Chapter 10

The next morning the sky was darkened by rain clouds and it was unusually windy.

While they packed their bags, Zedd began grumbling about how terrible he found sleeping outside when the weather was like that. Richard took his clue and addressed the rest of the group: 'It looks like a storm is coming. We should try to get to a nearby village. I don't want to stay in the open when the storm comes.' They nodded their agreement and quickly finished packing before leaving the clearing in the direction where Zedd had announced the next village was.

Thankfully, they didn't have to stray far from the course the compass was pointing out and after a few hours the small town came into view. The wind had become much fiercer by now, slowing their pace considerably.

Richard still felt uneasy. At first he had pushed the feeling away, telling himself it was because they had been caught off guard yesterday, but as the wind had become stronger, so had his uneasiness. He kept glancing over his shoulder, meeting Cara's gaze as the Mord'Sith was walking at the rear. She, too, seemed to sense something: her hands were at her agiels, her fingers twitching to grab them at the slightest sign of a threat. Next to him, Rachel had her hand on the grip of her sword. Kahlan, who had been talking quietly to Zedd, looked up, sensing the tension that had settled on the group. She knew Richard well enough to trust his instincts.

She made a move to reach for her daggers, but Richard saw her eyes widen as she breathed his name. Richard spun around to see what had startled her. He only caught a glimpse of red before he raised his sword to block a dacra that came flying towards him. In the blink of an eye, the group was surrounded by about a dozen Sisters of the Dark.

Rachel froze for a second when she recognized the silver weapons the women in their red robes were wielding. Images of her nightmares came before her inner eye, but she quickly shook herself, pushing them away.

She had barely drawn her sword when one of the women came running at her, holding up her dacras, ready to slash her throat. Rachel quickly parried the blow and was able to gash the women's right leg. Richard, who had been standing back to back with Rachel, swapped their positions and beheaded the Sister with one swift stroke.

Kahlan was fighting alongside Cara, the Mord'Sith mostly blocking flying dacras and stopping the Sisters that came at them, leaving the task of dispatching them to the Confessor.

Zedd's Wizard's Fire killed the remaining two Sisters and there was a moment of tension while everyone carefully watched the surroundings for any more enemies.

Finally, Richard sheathed the Sword, the others taking it as a sign they could lower their weapons, too. He gave Cara a quick nod, silently thanking her for protecting Kahlan.

It was Rachel who broke the silence, her voice shaking slightly: 'Who were these women? And what kind of weapons were those?' The horror in her eyes was evident, but only Richard guessed what Rachel really meant: He had a feeling; or rather he was quite certain that Rachel had seen these weapons in her nightmares.

Zedd began to explain: 'They are Sisters of the Dark, sworn to serve the Keeper. They are wielding dacras, deadly weapons with which they can take a person's magic and use it for themselves. Not seldom are their dacras poisoned with dark magic.'

Richard raised an eyebrow, looking concerned: Rachel had become pale at Zedd's explanation. He figured she wouldn't want to talk about her nightmares in front of the whole group, so he made a mental note to talk to her later.

After a few moments, Rachel spoke again, her voice still a little shaky as she addressed Zedd: 'Could it be that these Sisters were the ones who gave the banelings the poison they used against me?'

'We can't know for sure, but I think it would make sense.' the Wizard answered.

Now that the fight was over, they realized how strong the wind had become. The first drops of rain were already coming down as Richard looked up at the quickly darkening sky. 'We should get going before the storm is here.'

They pulled up their hoods and walked off towards the village, leaning forward against the wind.

XXX

Luckily, the village hadn't been as far away as it had appeared when they first saw it, and the group reached a small inn before the storm came. Upon seeing Richard the innkeeper had insisted on offering them a hot meal along with his best rooms.

Now they were sitting by the fireside in the guest room, which was, to their surprise, quite clean and friendly. The howling of the wind drowned the cackling of the fire as the group ate their meal. The innkeeper's wife, Leanne, a woman of about forty years, kept the pots that contained various sorts of food filled until even Zedd had finished and leaned back with a content sigh.

Cara rolled her eyes at the wizard, which made the rest of the group grin.

Their conversation afterwards consisted mostly of Zedd recounting some of their funnier adventures, tending to emphasize the fact that it had been mostly him to save the day when something had gone wrong. Richard felt a little more at ease when he saw Kahlan even smiling a little about the Wizard's storys, although she still kept more quiet than usual.

Occasionally, when there was silence, they sat back and listened to the storm that was still raging outside. The inn was empty except for them, as the villagers had retreated to their own houses when the storm came.

One after another, Zedd, Kahlan and Richard wished them goodnight and went up into their rooms, leaving Cara and Rachel sitting alone by the fire in silence.

After a while, when Rachel stifled another yawn, Cara asked: 'Why aren't you going to bed?'

Rachel turned her head and lifted her gaze from the flames she had been staring into for the last hour, to look Cara in the eye: 'I'm not tired.'

Cara raised her eyebrow and mumbled something like: 'Of course.'

