Chapter 20

Richard felt the air vanish from his lungs as he stood in wide-eyed horror at the floor of the cave that spread out like a blank canvas before him, standing just as empty as the countless caves that they had already explored.

"Dear Spirits…"

The disheartened gasp of the sorceress standing beside him barely even registered in the Seeker's mind as he fought to control his hammering heart, his eye scanning the area for some sort of sign that this was just an illusion, some kind of magical spell created to deceive them.

He felt as if all of the life had just been bled right out of him, taking every last bit of the hope that he had been clinging so fiercely to. He had relied fully on his Han, opening himself up to its power and allowing it to be his guide. He had truly believed that it had led him to this very cave that was to be their salvation. It had been so much more than just self-delusion or a blind faith in his gift. He had been so clear to him.

Putting one foot in front of the other, he slowly made his way across the cave, his hand barely grasping the hilt of his sword. His mind suddenly felt numb as he forced it to process what his eyes were seeing.

He ground his teeth, fighting the overwhelming urge to slam his fist into the rock wall. It wouldn't make the Scarlett plant suddenly appear and it certainly wouldn't keep Darken Rahl from touching his wife.

Instead, he stood helplessly in the middle of the cave, his arms hanging limply at his sides, the point of the Sword of Truth poking into the black dirt. His eyes slowly swept from one side of the cave to the other, desperately seeking some sort of sign that told him that he had not been wrong. All he was met with, however, was the sound of the wind whipping through the mountains.

He didn't have any idea where to go next. He had pinned all of his hope on finding the cure here. He needed to think, to find the solution, to see what wasn't there.

Pulling a lock of blond hair behind her ear, Nicci fought back the ache that suddenly swarmed so intensely in her heart. She had wanted so badly to believe that Richard's gift had led him to the plant, had opened his eyes and given him some special insight that had guided him to what they needed to find.

Standing in the empty cave, she forced herself to remain fixed where she stood. It was all she could do not to run to him, to wrap her arms around him and banish every last bit of pain that she knew was overwhelming him at that moment.

But she knew that he would never allow it for more than just one reason.

Richard was strong and noble, never allowing his discomfort or pain to come before the suffering of others. It just wasn't in his nature to do that. He would force himself to focus on finding the cure to save the others rather than on his own grief that he was trying so hard to keep at bay.

Unable to bear the site of him filled with so much despair, Nicci's gaze fell to the ground instead. It hurt too deeply to see the man that she loved suffering so greatly, having to endure so much torment.

He of all people in the world deserved happiness, to enjoy all of the quiet little moments of life spent with his wife and daughters. He didn't deserve one tragedy after another being heaped upon him.

If they didn't act soon, Cara and the others would be dead by the time they returned to the People's Palace and Darken Rahl will have done unimaginable things to Kahlan, leaving a broken woman in her place.

Her eyes sadly drifted from her boots peeking out from under her black dress to roam over the ground, noting the odd coloring of the dirt beneath their feet.

She hadn't really noticed it when they had first arrived, too preoccupied with the frustration of finding nothing. Inspecting it now, she noticed that there was something unusual about the barren ground, scorched and scarred, and black as the soul of the Keeper himself.

Something was rather strange about it. It was so unlike the other caves that they had searched. She slowly dragged the toe of her boot through the dirt, taking in how the color shifted from black to brown…and then red.

Stooping down, Nicci's brow furrowed as she ran the tip of her finger through the dirt. Picking up a handful, she studied the dirt as it sifted through her fingers, evaluating its feel. Gathering another handful, she observed how it shimmered slightly in the glow of the light coming from her other hand.

There was a reddish tint to the dirt.

"What is it?" Richard asked, crouching down next to her.

"I'm not sure," Nicci murmured deep in thought, shaking her head. She'd never seen anything quite like this before. "This dirt has been touched by magic."

"Touched by what kind of magic?"

"If I didn't know better, I would guess that someone used Wizard's fire in this cave."

Inspecting the ground, Richard raked his fingers through the dirt, observing the reddish specks that glistened amongst the black and brown granules. He felt his fingers begin to vibrate with that faint tingling sensation as if touched by magic similar to what he had felt when he had been in the Wizard's Keep.

"The Scarlett plant was here…in this cave," Richard suddenly exclaimed, leaping to his feet with a sudden realization. "Rahl destroyed the plants that were here."

Richard felt his hope explode in his chest only to die just as quickly. He had been right. His Han had led him to the cave they had needed, but it had been too late. His brother had already made sure that the cure had been destroyed, sealing Cara's fate along with everyone else's.

His chest began to heave with the roar of his rage that begged for escape. There had to be another cave, another place in these mountains where the Scarlett plant was growing. This couldn't be the end. It couldn't end like this…not like this. He wouldn't accept this…he refused to accept it.

