Chapter 10

Sangria frowned as she endured Sabinus's tirade about Lord and Lady Rahl. She absentmindedly clicked her fingernails, lost to her own thoughts as she mulled over what he had told her so far. While not completely surprised by what he had said to her, it was still something to consider.

The Mother Confessor had seen her again today, recognized her from the other day. She had definitely piqued the Lady Rahl's suspicion. It was an unfortunate consequence of what she'd had to do, but it couldn't have been helped.

She had been fortunate enough to have been able to disappear into the throng of people on the busy streets, allowing herself to be swallowed up by the masses. It had provided a convenient escape. She couldn't afford coming face to face with the Mother Confessor just yet. It was bad enough that she had been seen again.

"Are you even listening to me?" Sabinus cried as he threw his arms up in the air, pausing in his frantic pacing to stare at her.

"How could I not?" she scowled. "You've been ranting like a mad man since I returned."

"Well, aren't you the least bit concerned?" he huffed, placing his hands on his hips. "I think we should abandon our plans and leave immediately."

"You can't be serious!" she gasped in surprise at his sudden change of heart. "We have come too far to throw it all away now."

"Have you actually met the Mother Confessor?" he demanded to know. "Not seen her; I mean actually met her?"

"No, but…"

"This woman possesses great power and intelligence, more than you can possibly begin to imagine. I've never met another like her. She is everything that we heard about and so very much more."

"Sabinus, we knew going into this it wasn't going to be easy," she calmly attempted to reassure him. "We knew all the rumors about Richard and Kahlan Rahl, of the immense abilities that they possessed. That is part of the reason we chose to come here. "

"Hearing rumors pales mightily in comparison to meeting them face to face, spending any amount of time in their presence," Sabinus heatedly insisted. "I just think we need to think twice about this before proceeding with our plan."

Sangria got to her feet and made her way to him. Coming to a stop before him, she gently placed the palm of her hand against his cheek. "Sabinus, we've been planning this for almost a year," she reminded him, gazing into his eyes that were so similar to hers. "We might not get another chance to do this, to realize our dreams. We can't let doubts get in the way of what we want now. We are so close."

Sabinus sighed heavily, knowing that he was fighting a losing battle. Sangria always got her way, always got what she wanted. Always. There was no point in arguing or trying to get her to see that they had gotten themselves into more than they could possibly begin to handle.

"I just don't want to lose you if this goes wrong," he softly admitted, his shoulders sagging as if all the air had just been sucked from his lungs. "I couldn't bear it, Sangria."

She smiled softly in response as she tilted her head, her hand gently caressing the side of his face. "You won't lose me, Sabinus," she tenderly replied, all annoyance vanishing from her countenance. "We're forever linked. You can't ever lose me."

"I still don't like this," he shook his head, taking her hand from his face and clutching it tightly between the two of his. "Let's leave. Please, Sangria, I'm begging you. We can go wherever you want to go. We don't even have to go back to the Midlands. We can go to the Old World if you want, start a new life there."

"This is where we were meant to be, what we were born for," she insisted, her auburn eyes sparkling with the thought. "We've worked too hard to walk away now. We will never again get an opportunity like this, Sabinus. Two days. That's only how much longer we have to wait."

His gaze fell, his heart sinking despite her words so full of confidence and reassurance. He knew that she was going through with it no matter what he said, no matter how hard he tried to convince her otherwise. All he could do was standby her side and try his best to keep her safe…just like he had always done for her, always would.

She could see the worry swimming in his eyes, the love for her that always resided there just beneath the surface. She loved him, always had. She just couldn't let her feelings get in the way of what they were destined for.

"It'll be alright, Sabinus," she murmured. "I promise."

Pulling him into a tight embrace, Sangria couldn't help but wonder if she hadn't pushed things too far this morning. The Mother Confessor had seen her, had recognized her from before. She was beginning to suspect that something more was going on. Sangria could see it by the look on Kahlan's face when their eyes had locked on one another again.

In that brief flicker of time, she had seen a sudden realization wash over the Mother Confessor.

She had been able to quickly disappear into the crowds that had surrounded her, but she had made the foolish mistake of allowing Kahlan to see her again. She allowed her curiosity with the Mother Confessor to get the better of her.

She just hoped that she hadn't just single-handedly destroyed their plans.

XXX

"The Lo'Gaire Mountains," Zedd grandly announced with a broad smile and a sweep of his arm. "Now, we just need to find the great Wizard Caelinus."

"Which direction do we go now?" Frederick asked, his gaze roaming over the vast mountainous landscape that spread out before them, beckoning them to come explore.

"That way, I believe," he replied after a long moment.

"You believe?" Deryn asked, skepticism filling her voice once more as her eyebrows rose. "We don't have a lot of time to waste wandering the entire mountain range looking for this wizard. My son's life is at stake."

"Don't fear, my dear," he calmly said. "We will be there before you know it."

