Disclaimer: Nothing is mine, obviously, because if it was, a certain someone would still be alive.
AN: As you'll gather in later chapters, this Fic starts off in 'Eternity' and goes completely AU from there. Flashbacks are in Italics, and I hope you enjoy reading.
Chapter one.
She walked down the dirt path her stride long and filled with the confidence only a Mord'Sith could possess. The birds in the trees had stilled their song as the leather clad predator walked among them, the only sound to be heard was the faint breathing of the brunette as she walked further along the path.
If only her thoughts were as silent as her foot falls, the only thing going through Dahlia's head was that she would soon be reunited with Cara. Although she never would've predicted that this was how it was going to happen. She required Cara's assist to rescue the blonde's son, from Darken Rahl and the Mord'Sith that were still loyal to him.
In addition to herself, a few of her Sisters had sworn to bring the former Lord Rahl's illegitimate reign to an end. It should have been done along time ago, Berdine, Raina, Hally, Rikka, Mera, Garren, and even Constance had sworn on the common pain that united them as Sisters of the Agiel to aid her in her endeavour. With their noteworthy talents, she would stand an increasingly better chance to rescue the boy, after Sam's safety was assured then she take him, along with her Sisters, and flee D'Hara to regroup in Mercia, a Land several thousand leagues away, well out of Darken Rahl's reach, and utterly risk-less to Sam. There she would watch over him and serve him, until The Keeper came for her.
Dahlia became so wrapped up in her thoughts that she didn't see the attack until she was tackled to the floor by a blur of red leather and shoulder length blonde hair. She scowled inwardly, she should never have allowed herself to become so unaware of her surroundings. Even if she did know intimately whose leather clad flesh straddled the back of her toned thighs, she would know Cara's touch even if their were a hundred hands upon her body.
"Cara, its me!" Dahlia called out, her melodious voice cut through the silence of the vibrant forest, she fought to keep her expression blank as cautious hands turned her limp body onto her back, her heartbeat increased rapidly, pounding in her ears, as she stared up at the most beautiful creature she'd ever laid her azure irises upon.
She felt her hands beg permission to reach upward, to caress the bronzed flesh she'd craved for over eleven months, but it wasn't her approval that her eager palms required. She swallowed hard, gazing up at her lover as a collage of memories assaulted her cognition, how many times had she been in this position, beneath Cara, struggling to prevent herself from touching the blonde without the more dominant Mord'Sith's expressed permission. How many times in the recent months had she lain awake at night in her cold bed longing for the woman staring back at her with familiar aquamarine coloured eyes. But it was not simply lust she felt blossom within her as she locked her eyes with those of her lover. She had missed Cara, being close enough to the blonde finally filled the gaping hole in her chest that had been inflicted when she'd heard of Triana's betrayal and Cara's change of allegiance.
"Dahlia?" Cara questioned, slowly raising up off the forest floor. Dahlia was swift to follow the blonde's example. Never once did their eyes become unlocked, like two puzzle pieces fitting together so perfectly they were unwilling to separate.
"You know her?" Richard asked, the moderate hostility could be detected quite clearly in the Seeker's normally gentle tone as he held the gilded Sword of Truth pointed towards Dahlia's mid-section. Cara had to clamp down the impulse to slap the weapon away from Dahlia, she'd never been able to stand the thought of any harm coming to the brunette, even if at times it had been dealt out by her own hand.
"We served together for many years" Cara said absently. Sending her lover a message through their locked gazes, in a medium only the brunette could decipher, a silent warning for Dahlia to reveal nothing more about the nature of their relationship at this point in time.
Dahlia smirked, clearly Cara had spent too much time with the chaste Mother Confessor if the blonde couldn't bring herself to say that Dahlia had been her willing pet since they turned twelve summers. She trusted no one more, even if they had inflicted glorious pain upon one another on a frequent basis, Cara had been her one safe haven all her life, fronting the vast majority of a raging storm while she was left to dodge the thin elements that somehow managed to sneak passed the strong pillar that the blonde was carved into.
