Chapter Twelve

Richard hadn't thought it was possible for Kahlan to shrink back into the wall anymore than she already had, but at the mention of Zedd, she did.

"Who is Zedd, Lord Rahl?" Captain Meiffert asked. Both of the Mord – Sith looked confused as well.

"Zedd, my grandfather." More confused looks. "Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander, wizard of the First Order." Cara and Berdine seemed to know who he was talking about and seemed very uneasy. The Captain however didn't show any reaction to the name.

"We have been trying to capture him since he escaped, Lord Rahl. However we have had very little success locating him." Cara answered. It seemed to be a sore spot for her and he couldn't tell if it was because the Mord-Sith hadn't captured him yet, or they had been dealt punishment because of the failure.

"I still don't know who you are talking about, Lord Rahl." The Captain said. He didn't seem to think that saying this would cause him any sort of trouble, but Cara looked pained after he said it.

"You haven't heard of 'The Wind of Death' Captain?" Berdine asked laughingly.

Meiffert looked suddenly surprised. " 'The Wind of Death' is Lord Rahl's grandfather?" Everyone seemed to have forgotten he was in the room except Kahlan, who was peaking up at him from her gaze on the floor.

Richard cut of the talk from the D' Haran's about 'The Wind of Death' and asked Kahlan. "Do you know where Zedd is?"

Kahlan looked extremely frightened, and Cara again let emotion cross her face in a flash, but Richard didn't have enough time to decipher it.

"Lord Rahl," She said, but her eyes widened when she realized that he had told her to call him Richard. "I mean Rich – " She backtracked.

"It's okay Kahlan, I know you didn't mean to." It still hurt him to hear her call him the 'Lord Rahl' though.

"Richard," Kahlan started again after waiting to see if he really wasn't going to punish her. "I have been here since the day that he escaped, the last time I saw him, I thought he was going to die. I didn't know he had survived until the last time you asked me where he was." She seemed to recall that incident painfully, and Richard didn't like the look that flew over her face.

"You are telling me that you have no idea where my grandfather is?" Richard asked, feeling lost again, now knowing that he couldn't talk to Zedd.

"Lord Rahl, I had never heard that 'The Wind of Death' was your grand father, where did you get such an idea?" Berdine asked.

Richard so badly wanted to explain that he wasn't from this crazy world and that in his he walked all around the Midlands with Zedd, Kahlan, and Cara helping people. He knew that no one, not even Berdine, would believe him if he said this.

"I . . . I found out who my mother was." Richard said, hoping that it would suffice. He could tell that most of the people in the room didn't believe his excuse, but no one voiced an objection.

"Anyways," Richard said, hoping to get off the topic of Zedd until he had a way to find him. "I need you to go with me." He said to all of the people in the room. He didn't know how he felt about the Captain, but he trusted Cara's judgement enough to think that he needed a little more protection than normal. He also didn't want to be alone with three women, two of which severely hated him.

"Lord Rahl, I think we should take more people." Berdine said. "Maybe a Dragon Corps Legion."

The Captain scoffed. "I can take my troops, Lord Rahl. All but two of us are in the palace, and we move stealthier than the Dragon Corps."

"No," Richard said. "We need to have the smallest group possible, and I think that this will be a good size."

Most of the room seemed to have some reason to reject his plan, but his gaze swept over them and they fell silent.

"So it's settled. We'll met out side the palace in two hours. I hope everyone is there." Richard said.

Berdine glanced over Cara and Kahlan. "As you wish, Lord Rahl."