Chapter Twenty-Four

Kahlan watched as her new husband ran over to Cara, Dahlia stood a little behind her, and Kahlan was thankful for the warm hand on her shoulder. She had been extremely worried about Cara, and the fact that Nikolas had been so useless was distressing, though understandable. Cara grimaced, and Kahlan began to smile, she was waking up, and she would be fine.

"Darken." The name confused Kahlan, and when Dahlia's hand slipped off her shoulder, Kahlan saw Nikolas backing away. "No wait, the eyes are all wrong, you can't be him." Cara spoke out loud.

She turned her head to look at the other people surrounding the bed as Nikolas slowly walked back toward her. "Kahlan." She said, smirking. "Dahlia." She sounded a little confused, but her smile was bigger. "A man who looks a lot like a Rahl." Cara furrowed her brow a little. "And last," she turned to look at Captain Meiffert, "a random D'Haran soldier." Her confusion was surprising, and Kahlan was starting to think something was really wrong.

"Kahlan," Cara turned back to Kahlan, her voice becoming more serious. "Richard sent me."

Kahlan opened her mouth and let out a gasp. Cara's strange behavior made since now. She probably wouldn't know who Benjamin was if Richard hadn't, and Richard had said Nikolas had died when he was a baby in their world.

"Richard." Nikolas sounded angry, and Kahlan remembered that he had no idea what was going on, and neither did Dahlia. "Richard killed me!"

This other Cara looked to Kahlan, a confused expression on her face. "Nikolas, there are some things we need to explain to you." He looked angry, but he stopped talking. "Richard . . . About a month ago . . . he – I don't know how to explain this." Kahlan gave up, and looked at Cara.

"Lord Rahl." Captain Meiffert spoke, his voice cracking. "There are two different worlds, ours and theirs. One day, the Richard Rahl from this world disappeared, and there was another Richard, a Richard Cypher lets call him for clarity, but he was a Rahl. This new Richard Cypher, the Mother Confessor, Mistress Cara, and I went on a . . . a quest to get him home, and we did, but when Richard Rahl came back, Cara killed him, so the Mother Confessor took over, and now you and she share the power."

Nikolas looked even angrier. "You expect me to believe that there are two different worlds, where everyone we know exists?"

"Well, I'm from there, so yes, I was hoping you would believe it." Cara did not look amused by Nikolas's disbelief. "Who is this boy?" She asked Kahlan.

"Cara – " Kahlan tried to tell her, but Nikolas interrupted.

"I am Nikolas Rahl, the current Lord Rahl of D'Hara, and husband of the Mother Confessor, and son of Darken Rahl."

"You married him?" Cara asked Kahlan, as she laughed.

"Cara you don't understand." Kahlan said. "He's . . . He's your son."

Cara stopped laughing. "No. My son is dead. This is the other Cara's son, and I will not act like he's mine. I did not participate in the act of creating him, so he is not mine." Cara sighed. "Richard didn't tell me about this."

"Why are you here?" Nikolas asked. "If you aren't from our world, whatever that means, then why are you here? Why has Richard Cypher sent you?"

"Oh, well, the world is going to end."