EPILOGUE

Sebastian was the first to see Richard's body floating in the waters of the new River Cordacan. He rushed forward, shouting and splashing as he waded into the chest deep water to retrieve the unconscious hero.

Dragging him to the new bank of the river, Sebastian was shocked to see the extent of the Seeker's wounds. His arms, chest and face were blistered and burned, and Sebastian was uncertain he would survive. Even if he did, he knew the Seeker would have scars for the rest of his life.

The D'Haran troops surrounded Sebastian, hands resting on the pommels of their swords. Sebastian looked at them, disbelieving.

"What! What do you want! He just saved us all, and, and..." his voice trailed off as the D'Harans looked at each other guiltily. Sebastian knew that he could not stop them, that if they wanted the Seeker they would take him. "Your lieutenant, he was --"

"Our lieutenant is dead," one of the soldiers interrupted. It was the scout who had pulled Richard up the wall. "We have to take the Seeker. It's not our choice, it's our orders."

"Damn your orders!"

The D'Harans shuffled their feet and cast anxious glances at each other. All sensed that this was wrong, but no man amongst them wished to say it. They were soldiers, their loyalty was to D'Hara, and defined by their ability to follow orders without question.

"Don't make this harder than it must be. We'll let you go. We'll tell Commander Voltarro you were the Seeker's prisoner."

Sebastian looked at the scout, wishing he was a braver man. Wishing that he had the strength to pick up the Seeker's sword and defend him. He knew that he did not have that strength, nor would it matter if he had: the D'Harans outnumbered him 12 to 1.

"Why would you lie to our commander?"

Sebastian and the soldiers looked up in surprise as Bullant staggered out of the blasted and flooded forest, his arm hanging limply at his side. His face was bloodied and battered, but he had survived. His men let out a ragged cheer and he smiled, though doing so made him wince with pain.

"Sir? What about the Seeker?"

"The Seeker? It is a shame we arrived at the ruins too late and missed him. Clearly he is the one who released the Rourazar. Thankfully this man -" Bullant nodded towards the Seeker. "- a simple son of the Midlands, has done a great service to D'Hara today and helped us defeat the beast. It would hardly be reasonable to throw him in chains now, would it?"

A murmur passed through the assembled soldiers, and one by one they nodded in agreement. These men were loyal to D'hara even to death, but beyond their loyalty to their Empire was their loyalty to the army, and to each other, and to their commanding officer. Every day these men trusted Bullant with their lives, and they had no intention of questioning his leadership now.

Bullant staggered to the Seeker's side and looked down at Sebastian. "Take him away from here, get him somewhere safe."

Richard's eyes fluttered and he stirred. He looked up at Bullant and gestured for the soldier to kneel down.

"Thank you," he whispered hoarsely.

"No Seeker, thank you. You have saved the world today, and opened my eyes to the possibilities of that world."

Richard coughed, his whole body trembling with pain. Now that the battle was over he was ready to collapse, all of the wounds that he'd ignored in the heat of battle now threatened to overwhelm him.

"You could come with us Bullant. The resistance needs men like you."

"Mind yourself, Seeker. I am a loyal son of the Empire, and will not turn my back on D'hara. You have caused me to question if Darken Rahl is truly the right man to lead us, but the red and black flows through my veins. I'm letting you go, don't ask me for more."

"Fair enough," Richard coughed. "You've opened my eyes as well."

Bullant rose and saluted Richard. "Farewell Richard. I hope that if we meet again, it is not on the field of battle. It would cause my heart great sorrow if I had to cut you down."

Richard chuckled, his laugh quickly turning to a spasm of pain. "I hope it never comes to that."

Bullant turned back to his men. "Leave horses for our friends, then mount up. The sun rises soon enough, and we must return to the garrison."

His men moved quickly, and within the hour they were gone, leaving Sebastian to help Richard onto the back of a horse.

"Where do we go now?"

"Gyrfalcon." Richard sagged in his saddle, his words were soft mumbles. "I need to find Zedd and Kahlan. I realized something while I was fighting the Rourazar."

"What's that?"

"The strange mark on the map, the one I didn't recognize. It's the location of the tower. I know where it is now."

"And you realized this while you were fighting that thing?"

Richard smiled weakly and nodded. "Its strange the ideas that come into your head when you're trying not to think of anything but the moment."

Sebastian nodded, agreeing with the point. Richard suddenly slumped forward in the saddle, dropping his reins.

"Richard? Richard!"

Richard blinked and his head came up. "What?"

"You passed out."

"Yeah." He handed the reins of his horse to Sebastian. "I'm going to do that for a little while now."

Richard drifted off into unconsciousness. Sebastian took his reins and looked worriedly at the Seeker, and the long road ahead of them. He prayed that Richard would survive the journey.

THE END

While this story is finished, the Ancient Magics Saga

will continue soon in the upcoming story "Sorceress,"

as Richard, Kahlan and Zedd seek out Sinthra's Tower...

and find themselves the victims of a terrible trap!

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