Chapter Ten

Richard was naked again, in the same bed that he had woken up in the first time. He still didn't like the room, and the fact that he hadn't taken all of his clothes off himself was unsettling, knowing that Kahlan hadn't been the one to take them off.

He could still feel a phantom of the pain from the message, and the tingling sensation on his skin. He wondered if Cara was okay. Then he realized that the guards would think she had tried to kill him. He sat up quickly.

His body protested against the pain, which flared up when he sat. His eyes swam, and he felt nauseous.

"Lord Rahl," He heard someone exclaim when he sat up. "Lord Rahl, please you must lay down. His sight cleared a little and he recognized Berdine was at his side.

"Berdine," He said pushing her hand on his chest away, she had been trying to push him back down. "What's going on, what happened?"

"Cara tried to kill you, Lord Rahl. I'm sorry that I allowed her to get close to you. I have failed you, and I know that. I just wanted to make sure you were okay before – "

"You didn't fail me, Berdine." He interrupted her. "I don't think Cara tried to kill me either." Richard sighed. "Where is she?"

Berdine swallowed, "Denna put her in the dungeon with the Mother Confessor."

"What!" Richard's anger exploded, but he brought it under control quickly. "Sorry Berdine." He said when she shrank back in fear. "Can you help me go see them?"

"Lord Rahl, you are not supposed to move, or even sit up. The medical staff told me that if you woke . . ." Berdine trailed off after seeing Richard push his blanket away and try to get up. He didn't remember until too late that he was naked.

"Now, Berdine" Richard said pulling the sheet back over himself. "You can either bring me my clothes and turn around while I put them on and help me go down to the dungeons, or you can leave. Either way I'll make it down there."

Berdine considered for only a second, and then walked over to his clothes and brought them back. "You are going to make me turn around, Lord Rahl?" She joked innocently.

He gave her a glare and she turned around, but he smiled while putting his clothes on. His nausea was gone and his vision had cleared, but the pain, while lessened remained. It wasn't anything close to the pain in the message however.

"Come on." He said, and she turned around. "Lead the way to the dungeons."

"Very well, Lord Rahl." Berdine said, sighing.

It took a while to walk to the dungeons; there were many stairs, and he had to stop once because of the pain. Also a few soldiers wanted to talk to him, and it took a little bit of time for Berdine to threaten them away. Finally, they arrived at the dungeon entrance.

The guard on duty was very compliant when the Lord Rahl asked him for directions to Cara and the Mother Confessor's cell and the keys to open it. Richard didn't make it very far to their cell before he bumped into another soldier who wanted to talk to him, literally.

The D'Haran was looking down at his boots, and somehow rammed into Richard as he walked by. The pain, that had been present since the message, flared up again and brought Richard to his knees. Berdine wasted no time, and in the next second, the D'Haran was on the ground next to Richard, being pushed down by Berdine's Agiel.

Richard, the pain slowly seeping out of him, brought his hand up to stop Berdine from killing the man. His screams stopped as Richard slowly brought her Agiel down to her side. "It's okay, Berdine. It was just an accident."

The soldier seemed to regain his composure, and noticed who he had run into. "Lord Rahl, I'm so sorry. I didn't see you. I – " Richard raised his hand to cut him off, and he stared at the ground as Berdine helped Richard to his feet.

"It's alright Captain Meiffert. I didn't see you till the last second, and Berdine seemed to miss you altogether." Richard said offering his hand to the soldier.

"Lord Rahl I – " Berdine tried to protest, but Richard ignored her.

"What are you doing down her Captain, I thought you were with the Special Forces branch, they don't operate down here do they?" Richard thought he knew why the Captain was down here, but wanted to know what he would tell the Lord Rahl.

"Um, I was trying to report my findings to Mistress Cara." Richard was sure that Meiffert wasn't reporting anything.

"You haven't seen her since a week ago, Captain?" Richard asked.

"No, Lord Rahl. She is very busy and had a hard time finding time for my report." Meiffert looked between Berdine and Richard almost imperceptibly fast.

"I see." Richard said, "Well, come with us. We are headed there right now. I'm sure that you will be able to tell her your report when we get there."

"Lord Rahl, I couldn't. You must be wanting a private meeting with her, and I wouldn't want to in – "

"Captain, I insist." Richard said, pushing him along in front of him, but behind Berdine.

Meiffert seemed to recognize that he couldn't get out of the situation. "Thank you, Lord Rahl. I didn't think I would ever get to deliver my report."

"Captain, do you know why Cara's down here?" Richard asked.

A frightened look past across Meiffert's face for a second, but it quickly disappeared. "I assumed she was questioning someone, Lord Rahl."

Richard nodded. He had detected the lie. Meiffert cared more about Cara than he was letting on. He had had plenty of time to deliver that report, and if it were as urgent as he made it seem, Cara wouldn't have just put it off.

Soon, they were at the cell, and Berdine snatched the keys away from Richard, saying something about protecting the Lord Rahl. Richard let her open the door and go into the cell first. He heard a surprised cry of 'Berdine' that sounded like Cara. He also pushed Meiffert in front of him, and heard Cara cry 'Benjamin.'

He walked into the room knowing for sure that there was something going on between Cara and Meiffert. He ducked his head to go through the low doorway, and as he entered he saw Cara's face go ashen and Kahlan's eyes widen. "Lord Rahl."

Chaos ensued.

Author's Note: There will most likely not be a chapter tomorrow, because I have band camp this week. If there isn't one tomorrow, I'll try to post on Sunday. Sorry, I've just gotten really busy.