Chapter Three
He woke with the sound of a knock. He hadn't realized that he had fallen asleep on Cara's bed. He felt much better. His head was clearer, and he didn't feel as depressed as he had earlier. He must have been deliriously tired. He didn't know what he had been thinking earlier that day.
Cara must have come back to find him asleep. She, of course, had not woken him, probably afraid of some punishment that he would never inflict on his worst enemy. He sighed softly, glad that he had gotten some sleep.
The knock sounded again. He wondered who it was. How many people would knock on a Mord – Sith's door? He looked out the window, noticing for the first time the moon in the sky. In the middle of the night as well, this would be an interesting meeting. Unless the knocker was Cara, but he didn't think it was.
He was upset that Cara had let him take her bed for most of the night. It made him think of the fear in her eyes from his question, and the way Kahlan had looked at him. He longed for her to tell him she loved him.
"Cara." He heard the whisper followed by another knock.
Richard got up and went to the door, he hadn't recognized the voice, but it had been male. It had also called for 'Cara,' not 'Mistress Cara.'
Richard opened the door. He saw a tall, broad shouldered man, with blue eyes and blonde hair. Richard didn't know who he was. He was wearing the uniform of a D'Haran soldier though, and looked sort of familiar.
The man's eyes widened. He was obviously freighted out of his wits, even being a D'Haran soldier. In that moment the man looked like he wanted to die. His face was so pale that Richard thought he might have actually accomplished the deed.
"Hello." Richard said.
"I . . .Lord Rahl . . .I." The man was very confused; he fell to his knees, in an attempt to stop rambling. He recited the devotion. Richard didn't stop him. He wanted to give the man time to think before Richard started asking questions. " Master Rahl guide us. Master Rahl teach us. Master Rahl protect us. In your light we thrive. In your mercy we are sheltered. In your wisdom we are humbled. We live only to serve. Our lives are yours." The man said it three times and rose, apparently ready to answer the Master Rahl.
"What's your name" Richard questioned the man.
The man answered immediately, "Special forces Captain Benjamin Meiffert, Lord Rahl. It is an honor to meet you, sir."
Richard shut his eyes and sighed. He had seen the fear in this man's eyes, but it was not because he was Lord Rahl, It had to do with Cara.
"Captain Meiffert, would you mind telling me what you are doing knocking on Cara's door in the middle of the night."
The Captain did not falter in what he said, but Richard detected the lie, he was the Seeker of Truth after all. "I needed to inform Mistress Cara of a report that she wanted. I just arrived back and thought she would like the information immediately."
This man obviously knew Cara better than he was letting on. He was willing to be caught by the Master Rahl in a lie for her as well. Richard wanted to know how this man knew Cara, and why he was sneaking to her room in the middle of the night, but right now he was willing to accept Captain Meiffert's lie.
He didn't want to ask Cara, because he knew that she would be afraid. However, it was the middle of the night, and the man did look like he had just gotten back from a long mission. He decided to worry about it later; he had bigger problems right now.
"Well, I'm sorry Captain Meiffert. Cara is not here right now. If I see her I'll tell her you stopped by." The Captain looked too relieved to have been telling Richard the truth. "Now," Richard said moving out of Cara's room, "If you'll excuse me, I need to go."
Richard had shut the door on the way out. Reminding the Captain that Cara's room was off limits when she wasn't there. The protectiveness he felt for her made him feel like her father. He also wanted to tell Meiffert that he had not been sleeping in Cara's room with Cara.
"Oh, and Captain. If you see Cara, tell her she can have her bed back now."
Richard strode down the hall, heading towards his chambers that so reminded him of Darken Rahl.
He didn't want to sleep anymore. He was ready to fight an army, now that he had rested. Most likely, though, he would end up fighting the books, trying to seek knowledge on what was happening.
He entered the huge garden and paused for a second, looking at the beauty that he didn't know had existed before yesterday. It was beautiful in a place of evil. It made him think of all the people he thought were evil. All the people he had killed, defending him self against evil. They all had some beauty in them. Just like the People's Palace.
He went back into the black and white room. It was like walking into a world without color. He hated this room already. He looked around. This was where he had woken up. There had to be something to help him figure out what was happening.
That's when he noticed a flaw in the color scheme. There was something written on the headboard of the bed. He hadn't noticed it when he had woken up, because he had been in the bed. Now, however, the writing was impossible to miss.
He went closer. The writing was hard to miss, but it was tiny. It looked like a little block of color on the headboard. The closer Richard got the easier it was for him to tell that this was in a different language. He didn't even know what language it was in.
He knew that he needed to find out how to read it though. An answer that he desperately needed was only a translation away. He needed to find out what this said. It was not an original part of this room. A designer would not have made such a random mistake, not in this room. No. The message was clearly a warning.
It was written in blood.