I'm going to kill off my readers with all these cliffhangers. Maybe I'll better be nicer in this chapter…ok, maybe not…

Reunion (Chapter 8)

Rushing through the opening of the cavern, Richard and Cara were greeted with hundreds of spears protruding from the ground in an attempt to impede their progress. Undaunted by the obstacle, they carefully maneuvered past the deadly spikes that stood just past their waists. Richard stopped as he neared the end of the graveyard of spikes to inspect one. Carefully, he lifted off a scrap of material that had been caught on one of the spears.

Turning it over in his hand, Richard quickly realized it was a piece torn from Kahlan's garment. He released the breath he had been subconsciously holding as he lovingly caressed the material, relieved that she didn't appear to have sustained too much injury from the deathtrap.

Nearing the end of the main entrance's tunnel, they found it branched into four more tunnels. "Now which direction," Cara sighed, gazing from one tunnel to the next.

Bending down to inspect the ground with his torch, Richard finally stood up and pointed to the first one of the left. "That one," he proclaimed. "There are several tracks that head that direction. Also, there are still cobwebs hanging in the entrances of the other three tunnels. It looks like Phillip and Kahlan have company, but I can't be sure how many there are."

Even in the soft glow of the torches, Cara could see the flash of fear in Richard's brown eyes while his face was mask of fury. She already pitied the men who got in the way of Lord Rahl reaching Kahlan. She didn't believe that the Keeper himself would stand a chance of getting between those two.

"Be careful; remember Zedd said this place is full of hidden traps and magical spells," Richard reminded her as he pulled his sword out, slowly making their way down the first tunnel.

Richard felt his heart pounding in his chest. He was so close to getting Kahlan back; he could almost taste her lips on his. He set his focus on how sweet the reunion with her would be instead of the barrage of irrational fears that threatened to overtake his mind. He could not let panic gain a foothold in his heart. Pushing aside the flashing images of Kahlan injured or worse, Richard focused on how absolutely captivating she had looked in his bedroom their first night together…and the rapture it will be when he can hold her in arms like that again once he got her back.

XXX

"I have to stop and rest for awhile," Kahlan finally told him, her breathing becoming more ragged the further they went. "We've been searching for hours without stopping. I think we can afford to rest for a little bit."

Turning to look at his daughter, Phillip was stunned to see how pale she had grown since escaping the snake attack. Since then, his mind had been suddenly swarming with memories, happy memories that he had locked away in the recesses of his mind, never to be found. But they had been found and were now resurfacing faster than he could lock them away again.

"Yes, why don't we rest here for a while," Phillip replied, still lost in his own thoughts as he wedged his torch between some rocks before setting down his pack.

Kahlan slowly lowered herself to the ground. The cavern was beginning to spin out of control again as she rested her back against the stone wall, resting the palms of her hands on the ground in an attempt to regain her equilibrium. She felt so hot even though the air was cool deep within the inner recesses of the caverns.

Phillip handed her his water skin and pieces of dried fruit. Kahlan took it, thankful for the provisions. She hadn't had anything to eat in hours. She was feeling very weak and exhaustion was making it difficult to think straight.

After eating in silence for several minutes, Phillip finally asked, "So, are you and Richard going to be married?"

"Hopefully…someday. We have to seal the rift and defeat the Keeper before we can even begin to think of a wedding," Kahlan finally answered, surprised by her father's question. She refused to allow him to attend their wedding even if he wanted to attend.

"You always did put everyone else's well-being and happiness before your own," he replied with a wistful smile. "So much like your mother," he added scornfully.

Kahlan could see a flicker of pain in her father's cold eyes. She had never really stopped to consider how her mother's death might have hurt him. All he had ever displayed to her and Dennee after her passing was anger, bitterness, and resentment. That was all she had ever remembered about him. She never thought that he might have actually loved her before he was confessed.

"Did you ever love us?" Kahlan softly asked, unsure she really wanted to know the answer.

Phillip sat deep in thought for several moments before finally answering. "Yes…I did…at one time. But your mother's betrayal caused that love to die," he answered bitterly.

"How did she ever betray you?" Kahlan asked as the anger began to rise in her voice, scarcely believing what she was hearing. Her mother had been the most kind and loving woman she had ever known. She would never intentionally lie or betray any one.

"I loved her more than anything; she was my whole world. She hid who she really was. I had no idea that she was a Confessor until after her death and the spell was broken. She had no right to trick me, to betray my love for her," Phillip angrily exclaimed, his eyes alive with bitterness and pain. "I loved her and I thought she loved me. I was confessed in our marriage bed and released on her deathbed."

"Would you have still married her if you had known she was a Confessor?"

"I don't know and I'll never know because I wasn't given the chance to make that choice. That decision was taken from me as was my life once she confessed me," malice dripping with his every word. "I decided then that since she used me in order to have children, I would use your powers for what I wanted."

