It was dusk and her head was throbbing. It had been days since they had slept properly. In D'Hara the sun sank below the horizon for only five hours per day, so Kahlan and Zedd were both unused to the seemingly endless sunlit hours. Kahlan could have never imagined D'Hara being so bright for most of the day. Surely someone dark, evil, and twisted like Darken Rahl could have never come from such a beautiful place. That light could come from darkness made sense, but darkness from light seemed impossible. The earth would crack open and the Keeper would arrive- well, that had already happened. The Midlands would have to find a new idiom for these sorts of exclamatory events.
Kahlan closed her eyes to escape her headache for a few fleeting seconds. When she opened them, Cara was standing in front of her. Her blonde hair hung on either side of her face, her hands were on her hips, and her aquamarine eyes focused directly on Kahlan.
"If you need to sleep you can just say so," Cara tutted. She could never understand why Kahlan was so incapable of asking for reprieve.
"I'm not tired, my head hurts," Kahlan replied. She could never wrap her head around why Cara never said exactly what she wanted to. She closed her eyes again and they burned.
Cara stepped forward and pressed her first two fingers to the base of Kahlan's skull. Kahlan's first instinct was to flinch- she always did with anyone who tried to touch her. Confessing those she hadn't meant to confess was a deeply rooted childhood fear, and for Cara confession meant death. Kahlan had killed many people in her life, but somehow she felt that Cara would hurt a little more.
But she didn't move away. Cara's hand against the soft skin on her neck stayed Kahlan's anxiety and made her sit still. Kahlan breathed out and closed her eyes as Cara's fingers pushed hard into her skin. Kahlan hissed through her teeth at the sudden pain, but then her headache melted away. Like ice in warm hands.
"That's quite a useful trick," Kahlan smiled as Cara drew away from her. The Mord-Sith had the tiniest hint of a smirk on her face as she stared at Kahlan. She always looked Kahlan straight in the eye, even if she was the Mother Confessor.
"Now you can stop looking so sad and go to sleep," Cara told her, standing up and extending an arm. Kahlan took the help and stood up with Cara. They were dangerously close for a Confessor and Mord-Sith, their chests inches away from each other, their hips aligned, just the slightest smell of Cara's hair made Kahlan's chest relax. But again, there was that polarizing field between them, just barely there. Not enough to make Kahlan exclaim, but it was there. It wasn't enough for her to stop holding Cara's hand, either. It was Cara that pulled away first, looking confused by the long touch from the confessor.
"Cara… are you repelling my magic?" Kahlan asked, which made Cara scoff in confusion.
"What?" she asked, and Kahlan's eyes stayed trained on hers. Looking into Cara's eyes there was something that was pulling her deeper and deeper.
"Nevermind. I'm going to sleep for a while," Kahlan replied with a shake of her head. Confused, Cara let go of her and watched as Kahlan laid down near the fire that was now simply embers.
When Kahlan touched her, she felt roots crawling into her hands.
Finally they had arrived at the People's Palace. Although Cara had twisted, muddled feelings towards this place now, it still felt somewhat like home. It was hard to separate yourself from your home, even if it had left you for dead. Even if Darken Rahl was one of the most terrible men she had ever known.
"Does it usually look like this?" Kahlan asked, adjusting her pack over her shoulders and standing next to Cara. The Mord-Sith had stopped to look at what had become of the People's Palace.
"No, not usually," Zedd replied in Cara's stead, looking perplexed as a scene of chaos unfolded before them. "The square is meant for devotions, not… this."
There was a crowd of hundreds of hooting and hollering people, seemingly mostly D'Harans, but the group was quite diverse. They were packed together in a giant, undulating mass. Beer was being spilled on the marble tiles below and on other onlookers. A four person brass and strings band stood on the balcony overlooking the square, where Rahl would normally perch himself for devotions. Drunks were on the balcony as well, throwing rotten food down at the others in the crowd. For whatever reason, everyone seemed to be in good spirits about it all.
Devotions had been done in this square for hundreds of years. Two times a day, two hours at a time, without fail. Of course now, since the world had fallen into unrest with Rahl being murdered by Richard, and by Richard subsequently not taking up the throne of D'Hara, there were no more devotions. And, apparently, no more order at the People's Palace.
The crowd was surrounding something that Kahlan, Cara, and Zedd couldn't see from a distance. Cara was still awestruck looking at what had become of the austere palace.
