Author's note : First of all, I'd like to give my thanks to Rosewing86 who made the wonderful editing, I owe you ^_^. Secondly : Thank you for all my reviewers (including those reviewed for Oath for my lady): Rosewing86, lotsoflove36,luckyduck,Pixy101, Forever Rk, soapygirl1989, NinjaSheik, Lord Darken Rahl, and for those who put this into your subscription and make it your favurite : Pinkphanter22, liliKan, Dreamygirl1264, everybody, I love you all ! This is my new year gift for you, and I'd love to read your review, it'll make my day !
CHAPTER 2 ………………. THE SOLACE ISLAND
The thick stuffy sea air blew in heavier with each gust, giving the sail a strong push each time. The sun was overhead, sending its heat from the cloudless sky. A few trickles of sweat ran down Richard's neck, rushing like a river along his tan, muscular chest and onto his strong arms, as he paddled on the back side of the boat. Neil was paddling on the other side, his back was to Cara, who was perching like an eagle, her eyes closed, but still aware of everything going on. Kahlan sat behind Richard with her arms wrapped around her knees, trying her best to look at anything else besides the Seeker. They had been sailing for a day and a half, rested only at night when they let the wind did all the work. The sea was calm and quiet, and they were all thankful for that. The boat was holding its maximum weight and would certainly sink if even a small wave pushed on it.
"Zedd, we could use some help here!" Richard said pausing for a minute with his hands resting on the paddles. Neil had already stopped ten minutes before him, trying to calm the sharp rise and fall of his chest. The white haired wizard's only reply was a quiet scoff. His eyes remained closed and his long legs crossed, taking no head of the seeker's request.
"To be honest Zedd, you're the one that taking up most of the space. Not to mention how heavy you are, so I would highly appreciate a little concern from you"
The boat became unstable as Zedd tried to reposition himself. "I'm just an old man, what could you possibly expect from me?" he said, opening his eyes to look at Richard. The Seeker laughed sourly at his reason for everything. "Now be quiet and paddle. Consider it as exercise for your arms." Zedd finished, settling himself into a more comfortable position.
Richard was about to reply when Neil suddenly stood, carefully balanced himself and said, "There's no need to paddle anymore, we've made it!" The Seeker frowned and scanned their surrounding only seeing a never ending blue water. There was not a seagull, or any other bird above them either. " I don't see anything." he said, after scanning the horizon.
"I can feel it." whispered Kahlan, closing her eyes for a full second before opened them again, only to find Richard staring at her.
"Look!" she said, pointing at Neil who was stretching out his arm, flattening his palm against seemingly nothing, when the magical barrier was unexpectedly revealed. The soft glow of white light created a huge magnificent orb circling the island that suddenly appeared before their eyes.
"The Solace island, just as I imagined." Zedd whispered with amazement. He was about to use his Mira when Neil stopped him.
"Don't use that." He said, forcing the old wizard to pull his long arm back. The beautiful blue Mira glowed brighter and vibrated in his palm. This was something that had never happened before.
"If you use that, you can open the barrier, but your Mira will turn into dust a second after." The boy added, taking out something from inside his robe that resembled Mira, except that its light wasn't blue. It was a bright red and glowed even brighter when it hit the barrier, creating an opening. When this happened Zedd opened his right palm and an invisible surge of power pushed the boat through the hole in the barrier, and onto the shore. The white barrier closed perfectly behind them as soon as they where completely through.
"You can do that and you let me paddle the whole time?" Richard shook his head, clearly annoyed by the wizard's humored look. Kahlan fought back a chuckle and leaped off the boat after him. Neil was holding out his hand to Cara, obviously blind to the Mord Sith's dislike of him. With a grunt, she tapped her boots on the side of the boat, ignoring the boy, and jumped off swiftly, landing on her toes and proceeded to marched to the front. She stopped abruptly after a few steps as an arrow landed right before her legs. This was followed by fifteen armed men that came out of nowhere and circled them.
"Hold it!" A man said, who was wearing a dark robe. He stepped to the front, his face covered by the hood. Upon seeing Kahlan he paused, studying her for a moment before sliding the hood from his head, revealing his face.
