Chapter XII
"And then what?" Aria asked, leaning forward in her seat as if the three were telling her a bedtime story.
"Cara got sick." Dahlia summed up. "She had a nasty fever for a week before we finally got back… just in time too." She offered a small smile to her youngest sister which Aria happily returned.
"Are you feeling-"
"I'm perfectly fine." Cara brushed off Ben's concern as they knew she would. The others saw a glint in his eye- one that meant Cara hadn't heard the last of what he had to say on the matter. The blonde ignored it. "The point is, Torren's amassing an army and he'll be at our front door within the year."
"How many?" Richard pushed aside his concern for the woman he considered a sister and best friend.
"About 20,000." She responded. Everyone frowned, clearly surprised at the size of the tyrant's force. "And growing by the day."
"Aidyndril holds less than 30,000 troops at a time." Kahlan folded her hands on the table. "If Torren's army is getting bigger, we won't be able to hold them at bay for too long…not without help that is."
"Kahlan." Zedd's voice warned of something no one else understood but the brunette simply raised an eyebrow in his direction.
"I refuse to be the Mother Confessor that allows her home to be taken over by a mob of street rabble." She stood and gazed down at the table, imagining a map of the Midlands. "Asking for help is not a bad thing, Zedd."
"It is when the price they'll ask for is as steep as you know it will be." The old man mumbled under his breath.
"Whose help are you talking about?" Richard inquired and Kahlan barely glanced in his direction.
"The men of Renwold." Kahlan didn't glance up to see the confused looks on everyone's faces. She knew that they would be ignorant to the city's existence. Sighing, she sat back down and crossed her legs. "Renwold is south of here and the closest occupied city to what used to be the D'Haran border."
"Why haven't we heard of them?" Aria asked, genuinely interested.
"Because that's how they like it. The only reason I know of their existence is because they came to greet Richard and I after our wedding." Kahlan explained. "They're a tribe of-"
"Sorcerers." Zedd completed for her. "And they're not to be trusted."
"You've never even met them before, Zedd." Kahlan defended. "They're Midlanders just like you and I. They'll want to defend their capitol."
"You said 'men'." Cara pointed out. "The 'men of Renwold'. Why?"
"Because no female is allowed to enter their domain." She said and watched the women around the table raise an eyebrow in question. "It's their custom: when a child is born with the gift and the parents do not wish to keep him, they send him to Renwold."
"What happens to the child then?" Richard asked, liking this idea less and less as the conversation progressed. He could practically see the gears in Kahlan's head turning to answer the question properly.
"We don't know." Zedd chimed in again. "They're never heard of again."
"You make it sound like they've been murdered." Kahlan crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair, staring at her grandfather.
"They could easily have been used for sacrifices." Zedd waved his hand.
"Then how would the city stay populated all these years if they can't reproduce and get rid of the children sent to them?" Aria questioned, earning herself a look from the wizard.
"There's nothing savage about these people." Kahlan explained. "We need help and they would offer it."
"At what price?" Richard asked. "Zedd said it would be steep."
"They want what they always want." Zedd frowned. "Children. Young boys, with or without the gift, to populate their city."
"We can't just take a handful of children and hand them over to these…strangers." Richard cried, horrified at the mere thought.
"The orphanage is full of children who need a home. I'm sure some of them would be willing to go." Kahlan said, ignoring the horrified look from her husband.
"Kahlan." Richard sounded shocked. "You're talking about infants and children being carted away never to be seen again."
"But are they really doing better in an orphanage with thousands of other children?" Aria added. "The war destroyed so many families. Sooner or later we'll run out of place to put them. Then what?"
"We can't just give them away!" Richard threw his hands in the air.
"Richard, we don't know what they'll ask for." Kahlan reassured him. "It could be something completely different but if it isn't then I don't see anything wrong with giving orphans a new home."
"How exactly are we supposed to ask a secluded city, thousands of leagues from here for help?" Cara asked before Richard could continue his protests.
"We go to them of course." Aria crossed her arms.
"We can't go anywhere." Kahlan motioned around the table. "I'm the only woman allowed within their walls so I'll be-"
"There is no way you're going there alone." Cara objected immediately, followed by various sounds of agreement.
"I'll take a squadron of guards. It'll be perfectly safe." She insisted but knew there was really no point.
"Kahlan, some of the most powerful and capable people in our world are women." Richard ignored the smirk on Dahlia and Cara's lips. "There is no universe in which I would be comfortable with you travelling that far, at a time like this without a Mord'Sith by your side."
"A few years ago you would've felt the opposite." Kahlan glared at her husband, her voice low.