"And that justifies using me and Dennee to steal and cheat people, tying us up when we didn't do what you wanted us to do, for locking us up in the closet? Does it justify kidnapping me and forcing me to help you get what you want again?" Kahlan yelled at him, her simmering anger now blazing hot.

"It did at the time," he softly replied as a little bit of the bitterness that had eaten away at his heart was suddenly replaced with shame and guilt. At the time it had seemed justifiable in his mind. He had deserved it after what his dead wife had put him through. "You and your sister were a constant reminder of what she had done to me. It was easier to take my anger and bitterness out on you and Dennee than it was to let go of the hatred and forgive her."

Kahlan was overwhelmed with her father's admission. While it was not an apology, it was something close to it. She didn't know if she could forgive him even if he humbled himself enough to ask for it.

"You'd better rest; we still have a little ways to go yet," Phillip told her as he stared into the darkness that continued to surround them.

Kahlan closed her eyes against the heat of tears that threatened to spill down her cheeks. Seeing her father, being tied up and kidnapped by him, talking to him…it all brought back such an assault of memories and emotions, opening up wounds she had long ago tried to forget about. Now, freshly ripped open, those wounds could no longer be ignored.

She missed Richard so much it hurt. She ached for his touch, his kisses, his love. She longed to see those warm brown eyes that made her heart melt. Hopefully, they could get married someday soon, although, she didn't think that day could come soon enough.

XXX

The sweat from their earlier fight was long gone now; the temperature of the cavern cooling them down as they continued to make their way through the vast expanse of tunnels. They had been walking for what seemed like days but had only been a matter of hours.

Still, there was no sign of Kahlan. Richard was becoming more and more agitated the farther they went with no further sign of her except for the scrap of material he had found after entering the cavern. He couldn't wait to get his hands on Phillip and his arms around Kahlan.

Passing through a narrowing in the cave, Cara stumbled into the wall. Huffing angrily under her breath, she pushed away from the stone wall only to be thrown back against it as the ground began to quake and tremble beneath their feet. Stones began to loosen and fall creating small landslides of little rocks and dirt. Holes unexpectedly split open, appearing in the walls as wisps of smoke slowly began curling their way up. Smoke suddenly began to spew forth from the cracks that opened in the stone.

"Cara, run!" Richard yelled at her as he took off down the tunnel.

Cara took off in a dead run, following her Lord Rahl as fire began erupting in blasts all around them, lighting up the whole tunnel. Richard glanced back to see fire shooting straight towards them.

"Get down!" Richard shouted at the Mord'Sith as he hit the ground hard.

Cara readily obeyed, throwing herself down on the ground just as fire shot over their heads, disappearing down the tunnel in the direction they were heading.

Jumping to his feet, Richard helped Cara up as they continued to race through the tunnel, ducking down a side tunnel as another blast shot past, narrowly missing them.

"This place is a nightmare!" Cara cursed, trying to regain her breath.

"And I have a terrible feeling that we haven't even seen the worst of it yet," Richard ominously stated between gasps of air. "Are you alright to keep moving or do you need to rest?"

"Lord Rahl, I am Mord'Sith. I can go just as long as you can…and probably a lot longer," Cara smirked.

"You're probably right," Richard smiled weakly. All these traps they kept coming across just made him that more anxious to get to Kahlan before anything more happened to her.

Turning back down the tunnel that was still hazy from the smoke and fire, Richard and Cara continued following the tracks. He was not about to leave the Tabethia Caverns unless Kahlan was with him.

XXX

After resting for an hour, Kahlan and Phillip were nearing the end of the directions on the map. Kahlan was feeling a little better, but her shoulder continued to throb. She was sure it was probably infected by now as sweat began to form on her brow. The coolness of the cavern was doing little to lower the fever she knew she had. She had to hold on until she got back to Richard. Nothing else mattered except for him.

Something unexpectedly hit Kahlan from behind, sending her face first into the ground, knocking the wind out of her lungs, sending her torch rolling out of her reach. Something heavy was sitting on her back, heated breath on the back of her neck making the hair stand on end. Kahlan attempted to reach down to her boot before remembering she had no weapons. A deep guttural growl rumbled from right behind her head, close to her ear making her heart almost stop.

Hearing Kahlan's cry as she was thrown to the ground, Phillip spun around and began racing back down the tunnel, sweeping his torch in front of him. Phillip came to an abrupt halt when he reached Kahlan.

He found her lying face first on the ground, gasping for breath, a terrified look in her eye, and something large sitting on her back. It raised its head, flashing its glowing yellow eyes at him before releasing a screeching growl unlike anything he had ever heard before.

"A Gatekeeper!" Phillip breathlessly told her, terror gripping him, his feet frozen where he stood…