"Kahlan? Is that really you?" he asked
"Darius?" she replied
"Spirits! It is you!" He exclaimed, smiling wildly. Suddenly, without warning, he flung his arms around the beautiful Confessor who was stunned. Zedd made no move, but his eyes looked over at Richard. He found him tense, with his hand hovering by his sword's hilt, his eyes fixed at the young man who was holding onto Kahlan so tightly that he was nearly choking her.
"I've missed you so much Kahlan!" Darius said. The Seeker cleared his throat loudly, giving Kahlan a chance to pull herself away from the bone-crushing hug.
"Master!" Neil called, fairly running to Darius who still had his hand on Kahlan's wrists, completely unaware that Richard was watching every details of his movement toward his Confessor. To Richard's dismay, Kahlan seemed to be fine with it. Richard could even see a small smile at the corner of her lips. Who the hell is this man? He thought quite annoyed. Darius turned his gaze at Neil, the young boy beamed at him, clearly joyful at his presence.
"Master, you're safe." He breathed. "I came back with help, but … but you're alright. Did they let you go?"
"So that's why you've been missing? Neil, I've been looking for you everywhere!" Darius said, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder. "There's no need to worry my boy, I've took care of them."
"Good." said Cara, who had been quiet the whole time, now stepped forward with hands on her hips, giving Darius a short glance before turned her eyes towards Richard. "Now we can leave." she said coldly.
"Leave?" Darius gaped at the Mord Sith, then at Kahlan. "You can't leave, you've just gotten here. You haven't even introduce me to your friends."
Richard nodded at this. "I believe it will be more proper for us to know each other, right, Kahlan?" He said humorlessly, covering his face with the best smile he could mustered at that time. There was something unusual about the look in his face, but Kahlan couldn't pinpoint what it was, so she returned his smile, and started introducing them one by one, starting from Richard.
"And this is an old friend of mine, Darius. We met at Thandor." She finished, ended up the introduction. Darius took no time circling his arm around her shoulder, once she was done talking. Richard started to think that he was intentionally ignoring the rest of them and paid attention only at Kahlan.
"My little Kahlan, look at you, more beautiful than I have ever imagined. How long has it been? Nearly five years!" He laughed. " Come, it will be dark soon. You and your friends can rest here tonight." He added, gesturing for the others to follow. Kahlan stole a glance at Richard while Darius urged her to go by placing a hand on her back.
"I can tell they're more than just friends " Cara said in a whisper, knowing that both men by her sides, Richard and Zedd could hear. "I suggest we leave early tomorrow and get back to our mission." She continued before taking a step forward and turned around sharply to face the Seeker, who's eyes where still fixed upon Kahlan and her friend, Darius, who were walking infront of them. "You're the most pathetic seeker I've ever seen" Cara added with a smirk.
Richard glared at her. "I'm the only seeker you've ever seen in your life, Cara."
She scoffed, turning away from him, but not before she had the final word. "I would fix the expression on your face if I were you. I'm sure the Confessor would be afraid to see the Seeker ready to murder her dear friend." Taken aback, Richard froze momentarily, forcing Zedd to look at him.
"How do I look ? " he asked, pointing his forefinger at his own nose.
The old wizard forced down a smile. "You need to take a deep breath." He commented before catching up with Cara, grumbling about being hungry and wanted to take an early dinner. Richard marched after him, catching Neil's elbow, forcing the boy to stop.
"You said your master was in danger." He said through gritted teeth.
"He was. I saw him fighting a wizard and four other men, they had him cornered! He must've fought them bravely and won."
Richard sneered once Neil had turned away. "Or there's something he's hiding…. I'm gonna find out." He thought.