"Whatever they're doing, they might still want to come after us. Zedd and Cara- go see what's going on. I'll stay here," Kahlan told them, still worried about the Sword of Truth on her back. She wished that there was some way she could leave it behind and still keep it safe for Richard, but she was terrified at the thought of losing the Sword of Truth. The world had already waited 1,000 years for a True Seeker, and what would happen should Richard lose his instrument of power?
"Fine, let's go wizard," Cara nodded, taking a breath and walking towards the large crowd.
Master Rahl, guide us.
As she pushed carelessly through the throngs of people, her chest began to get tight. She remembered what it felt like to kneel on the cold, white marble and pray to Rahl.
Master Rahl, teach us.
When she was a little girl, still training to be a Mord-Sith and not allowed leathers, she hated Darken Rahl. She would think of all the evil things she could do to him, and once she and Dahlia were beaten for saying an unsightly version of devotions one cold afternoon.
Master Rahl, protect us.
Cara shut herself up- she couldn't be helpful to Kahlan if she was stuck in the past— In your light we thrive— In your mercy we are sheltered In your wisdom we are humbledWe live only to serveOur lives— She had to stay clear minded. Dissipate the darkness, dissipate the pain. Dissipate the darkness, dissipate-
What was there but darkness? There were lesions in the ground that bled death. Even if you were dead, you could be sent back to live an even more repulsive life. Even trekking through D'Hara, a territory untouched by war for hundreds of years, there was always that familiar, deeply upsetting green glow from the earth. And there seemed to be more and more the further they travelled into D'Hara.
"Cara, look," Zedd said, pointing to the focal point of the crowd. It snapped Cara out of her spiral and back into reality with a cold jab.
There, in the middle of everything, was a fighting ring. Money, jewelry, and precious stones were being traded to the gamble masters, some of it thrown out onto the ring. They fought right on the Rahl family crest- a large, black circle holding two R's facing back to back with a crown atop them. There was blood on the sigil, as there often was. Rahl would sometimes—
"Get up there, Mord-Sith," said a rabble rouser, then he hit Cara square in the face as she was watching the two fighters. "If you are really Mord-Sith."
Cara immediately punched him in the gut, the man falling backwards into Zedd. "Do you want to find out if I'm Mord-Sith?" The man laughed and spit into her face.
Cara couldn't help herself. Usually, Richard was there to stop her from being herself. But the stress of travel, of their situation, of reliving the past, it had all caught up to her. Cara heard Zedd's muffled attempts to stop her as she pushed the man onto the ground. She looked dead into his eyes as she took her agiel and slammed it right into his chest. Cara watched with delight as he writhed beneath her, his eyes bulging as the pain closed in on his heart.
5… 4… 3… 2… 1.
She let him go. The power of the agiel stopped screaming into his skin and he was able to breathe again. Cara got off the man and punched him in the face, leaving him with a broken nose and a mouth open like a catfish, gasping for air. Cara looked up at Zedd.
"He'll be fine. I've done worse." Hurting others always made everything clearer for Cara. She thought she had lost her edge while travelling with Richard, but she was wrong. Zedd just nodded, knowing not to get into Cara's way. He had always had a laid back approach to his three, younger travel companions, and he wasn't about to let this be the hill he could die on.
However, Zedd did groan when Cara's display caught the attention of some of the D'Haran's in the crowd. The two brawny people in the ring, bloodied and bruised, had even stopped grappling to look. Everyone was silent.
"That's a Mord-Sith! We thought we'd killed them all!"
"Bitch."
"Psychopath."
"Darken Rahl's dog."
Cara was being pushed into the ring, pulled up by one of the fighters- a tall, trim but muscular woman. Her dark, brown eyes seemed to shoot daggers into Cara. The Mord-Sith tried to struggle, but this woman took her by the hair with one hand and kicked the back of her knees with the other. Cara steeled herself- so this is how she would die. Better than old and toothless in bed. She would die so that Kahlan, Zedd, and hopefully Richard would live.
"It seems we'll have the pleasure of a revenge match," the woman shouted in Cara's ear, loud enough for the crowd to hear. Cara winced and struggled again, but the woman just yanked her hair harder. Zedd just looked on with sympathy- he couldn't exactly blast Wizard's Fire at this woman. "Would anyone like to give this Mord-Sith a taste of D'Haran strength?"
"I would," said a voice from the crowd. The cloaked figure slowly walked up to the black circle and removed their hood. It was a small man, no taller than Cara herself, with a shaved head. He had tattoos on his face, swirling designs that distracted from the burn that covered the other half of his face. On his neck there was a black, veiny mass that Cara instantly recognized.
