Blood of the Fold

As he went through the doorway, Richard felt a tingling, tickling sensation pass across his flesh in a razor's-edge line. Once beyond the opening, it was gone. He turned when he heard Raina call his name.

The rest of them, on the other side, pressed their hands up against the air as if it were a sheet of impenetrable glass. Ulic beat his fist against it, but to no avail.

"Lord Rahl!" Cara called out. "How do we pass through?"

Richard returned to the doorway. "I'm not sure. I have magic that allows me to pass shields. Here, Berdine, give me your hand. See if that will work."

He stuck his hand back through the invisible barrier, and she gripped his wrist without hesitation. Slowly, he pulled her hand toward him until it penetrated the shield.

"Oh, that's cold," she complained.

"You all right? You want to try the rest of the way?"

When she nodded, he pulled her on. Once through, she shuddered and shook herself as if she were crawling with bugs.

Cara put her hand out toward the doorway. "Now me."

Richard began to reach for her, but stopped. "No. The rest of you wait here until we come back."

"What!" Cara shrieked. "You have to take us with you!"

"There are dangers I know nothing about. I can't be watching out for all of you and at the same time pay attention to what I'm doing. Berdine is enough in case I need protection. The rest of you wait here. If anything happens, you know how to get out."

"But you have to take us," Cara pleaded. "We can't leave you without protection." She turned. "Tell him, Ulic."

"She's right, Lord Rahl. We should be with you."

Richard shook his head. "One is enough. If something happened to me, then you wouldn't be able to get back out through the shield. If anything happens, and we don't return, I'm depending on you to carry on. If anything happens, you are in charge, Cara. If anything happens, get help for us, if you can. If you can't, well, take care of things until my grandfather Zedd and Kahlan get here."

"Don't do this!" Cara looked more distraught than he had ever seen her. "Lord Rahl, we can't afford to lose you."

"Cara, it will be all right. We'll be back, I promise. Wizards always keep then promises."

Cara huffed in anger. "Why her?"

Berdine flipped her wavy brown braid back over her shoulder as she flashed Cara a self-satisfied smile. "Because Lord Rani likes me best."

"Cara," Richard said as he scowled at Berdine, "it's because you're the leader. If anything happens to me, I want you to be in charge."

Cara stood a moment, considering. A self-satisfied smile of her own finally spread on her lips. "All right. But you better never pull a trick like this again."

Richard winked at her. "If you say so." He looked up the gloomy corridor. "Come on, Berdine. Let's go have a look around so we can finish and get out of this place."

CHAPTER 36

Passageways ran in every direction. Richard tried to keep to what he thought was the main one so that he could find his way out. As they passed rooms, he stuck his head in to see if there were any books or anything else that might be helpful. Most were simple, empty stone rooms. A few had tables and chairs, with chests or other plain furniture, but nothing of particular interest. One whole hall had rooms with beds. The wizards who stayed at the Keep must have lived unassuming lives, at least some of them. There were thousands of rooms and he had seen only a few.

Berdine peeked past him whenever he looked into a room, to see what he was seeing. "Do you know where we are going?"

"Not exactly. ' He glanced off down another side hall. The place was a labyrinth. "But I think we should find some stairs. Start at the bottom and work our way up."

She pointed back over her shoulder. "I saw some down a hall to our left, just back there."

The stairs were where she said they would be. He hadn't noticed them because it was just a hole in the floor with spiral stone steps descending down into darkness, and he had been looking for a stairwell. Richard reprimanded himself for not thinking to bring a lamp, or candle. He had a flint and steel in his pocket, and guessed mat if he could find some straw or old cloth, he could get a small flame going and light one of the candles he had seen in iron sconces.

As they descended into the darkness below, Richard felt, as well as heard, a low hum coming from below. The stone, which had been disappearing in darkness, began to reveal itself in a bluish green light, as if someone were turning up the wick on a lamp. By the time they reached the bottom of the steps, he could see clearly in the eerie light.

Just around the corner at the bottom of the steps, he found the source of the light. In a ringed iron bracket sat a globe, about as wide as his hand, and looking to be glass. It was the origin of the light.

Berdine looked up at him, her face outlined in the strange illumination. "What makes it glow?"

"Well, there's no flame, so I would guess it has to be magic."