"Things have obviously changed." Richard glared back, their stubbornness meeting head to head.
"Kahlan," Aria's voice called her gaze away from Richard's penetrating grey one. She turned to look at the pleading eyes of her sister and immediately felt her resolve weaken. "Please don't." A few moments of silence passed as the Mother Confessor pretended to make a decision. They all knew that her mind was made up the second Aria said her name.
"Alright." She sighed. "But we still have to go."
"I'll go." Cara, Dahlia, Ben, Chris, Aria and Richard all spoke at once. Kahlan knew that she would be forced to make difficult decisions regarding who stays and who goes- and she knew that Richard would have to stay. She turned to him with a sad smile.
"Don't say-"
"You know we can't both go." She said softly. She saw her husband's eyes dance around the room and placed a hand to his cheek. No more words were needed.
"When do we leave?" Aria asked, clearly excited to get out of the Palace. Unfortunately, Kahlan was not about to separate her from her daughters.
"You don't." she said forcefully but calmly. "I need you here for the same reasons I need Richard. Besides," she took her sister's hands, "you have Emma and Katherine to think about."
"But I…" Aria shook her head with disappointed but knew she was right. Leaving her daughters would be too much for her to handle especially with a war against her kind raging at their front gates.
"Cara, Ben." Kahlan turned to the fair-haired couple who immediately looked relieved. "Are you alright to leave in a week?" The duo nodded adamantly.
"The three of you?" Zedd cried with concern. "Kahlan, there's an army out there searchingfor you."
"Which is exactly why three will draw less attention than an entire battalion." She reasoned. "Dahlia, I would like for you to take charge of the Mord'Sith in Cara's absence. Someone needs to keep them in line." The woman smiled and nodded, not bothering to question Cara's position as their unofficial leader.
"Mother Confessor." A meek voice called out just as Kahlan prepared to leave. She turned and met the sad eyes of Christopher Knox who had remained fairly silent during the whole discussion. "What will you have me do?" The man's iron-clad dedication after losing such a close friend broke Kahlan's heart. She softened her gaze and almost reached out to touch him until she reminded herself that she shouldn't.
"Mourn." She said gently. "You've done us a great service, Commander." She offered him a smile at his new title. No joy seemed to come to his features.
"Thank you." He stood rigid and looked straight ahead but Kahlan could see the tears already forming in the corner of his eyes.
"I'm so sorry about Jeremy." She said sincerely. "He will not be forgotten, that I can promise you."
"Just promise me one thing, Mother Confessor." He blinked away tears but remained stoic. "You'll kill the son of a bitch who took him from us."
"It'll be my pleasure." Kahlan announced, her voice hard with malice, before walking through the opened doors and towards her chambers. She had a long trip to prepare for and a very angry husband to appease and no idea which one would take longer.
"There's something I have to do." Cara told Ben as soon as everyone had started dispersing. She made it halfway through the door before his hand was on her arm, drawing her into him. His arms wrapped around her and Cara sighed contently.
"Why didn't you tell me?" he whispered against her hair as he stroked away some fallen strands. Just below her hairline, a new scar had formed, pink and still bumpy to the touch. He placed a kiss on it gently.
"I would've." She said softly. Part of her ached with guilt. She knew that he felt like this was his fault- like coming with them would have prevented any harm from coming to her. "I swear, I'm fine now."
"I could've hurt you." Ben drew back slightly, her head still in his hand, and Cara nearly gasped at the sight of tears streaming down his face. She shook her head vigorously.
"You could never hurt me." She assured him with a smile. It didn't work. From the night she had returned, the couple had made it their goal to spend as much time together as possible, in every way possible. She could understand why he thought that their intimacy could cause her pain. "I could never feel anything but happiness when I'm with you."
"Would you have told me otherwise?" Ben asked the question and Cara knew she didn't have an answer. He sighed and drew her back in, hugging her tightly to his chest. Cara closed her eyes and allowed a small smile to break on her lips as she inhaled his scent. Oh, how she missed him. A throat cleared somewhere behind them and the two released each other slowly.
"I'd like to take a look at your injuries." Zedd told the blonde who refused to let go of Ben's hand. He noticed the man nudge her slightly.
"If you must." She rolled her eyes and Ben smiled. Zedd knew she would do it to make him feel more at ease. "But be quick about it wizard. I have someone I need to find before we leave."
"Who?" Zedd asked as he led the woman to his chambers, Ben trailing along beside them.
"Andrea." They heard her say, as if to herself, and knew better than to ask who the mystery woman was.