Hateful eyes peered up. "Mistress wants you."
"Well, you can just go home by yourself. We're not going to Agaden Reach."
He regarded Richard with one yellow eye. "Mistress not in the Reach." He turned, stretching up on his toes to look over the grass, and pointed a long, thick finger back toward the Mud People's village. "Mistress waits for you there. Where those people live together." He glared back at Richard. "She said if you don't come, she will kill them, and Samuel can cook them in a stew." His grin returned.
Richard gritted his teeth. "If she has hurt anyone..."
"She said she will not hurt them... if you come to her."
"What does she want?"
"You."
"What does she want with me?"
"Mistress not tell Samuel. Tells me only to get you."
Kahlan had relaxed half the tension on the bowstring. "Richard, Shota said she would kill you if she ever saw you again."
He kept his eyes on Samuel as he spoke. "No. She said she would kill me if I ever went back to Agaden Reach. She's not in the Reach."
"But..."
"If I don't go, she said she will kill people. Do you doubt her?"
"No... but she still might kill you."
He grunted and then smiled. "Kill me? I don't think so. She likes me. I saved her life. Indirectly at least."
Kahlan bristled. Shota had once tried to bewitch him, and she didn't like that one bit. Other than the Sisters of the Light, the witch woman was just about the last person Kahlan ever wanted to see again. "I don't like it."
Richard stole a quick glance at her. "If you have a better idea, put words to it."
Kahlan let out an angry breath. "I guess we have no choice. But you just keep her hands off you."
Richard gave her a startled look, then turned to the witch woman's companion. "You take the lead, Samuel, and don't forget who's carrying the sword. And remember what I told you the last time. I might still have some Samuel stew if you try doing anything to harm us."
Samuel eyed the blade a moment. Without another word he turned and started off, glancing over his shoulder to make sure they followed. Richard kept the sword out, slung his bow over his shoulder, and put himself between Kahlan and Samuel. The anger of the sword's magic blazed in his eyes. Samuel loped through the grass ahead of them, turning back occasionally to hiss at them.
Kahlan stayed close on Richard's heels. "She'd better not put snakes on me again. No snakes!" she said emphatically. "And I mean it."
"As if we have a choice," Richard muttered.
It was near dark by the time they reached the village. They came in from the east, and noticed immediately that the entire population of the village was clustered at the south end of the common field, shielded by armed hunters standing shoulder to shoulder. Kahlan knew the Mud People were deathly afraid of the witch woman. They wouldn't even speak her name aloud.
For that matter, everyone she ever knew was deathly afraid of the witch woman—including her. Shota would have killed her the last time if Richard hadn't used a wish Shota had granted him, to save her. She didn't think Shota would be granting Richard any more wishes.
Samuel led them through the narrow passageways, toward the spirit house, walking as if he had lived here all his life. He gurgled his odd laugh as he bounded along, giving them an occasional glance. He grinned with bloodless lips, as if he knew something they didn't. When his grin showed too many teeth and Richard prodded him with the sword, Samuel growled and hissed, his yellow eyes glowing in the fading light.
Samuel laid his long-fingered hand on the latch to the spirit house. "Pretty lady waits here. With me. Mistress wants only Seeker."
"Richard, I'm going in too," Kahlan said firmly.
He gave her a sidelong glance and then looked at Samuel. "Open the door."
One powerful arm drew the door back, as shining yellow eyes glowered at him. Richard held his sword out, indicating he wanted her to go in. The door squeaked closed behind them, with a sour-faced Samuel on the other side.
In the center of the room sat a tall, elegant throne. Torchlight danced and flared on the carved, gold-leaf vines, snakes, cats and other beasts that covered every inch of the stately structure. A canopy draped with heavy red, brocade and trimmed with gold tassels jutted out overhead. The throne itself sat atop three square, white, marble platforms that served as steps. The whole thing was massive and imposing. Tufted red velvet covered the seat, back, and tops of the arms. Kahlan couldn't imagine how it could have possibly fit through the door. Or how many men it must have taken to carry it.