* * *
Night came with dark shadows replacing the light of day. It revealed the other side of the island, which gleaming with the exotic light of hundreds of lanterns spread around the place. A joyful melody rang through the air, people were gathering with cheerful laughter. They where sitting along long tables full with food and drinks. A party was set to honor their great leader who had successfully banished the dark wizard and his men from their peaceful island, and to welcome the guests, which of course were Kahlan and the others. Darius sat on a big wooden chair, holding a mug full of gin, talking and laughing with Zedd who was seated to Darius's right, chewing a large chunk of roasted deer in his mouth, obviously enjoying the big dinner. Richard, who was sitting on Zedd's right, glancing restlessly through the crowd, searching for Kahlan who had not showed up at the party.
"Where's Kahlan? I haven't seen her, Cara is missing too." he whispered to Zedd, who then gave an almost unintelligible reply of, "They'll be here soon."
Before stuffing even more food into his already full mouth. Zedd was right. The crowd suddenly split into two, creating a way for five girls who were wearing the same red color dresses. Behind them was Cara, who looked very elegant in a dark red and black dress. Her hair was styled in a beautiful pattern, one long curl on the side and if not for the sharp glare she was giving everyone and the fake smile she was forcing, she would have looked perfect. But it wasn't Cara who caused Richard to stand unconsciously, his breath caught in his throat,
It was Kahlan.
She wore a simple white dress made from a soft linen material that bounced wildly with each of her steps. Her dark silky hair was tied with the silver ribbons and rested gracefully down her right shoulder, a few white flowers decorated the soft locks. Another flower was placed above her left ear, creating a half circle crown that suite her perfectly. The smile that graced her rosy cheeks completed it all. She was astonishingly dazzling and Richard gulped soundly. How often had he seen her in white? Yet, the way she looked today, clearly told him that heaven was real. He could have sworn he saw a glow around her, taunting him to go closer and claim her as his own.
Cara settled herself beside him, muttering something about 'I'm a mord sith, and I swear you will pay for all this troubles you caused me, seeker. I can't believe they forced me to wear this." She huffed, clearly annoyed by the men who were staring. Not to mention Neil, who suddenly decided to sit right next to her. Zedd pulled Richard by the elbow, forcing him to sit back while he leaned in and whispered roughly against the seeker's ear.
"Close your mouth Richard. You're drooling over the plate!"
Richard shut his mouth at this, and was about to go to Kahlan when Darius went to her side, taking her hand and kissed her temple. He whispered praises to the beautiful confessor and asked her for a dance. Richard could hear she tried to refuse, but the man insisted, hooking his elbow with hers, and started doing the traditional couple spin.
"I've been looking for you for more than a year before I ended up here. And now, here you are. Thank the spirits." Darius offered with a smile.
Kahlan shrugged. "How did you ended up here?"
"That's a long story. Stay, and I'll tell you everything." He surprised her by whispering in her ear. She was about to get an excuse when thankfully, Richard came and asked for her. She didn't notice the sharp glares between those two as Darius handed her to Richard and went back to his chair, taking a big sip from his mug.
"Your friend seems to claim you for himself." Richard breathed against her face, pulling her closer at the change of the music and inhaled the sweet smell of her, making him light headed.
"He's just being nice like he always has." She replied softly. "He taught me lots of things in Thandor."
"You like him." Richard stated.
Kahlan smiled at this before saying, "Yes, like my own brother."
That one word that was enough to calm him, and he let out a sigh of relief at the mention of the word 'brother'. But when he glanced over at Darius, he knew that man didn't think of her as a mere 'sister'. After a few moment, the music stopped, and they broke apart. As if to be expected, Darius came back and urged Kahlan to sit by his left, a place he had reserved just for her. She had no choice, since Cara was taking the seat next to Richard. The Seeker went back to his seat with heavy steps, irritated by the man who was acting nowhere near a 'brother' around Kahlan. If only there had still been space, he might have had a reason to take Kahlan with him.
"Don't look at me." Cara hissed. "You're the one who brought us here, now take the consequences like a man."
"Relax Richard, you're scaring me." Zedd muttered, handing him a glass of water. The Seeker took the gin instead, emptying the mug in a single gulp.
Cara rolled her eyes. "This is going to be a long night." she thought, plucking a grape from her plate and putting it in her mouth.
End of Chapter 2
So, that's the 2nd Chapter. Tell me what you all think. Give me some love……