"Maybe you could help him, with your talent, help him to avoid the danger. That is what I was hoping anyway," Zedd said in a quiet voice.
Jebra dabbed her cheeks dry with the back of her sleeve. "Not for all the Duke's gold and power would I want to be in Lord Rahl's wake. I am no coward, but I am no heroine in a song, and no fool neither. I did not wish my guts put back to have them ripped out again, and this time my soul with them."
Zedd quietly watched her snuffing herself back under control, putting the frightening visions away. With a deep breath and a sigh, her blue eyes finally looked to his.
"Richard is my grandson," he said simply.
Her eyes winced shut. "Oh, good spirits forgive me." Her hand covered her mouth for a long moment, then her eyes came open, her eyebrows wrinkled together in horror. "Zedd... I'm so sorry for telling you what I saw. Forgive me. Had I known, I never would have told you." Her hands trembled. "Forgive me. Oh please, forgive me."
"The truth is the truth. I am not one who would shut a door in your face for seeing it. Jebra, I am a wizard; I already know of the danger he is in. That is why I asked you to help. The veil to the underworld is torn. That thing that ripped you open escaped into the world of the living through the tear. If the veil tears enough, the Keeper will escape. Richard has done things that the prophecies say mark him as maybe the only one able to close the tear."
He lifted the purse of gold and slowly settled it in her lap, her eyes following it down. He took his empty hand back. Her gaze stayed on the purse as if it were a beast that might bite.
"Would it be very dangerous?" she asked at last in a weak voice.
Zedd smiled when her eyes came up. "No more dangerous than going for an afternoon stroll in a fortress palace."
With a reflex jerk, her hand clutched her abdomen where the wound had been. Her eyes lifted to look off down the wide, resplendent halls, as if seeking escape, or maybe fearing an attack. Without looking to him she spoke.
"My grandmother was a Seer, and my only guide. She told me once that the visions would bring me a lifetime of hurt, and there was nothing I would ever be able to do to stop them. She said that if ever I was presented with the opportunity to use the visions for good, to take the chance, and it would make up for some of the burden. That was the day she put her Stone in my hand."
Jebra lifted the purse and set it back in Zedd's lap. "I will not do it for all the gold in D'Hara. But I will do it for you."
Zedd smiled and patted her cheek. "Thank you, child." He put the gold back in her lap, the coins making a muffled clink. "You will be needing this. You will have expenses. What is left is yours. That is the way I wish it."
She nodded resignedly. "What am I to do?"
"Well, first we must both get a good night's sleep. You will need to rest for a few days to regain your strength. And then you have some traveling to do, Lady Bevinvier." He smiled at the way one of her eyebrows lifted. "We are both very tired right now. Tomorrow after I have rested, I must be off on important business. Before I leave, I will come to you and we will talk more of this. But starting right now, I would ask you not to wear the Stone where it can be seen. No good can come of declaring your talent to eyes in the shadows."
"So my new employer shall use me covertly too? Not the most honorable of things."
"The ones who would recognize you now are not vying for gold. They serve the Keeper. They want much more than gold. If they discover you, you will wish I had not saved you today."
She winced before finally nodding.
4
Zedd stood with the aid of a hand to his knee. He helped Jebra up. As he expected, she was unable to stand without leaning heavily on him. She apologized for the burden. He made her smile by telling her he would use any excuse to have his arm around the waist of a pretty maiden.
People were starting to go back to their business, engaged in hushed conversation as their eyes twitched about the suddenly not so safe Palace. Those hurt had been helped away, and the dead carried off. Maidservants in heavy skirts worked tearfully at the task of cleaning up the blood, sloshing mops in buckets of reddening water. Soldiers of the First File were spread out everywhere. Zedd motioned to Commander Trimack across the hall.
"Anyway, I shall be glad to be away from this place," Jebra said. "I have seen auras here that make me sweat in my sleep."
As the officer started toward them, Zedd asked, "Do you see anything of this man coming toward us?"
She studied him a moment as he strode toward them, checking the placement of his men. "A faint aura. Duty." She frowned as she stared. "It has always been a burden for him. He is daring to hope that maybe he will now find pride in it. Does that help you any?"
Zedd smiled a little. "Yes it does. Any visions?"
"No. Just the faint aura."
The wizard nodded in thought, then brightened. "By the way, why has a woman as lovely as you not found herself a husband?"
She gave him a sidelong glance. "Three have asked. As each was on bended knee before me, I saw a vision of them lying with another woman."
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 fist tightly closed around the Stone. The purse of gold bulged in a pocket of her long, green skirt. It was soaked 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 myself." He looked to her tired blue eyes and touched a hand to her arm. "Rest well, child. I will visit you in the morning."
She gave him a weak smile. "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, that 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 gave a nod of 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."