"I came to ask for your help, the true Lord Rahl is in danger" Dahlia said. With considerable strength she managed to tear her eyes away from those of her lover's. As she scanned the Seeker, the Mother Confessor, and wizard with a fleeting glance, she could feel the blonde's uniquely coloured eyes tracing the silhouette of her curvy, leather clad body, with exquisite sensitivity. Albeit distractedly, Dahlia swiftly came to the conclusion she would be fully capable fighting the three if necessary, after all, alongside Cara she had been the pride of the exulted Mistress Nathair.
"Darken Rahl may have used magic to come back from the dead, but Richard is the true Lord Rahl, and if you had any sense you would swear loyalty to him as well" Cara scoffed.
"I'm not talking about Darken Rahl or the Seeker" Dahlia growled, the disgust she felt for them both evident in her voice.
"I'm talking about your son" She watched as a tick formed in the blonde's oval shaped jaw.
"You have a son?" Richard asked, shock resounding in his voice.
"Many Mord'Sith bear children" Cara growled, irritation colouring her permanent drawl, as the attention of her companions became focused on her, but as least Dahlia had not revealed the true circumstances of her son's birth.
"But not many bear the children of the Lord Rahl" Dahlia countered with the lie they'd both carefully devised with when the boy had been conceived. If anyone had even suspected the truth, Sam would have been killed at birth and the two of them separated permanently.
"You protected him for seven years Dahlia, what happened?" Cara snapped, blocking out the three pairs of curious eyes latched onto her like a child to its mother's skirts, she knew that Dahlia would have given her life for the boy.
"That was before Darken Rahl wanted him dead..." Dahlia stated bluntly, "...He found out the truth, and safe to say, he wasn't best pleased" Dahlia smirked softly, remembering when he had come to her with his chest puffed out like some self-centred pigeon.
xxxxXxxxx
Dahlia looked up as the door to her private chambers swung open.
"Lord Rahl" She greeted civilly, raising from her high backed chair and stalking around the to the front of her desk. She lowered her head in mock respect, as the one true master of D'Hara entered her personal space, without glancing up from the marble floor, she heard his heavy foot falls as he approached her.
She was unprepared for his right hand connecting solidly with her left cheek, the sting of his attack was barely worth recognising, Dahlia growled low in her throat as she glared into his blue eyes, defiance burning in her own azure irises.
"Have I displeased you?, my Lord" She sneered the title. When he made to strike her again, Dahlia simply leaned back, letting Darken Rahl's hand meet thin air. The failed attack only seemed to enrage him more, as he balled his fist and sent it into her mid-section, just before he made contact she caught his wrist and twisted it behind his back.
The action surprised him just as well as it did her, in more than five thousand years, no Mord'Sith had raised her hand against her Lord Rahl. She rather enjoyed the grunt of pain he gifted her delicately shaped ears with as she increased the pressure of her hold.
"I believe I asked you a question, have I displeased you?" She snarled into his ear, smiling when a whimper of discomfort left his thin lips.
"I know what you've done Dahlia" He panted out when, she put a little more pressure on his wrist careful not to snap it like a twig, yet. The temptation was there though, simmering beneath the surface of her flesh, she had wanted to destroy Darken Rahl ever since he touched her mate. At first she hadn't understood the desire when it had manifested itself, as time went on she fought to deny it, now she welcomed it.
"You and your whore Mistress, I know about Sam" Dahlia's entire body went ridged as shock filled her, a single searing question echoed in her head:
Who had managed to gather the truth of Sam's parentage?.
xxxxXxxxx
"What truth?, and why would you care?" Kahlan asked as she lowered her blade, keeping the weapon unsheathed in the case she needed it, suspicion was still laced her clear lilting voice. Dahlia paid the Confessor no heed, it had never been her intention to parley with the Seeker of his merry band, her sole focus centred on the fact, she needed Cara. In so many more ways than just one.
"Mord'Sith have always had the ability to sire children with one another through the Breath of Life, Dahlia cares..." Cara explained slowly, the blonde never once broke their stare, as she took a deep breath and finished in a strong voice, "...Because Sam is her son too".
TBC . . .
AN: loved it, hated it?.