prophecies.
“He has no more important skill than patience. He has an eternity of it. He has probably been sending careful tendrils into this world to influence people, wizards, like Darken Rahl, to do his bidding. The fact that we need the prophecies so much right now, and that there are no wizards left who understand them, can’t be coincidence. I have no idea where the Keeper’s eyes lurk, or what he intends next.”
Chase’s eyes still had fire in them, but it was different from the kind they held before. “Tell me how to help. What would you like me to do?”
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