Wasteland: The Children of D'Hara, episode 3

1

You have to get to the Keep, Kahlan told Richard, fighting to get the words out past the lump in her throat. Hurry. I’ll be all right. Take the sliph and go.

Richard hadn’t said a word. He seemed frozen in place, standing there on the top of the stone wall around the sliph.

I’m sorry you can’t travel in me, too, Mother Confessor, the sliph said in her silken voice while showing a smooth, silvery smile, but you and your babies would die in me.

Kahlan thought the sliph sounded a bit too satisfied that Kahlan couldn’t travel with Richard.

The Golden Goddess wanted to end Richard and Kahlan’s line of magic. She would do anything to kill them both, but she would be especially ferocious about killing their children should they have any. Those children were more than Kahlan’s longtime wish; they were a promise of a future with magic to protect their world.

Kahlan struggled to hold back tears of crushing disappointment that she couldn’t travel in the sliph and get to the Wizard’s Keep. The Keep was a place of safety. Besides the Sisters of the Light and other gifted people there, the Keep itself had powerful shields. The massive Wizard’s Keep was designed to protect the First Wizard, and by extension his loved ones and children. They felt sure they would be safe there from the Golden Goddess and the Glee. Richard and Kahlan’s children would be safe there to live and grow, to run through the halls, laughing, as Kahlan had done as a little girl, while Richard found a way to put an end to the threat from the goddess and her kind.

But because she was pregnant, Kahlan couldn’t travel in the sliph. The Keep suddenly seemed very, very far away.

I will take Lord Rahl, the sliph cooed. She circled a quicksilver arm around Richard’s waist as he stood as if paralyzed on the stone wall of her well, staring down at Kahlan. As you say, Mother Confessor, you can remain behind while I take him to the Keep.

Unable to stand the tension under Richard’s penetrating gaze, Kahlan yelled, Go!

Despite her best efforts, tears were beginning to well up in her eyes. She knew she wouldn’t be able to hold them back for much longer. She wanted him to leave before she lost control of her emotions.

Shale looked from Kahlan back to Richard. I will protect her, Lord Rahl, while you go get help.

We will protect her too, Cassia said as she nodded her agreement with Shale. She stepped closer to Kahlan. With our lives.

Vika, standing on the wall next to Richard, said, I will go with Lord Rahl and protect him.

Vika looked over at him, uncertain if she should jump into the roiling silver waters of the sliph ahead of him, or wait.

Kahlan’s lower lip began to quiver. Go and get help, Richard, would you, please? I’ll have your sword. I know how to use it and it has served me well in your absence in the past. I’ll have plenty of protection. I’ll be fine until you can get back to me.

Richard finally pulled away from the silver arm the sliph had around him. When he did, it shrank back, seeming to melt down into the pool and become part of what looked like nothing so much as liquid silver sloshing in the well. The glossy silver face, which reflected the room around it, showed no emotion.

Free of the sliph’s arm, Richard hopped down off the short stone wall and walked across the room, his raptor gaze seeing no one but her. Kahlan couldn’t stop trembling. Dreading what he might say, she involuntarily backed away a step.

When Richard reached her, he softly enclosed her in his strong arms and then pulled her tight to him. She could no longer hold back the tears as she buried her face against him.

I’m sorry, Richard, she blurted out. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I couldn’t, not in the middle of—

Richard pressed her head to his shoulder. Hush now. No need to cry about something so wonderful.

But—

I’m not leaving you for anything.

But you must get to the Keep.

We’ll figure something out. I’m not leaving you, not at a time like this.

I didn’t want to tell you. You need to be able to protect us. I didn’t want to burden you with this on top of everything else. I didn’t want it to be a distraction.

Richard let out a soft laugh as he briefly hugged her tighter. It’s not a distraction, Kahlan. It’s motivation. He pulled back, holding her by her arms as he looked in her eyes. The sliph said babies. Not baby. Babies.

Kahlan nodded. I’m pregnant with twins.

Richard’s eyebrows lifted a little in surprise. His smile warmed her heart and, in that instant, dispelled all her terror and fear. She suddenly felt the full joy of it again.

A boy and a girl, Shale said.

He turned a serious frown on her. You knew?

Kahlan put a finger against his jaw and turned his face back to her. I made her swear that she wouldn’t tell you. I guess I made the same mistake the goddess made up in the library.

His smile returned as he gazed into her eyes again. What mistake is that?

I underestimated you.

His smile widened at that.

Kahlan grew sober. But Richard, you still need to get to the Keep. You can’t stay here if you hope to stop the goddess. That’s what matters. There are gifted there who may be able to help. The Sisters of the Light are there. Maybe you could make a quick trip there in the sliph and bring back some of the Sisters.

You are what matters, he said softly as he gently pulled Kahlan back into his arms.

She buried her face against him, now with tears of relief and joy.