"What makes you think we need to go that way?" Deryn pressed, her lack of confidence growing.

"See that little village nestled in that valley down there?" Zedd asked, pointing ahead of him and to the right. "We're going to go down there and see if anyone knows where Caelinus might live."

"Great plan," she breathed to herself.

Deryn felt her heart sinking despite his reassurances. She missed Michael fiercely, missed Richard. She wanted to go home and see them, to know that her son was even still alive. She just wanted to see him again, to hold her little boy in her arms.

She just hoped that Michael knew that she hadn't abandoned him, that she would be coming back to him. She was doing this for him, to save his life. Tears pooled in her eyes at the thought of losing him. He was all that she had in this world, all that she had of Richard. She couldn't lose him.

If they didn't find Caelinus soon, find the cure that Michael so desperately needed, she would lose him and she would once again have nothing. She'd be all alone, no one in her life that loved her. Even though he was a child of magic, created by powerful magic, he was still hers. He was still her Michael. It did nothing to diminish her love for him, change things for her in any way.

Following Zedd and Frederick towards the little village, Deryn couldn't help but wonder how her son was doing. Did Michael even know that she was gone? Did he miss his mother?

The thought of Richard caring for their son brought a small smile to her face, bringing a sense of peace to her heart and banishing her tears. She just knew that once he spent some time with him he would come to love him as much as his other children with the Mother Confessor.

Michael was his first-born, the rightful heir to the throne. No one could contest that. Her heart suddenly filled with great pride, knowing that Michael would one day be the Lord Rahl of D'Hara, the ruler of an entire Empire.

But she had to save him first, find the cure that would stop his magic from snuffing out his life. She just hoped that Caelinus had the answers she needed.

Casting a glance at Kahlan's father riding beside her, she found herself suddenly struck by his ashen appearance. He didn't look to be fairing too well at the moment as he swayed slightly in his saddle.

"Are you alright?"

Frederick turned and smiled softly at the Sister of the Light. "I'm fine," he wearily replied. "Just a little tired."

"You don't look so well," she frowned. "Do you need to stop and rest?"

"No, I'm alright," he insisted. "We need to keep going so we can find Caelinus, get the cure that Michael needs."

"You need a cure too," she reminded him.

"Michael is more important than I am," he told her. "He's just a little boy with so much to look forward to in life. I've had my chance at life and I'm afraid that I squandered it at almost every turn, chose all the wrong paths. I'm trying to make up for my mistakes now, but if my time has come to an end then so be it."

"We'll do whatever we can to save you both," Deryn replied, pursing her lips with sudden determination.

Frederick stared at her for a long moment, hardly able to believe his ears. Could this be the same young woman who had been so self-absorbed with her own desires, so bent on taking Richard away from Kahlan?

There seemed to be a certain softening around the edges, her hard attitude starting to waiver ever so slightly. Maybe they were beginning to get through to her, help her see that maybe the path that she had chosen wasn't the best or only.

He only hoped that she would learn that lesson that he had learned all too well himself before it was too late for her and her son. It had taken him far too long to learn it, hurting too many people along the way. He knew that heartache was the only thing that lay waiting at the end of the road for her.

"Zedd, I think we need to stop and let Frederick rest for a little while," Deryn piped up, capturing the old Wizard's attention.

"How are you holding up, my friend?" Zedd asked, casting a worried glance over his shoulder. "We can stop if you need to."

"I'm fine…really. I'm just a little tired," Frederick replied. "I can rest once we rest the village. It's not too much farther."

The Wizard studied him for a long moment before responding, noticing how the journey was beginning to take its toll on Kahlan's father. "If you're sure you're alright," he at last conceded. "We should be there before dark. We can get a hot meal and a couple of rooms for the night."

"That sounds like the best idea I've heard all day," Frederick forced a smile through the fatigue.

He hated to admit it, but the excitement of yesterday's near disaster with Sister Deryn as well as the hard journey through the mountain was wearing on him. He needed to hold on until they found Caelinus.

They were so very close to him. Frederick knew he couldn't give up now if he wanted to see Kahlan and Richard as well as his grandchildren again. He was finally getting his life back. He couldn't lose it all now.

XXX

"You believe Mina was murdered?" Richard questioned her, his arms folded against his chest as he tried to digest everything that Nicci had just told him. "How?"

"I detected traces of deadly magic in her body," Nicci told him. "Someone definitely wanted her dead."

"But who would want an old woman with only minimal magical abilities dead?" he shook his head in wonder. None of this was making any sense. "She wasn't a threat to anybody."

"Maybe she saw something that she wasn't supposed to see," Nicci proposed. "She was in the market place day after day, sitting in the same place. I'm sure she saw a lot of things going on down there, things that people didn't realize at the time that she had seen."

"Could be," Richard murmured in thought, pausing to look at Kahlan who was sitting silently in a nearby chair.