Shota sat regally, her impassive almond eyes watching Richard. She reclined slightly, against the red velvet, one leg crossed over the other, her arms resting on the chair's high, wide spaced arms, with hands draped haughtily over gold gargoyles. The gargoyles licked her wrists while she clicked one long, lacquered fingernail against a thumbnail. Luxuriant auburn hair cascaded over her shoulders.
Shota redirected her ageless eyes to Kahlan. The long, rock solid gaze felt as if it paralyzed her, penetrated her. A red, white, and black banded snake slumped down, hanging from the canopy. It flicked its tongue at Kahlan, hissing, and then dropped into Shota's lap, coiling up like a contented cat.
It was a message to say that she had not been invited, and was now warned of what would happen if Shota became displeased. Kahlan swallowed, trying not to let it show. After what seemed an eternity, and after the witch woman seemed satisfied the message was understood, she turned her unblinking eyes back to Richard.
"Put your sword away, Richard." Shota's voice was like smooth velvet rubbed the right way. Kahlan didn't think it was fair that anyone that beautiful should also be graced with a voice that could melt butter, or a man's heart.
"From the impression you left when we parted, I fear you might try to kill me." His voice, also, was annoyingly smooth.
"If I decide to kill you, my dear boy, and I may, your sword will not help you." Richard suddenly yelped and dropped the sword as if it was a hot coal. He stared down at the sword as he comforted his hand. "Now, put it away." That time the quality of her voice was more of velvet rubbed the wrong way.
From under his eyebrows, Richard looked up at Shota on her throne, before bending to retrieve his sword and slide it back into its scabbard.
A self-satisfied smile spread across to Shota's full lips. She lifted the snake from her lap and set it aside. Shota watched Richard a moment longer and then stood, leaning forward enough in the process to offer her breasts the opportunity to fall out of her wispy, low cut, variegated gray dress. How they managed not to, Kahlan didn't know. A little stoppered bottle tumbled from its snug place between her breasts and swung on a fine silver chain.
Kahlan's face heated as Shota gracefully descended the three platforms, never taking her eyes from Richard. The loose points of the dress floated gently, as if in a light breeze. But there was no breeze inside the spirit house. That fabric, Kahlan decided, was definitely too thin for a dress. She wondered what she would look like in it, and blushed at the mental image.
Once standing on the ground, Shota turned and pulled the stopper from the little bottle. The entire throne wavered, like something seen through heat waves. Abruptly it turned to gray smoke and swirled in a circle, diminishing all the time
in size, and sucked itself into a fine line that went into the little bottle. Shota replaced the stopper, tucked the bottle back between her breasts, and with a finger, pushed it so far down it could no longer be seen. Kahlan took a deep, noisy breath.
Shota's gaze glided from Richard's eyes and took in his open shirt with what might have been amusement. Or satisfaction. Richard's face reddened.
Shota's smile widened. "How delightfully indecent." She ran one of her long, red nails all the way down his chest to his navel, and then she gently patted his stomach. "Button your shirt, Richard, or I may forget why I'm here."
His face turned a deeper red. Kahlan moved deliberately closer to his side as he began redoing the buttons.
"Shota," he said as he tucked the tails in his pants, "I have to thank you. You may not know it, but you really helped me before. Helped me to figure it out."
"It was my intention to help you."
"You don't understand. I mean you helped me figure out how to be with Kahlan. You helped me figure out how we could be together. How to love her." He smiled. "We're going to be married."
There was a moment of icy silence.
"That's right," Kahlan said, holding her chin up, "we love each other... and can be together now... Forever." She hated the way Shota made her feel explanations were necessary, and the way she fumbled with them.
Shota's intense gaze slid to her and her smile slowly evaporated, making Kahlan have to swallow again. "You ignorant children," Shota whispered as she slowly shook her head. "You foolish, ignorant children."
Richard's expression was becoming heated. "We may be ignorant, but we are not children, and we love each other. And we are going to be married. I was hoping you would be happy for us, Shota, since you played a small part in it."
"What I told you, dear boy, was that you needed to kill her."
"But that's all over," Kahlan protested. "The problem has been solved. It's all right for us now. Everything is all right."
Kahlan gasped as she felt her feet lift off the ground. Both she and Richard were flung across the room and up against the wall. The impact knocked the wind from her lungs. Little points of light floated and danced before her eyes. She looked down, trying to clear her vision.