This is what we have been fighting for since we first met in the Hartland woods, he told her. For life, for the right of life to continue. And then for our right to continue, for our own happiness.

Holding on tightly to him, Kahlan had never loved him more.

She should have known.

2

What do you wish to do, Lord Rahl? Vika asked.

He finally drew back from Kahlan. What my grandfather would have said to do, of course.

Vika pulled her single long blond braid forward over her shoulder and held it in her fist as she looked down at him. Finally, she hopped down off the short stone wall.

I don’t understand, Lord Rahl.

Zedd, my grandfather, always said to think of the solution, not the problem. The problem is that Kahlan can’t travel in the sliph. We’re focused on that problem.

I didn’t know your grandfather. Vika looked at a loss. I’m sorry, Lord Rahl, but I don’t know what that means.

It means that instead of thinking of the problem—that the sliph can’t take us all—we instead need to think of the solution. I’m hoping we will be safe at the Keep—Kahlan especially—so we need to get there. If the problem is that she can’t go in the sliph, the solution is that we have to get there another way.

Vika brightened. I will get horses and supplies together.

Richard smiled at her. Good thinking, Vika. That is the solution.

Shale stepped closer. Lord Rahl, won’t that be dangerous? Traveling all the way there? I’m from the Northern Waste, which has enough of its own dangers, but I’ve heard very ugly things about many of the places down here. I’ve heard that D’Hara is dangerous enough in its own right, but the Midlands is a savage and wild place and traveling across it can be quite perilous.

Kahlan knew the truth of that. When she used to travel the Midlands, she always had Giller, an experienced wizard, with her at all times for protection. Richard was a wizard, of course, and more powerful than Giller had ever been, but Giller did have the advantage of having been trained his whole life in the use of his craft and in the dangers of the Midlands.

Richard had been raised in Westland, far away from any knowledge of magic, and the gift didn’t work the same way in him as it did in others. Unlike a typical gifted person, he couldn’t necessarily call upon his ability at will—both because of his lack of a lifetime of training and because his gift was fundamentally different. Being the gift of a war wizard, his power came forth mostly as a function of rage.

I can testify to the fact that the Midlands is indeed dangerous, Kahlan said. But it’s also a place of beauty and wonder.

Shale shot her a cynical look. Beauty won’t save us. The key word in what you said is ‘dangerous.’ We would have to cross a lot of dangerous territory.

Well, it’s obviously dangerous for us to stay in the People’s Palace, Richard told the sorceress. "We will be under constant threat and unrelenting attack as long as we’re here. Here, the goddess can keep an eye on us, so to speak, through everyone in the palace without the gift. That’s pretty much everyone. She can watch us and pick a time to attack when we are at our weakest. We can never have a moment of safety, here.

There are gifted at the Keep who may be able to help us, and perhaps more importantly, the Keep has numerous powerful shields of every kind that can protect Kahlan and the babies. There are some shields here at the People’s Palace, but not nearly enough. It simply isn’t safe for us here. We need to get to a place of safety so we can figure out how to combat this threat. That place is the Wizard’s Keep in Aydindril. We can’t go in the sliph, so we either walk or go on horseback. There is no other way. It’s as simple as that.

Shale crossed her arms as she considered his words for a moment, visibly cooling as she did so. You’re right. We’re not safe here. I can’t offer any better suggestion.

Berdine scowled at him with fury in her blue eyes. Well, I’m going, too. I’ll not be left behind this time. I’m going.

Richard turned a smile to the concern that was so obvious in her expression. Of course you’re going. I wouldn’t think of going without you, Berdine. We’re all going.

I’ll organize a detachment of the First File to escort us, Cassia offered. How many soldiers do you wish to take with us?

With one arm around Kahlan’s waist, Richard took in all the tense faces watching him. None. We can’t risk it.

Cassia leaned in as if she hadn’t heard him correctly. Can’t risk it? Can’t risk having protection? It’s a long way across a lot of dangerous territory. A unit of cavalry and soldiers of the First File would act as a deterrent to those dangers. A show of force would prevent a fight from happening in the first place. The last thing we want is a fight. You or the Mother Confessor could be hurt or even killed in a fight. Why wouldn’t you want to take adequate protection?

"Because the goddess has the ability to use soldiers to spy on us, just the same as she can use anyone else. If she knows precisely where we are, she can send the Glee to attack us out in the open in the Midlands. Worse, just as she used Nolo to try to stab Kahlan to death when he was alone with her, the goddess could use one of those men to attack us when we least expect it. Whereas Nolo was rather inept with a knife, the soldiers of the First File are experts with their weapons. Those soldiers wouldn’t be protecting our backs, they would be a threat when our backs are turned.

The Golden Goddess only has to be successful once and Kahlan is dead. The goddess will then have accomplished her objective of destroying the chances of our magic living on. That would ensure the eventual extinction of everyone in this world.

He’s right, Kahlan said,