Chapter Thirty-Four

The pain of Cara's Agiel jolted Kahlan back into control of her body. At first the anger was fighting against her, the power of the Con Dar slowly dying down. She had never entered the Con Dar before, and she didn't think it was possibly for her to have entered it.

She could only think about the implications for a few seconds, before the pain of the Agiel took hold of her. She heard herself screaming. She heard Cara screaming. She heard Benjamin screaming. She heard Richard's voice cut through the screams, but couldn't register what he had said because of the pain.

Kahlan was on the ground, but didn't remember going to her knees. She looked up seeing Richard standing protectively over her. She suddenly remembered all to well what had happened. She broke down sobbing into the forest floor. She hadn't noticed Cara's shocked face.

She felt Richard's hand on her back, softly rubbing it, soothingly. His voice broke through her sobs. "It's alright Kahlan. Every thing is all right. I'm fine. I wasn't confessed."

She sat up swiftly, tears rolling down her cheeks. "How." She asked incredulously.

He gave her a soft smile and leaned forward, whispering into her ear. "It's a secret." He pulled back; seeming to laugh at Kahlan's face that she knew was openly shocked.

"What do you mean it's a secret? Tell me." She ordered.

He didn't answer, but his smile gave away how happy he was, maybe because he wasn't confessed, but Kahlan wasn't sure. She shook her head and looked past Richard to see an extremely shocked Cara being held loosely by Benjamin.

"Can you stand?" Richard asked suddenly. His head was slowly swiveling around, and his smile had disappeared.

Kahlan tried, but fell to her knees, realizing that Cara had broken a bone. Richard caught her before she hit the ground slowly lowering her down. He turned to Cara who was being held by Benjamin.

Benjamin didn't seem to know what to do. Richard was obviously angry, and Cara and shrunk back, afraid of what he might do. Benjamin seemed not to want Cara to get hurt, but Kahlan didn't think he would disobey a direct order if Richard told him to hold Cara while he punished her.

"Lord Rahl, I . . . " Kahlan saw Richard mentally shake himself when Cara called him Lord Rahl. He knew what that title meant to her, and how much he was scaring her.

Richard continued to walk towards her but he seemed to have let go of his rage. He cupped her chin and forced her to look at him. Benjamin let go and backed away when Richard turned his gaze on him. The brown eyes still tinged with grey.

"Cara . . ." He sighed. "I understand why you did what you did. She was a threat and you need to subdue her. I am not your Lord Rahl. I have no right to punish you, and even if I did . . . I wouldn't." He let go of her and she backed away.

"Thank you . . . Richard. I'm sorry." She started to walk back to Benjamin.

"Cara." Richard's voice painfully reminded Kahlan of the way Rahl used to talk to her. "Don't ever make that mistake again."

Cara looked at him for a moment. Trying to gauge how serious he was, though Kahlan had no need to gauge she knew. Richard would never speak like that unless he was absolutely serious.

Finally she replied. "Of course Richard."

Kahlan had heard the mocking tone of her voice. The inflection she had put on Richard's name, making it sound like she had said Lord Rahl. Kahlan knew Richard had heard it. He turned around him face telling her how hurt he felt by her respond.

"Let's see if we can find what's broken. We need to get out of her fast." Richard said as he started to gently prod bones in her body.

"Why?" Kahlan asked, wincing a little as he touched a bruised bone.

"We are very close to Agaden Reach, and if I know Shota, she already knows we're here." Richard said, ripping a piece of cloth into a bandage.

"How are your plans going now!" Shota screamed at the man. He had been silent ever since they had discovered Richard Rahl's inability to be confessed.

"I have a back up plan." He said, softly, but still strong enough to be heard.

"You knew this might happen?" Shota asked in an outrage. Chase stood in the corner silently watching the encounter.

"It happened in his original fork Shota. I wasn't exactly sure how it would work with the same woman from a different fork in prophecy. This is an extremely new type of conspiracy we have going on right now. I took precautions just in case this were to happen Shota, so be silent while I think of the best way to implement my second plan." The man in the shadows was angry with her, and Shota felt a slight twinge of fear for a second.

"I know what to do." He said. "Chase!" He barked. The big man stood very still. "I have a job for you."

Author's Note: I wrote this chapter so that Rosewing86 does not hunt me down. In short, Rosewing86, this chapter is for you.