"Richard, you don't know that for certain," Nicci replied, standing to her feet as well, wiping her hand off on her skirt.

"It's the most logical explanation," he heatedly said. "It makes sense that Rahl would send us up here after a cure that he had already destroyed. He wouldn't allow a cure to exist unless he had full control over it."

"So now what?" Nicci asked, folding her arms against her chest. "Return to the Palace and beg Darken Rahl to hand over the cure?"

"Can't you use your magic to pull the plant from the dirt?" he questioned her as he focused on the ground once more, anxious to find a portion of the plant that hadn't been turned to ash.

"It doesn't always work like that, Richard," she sighed in frustration, realizing just how close they had come and yet it wasn't nearly close enough. "I can't undo what's already been done. I can't use my magic to recreate what's been destroyed."

"There has to be a way!" he angrily growled as he turned to face her again, his brown eyes blazing with a fire lit from his very soul.

"If you're right and Rahl did do this, then he's probably already destroyed all of the Scarlett plants that grow up here in these mountains," she softly informed him, her heart breaking at the sight of tears that were attempting to replace the hope that had suddenly filled his eyes just moments ago.

"I'm sorry, but I don't know of another way," she continued. If I knew of something, Richard, I swear on my life that I would tell you. I would do anything in this world to take away the pain that I see brimming in your eyes, but I wasn't even aware of this cure until Zedd told us about it. There is nothing more we can do for them now."

Without another word, Richard turned away from her, his shoulders slumping. He was unable to bear witnessing the truth of her words that permeated her face. She was the most powerful sorceress that ever walked the earth, possessing both forms of magic, and yet even she was incapable of fixing this.

Deep down, Richard knew that Nicci was right, but accepting it as fact was something altogether different.

Finding a large rock, he sank down onto it in defeat, his sword falling from his grasp and landing on the ground. Leaning forward, he held his head in his hands. He couldn't take this any longer, couldn't take the sheer weight of responsibility that had been placed upon him as Seeker and Lord Rahl, as friend and husband.

All he had ever wanted was to be a good husband and father, to love his wife and his daughters. He just wanted to grow old with Kahlan, sharing a kind of life with her that was only written about in fairytales, and raising daughters as beautiful as their mother.

But he wasn't enough, wasn't strong enough to fix things…to stop this.

In the beginning, being named Seeker had somehow given him this glorified notion that he could fix anything. All he needed was his deadly Sword of Truth and he could right every wrong, save the good and defeat the wicked. Nothing could escape his judgment and nothing could ever be beyond repair.

He had learned soon after that, though, that he was far from infallible and that there were things that even the Seeker of Truth couldn't begin to fix. It had been a hard lesson to learn at first, but he had grown in wisdom with each obstacle he had overcome. It never kept him from giving all he had.

Scrubbing his face with his hands, he drew a ragged breath, knowing that self pity was not going to save anyone. He was where he needed to be in this life. He knew that he wouldn't forfeit it for the world because if he did, he wouldn't have met Kahlan.

And meeting her, being her husband, made every calamity in life seem so insignificant in the full light of her love for him.

He ached so deeply to feel the whisper of Kahlan's touch dancing across his skin, the heated passion behind her kisses. Spirits, she caused feelings in him that he had never dreamed humanly possible, creating an erotic almost animalistic need in him that was beyond his ability to control at times.

Just thinking of her, imaging the smile that was possessed by no one but him brought about a sudden peace in the midst of his turmoil. Running his hands back through his hair, Richard couldn't resist the small smile that touched his lips when he thought about her.

Even when she wasn't physically present with him, he carried her in his heart wherever he went, carried her love for him.

The sound of Zedd's booming voice suddenly began to filter through his mind as if the old Wizard was standing there with him now. He would be having an absolute fit right now, yelling and cursing at him as he waved his arms about as he ranted about Wizard's rules and such.

"I know, I know," he sighed to himself. "Think of the solution and not the problem."

"What did you say?" Nicci asked as she watched him. She was just about to walk over to sit beside him on the rock, to encourage him not to give up when she had noticed a faint smile touch his lips.

"Nothing," he mumbled with a shake of his head. "Just remembering the words of my grandfather."

Reaching down to retrieve his sword, Richard noticed something that he hadn't seen earlier. Sheathing his sword, he cautiously made his way to the other side of the cave, praying that he wasn't seeing things again.

Leaning down by a rock, he picked a leaf up off of the dirt floor of the cave. "Is this what the Scarlett plant looks like?"

Coming to stand beside him, Nicci took the leaf, holding it up to the glowing light of her hand. It was a rather large leaf, larger than she had expected it to be. The edges were spiked and jagged. Golden veins ran through the leaf giving it an exquisite appearance. Gliding the tip of her finger over it, she found it to have a soft, velvet like feel to it.

