Chp.11

We started waling in the forest to find a place to spend the night; I started to rub the back of my neck. It still burned slightly.

"I've heard about Zedd, he is a wizard of the first order. He would be able to remove a tracking spell, right?"

"Possibly, depends on who cast the spell? Why? Kahlan asks.

"The reason I took so long to get air was that my brother showed up. And he set a tracking speck on my family insignia he had tattooed on the back of my neck a few years back.

I lifted me hair to show them the back of my neck.

"Wait, so your brother, Darken Rahl, cast a tracking spell on you?" Richard asks.

I nod slowly.

"So he could be tracking us down as we speak?" Kahlan asks.

I nod again.

"Why didn't you stop him?" Richard asks.

"He was in astral form. He wasn't actually there it was spell projecting him there. I didn't know what he was doing until it was too late to stop him. My brother has so much magic and powers I can hardly keep track of what he is able to do."

"The closest D'Haran camp is tow leagues away. If we find a place to refill our water skins soon we could be four leagues away by nightfall." Kahlan says.

"There is one about half a league to our east." I say trying to be helpful given the danger I just put Richard and Kahlan in.

I walk forward hoping for silence as we walk through the forest. Will comes up next to me and intertwines his hand and fingers through mine. I smile to myself. How does someone so evil deserve someone as nice as William? The walk isn't as bad as our walk to the tavern from Grayson, but it was mostly through forest. I stumbled a few times and Will caught me. He took such good care of me. We reached the lake in under an hour. William and I sat about 100 paces away from the lake in a secluded spot near where the forest broke. Richard went to go fill the water skins and Kahlan stayed with us. Apparently we couldn't be trusted.

"What happened after the incident?" William asked.

I just stared up into his eyes not wanting to tell or remember the horrors I had been through.

"Sorry for being abrupt, I just never knew what happened." Will said.

"I really don't like to talk about it. But you have a right to know. Rahl escorted you wherever you went after as Nathaniel escorted me to a Mord-Sith's torture chamber. It was the first time I've been in one let alone seen it being used. I was strapped in chains with my arms above my head and the chains connected to some contraction. I was left there until dawn the next morning. I could not fall asleep for the pain in my arms was too much. The next morning my brother escorted his favorite Mord-Sith into the room. Mistress Denna. She whipped me and thrusted he aigel at me until I passed out. Then when I would wake up, she would do it again. I begged the Creator for death. This continued on for a week straight until I was on the brink of death. It took me three weeks to recover. And I still flinch every time I see an aigel.

I put my head down loathing myself and wallowing in self-pity. William pulled me into a hug as I started to cry. Out of everything my brother has done to me and put me through that memory haunts me the most.

"shh, shh its okay. I've got you. Everything is fine." Will says is his most comforting voice.

I breathe in a deep breath.

"Where did my brother take you after the incident?" I ask after I have calmed down a bit.

"I thought your brother was going to execute me himself. He took me to the dungeon where I sat and starved for four days. And on the fifth day, orders had come for me to go to the fort near Grayson and I've been there ever since. I feel terrible for what happened to you. If I ever get the chance to I promise you I will run your brother through." Will says in the most assured voice.

"He isn't worth it." If you do try, he will just end up coming back anyway.

I've noticed Kahlan isn't around anymore. I get up and Will follows me as I try to find her. I find Kahlan and Richard talking about forty paces away.

"Your hair is dry. That's wasn't you at the lake." Richard says.

"Your hair is wet. That's wasn't you back there. Someone has got some very powerful magic." Kahlan says.

Richard picks up his sword with a puzzled look and examines it.

"I know my sword and this is not it." He says.

"Someone stole the Sword of Truth?" Kahlan asks.

"I got distracted." Richard says.

"By a naked woman you went swimming with" Kahlan says.

"I thought it was you." Richard says.

So that is where those visions came from. Kahlan and Richard start to walk back down toward the lake. I follow them. The way Richard stares at Kahlan makes him seem like eh is in love with her. I wonder if they are together. I wish I could tell him he was my brother. It would change everything between us. But if he found out, it could cause problems. The Rahl throne always turns people crazy. I swear it is cursed. I wouldn't want to wish that onto Richard. I would rather take the throne upon myself and go our separate way after Richard kills Darken Rahl than have him become a power hungry tyrant.

As we head into the clearing across the lake a group, more like a mob, of people swarm us. This cant be good.