Chapter 13

When they came back to their camp, Richard and Cara only found Zedd and Rachel. Richard frowned and gave his grandfather a questioning look, but he shrugged: 'I haven't seen her since she left; a short time before you went off to go hunting.'

His words caused Rachel to look up and meet Richard's gaze. Something was wrong, and they didn't need words to come to the same decision at the same time.

'I will go search for her.' He had barely finished his sentence when Rachel got to her feet and responded: 'I'll come with you.'

Zedd agreed with a short nod, and Richard and Rachel left him and Cara at the camp in case Kahlan came back.

It didn't take Richard long to find her tracks. They followed them until they came to a small hill. Richard recognized it immediately. His heart began to beat faster as he took a few steps up the hill, confirming his suspicions, while Rachel waited at the foot of the hill.

'She came up here, but her tracks are leading down the hill again.' he informed Rachel after reaching her side again.

He looked around for a moment, searching for her trail. Spotting it, he started off, running, following the tracks, which took a few bents to the right or left as if she had walked around without a certain destination. As he ran, a thought formed in Richard's mind that he didn't like at all. He was certain she must have overheard his argument with Cara; he was worried how much she had heard and – more important – that she might have drawn wrong conclusions from what she had heard. After all, he could judge by the way her tracks looked that she must have stumbled down the hill in a hurry. Richard guessed she hadn't heard everything they had said.

His worry grew as he lost her track several times, running too fast to keep an eye on it.

He growled angrily and turned around, trying to find Kahlan's tracks again for what seemed like the hundredth time as he felt Rachel's hand on his shoulder: 'Don't worry, we'll find her. But you have to slow down. We will only lose more time the more often you lose her tracks.' From the sound of her voice, Richard could tell Rachel was worried, too, but she seemed to keep a clear head. He was thankful that she was there to help him.

'You're right.' he sighed and, finding the right track, started off again at a slower pace, casting a glance on the ground every few steps.

A few minutes later they stepped from behind the trees, only to find a river flowing between stony shores, glittering in the red light that the setting sun was casting on it.

Richard came to a halt at the riverbank. He quickly looked to his right, his eyes following the river flowing away, coming to rest at a boulder a few feet away from them. Someone was sitting on it, her legs pulled up, with her head sunken to her chest. She could have been asleep if her body hadn't been trembling from the cold.

'Please don't …' Richard's voice faltered as he approached her. He had recognized her long dark hair and the towel that was covering her immediately.

Rachel, who had followed him, let out a breathless whisper as they closed the distance to the boulder: 'Kahlan…'

She didn't look up. Richard laid a hand on her back, but she still didn't react. His heart stumbled as he touched her cheek. 'She is freezing. We have to get her back.'

His voice was shaking so much he wasn't sure Rachel had even understood what he had said.

She had. Rachel hurriedly removed her cloak and put it around Kahlan before Richard took her in his arms. He looked down at her and his concern grew: Kahlan's lips were blue, and her face red from the cold; she was still unconscious. Without thinking, he ran off back to their camp, Rachel on his heels.

XXX

It was late in the night when Kahlan woke, finding herself lying under several warm blankets. She still shivered slightly as she sat up. Looking around she found Richard sitting by her side, his legs crossed and his head resting in his hand.

Since he had settled at her side, his thoughts had been full of self-reproaches. Richard couldn't stop thinking about how he could have been so occupied with his own feelings that he missed seeing her distress. Well, he had seen it, he just hadn't known what to do. After all, all three of them were fighting with their feelings. Hours later he had fallen asleep simply from exhaustion and he had welcomed it, knowing Kahlan was safe. Sleep had taken away his depressed thoughts at least for a while.

However, Richard woke immediately at the sound of her blankets rustling.

'Hey' she croaked as he took her hand. Richard shook his head, the relief in his eyes evident at seeing her awake; his voice however was raspy from exhaustion: 'Kahlan, I am so sorry. I should have done something, anything. But I just…'

Kahlan shook her head, silencing him and laid back down, still feeling tired. Richard settled at her side once more, his eyes never leaving her. After a few minutes of silence he asked: 'Why?'

'I… I heard you talking to Cara… you didn't answer when she accused you about not caring for me anymore. And I thought… maybe she was right and…' her voice trailed off as a tear ran down her cheek.

Richard felt his heart break at her words. He swallowed the lump in his throat: 'Kahlan, you know I still care for you just as I always did. It will never change, do you hear me? Never. I couldn't lose you, Kahlan.'

She nodded: 'I'm sorry about what I thought of you. I should have known better. I think it was just too much at that moment. I am sorry.'

'Stop apologizing, Kahlan. If anyone should be sorry, it's me. I brought us into this… situation. And I didn't do anything to help you…' Richard caressed her face as he whispered to her, tears in his eyes.

'It's not your fault, Richard. It's no ones fault.' Kahlan answered softly, 'we will find the right path, I'm sure of it.'

Richard felt a little more at ease after her words, although he couldn't yet forgive himself what he had done. He wasn't sure if he would ever be able to.

He forced himself to smile at her: 'You should get some rest.'

She nodded, but before she closed her eyes, Richard asked in a whisper: 'Kahlan?'

When she looked into his eyes once more he continued: 'Promise me you will never do this again.'

'I promise.' Her voice was soft when she answered him, sleep already coming over her.

A/N:

Hey guys,

I will just write what's on my mind, and I hope you can understand my wish to voice my thoughts: in light of a recent review (I'm sure you know which one I am talking about) I wasn't sure if I wanted to update this story anymore.

Replying on a negative review was important to me, and being able to talk about the things someone doesn't like about my story and trying to explain it was - and still is - very important. Although I did exactly this and I got along well with this certain user (despite our different opinions), I received a new review of this user and was quite disappointed. Not because of the negative feedback, but because of the language and the way it was written.

I know we all have different opinions and it's helpful for an author if he receives both positive and negative feedback but I think swearing and writing like this is just not on our niveau. There would be a lot more things I would like to write, but I am convinced it would be wrong to discuss this in public.

I just wanted to say I am thankful for every kind of feedback, and will respect it and reply to it as long as it is written in a 'normal' way. But to a review like the one I read, I just won't reply anymore. I believe you can only demand respect from someone if you offer it to the other as well.

I will continue updating this story because there are some of you who seem to like it and I don't want to leave it unfinished :)

Thanks for your support and for reading this,

Alex

P.S: to my guest reviewer: thank you for taking the time to type a review. I hope you enjoyed the new chapter. I think the focus is shifting in the way you like it ;)