The Bess
Part 28
It was night already when Cara began to pack things they were going to take to their journey. Outside was snowing. She had to take fur coats, heavy fur boots, a tent and many other necessary things to protect them from cold weather. She knew intimately winters in the north were harsh.
"Mommy, should I take a green woollen dress or a grey one?" Aisha appeared before the woman with a dress in each hand.
"I told you not to call me that!" With these words Cara raised her hand to slap the girl hard across the face. Aisha closed her eyes tight and drew herself together ready for the blow but the hand stopped in an inch from her face. "Go to sleep!" The Mord'Sith told the child in a very calm voice. She had to control the emotions, anger that was inside. The woman took both dresses from girl's hands: "Go to sleep! We're living at dawn."
"Yes, Mistress Cara," Aisha replied softly. It hurt her deep inside. I didn't matter what she could have done. She was a bess nothing more and nothing less, even in her mother's eyes. She climbed her bed that was above Cara's and curled into a ball trying to be as quiet as she could though her soul was crying.
It was true. Cara blamed the girl in everything that happened. Kahlan was taken because of her. Richard was confessed because of her. Zedd nearly died in the battle. Many men died in the fight with those creatures. Did it say that they were former besses? How many women did Lord Dracul bed? How many besses he produced to this world? They decapitated 9 beasts but at least 20 or maybe more flew away with the Mother Confessor! Richard was stung by the creature and who knows where he was crying in pain right now and nobody could help him. Those soldiers were confessed too. Their souls were taken just because the bess stood close to Kahlan! But it wasn't like that. Cara knew that it wasn't her child's fault. Everything was her fault. Hers only. She nearly smacked Aisha for what?! For being born to this world? If it wasn't Cara in the first place nothing would have happened. Why then she threw all the blame on an innocent child if she was the reason of this war.
The candle has burnt down when the Mord'Sith realized heavy tears of anger rolling down her cheeks. She still fiddled the dresses in her hands crying in despair because of her friends. She cried her heart out. She was the reason of the disaster. Aisha saw her mother crying only once, when they were tortured in the Mord'Sith's temple by Lord Dracul. Those tears were caused by physical pain. They flew because a person couldn't control her eyes when the pain tore the body apart. Now she was afraid to see the woman-warrior like that. Girl tucked her head under the pillow not to hear barely audible sobs. The child didn't know what to do. She wanted to disappear, to vanish only not to hear the only person who maybe even cared for her cry like that.
In the morning the Mord'Sith's mood was ferocious as always. She barked at the girl to get dressed. When Aisha asked her if she could see Renn, Cara gave her a killing look so that the girl just shut up and quickly disappeared in the room to take some things. To her relief Verna and Warren saw them off, so the girl had an opportunity to send the presents to the friends. She gave Verna a carved soldier with a sword made of wood for Eric, a rug doll for Rachel and a rag patchwork cat for Renn.
"Creator be with you, child!" Verna blessed Aisha and kissed her forehead.
"Take care and listen to the adults!" Warren hugged her at parting.
Cara, Zedd and Aisha mounted the horses and went out from the cave city into thick snow. The weather was calm. Big flakes of snow came down from the sky. It was snowing heavy. In several minutes Verna and Warren lost sight of the travelers and went back into the cave city. In the evening three travelers realized that their clothes soaked from melting snow that got into the hoods and then little trickles ran down their necks. They felt sullen like drowned rats. They haven't found even hints that would lead them to Richard and confessed soldiers. Thick snow covered all the tracks and Zedd tried every spell he knew to find them but in vain. The wind started and it was getting colder. They decided to pitch a tent and dry their drenched garments. The wizard used his powers to pitch the tent and make a fire even with wet branches Aisha found under the snow. Cara took care of horses. Silently they chewed the stew inside the tent and hoped that tomorrow would give them something on Richard.
Stork Castle, the Old World
When Kahlan was dragged into a cell in the dungeon she felt relief. They didn't killed her just put a Rada Han over the neck. She wore it before, so she knew what to expect. She was too tired from a long flight with those creatures. Her limbs were sore. The woman was tired, very tired from the fight, from the Con Dar that effected her during the fight. It took a lot of her confessor's power. Kahlan remembered every single detail of the fight. She remembered confessing Richard and one of the beast stinging him with its tail. Her heart sunk. Kahlan enslaved the man she adored, the man, whose child she was with, the man who loved her maybe more than she did. Now her only hope was Cara and Zedd. If Darken finds out about her child… She didn't want to think about it. The woman felt dizzy and broken. Tears blurred her vision. She sobbed herself to sleep, to forget about this horrible day.
