Chapter Nineteen

"Richard, I don't think this is a good idea." Kahlan said. She had been trying to convince him not to go into the town for a few hours now.

"Kahlan, people know who you are, and I don't think the villagers would be too excepting of a lone D' Haran soldier or a Mord – Sith." Richard said, tired of having this conversation, they more arrows, and new clothes that wouldn't be quite as conspicuous. Richard had brought some, but the rest of them hadn't changed.

"You are the Lord Rahl. You don't think they'll treat you any differently, maybe worse." Kahlan was frowning. Richard didn't like it when she frowned, even if the way her forehead crinkled made her look cuter than normal.

"None of the villagers know that I'm Lord Rahl. I'll be fine Kahlan. I need to leave soon, it will be dark in a few hours." Richard said. He walked away from her, only to be stopped by Cara's hand on his chest, her eyes were looking directly into his.

Cara backed away suddenly casting her eyes to the ground. "Forgive me, Lord Rahl. I didn't mean to – "

Richard cut her off. "It's alright Cara. I am going to the village though." He said, guessing at why she had tried to stop him from leaving. It had been two days since they had left and Cara still hadn't warmed up to him, while Benjamin had become a good friend. Kahlan had begun to sleep next to him and once when he woke up he had found her cuddled up against him.

"Lord Rahl," She said quietly, "I don't think you should go alone. It is not safe for you anywhere outside of the palace."

They had been telling Richard that since they left, but he hadn't been in any fights. In fact the trip seemed a little boring compared to the days when he had been trying to find the Stone of Tears.

"I'll be fine." He said, making sure Cara looked him in the eye. He turned to Kahlan and gave her a smile. She reluctantly smiled back.

It wasn't a very long walk to the village, but Richard knew something wasn't right when he left camp. There was a faint smell of burning in the air, and the trees looked unusually bare for the beginning of spring. He thought about going back, but as he turned around, four men were standing in his way.

"I don't want to hurt you." Richard said, his hand going to his sword. He caught off guard by the lack of magic, and looked down at it.

The four men hadn't made a move to attack him, but suddenly Richard knew why. He swung the sword around just in time to block an attack from behind. There were new men too fight off. They were all surprisingly big and hairy, but after the surprise attack, they didn't try to fight him. He was surrounded. Out of the forest he saw a few more men join the group.

"What do you want?" Richard said, slowly spinning in a circle, trying to make sure no one was about to attack him. His sword was up, but it didn't feel right in his hand.

None of the men said anything. Richard didn't understand why this was happening. They were still in D' Hara, close to the border, but all of these men should have been D' Harans.

The circle of men got continuously bigger, and Richard knew he had missed his chance to escape. Over the head of the man in front of him he saw the smoke from their campfire. He needed to warn the group, but he didn't know if they were to far away to hear him or not. He didn't want these men to know about Kahlan if they didn't already.

Finally, one of the men moved forward through the crowd. There were at least forty men in the circle now, but the men all moved out of the way of the man. He was muscular, with short brown hair. He was the cleanest looking of all the men surrounding him, and Richard could tell that this man was highly respected.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the Lord Rahl." Richard could hear the scorn in his voice. "We'd heard you were out of the palace, but I never expected it would be this easy to capture you."

Richard didn't say anything; he was trying to evaluate the situation. If this man knew he was the Lord Rahl, then he wouldn't be stupid enough to think he was traveling alone. He was completely surrounded, and with odds of forty-to-one, he didn't think he would survive the battle if he attacked.

Richard stood up straight, and put his sword away. He had a lot of questions for this man, but he needed only one answer for the moment. Looking at the man's sword Richard asked, "Who are you?"

All the men in the circle laughed, but not the leader. He frowned. "You don't even remember me?" Richard refused to answer, knowing that trying to explain to this man about what was going on would be a waste of time. The men got suddenly quiet, waiting for their leader to give the Lord Rahl and answer.

"I'm the Seeker of Truth."

A/N: Who's the Seeker of Truth, find out Monday, or try to guess, some one might get it right.