She sat with her hands in her lap, her head lowered, her dark raven hair falling like a curtain along one side of her face. Her forehead was creased in that adorable tell-tale sign that always revealed her frustration as well as her anger.

She had said little since they had returned, Nicci telling him most of the details of what they had found and what had happened to Mina. By the look on her face, he knew that something was definitely weighing heavily on her mind, something that she couldn't let go of.

"Kahlan, what is it?" he asked, coming over to stand before her. "What's bothering you about all of this?"

Kahlan sighed as she finally looked up into Richard's brown eyes full of concern. She began to force a smile to her face to banish his worry, but she knew that he'd see right through it so she let it fall away. She looked down at her hands folded in her lap as she tried to think through what was truly bothering her so much about Mina's unexpected death. Things just weren't connecting.

"I'm not quite sure," she replied, softly shaking her head. "Something just seems off about all of this."

"In what way?"

"I'm not sure," she said releasing an exasperated breath. "Mina sent urgent word for me to come for a reason. She saw something in a vision, something that maybe someone didn't want her telling me about. It's the only conclusion that makes any sense."

"You think the vision she wanted to warn you about involved whoever it was that killed her?" Nicci asked, considering the Mother Confessor's words.

"Could be," Kahlan shrugged. "Maybe I'm just being paranoid, but something is definitely going on around here. When we were on our way to see Mina, I saw that mysterious woman again."

"The one with the silver hair that you saw before?" Richard asked, stiffening with the revelation. He certainly didn't like the sound of that.

"Yes, she was standing at the end of the street watching me," Kahlan informed him with a grim expression gracing her face.

Richard could feel his muscles tensing even further with dread, a thick knot constricting in the pit of his stomach. "Do you think this woman had something to do with Mina's sudden death?"

"I just don't know what to think," Kahlan replied with a heavy sigh, tilting her head back against the overstuffed chair to stare at the ceiling. "I've just had this unsettling feeling since seeing that woman the first time, one that I can't shake. There's something about her that…I just don't know."

"Mina did ramble on about 'her' before she died," Nicci reminded her. "Then she said the serpent was coming. Do you think there's a connection there?"

"The serpent?" Richard's chest immediately tightened with the word, the prophecy suddenly running like a haunting chant through his head, reminding him of the imminent danger that hung over them.

"We don't know for sure that she was talking about the same serpent as the one in the prophecy. And I certainly don't want to start accusing innocent people based on the incoherent ramblings of a dying woman," Kahlan frowned. "We'll need more proof than that if we're going to believe that the woman I keep seeing has something to do with all of this."

"You've seen this silver-haired woman three times now," Richard said. "And you did say that she was following you this time. That can't be a coincidence."

"I turned around and saw her standing there at the end of the street. She was staring at me with this…look in her eyes," Kahlan recounted, the memory of the woman's penetrating gaze causing her to internally shudder. "When I rushed back down the street towards her, she had disappeared into the crowds of people. She was just…gone."

Richard could see the worry surfacing in Kahlan's eyes. She wasn't one to over-exaggerate or create drama out of nothing. If she saw this woman following her, then something was definitely wrong. The thought made his stomach drop into his boots.

"I'll have Garren put all our men on guard for this woman," Richard suddenly decided.

"Richard, we don't even know for certain if she's involved or not," Kahlan protested, standing to her feet. "For all we know, she might be completely innocent."

"Then again, she might not be," he told her, taking her hand in his. "I won't take that chance. Not with your life."

"I don't even know if it's necessarily me that she wants," she tried again in exasperation, hooking her hair behind her ear.

"I won't risk your life, Kahlan," he adamantly shook his head. "We need to figure out what is going on soon. Paige and Priya's birthday celebration is in a couple of days. I won't allow anything to ruin that or to hurt my family."

"I don't either, Richard, but we also shouldn't let on that we know that something is going on around here," the Mother Confessor pointed out.

"She has a good point," Nicci interjected. "It would be better if it appeared we were all still in the dark about whatever it is that's brewing around here."

Richard drew a deep ragged breath, weighing their words. He didn't like this at all. He wanted everyone to be on guard against whatever could be coming. He had a terrible feeling that this was the calm before the storm. He was growing terrified about what sort of storm it was that was actually approaching, if it was connected with the prophecy.

If it only involved him, he could handle it, but it involved Kahlan and his children. That was something he couldn't begin to accept. The fact that Mina had warned Kahlan about the serpent had set him on edge even more than he already was; dread now thrumming through his veins.

He was suddenly reminded of Michael and what he had experienced while trying to remove his fever. "I used my magic to cure Michael's fever," he abruptly announced, catching the two women by surprise.

"You did what?" Nicci asked.

"I was able to heal Michael's fever with my magic," he repeated.

"I want to hear every single detail," Nicci demanded as she came to stand before him, her hands on her hips. There was much that he still needed to learn about using and controlling his powerful magic. It was unsettling to learn that he had used it especially on a little boy like Michael. "Start at the beginning."