Turning the leaf around between her fingers, she found the back of the veins that ran the length of the leaf to be lined with tiny golden seeds.

"Richard, you found a leaf from the Scarlett plant of Adjah," Nicci looked up at him in disbelief, the corners of her red lips turning up in surprise.

Leave it to the Seeker to find a bright glimmer of light in an abysmal pool of despair.

"I'm so relieved that you said that because there's a red plant hiding here behind this rock with those exact same leaves on it," he said, a broad smile breaking across his face.

XXX

Kahlan sagged wearily against the wall, her hands chained above her head, her legs shackled to the wall. Her tongue darted out, running along her dried lips in a futile attempt to moisten them. Her jaw ached and throbbed from where Rahl had hit her. She wished she could have gotten a few more blows in before he had retaliated.

She attempted to stretch her arms, hoping to return some feeling back to her limbs. Her arms felt numb and achy from hanging above her head for so long, but it mattered little to her. All that really mattered was what Darken Rahl had done with her daughters.

All she needed to do was to touch him and he would be confessed to her. She would force him to tell her where her daughters were being held, command him to surrender his army. All that would be needed then was for Richard and Nicci to return with the antidote for the plague.

Thinking of it like that, it all seemed next to impossible, but she knew anything was possible when it came to Richard Rahl.

Kahlan was fairly certain impossible was not a word that her husband believed in just like he didn't believe in prophecy. He believed that anything could happen, anything could change. Life was not dictated for you, but was yours to influence and control.

She felt her heart constrict as her mind was suddenly filled with thoughts of Richard. She would give anything right then to see him, to feel his arms surrounding her and protecting her, his fingers tenderly running through her hair or the sound of his heart beating so full of life and love for her.

Her chin fell to her chest in defeat. He would be beside himself with rage if he knew what was happening here, how she had failed to protect their girls. She had no idea where they were even at or where they had taken Zedd.

"There's my beautiful sister-in-law, waiting ever so patiently for me to arrive."

The sound of Darken Rahl's voice filling the training room made Kahlan's skin crawl. It was oozing with deprecation mingled with something she preferred not to dwell on. She knew the intentions that lay behind the charming smile that he attempted to portray.

He tried, but failed to hide the perverse lust that simmered in his dark eyes. They may have been brothers in name, but he was nothing like Richard. They were as opposite as Creator and Keeper, making it almost impossible to believe that they had the same blood coursing through their veins.

"Where are my girls?" she hissed at him, her heated gaze attempting to burn a hole straight through him.

"You know, the angrier you get, the more beautiful you become," he praised her, coming to stand just before her.

"You know it's dangerous to antagonize a Confessor," she snapped at him, yanking on her chains in a desperate attempt to break free.

"I tend to live life dangerously. I find it's much more enjoyable that way," he smiled at her, running his fingers along her jaw. "You've got a rather nasty bruise, my dear Confessor. Want me to kiss it and make it better?"

Kahlan attempted to pull away from him, but her chains held her hands and feet fast against the stone wall. She knew that she wasn't going anywhere until he released her and he wasn't ready yet as his lips slammed against hers, forcing her head back against the stones behind her.

She forced her thoughts away from what he was doing to her at that moment, his lips on her mouth, his hands roaming over her body. She attempted to pull her knee up to push him away from her but the chains around her ankles wouldn't allow her to move.

Pulling back, Rahl smirked at her, breathing heavily as his gaze fell on her lips. "There's so much more where that came from him."

"You don't want to touch me," Kahlan gasped for air. "I've been infected with teutorigos."

"You really think that something like that is going to keep me from bedding you?" he chuckled softly. "Besides, you're not infected."

"Commander Fellows infected me when I went to visit him before he died," Kahlan smugly told him, suddenly finding herself relieved with having been exposed to the plague.

"You can't be infected with teutorigos, Kahlan," he insisted, pausing to lean against the edge of a nearby table as he crossed his arms against his chest. "Teutorigos is Death's Final Curse. You've recently given birth which is creating life. Teutorigos destroys life, you just created it. It makes you immune to the disease for a certain period of time. So I have nothing to fear from taking you to my bedchambers."

"Except for my Confessor magic," she sneered at him, relieved that she wasn't infected and yet terrified knowing that it was no longer a barrier that kept him from getting to her.

"That's won't be a problem for too much longer," he told her, waving a hand at a couple of his men standing guard in the black uniforms that now stood for the House of Darken Rahl.

"Are you going to snap a Rada'Han around my neck like some slave to do your bidding?"

"Why bother with a Rada'Han when I can just as easily take your magic from you?" he informed her, as he backed away from the table, allowing room for his soldiers.

Kahlan felt an icy chill shiver down her spine as two of Rahl's men walked in carrying a Quillian…