Denna paced, circling around the small room that she used as a torture chamber for her pets. She was getting rather angry that it was still empty. It had been five days since Richard charged madly out of the city and began chasing Kahlan. Either he was dead, or had failed to complete his task. With the rate it was taking him to finish his mission, Denna hoped it was the former. Taking this long was unacceptable.
Under normal circumstances, she would have thought nothing of the delay. It often took much time to travel place to place, with various circumstances and situations that would stand in the way. However, she knew that Kahlan couldn't have gotten too far, and she also knew that Richard was rather fast. Perhaps she had underestimated the Mother Confessor once again. Denna would be very displeased if her prize was killed by the likes of a Confessor.
Denna had felt very accomplished when she had finally broken Richard. He had been the hardest of her pets to train - the most persistent in his love for another. It took her many hours of pressing her agiel deep into his skin and belittling him for Richard to finally break under the pressure. Kahlan had been held in the dungeons while Denna finished her goal, and the dark haired woman was quickly brought up to be slaughtered by Denna's new pet. However, it hadn't went the way she had planned.
That was the first time she underestimated Kahlan. She had expected Kahlan to wither away, to accept her fate at being killed at her love's hands, but instead she struck back, knocking Richard to the ground and maneuvering through the guards. In a split second, Kahlan had managed to escape and be well out of the palace before Denna could comprehend what was happening. She immediately ordered Richard to kill her - at any costs.
Denna sighed as she heard the door behind her scrape open, nervous footsteps stumbling in. She turned her head slightly, her blonde braid swinging.
"Yes?" Denna was in no mood to hear what the scared little soldier had to say, her mind wandering off to Richard and his whereabouts. She glanced back at the man and saw him staring at the ground, her attitude becoming even more sour. "Out with it."
"Lord Rahl is coming to view your progress, he says he is quite enthused about seeing the Seeker broken and loyal to D'Hara." The young man stammered, realizing very quickly that the Seeker was not in the room and that the Mord'Sith was highly irritable. He swallowed.
"Excellent." Denna spat, tugging on the chains that formerly held Richard. She glared at the man. "Is there anything else you have yet to say, you incompetent fool?" The soldiers eyes went wide as he shook his head, quickly scurrying out of the room, leaving Denna to her thoughts. "Just excellent," she muttered under her breath.
If Richard was not going to succeed in the simplest of tasks, then she would have to send someone more able and up to the deed. Lord Rahl would have his loyal Seeker, Denna was going to make sure of it.
xx
Kahlan gasped as she saw the arrow coming towards her, her body jerking to the side as she watched Richard run towards her at full speed, going straight for his sword. The arrow scraped across her cheek as her body turned, dodging the main blow. Kahlan gathered her wits and abandoned her previous notions, grabbing a dagger from her boot and throwing it at Richard's running form, his knees buckling and falling to the ground. She had hit him in the soft flesh by his shoulder - but not his heart. Kahlan sighed in relief.
She had been well aware that someone was observing her, and she was positive it had been Richard. What she didn't expect was an arrow to be shot in her direction, straight into her forehead. Kahlan pressed her palms into the ground, pushing herself up as her head cocked towards Richard, who was staring at the dagger embedded into his flesh. He was obviously shocked that she had struck against him, especially with a weapon.
Kahlan took the opportunity and scrambled towards his sword, wrapping her hand around the hilt as she used it to support her weight as she stood. Richard was only a few feet away from her, his brown eyes looking intently at her. They weren't as cold and harsh as they had been the other night in the wayward. Kahlan swallowed past the lump in her throat, hoping to rid of her dire need to embrace him. She gripped the sword tighter, her knuckles becoming white.
Richard looked down at the dagger. It hadn't be a deadly blow, and he knew if Kahlan wished to have killed him with her weapon, she would have. He was sure his left arm would be incapacitated for a period of time, no doubt displeasing his mistress. A part of him wished she had aimed to kill. It infuriated him that his sword was just out of reach. If Richard could touch a small amount of it's rage, he'd be able to kill Kahlan without so much as a second thought. He was now rendered helpless against her, his emotions quickly overwhelming him. The sword being near was enough for him to push away such loving thoughts of her, push away the need to comfort her.
The steel wasn't too deep in his skin, but it hadn't helped that he ran straight into the blow. Richard wrapped his fingers around the handle, slowly pulling out the weapon and letting it fall to the ground. Kahlan glanced at the discarded weapon and then redirected her gaze towards Richard.
"You're abandoning your weapon," she drawled out, unsure of how to react. Her grip on his sword never loosened.
"No, I'm abandoning your weapon." Richard stated, taking a step forward as Kahlan took two steps back. He gestured to the sword. "I would very much like to have my weapon back." He wasn't surprised when she shook her head at him.
"Not a chance, Cypher." Kahlan took another step back, flinching when her back hit a tree. Richard didn't move towards her, keeping his distance a few feet away. "Giving this back to you would be my destruction." Richard smiled as he nodded at her, Kahlan's blood running cold.
