Path

Cara could see her son. He was right in front of her.

But no matter how many steps she took, he never got any closer.

No matter how hard she tried to save him, he was engulfed by the flames of the underworld.

She awoke with a start, a raspy indrawn breath. Darken gazed down at her, his blue eyes unfathomable. He did not comment on her obviously troubled sleep, and she was grateful.

There was nothing either of them could do to change their son's fate. Talking of it would accomplish nothing.

Sitting up slowly, Cara leaned over to kiss Darken's neck. He threaded fingers through her hair, savoring the searing sweetness of the moment. Then they both rose to break camp and saddle the horses.

They still had a long way to go over war-torn country, and the sun was already turning the horizon a blood-tinged pink.

-l-

Zedd stopped at a fork in the road, turning to meet Richard's grin with one of his own. The left fork led to Aydindril, but the right…

"Why are we going this way?" Haden asked in that blunt way of hers. Zedd found her incredibly amusing. When he was bored on the trail it was really quite fun to try to get a sentence out of Haden.

"We're going to fetch my sister, Jennsen," Richard smiled, seeming less tired in his excitement to be finally gaining the thing he had been missing since he began this crazy quest.

"Richard and I made a promise," Zedd explained, "that when everything was over and the land was at peace again, we would find Jennsen and be a family."

Haden blinked.

"But the land isn't at peace."

Zedd's frustrated grumble and Kahlan's surprised laughter echoed through the trees.

-l-

"Brother Jarl, thank Tyrn you've come."

The aged Brother smiled, laying calming hands on the village elder who had worked himself into a frenzy. "Calm yourself, elder. I heard of your troubling visitors and I came as fast as I could, Tyrn blessing my journey."

The village elder nodded, taking a deep breath.

Jarl pushed the hood of his fine silk twill robes back, exposing his tanned, weathered face and shaved head. "The messenger said that you had a visit from undesirables but no priest of our order to cleanse the village once you had driven her out."

The elder nodded, placing two fingers against his lips, the sign against evil. If you did not make the sign to ward off evil, it would enter your soul through the mouth, carried on the bad talk and wicked deeds of the insidious.

"It grows more frightening all the time, Brother Jarl. We would not have known that she was a witch woman if she weren't wearing a white dress. The children drove her out with rotten vegetables. I've checked all of them personally every day to be certain she has not got even with some kind of curse."

Jarl nodded. "It is good that I am the one that came, then. All of the soul stealers, the Confessors, were wiped out save one, and she is the worst. It will take all of the strength of my prayers to Tyrn and his sons and brothers to banish the taint her presence has left on the village."

The elder paled. "Taint?"

"Yes," Jarl nodded as he began steering the elder to the town center, "it would be best if you asked for any young men or boys who feel the calling to be trained in the Brotherhood while I am here. So that they may protect the village from the impure ones, those vile creatures that aspire to godhood."

Face aflame with zealotry, the elder replied, "I will call for my sons and their sons. We are a pious, good people."

-l-

Haden waited on the road. She stood before a house very much like the one she had lived in before she had been chosen to join the Sisterhood of the Agiel. She remembered that it had been drafty in the winter and hot in the summer.

Truly, living in the temples of the Mord'Sith was much better.

Lord Rahl the Younger emerged, followed by the wizard and the Mother Confessor. The Mother Confessor walked arm in arm with a small, redheaded woman.

She didn't look very interesting or very strong. Haden supposed she would have to resign herself to an even slower pace.

This Lord Rahl was not very efficient at all.

"Hello," the redhead chirped at her like a little bird.

Chirped.

Like a bird.

Haden ignored her, simply shouldering her pack once more in anticipation of falling in line behind the wizard.

"This is Haden," Kahlan supplied, a wry smile on her face. "She helped us at the Battle of the Pillars." Putting a touch of friendly mockery into her voice, Kahlan added, "She's shy."

Zedd laughed, a deep belly-aching guffaw that threatened to turn into hiccups.

Or tears.

Jennsen smiled at Haden. When Haden simply glared and moved on down the path, Jennsen's smile faded. She wondered if she had done something to make the woman dislike her.

-l-

Darken pulled his horse to a halt, waiting for Cara to do the same. Their path wound upwards, alongside a mountain.

"The horses can't scale that, but we can't carry the supplies without them."

Cara pursed her lips.

"There is another route that I know of, my lord."

Darken felt the muscles of his neck tighten as his title fell once more from her lips. He waited.

"We will have to risk passing near a resistance village."

"How near?"

Cara did not answer.


Important A/N: Please note that while the villains of this piece may have a few things in common with the Imperial Order and Jagang, they are not actually based on them. This is for two reasons:

1. Terry Goodkind has expressed the wish that all fanfiction be based on the show only, since he is still actively writing the books. Therefore, I write show!verse only. They haven't appeared on the show yet, so they aren't appearing in my writing.

2. I read the Sword of Truth novels eleven years ago. I don't remember enough details about Jagang and the Imperial Order to portray them accurately.