Feeling a sudden rise of anger at the Mord'Sith's teasing, Rachel snapped: 'You know you are not exactly the person I would like to tell, but seeing you are so annoyed with me, I will tell you: I don't want to sleep.' When Cara looked at her, Rachel thought for a moment she would apologize, but the Mord'Sith quickly regained her stoic composure and asked calmly: 'And why is that?' Apparently she was really curious now, despite her calm voice.

The look in Rachel's eyes became distant and Cara was surprised to see the fear so clearly reflect in her blue eyes. She could hear Rachel struggling to maintain a calm voice when the woman answered.

'Because of the nightmares.'

'Nightmares?' Cara looked at her in disbelief, barely holding back a smirk.

Rachel had tears in her eyes, partly because of her fear of the nightmares but also because she was angry at Cara. But then, Cara was still a Mord'Sith, so what could she expect from her? Rachel sighed at her own stupidity for even bringing up the subject and, instead of responding, got up, turning towards the staircase.

Cara's voice stopped her: 'Wait.' Rachel turned around and Cara could see the haunted look on her face.

'What?' Rachel snapped; under normal circumstances, she would never have reacted like this, but she felt miserable and thus grew angry at the Mord'Sith's mocking when she would normally have dismissed or even smiled about it.

Cara's voice was still calm when she asked: 'What are they about?'

Rachel was silent for some moments before answering.

'I see Richard dying… and I can't do anything. I can only stand there, and watch him die.' Rachel had said the last words in barely more than a whisper before turning around and running upstairs, leaving Cara sitting there, stunned.

The Mord'Sith had expected a lot, but not this. It took her a while to realize why she felt so uncommonly upset about Rachel's words: The thought of Richard dying was something that she didn't like. Cara would never have admitted it loud, but a small part of herself agreed with Rachel that his death would come terribly close to a nightmare.

XXX

Rachel sat on her bed, in the room she shared with Cara. Her hair was still damp after she had washed it; it had been more to keep herself busy than to actually clean it.

She tried her best not to give in to her exhaustion and simply crawl under the soft, warm blankets. She didn't want to sleep: her fear of her nightmares had become worse since the fight with the Sisters of the Dark, since she had first seen that her nightmares were not made up. How could she dream of a weapon which actually existed but she had never seen before? The only possible explanation had come to her a while ago, but it seemed unlikely at the time: A vision of the future. Now, however, the more Rachel thought about it, the more likely it became.

After a while, Cara entered the room. She looked at the woman sitting on her bed, her legs pulled up to her chest, and her arms around them. Rachel had been staring ahead blankly, and Cara was surprised at herself about how much she understood Rachel.

When she felt the Mord'Sith glance at her, she locked eyes with her for a second before turning her head away again.

Cara, after undressing herself and putting on the nightgown that had been laid out for her, went to bed silently, lying on her side to watch the door of their room. It was a habit she wouldn't give up so easily, even if it seemed unnecessary to others.

Rachel listened to the rain pattering against the window on the other side of the room. She felt her eyelids becoming heavier, fluttering close every once in a while. The howling of the wind had stopped, and the sound of rain sounded distant to her ears as she slowly drifted off to sleep, unable to stay awake any longer.

XXX

'No!' Cara was immediately wide awake when she heard Rachel scream. She jumped to her feet and was about to grab her Agiels as she searched the room, but she couldn't find anything dangerous. Her eyes came to rest upon Rachel, realizing why she had screamed.

Rachel sat in her bed, her eyes wide, staring at the wall without seeing it. Cara carefully approached her, and looked into her face which was lightened by the moonlight coming through the window. Tears were running down Rachel's cheeks. Between her sobs, Cara could only make out a few words. Rachel was begging someone to stop, to not kill him.

The Mord'Sith cupped Rachel's chin and turned her head towards her. Rachel blinked a few times, and then she looked Cara directly in the eye, wide awake, her heart still beating rapidly. She tried to control her breathing as she wiped her tears away with shaking hands: 'I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you.'

For a short moment, Cara's features softened: 'Never mind.'

Rachel looked at her in disbelief. She had never before heard the Mord'Sith speak in a compassionate tone. Cara, realizing she had just let her emotions show, quickly got up and added in a superior tone: 'Mord'Sith are trained to be alert even in their sleep. You didn't startle me.'

With that she walked over to her bed and lied down again, her back turned towards a still stunned Rachel.

She sat in her bed, and watched Cara's sleeping form, while thinking about what to do. Rachel decided to get up, knowing she wouldn't get any more sleep that night anyway. She looked around and caught sight of a comfortable looking bathrobe hanging over the slightly opened door of the wardrobe. As quietly as she could, Rachel walked over and slipped the robe on, looking down at herself to make sure it concealed her wearing only a nightgown. Rachel also put on the slippers she found inside the wardrobe before leaving the room and closing the door carefully behind her.

A/N:

Here's the new chapter. I hope you liked it.

I would like to ask you to reread Chapters 6 and 7. I have only made some little changes there, but they are quite important, so if you can spare the time, please do so :)

Thanks for reading,

Alex