She cleared her throat and swallowed. “What was it like? Loving someone more than life itself, and being able to be with them, and having them love you back?”
Zedd stood still and silent for a long time, staring at her in the darkness. She waited, wishing she could see his face. She decided he wasn’t going to answer.
Kahlan held her chin up. “Wizard Zorander, I am not making a request. This is an order. You will answer the question.”
She waited. His voice came softly. “It was like finding the other half of myself, and being complete, whole, for the first time in my life.”
“Thank you, Zedd.” She was glad he couldn’t see her tears as she struggled to hold her voice steady. “I was just wondering.”
37
Richard woke when he heard Kahlan come back and toss some wood in the fire. Light was just starting to creep across the tips of distant mountains, casting them in a soft pink glow, dark clouds behind making the snowcapped peaks stand out all the more. Zedd lay on his back, eyes wide open, snoring. Richard rubbed the sleep from his eyes and yawned.
“How about some tava-root porridge?” he whispered, wanting to let Zedd sleep.
“Sounds good,” she whispered back.
Richard pulled the roots from his pack and began peeling them with his knife while Kahlan retrieved a pot.
When he finished cutting them up, he tossed the roots in with the water she had added from a skin. “This is the last of them. We’ll have to start digging some more roots tonight, but I doubt we’ll find tava. Not in this rocky ground.”
“I picked some berries.”
Together they warmed their hands at the fire. More than a queen, he thought. He tried to imagine a queen in fine robes and a crown, picking berries.
“You see anything while you were on watch?”
She shook her head. Then she seemed to remember something and her face came up. “But one time, I did hear something strange. It was down here, near the camp. It was like a growl, then a yelp. I almost came and woke you, but it was gone as soon as it started, and I didn’t hear it again.”
“Really.” He glanced over each shoulder. “Down here. Wonder what that was about. I guess I was so tired it didn’t wake me.”
Richard mashed the pot of roots when they were done and added a little sugar. Kahlan dished up the porridge and added a big handful of berries on top of each.
“Why don’t you wake him,” she said.
Richard smiled. “Watch this.”
He tapped his spoon a few times against the side of the tin bowl. Zedd made a short snort, and sat bolt upright.
The old man blinked twice. “Breakfast?”
With their backs to him, they both giggled.
“You’re in a good mood this morning,” she said, looking over.
He smiled. “Zedd’s back with us.”
Richard walked over and handed Zedd a bowl of porridge, then sat with his own on the low ledge. Kahlan made herself comfortable on the ground, wrapping a blanket around her legs while she balanced her bowl with one hand. Zedd didn’t bother to unwrap himself from his blanket as he ate. Richard waited, biding his time, eating slowly while Zedd bolted his porridge.
“Good!” Zedd proclaimed as he rose to get himself another bowlful from the pot.
Richard waited until his old friend was spooning from the pot, then said, “Kahlan told me what happened. I mean, she told me about how you made her tell you about Shota.”
Kahlan froze with a look as if she had been struck by lightning.
Zedd flinched up straight and spun to her. “Why did you tell him! I thought you didn’t want him to know you…”
“Zedd… I never…”
Zedd’s face grimaced. He turned slowly to Richard, who hunched over his bowl, methodically spooning porridge into his mouth.
He didn’t bother to look up. “She didn’t tell me. But you just did.”
Richard put the last spoonful in his mouth, and after he swallowed he licked his spoon clean and dropped it in the tin bowl with a clank.
His face, calm and triumphant, came up to the wizard’s squinting eyes. “Wizard’s First Rule,” Richard announced with a wisp of a smile. “The first step to believing something is wanting to believe it is true… or being afraid it is.”
“I told you,” Kahlan fumed at Zedd. “I told you he would find out.”
Zedd paid her no attention; his eyes were locked on Richard.
“I thought about it last night,” Richard explained as he set down his bowl. “I decided you were right, that you should know what Shota said. After all, you’re a wizard, maybe there’s something in it you could help us with to stop Darken Rahl. I knew you wouldn’t rest until you knew what had happened. I decided I would tell you today, but then I figured you would get it out of Kahlan first, one way or another.”
Kahlan fell back on the blanket, laughing.
Zedd straightened his back and put his fists on his hips. “Bags! Richard, do you have any idea what you have just done?”
“Magic,” Richard smiled. “A trick, if done properly, is magic.” He shrugged. “Or so I’ve been told.”
Zedd nodded slowly. “Indeed.” He pointed a thin finger skyward, the sparkle returning to his intense hazel eyes. “You have tricked a wizard with his own rule. Not one of my wizards was ever able to do that.” He stepped closer, a grin spreading on his face. “Bags, Richard! You have it! You have the gift, my boy! You can be a wizard of the First Order, like me.”
Richard frowned. “I don’t want to be a wizard.”
Zedd ignored his words. “You have passed the first test.”
“You just said none of the other wizards was able to do it, so how could they be wizards if they couldn’t pass the test?”
Zedd gave him a one-sided smile. “They were wizards of the Third Order. One, Giller, is of the Second Order. None were able to pass the tests to be a wizard of the First Order. They didn’t have the gift. Only the calling.”
Richard made a smirk. “It was just a trick. Don’t make something out of it that it wasn’t.”
“A very special trick.” Zedd’s eyes narrowed again. “I’m impressed. I’m also very proud of you.”
“And how many of these tests are there, if this is the first?”
Zedd shrugged. “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe a few hundred or so. But you have the gift, Richard.” A shadow of worry passed across his eyes, as if he hadn’t expected it. “You must learn to control it, or…” His eyes lit up again. “I will teach you. You really could be a wizard of the First Order.”
Richard realized he was starting to listen too closely, and shook his head to clear it. “I told you, I don’t want to be a wizard.” He added under his breath, “I don’t want anything to do with magic ever again when this is over.” He realized that Kahlan was staring at him. He looked from one wide-eyed face to another. “It was just a stupid little trick. Nothing more.”
“Just a stupid little trick if done on someone else. No small trick, if done on a wizard.”
Richard rolled his eyes. “The both of you are…”
Zedd leaned forward eagerly, cutting him off. “Can you command the wind?”
Richard leaned back a little. “Of course I can,” he said, playing along. He held both hands up to the sky. “Come to me, brother wind! Gather about! Blow a gale for me!” He spread his arms dramatically.
Kahlan wrapped her cloak around herself expectantly. Zedd looked about. Nothing happened. The two of them seemed a little disappointed.
“What’s the matter with the two of you?” Richard scowled. “Did you eat some bad berries?”
Zedd turned to her. “He must learn that later.”
Kahlan considered what Zedd said, then looked up at Richard. “Richard… to be a wizard, it’s not an offer made to many.”
Zedd scrubbed his hands together. “Bags! I wish I had the books here with me now. I’d bet a dragon’s tooth they have something to say about this.” His face darkened. “But
then there is the matter of the pain… and…”
Richard squirmed uncomfortably. “And just what kind of wizard are you anyway? You don’t even have a beard.”