Disclaimer: All characters, items and places belong to Terry Goodkind.
WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS FROM THE WHOLE SERIES AND CONFESSOR
A week had passed since Richard had opened the Boxes of Orden, sealing the Order's fate. Festivities were endless, as the relief of the war being over took D'Hara by storm. Richard and Kahlan sat in the middle of the festivities, laughing with freedom that they had not felt since the whole ordeal started. People were joyously celebrating everything that had happened. All but one. She shook with terrible rage, staring in disbelief at the scene around her.
Rachel pushed through the masses, angrily shoving them out of her way. All of her belief in Richard had shattered in mere minutes after finding out the despicable things that he had done. More than that, she could hardly believe that everybody was so blinded to his hypocrisy. She shook her head at the idiocy of people.
As she reached him, Richard's face broke out in a wide grin. "Rachel!" He yelled happily, hugging her in one of his famous hugs.
Memories flooded back to her. Memories of how safe and secure she had felt the first time he hugged her. Back when he was Richard Cypher. Back when he was just a mere Woodsguide. Back before he let the power get to his head.
She hugged him back, but as they separated, she pulled the Sword of Truth out of his sheath, and pointed it towards his throat. "Richard Rahl. You are no longer worthy of being Seeker."
Richard stared at her in disbelief. He dared not move. "What are you doing, Rachel?"
A lump formed in Rachel's throat. She remembered the anger. She focused it, melded it with the anger she felt from the sword. Righteous anger.
She noticed Kahlan attempting to flank her. She pushed the sword, drawing blood, causing Kahlan to falter. "I would not come any closer, Kahlan. Not unless you want your husband dead. I could kill him quicker than you could touch me."
"Why are you doing this, Rachel?" Kahlan asked, calmly.
"Because he has become worse than Jagang and Darken Rahl combined! Richard may not have killed as many, but he has doomed millions to a fate worse than the deaths caused by Darken Rahl and Jagang. He has sent them to oblivion. Nothingness. Now try to imagine that for a while. Here, in this world, after death it's fine, we live on in the underworld. We get to see our loved ones again. They get nothing. They go into oblivion.
"You have failed all of the Wizard's Rules. All of them. For what? This imaginary last rule. You are despicable." She spat at his feet. "You even condemned your own sister. What a brother you are. What's more is that the only crimes of most of these people are their beliefs. They disagree with what you believe in, so you sentence them to a punishment worse than death."
"Rachel, you don't understand, it was the only way!"
Rachel pressed the sword in harder. "No! You're a fool! It wasn't the only way! You could have given in, and run away, waiting until Jagang became complacent before rising up and converting his people to your beliefs. You've done it before! You did it to the capital city of the Order! How hard would it be to convert everybody else? But no, you didn't give them a chance, merely because they have been brainwashed. You forgave Denna for her crimes against you, because of her upbringing, but you didn't think to do the same to the rest of the population? You make me sick Rahl. Your father would be proud."
Kahlan's face went white with realisation. "Richard... you have made a grave mistake." She whispered. "Spirits protect us."
"You do hear a lot of things, Rachel." Richard said. "Did you hear what the Imperial Army did?"
"The D'haran's have done the same, under Darken Rahl's rule. Remember Horner's Mill? Remember the Quads? Chase told me everything that has happened. The rest I've pieced together from rumours."
Richard closed his eyes and stood silently, as if going through a mental list. "You said that I had violated the rules. How? And how do you know about them?"
"Zedd told me. Wizard's First Rule: People are stupid. They believe what they want to believe or what they fear to be true. You forgot about that rule. You're stupid. You did what you believed was the only way. You thought destroying or removing the army was the only way of succeeding. You would do anything to be rid of them.
"Wizard's Second Rule: The greatest harm comes from the greatest intentions. You intended to be more merciful than slaying everybody who disagreed with you, but instead you hurt them more than you could ever imagine.
"Wizard's Third Rule: Passion rules reason. Your passion clouded your judgement. You should have logically thought our all possible solutions to your problems. You could have used the power of Orden for anything. You could have changed their minds and made them all submit to you."
Kahlan's was wearing her confessor face, trying to hide the emotional turmoil that raged within. "Richard... what Rachel's saying is right. You've done something very very bad. I... I can't believe I didn't see this before. I guess I was just blinded by passion. The happiness of finally being free blinded me to the horrors that you did."
Richard turned to her in anger. "I did what I did because I had to! It was that, or be destroyed!"
