Chapter Twenty-Two

"Mother Confessor. Mother Confessor." Kahlan's eyes opened slowly, and she was surprised to see Captain Meiffert standing over her. It had been a long time since she relived the memory of what happened that fateful night.

"I was only gone for a few minutes. I don't see how you could have fallen asleep so fast." Kahlan was still lost in the memory, and barely even registered that Meiffert was talking to her. "I prepared the food if you're hungry. I didn't want to wake you till it was ready."

Suddenly Kahlan realized where she was and what was happening. "Richard!" She sat up, and Meiffert jumped back, startled. "I'm sorry. I was . . . having a nightmare. I would love some food, Captain. That would be wonderful." She tried to smile at him, to ease his nerves, but it didn't seem to work.

"Are you sure you're alright, Mother Confessor. While you were sleeping . . . you were thrashing around. I was worried you might roll into the fire. Lord Rahl would never forgive me if I let anything happen to you." Kahlan was touched by how genuinely concerned the Captain looked for her safety. Even if all he could talk about was what would happen if Richard found out she was hurt.

"Really, I'm fine Captain. It was just a bad dream." She tried smiling again, and this time it seemed to work better. He gave her a small smile, and got her a bowl of stew. Kahlan hadn't realized how hungry she was until she was eating.

"So, do you want to talk about it?" The Captain asked, distracting her.

"What?"

"Do you want to talk about your nightmare? I'm mean, you don't have to, but I thought women liked that kind of thing." Captain Meiffert's face was scrunched up in confusion,

"Captain, what are you talking about?"

"I'm sorry, Mother Confessor. I don't mean to be intrusive. If you don't want to talk about your nightmare than it's okay. I was . . . I'm . . . Cara never has nightmares. I don't know what to do, what to say." The Captain looked sincerely curious about Kahlan's nightmare.

She laughed. "Cara doesn't have nightmares?" She stopped laughing and smiled at him. "I'm sure she doesn't." She paused, trying to keep from laughing. "It's fine, Benjamin. I don't think Lord Rahl will punish you for not being able to comfort me from my nightmares."

Meiffert smiled. "Good." He paused. "Thank you, Mother Confessor."

"For what? I haven't even made the soup tonight." Kahlan looked down at the soup, suddenly realizing how hungry she was. She shouldn't be that hungry though. She hadn't been hungry when she had fallen asleep. She was so lost in thought, she missed Meiffert's explanation on why he was saying thank you. She stood up, suddenly very afraid for Richard and Cara.

"How long?" She asked suddenly.

"What?" The Captain looked very confused.

"How long has it been since Cara left?"

"Maybe and hour, but – " Captain Meiffert started.

"An hour?" Kahlan started to look around for the knives that Richard had gotten for her. "Cara's been gone an hour?" She looked around, just realizing that it was dark. Her dream had really taken her out of reality. "We have to go make sure they're alright."

Meiffert laughed. "Mother Confessor, Lord Rahl is with Cara. I'm sure he is fine."

Richard felt the man punch him again. He could feel blood running down his face and off his toes. It wasn't as bad as it could be though. Denna could be there, kissing him while her Agiel was poked into his gut.

They had taken him into the village where his original destination had been. That was good. He remembered thinking that, but he didn't remember why it was good anymore. They had tied him to a chair. It wasn't that bad. Hanging by your arms from the ceiling was a much worse torture.

This man reminded him of Constance. He had no finesse. He could inflict pain, but he could not make it last too long. Not like Denna. He supposed that no one was like Denna.

He felt the man punch him again. Richard didn't think that this could be considered torture. It was more of a beating. It hurt him, but he didn't feel like this treatment would make him answer anything. Not that they hadn't tried to make him answer questions.

Every so often the man who named him self the Seeker would appear, and watch as his men beat him up. He would tell Richard things, mostly he would say, 'tell me where she is and this will stop.' The man had never specified who 'she' was, and telepathy wasn't something Richard knew how to do.

This had been happening for at least an hour when, suddenly, the beating stopped, and the man ran out of the farmhouse. Richard didn't know why. He shook his head, trying to clear the blood from out of his ears. After he did, he could hear the noises of men dying. Richard was too delirious to fit together what that meant.

The screams stopped abruptly with one surprised sounding word in a familiar voice. "Leo?"