Somewhere in the woods, three days later
"Look! What is it?" Cara got down from her horse. Zedd did the same. They both stared at strange footsteps that suddenly turned into animal tracks. "Is it a trick or something?" The Mord'Sith still didn't want to absorb what she was looking at.
"I don't think so," the wizard replied also puzzled. "Whatever it is, it is a human being then an animal."
"Thank you for the explanation otherwise I wouldn't get it!" Cara snapped at the old man.
"Wolves!" the girl cried trying not to fall from a scared mare.
"Aisha, drive the horses away!" The Mord'Sith yelled unsheathing the agiels.
The girl drove her mare towards two scared animals. She made an attempt to turn around which was successful and she galloped deep into the woods. Two horses followed the leading rider.
Zedd got two wolves with the wizard's fire and Cara was fighting other two. Aisha could hear the screams of dying animals. It took five minutes to eliminate a pack of wolves. Zedd was taking his breath when Cara called him.
"There are not wolves!" She exclaimed staring at the dead body of a man lying on the snow. "This is lieutenant Klag from the Resistance!"
"It can't be!" the old man was astonished to see the man he knew too well.
"Though it's him!" Cara pointed at the dead body with her agiel. "Maybe it is an explanation of the tracks we've seen."
"Yeah. These wolves are the men that Kahlan confessed. It is possible that the poison of those chimeras causes people to become wolves." The old man supposed.
"It is not possible, it's real. Aisha also has claws and fangs when she turns. Poison makes their turning final. They become wolves." The blonde woman concluded.
"That's why we couldn't find them until now. Wolves move faster. Though I still don't know how to explain why human footprints mashed into animal tracks. Remember, we've found such anomaly earlier." Zedd went on thinking.
"I don't give a damn about it! All I know that Richard can be a wolf! I also don't know how to help him with that." Cara kicked a snowdrift angrily.
"We'll figure out how to deal with it, I promise," Zedd put a hand on her shoulder.
Stork Castle, the Old World
A week has passed since the day of her kidnapping. Kahlan lived in the dungeon's cell. She made attempts to escape but unsuccessful. Guard were too attentive, door and locks too tricky, walls too thick and she was too ill with her child and Rada Han over her neck to fight properly. Nobody came to see her. Nobody wanted to mock at her. It seemed like she didn't exist. Guards treated her good. Food was bearable. Every evening a guard brought a bucket of water and a basin for her to wash. Without words they took her night pot away every day. She tried to speak to her guards but they seemed as if being death. They behaved not like people as if their will was taken away as if they were dolls. The woman also noticed that they didn't talk with each other either. She lived in a complete silence. The only sounds she could hear was mice' squeaking and wind's howling outside the window. She entertained herself by singing songs many of them too sad not to cry. So, she sat there alone in front of a small window of thick glass and heavy bars, sang a ballad and cried longing for Richard and Cara to find her.
It freaked her out when the door flung open and Nicci appeared before her.
"How are you, Kahlan? Are they treating you right?" Nicci asked venomously.
"Yes, your guard are good. They do their work well. What's wrong with them anyway?" Kahlan stood up from her hard wooden bed.
"Silent and hardworking almost like ants, don't you think?" Nicci stepped inside the cell.
"What did you do to them?" Kahlan asked this time her voice was full with emotions.
"It's pity they won't exist for long. All of them are dead corpses. I made a potion that can revive dead person. They aren't banelings who claim souls of living people to stay alive. They are just corpses with no soul, no mind, no emotions, nothing. They don't eat, they don't drink but they fulfill every task a commander orders them to do. We call them puppets." Nicci walked around the room. "Great army, isn't it? Though the potion lasts for 10 days when they're just dust."
Kahlan gulped. She didn't know how to react on that. All of these days she lived among dead corpses. The thought of it freaked her out.
"What do you want from me?" the dark haired woman asked but she already knew the answer.
"I want to take your Han." Nicci attacked Kahlan trying to unlock the Rada Han.
They fought each other ferociously beating and kicking and slapping. They end up rolling on the floor when Darken Rahl came into the room.
"Nicci, what are you doing here?!" He whispered in her ear holding her firmly in his arms. She struggled to set herself free. "Answer me!"
"This bitch attacked me when I came to talk!" Nicci was trying to catch her breath.
"Is she or is it you who tried to get her Han!" Rahl pushed the blonde woman to the wall. He did with effort so her back bumped hard across the wall. "I told you not to show up here! I don't need any damage it can cause my child!" he slapped her across the face. "Do you understand?!"
"Yes, my Lord. That whore is with child too." She told him.
Darken turned around to see Kahlan's pale face. He was surprised.
"At last! You've got guts to confess the Seeker! You know Nicci, this world is getting better and better!" Darken laughed.
To be continued…
I would like to receive some comments. Thank you!