Sometimes, the skin held onto the power of the agiel. It was known among the Mord-Sith as retention scarring. Mord-Sith rarely had them because they knew how to withstand the power of the agiel, but retention scarring not only left a nasty mark, but frequent pain flare ups that no wizard could cure.
The man wasted no time kicking Cara right in the face. The crowd cheered and threw more money onto the ring. Cara could hear the shouts of the crowd almost as if they were right beside her.
"10 on the Mord-Sith!"
"Double that for the tattooed man!"
"Make her bleed!"
Cara's blood had already christened the ring as the woman let go of her. At least this would be a fair fight.
"If you beat me, I will take it as a sign from the Creator that I do not deserve justice, and I will let you leave unharmed. If I beat you, I will kill you," the man said, taking hold of Cara's hair and lifting her head up so she would look at him. Cara laughed, blood filling the valleys between her teeth.
"If I win, you won't live."
Cara was quick to break his hold on her hair now that her hands were free. She wormed her finger in between his fist and pulled herself free, backing up a few paces and pulling out her agiels. In turn, the man released a long, serrated dagger from a sheathe on his hip.
The dance began. The man swung at Cara but she dodged, getting in a quick jab with her agiel. It seemed to hurt him, but not enough to fully incapacitate him. The screams of the agiel could barely be heard over the roaring crowd. When Cara looked out to see Zedd, he was gone. She was alone in this, and had no idea where Kahlan was. Cara would have to fend for herself.
Cara sidestepped another lunge and slammed her agiels into the man's back, sending him down to his knees. He returned the favor by pulling her down to the ground with him by hitting the back of her knees. Cara's head hit the marble and she felt her vision dim for an instant, everything sounded like it was underwater. Her blood felt cool as it seeped from her ear, but she wasn't nearly done with this man. Not yet. Cara was prepared to give her life to save Kahlan- she had told Richard so. But, somewhere along the way, she had also told herself that too. Her life didn't matter nearly as much as Kahlan's did.
Cara lifted her legs and kicked the man in the face as he came towards her, sending him reeling back and giving her enough time to get up. She stumbled a bit, her brain felt like it was sloshing around in her head. But the adrenaline pumped through her and pushed her forward.
The man got up too and swung his sword in a horizontal arch, making Cara jump back so she would miss the devilish blade. He had gotten her to the edge of the ring with nowhere to go. Everyone was shouting, it felt like the crowd was closing the circle tighter and tighter. They were forcing Cara's hand.
That's when she saw Kahlan. The Confessor seemed to have part the sea of blood-thirsty people, even in her green traveling dress. Kahlan's eyes were focused on Cara but weren't really seeing her. Kahlan's face held that stern Confessor's mask that Cara had become familiar with- stony and insurmountable. Kahlan was a different person now, but she was coming closer to the man.
Cara ran towards her opponent, held her agiels to his throat, and watched his eyes roll into the back of his head. Kahlan finished the job by sending a dagger right into his neck.
"We have to go, Cara," Kahlan told her, grabbing the Mord-Sith by the arm and pulling her into the People's Palace. The crowd didn't follow them, instead they began to fight the gamble master for their money back. It seemed that they thought it wise not to kill the only person in the three territories who was a force of law and order.
Kahlan and Zedd dragged Cara into the palace and shut the large, wooden doors behind them. It was silent as a tomb in the People's Palace. The torches were unlit, the hallways were still, and it was just the three of them there. Cara coughed as Kahlan leaned her up against a wall.
"Cara... " Kahlan said, holding the sides of her face. "You are brave."
Cara coughed again, this time with blood.
"I'm just doing my job, Kahlan."
Master Rahl, guide us.
"Well now it's time to let us take care of you. Don't be stubborn, you're really hurt," Kahlan told her, and Cara just nodded. She was attempting to manage her pain, but even a Mord-Sith would only withstand so much, especially when the pain was because something was broken. "But you have to stay awake until Zedd finishes healing you," Kahlan said, taking Cara's hand in hers. Cara could feel the warm glow of Zedd's magic as she felt the power coming back to her. Wounds were closing up, and that awful throbbing in her head began to subside.
"Give me the compass, let's see if we're right," Cara managed, although she was feeling better by the second. Kahlan rolled her eyes. "If you want me to stay awake, I need something to do."
Kahlan put the compass in Cara's hands without any further protest. The Mord-Sith opened it up and held it flat in her palm- again, despite all odds, it began to glow.
"It must be somewhere in the People's Palace, we were right," Kahlan smiled. "We did it. You did it."
In your light we thrive.
"So, you've finally come," a voice from behind them called, and the three companions felt their hearts drop down to their stomachs.