Kahlan's eyes diverted to his bleeding flesh, suddenly feeling a pang of sorrow that she knew she shouldn't regard. However, all she wanted to do now was heal him. She blinked furiously, attempting to prevent the tears from forming in her eyes. She failed.
"Why haven't you killed me?" Kahlan asked, her voice small and wavering.
"I've tried," His voice was softer than she had expected.
"I've seen you kill many, you had the chance to end my life last night. Why am I so difficult for you to kill?"
"My feelings for you hinder my abilities. It's much easier forme to draw off of the wrath of my sword to dispel them than it so for me to do so without it." Richard was surprised with how truthful he was being with her, how he had openly admitted that he couldn't kill Kahlan without his sword. He hoped she would realize the implications of that and find a way to keep it from him, even if he'd try to get it back with his dying breath.
Kahlan blinked, she was speechless. "But your mistress demanded it." Her voice was shaky, her mental state slowly deteriorating.
"That she did," Richard took a step forward and Kahlan froze, her body going into a state of automatic panic. She didn't want to kill Richard. Her wavering stance on the subject made her feel sick to her stomach. Richard was only a step away from her when Kahlan made a desperate attempt to draw him back from his broken state.
"I lied," She stammered, her words rushed and her blood racing through her veins. Richard stopped.
"What?" He cocked his head to the side, his hands clasped behind his back.
"About not feeling the same towards you," Kahlan eyed him nervously. "I lied." Richard felt his heart beat faster, his mind racing. Even though Denna controlled him, his emotions ran freely and he now wanted nothing more than to steal Kahlan away and isolate them from the world. His inner struggle between Kahlan and Denna was tiring. Denna would win because of torture, Kahlan would win because of love. At that moment, the love controlled him more than the pain did.
"You lied?" Richard asked incredulously. She nodded, her grip on the Sword of Truth finally slackening. This was the last attack she had in her arsenal, the last thing she could do to try and bring the man she loved back to her - the man she had rejected. If she had never pushed him away, never left, then he wouldn't be broken, wouldn't be hunting her.
Richard blinked, his eyes now scanning the ground. One of the motivating factors of killing her was the fact that he felt she hadn't wanted him. He pulled the hurt and sorrow from that and combined it with the rage of his sword, intermingling the two into a deadly mixture that demanded blood. Now that he knew she felt the same, he could no longer thrive off of those feelings. The only thing he could draw on now was the fact that Denna had commanded it - but he knew that wouldn't be enough. Maybe she was lying to save her life. When Richard looked back at her, the previous thought was abandoned. Kahlan's eyes were filled with tears, the moisture streaking down her face. She dropped the sword and let out a whimper.
Despite his best efforts not to, Richard closed the distance and wrapped his arms around her, allowing her to sob into his skin. The contact only made her cry more, her body shaking with the effort. His embrace was numb, his mind reluctant but his heart willing. Richard continued to hold her until he felt her body relax, the tears no longer hitting his skin. He pulled back, letting his arms drop to the side as she wiped her face.
"I will kill you if you do not kill me." Richard said, looking into Kahlan's pained eyes.
"I could never kill you," she breathed out, clenching her eyes shut. Kahlan fully expected him to grab the sword she had dropped, but he took another step back instead.
"You must find the strength, Kahlan. Soon you will have to kill me if you wish to live."
"No!" She yelled, her hands curled into fists. "You can resist it, you just did!"
"I don't know why, but my bond with you seems to be altering my bond with Denna. When I get back to her, she will surely beat me into submission once again, and I will no longer need the Sword of Truth to draw out anger. I do not wish to kill you, but I can not disobey my mistress either. Not again. I will pay highly for this betrayal." Richard leaned down and picked up the dagger he had dropped earlier, tucking the blade into his belt. A reminder of his love. "I still love you Kahlan, but I'm torn, conflicted. Even the strongest men break under a Mord'Sith. If you claim to feel the same way towards me, you need to know that when the time comes - you'll have to kill me."
Kahlan shook her head, not believing what she was hearing. The whole time he had been chasing her, his sword had always been in hand. Perhaps he was right. It seemed probable that he drew his hate and anger from the sword, allowing him to feel no remorse and blindly charge at her with the intent to kill. She now possessed the sword. He made no attempt to reclaim it - not yet, anyways. Kahlan picked the sword off the ground, shifting it in her hand until it was comfortable.
Richard took a step forward, guiding the blade with his hand and resting the weapon's tip on the flesh above his heart. "Do it now and save the heartache time will cause." Richard's eyes pleaded with her, his mouth unable to say all the words he wished to tell her. Kahlan shook her head, trying to pull her hand away. Richard's hand shot out and grabbed her wrist. Kahlan froze under his touch.
Richard held her there for a moment before letting go of her and stepping backwards, allowing Kahlan's arm to drop and the sword to hang at her side. She watched him with blurry vision as he walked away from her.
Kahlan stood in the same position until night came, her mind racing and reeling. Her body finally collapsed, her tears coming in never ending torrents.