"No! You're hiding from the truth! This is why you are no longer the Seeker. This is why I hold the sword, and not you. Now the question is, what are you going to do about it? Are you going to kill me because I disagree with you, or are you going to try to send me to that horrible new world of yours you created? What a scene that would create, you killing a young girl. Would your followers think as much of you if you did?
"Oh wait!" Rachel said, covering her mouth with her free arm in mock shock. "You already sent millions of children to oblivion. Bringer of death you certainly are, but I think you need a new appellation. What about bringer of oblivion? Bringer of injustice?"
Rachel and Richard stood, eyes locked in an intense battle of wills. A crowd had grown around them, watching, bewitched, at the events. "I should kill you now." Rachel whispered. The Sword of Truth glowed red in anger. "But I am better than that. Better than you."
In one swift motion, Rachel cut the strap holding the scabbard. It cluttered to the ground. She picked it up, sheathed the sword and walked away.
Everybody stood still, as if under some sort of spell. The spell shattered once Rachel was out of sight. The silence was filled with anxious chatter. The festivities were over.
Kahlan walked towards Richard, embracing him, tears gushing down her face. "She... she was right Richard. About all of it. Can't you see that? What you did was worse than your father or Jagang ever did. I'm so sorry Richard."
Richard raised his hand to his wife's head, and smoothed her hair. "Hush now, it's alright. We're safe. That's all that matters."
"No Richard, it's not. I feel as if somewhere along the lines I lost you. You forgot about your humble background. You tried to be more than who you actually are. You cost millions their afterlife. Please, tell me you understand."
The embrace ended, and Richard cupped Kahlan's face with his hand. "I don't understand. I'm sorry. I did the only thing I could have done to save the world, to save you." He kissed her.
She didn't kiss back. "Richard. You didn't save the world. You doomed it." Kahlan shook her head sadly and walked away, trying to find Rachel. She bumped into Zedd as she passed.
"Zedd, have you seen Rachel?" Kahlan asked.
Zedd could hear the obvious signs of distress in Kahlan's voice. "I can't say I have. Is everything alright, dear one?"
Kahlan shook her head. "Nothing is alright. Richard made a mistake. Help me find Rachel, she can explain it all."
Zedd nodded as he fell into step with Kahlan. Silence fell on them whilst they search. Kahlan was too in shock to speak, and Zedd was fearful of what Kahlan meant by her words.
They found Rachel in the Garden of Life, staring at the Boxes of Orden.
"Bags, Kahlan, what's she doing with Richard's sword?" Zedd asked.
"She took it off Richard, proclaiming that he no longer had right to be the Seeker. She threatened him with it, and nobody dared move."
Rachel heard their voices and turned to stare at them, the sword once again unsheathed. "What do you want?"
"Rachel... thank you for the truth. I... I can't believe I lost myself like that. Lost in the celebration. Richard doesn't understand yet. It pains me when I think of what this could mean."
"Could somebody tell me what is going on here?" Zedd yelled.
Rachel stood, proud. "Richard is no longer Seeker. He betrayed the truth and became a tyrant. He did what his father set out to achieve and more. He sent millions of people to a world that has no underworld. That is worse than killing them. Their crime? Believing other than what he did. Many of them were children who merely believed what their parent's told them to believe. Richard is a monster."
Zedd stared, mouth agape in realisation. "Bags. We have interpreted the prophecy wrong. Bags, bags, double bags. Rachel is right." He walked towards Rachel. The sword was at his throat before he had time to react. "Chase has taught you well dear one, but I mean you no harm."
"Walk closer, and you will die. I have to save those people." The fierce look in her eyes drained the colour from Zedd's face.
"Do you think I am evil, Rachel?"
Rachel shook her head. "I do not. However, if you try to stop me, I will cut you down."
"The Sword of Truth cannot cut down those you do not believe to be evil."
"Then Richard had a very black and white view of the world."
"Bags, Rachel. You have a very interesting outlook of the world."
"I see the world for what it is, and without the false ideals that people hold. Now, step back slowly, otherwise I will kill you." The blade flashed white.
Zedd sank to his knees. "I swear allegiance to the True Seeker."
Well, there you go. I really liked the Sword of Truth series, up until the last book, Confessor. It seemed hastily written, like Goodkind was sick of the series. Well, there were 11 books in it, not including the prequel... I guess you would get a bit sick of it. But it really annoyed me when every single philosophy, every god damn ideal held up by the characters was ignored.... And thus this story was written. Hope you enjoyed it. - Raeden