Blood of the Fold

As Richard finally sheathed his sword, he saw three spots of red break through the dark leather of D'Haran uniforms. The three Mord-Sith, Agiel in hand, came at a run across the square. Each wore her red leather, but it did a poor job this day of disguising the blood all over them.

"Lord Rahl! Lord Rahl!"

Berdine flew at him like a squirrel flinging itself for a branch. She landed on him, webbing him in arms and legs, knocking him back off the wall and into the fountain full of snowmeU.

She sat up on his stomach. "Lord Rahl! You did it! You took the cape off like I told you! You heard my warning after all!"

She fell on him again, clutching him in red arms. Richard held his breath as he went under. Though the icy water wouldn't have been his choice, he was glad tor the excuse to wash off some of the stinking mriswith blood. He gasped for air when she grabbed his shirt in her fist and hauled him up. She sat in his lap, legs around his middle, and hugged him again.

"Berdine," he whispered, "my shoulder is hurt. Please don't squeeze so hard."

"It's nothing," she announced in true Mord-Sith disregard for pain. "We were so worried. When the attack came, we thought we would never see you again. We thought we had failed."

Kahlan cleared her throat. Richard held out an introductory hand. "Kahlan, these are my personal guards, Cara, Raina, and this is Berdine. Ladies, this is Kahlan, my queen."

Berdine, making no attempt to get off his lap, grinned up at Kahlan. "I'm Lord Rahl's favorite."

Kahlan folded her arms as her green-eyed glare darkened.

"Berdine, let me up."

"You still smell like a mriswith." She shoved him back in the water and again hauled him up by his shirt. "That's better." She pulled him closer. "You ever run off like that again without listening to me, I'll do more than give you a bath."

"What is it about you and women and baths?" Kahlan asked in an even tone.

"I don't know." He looked out over the battle still raging, and then back to Berdine's blue eyes. He hugged her with his good arm. "I'm sorry. I should have listened to you. The price of my foolishness was too great."

"Are you all right?" she whispered in his ear.

"Berdine, get off me. Let me up."

She flopped off his lap to the side. "Kolo said that the mriswith were enemy wizards who traded their power for the ability to become invisible."

Richard gave her a hand up. "I nearly did, too."

She stood in the water on her tiptoes and pulled his shirt collar aside, inspecting his neck. She let out a relieved sigh. "It's gone. You're safe. Kolo said how the change came, how their skin began to scale over. He said that that ancestor of yours, Alric, created a force to battle the mriswith." She pointed. "Gars."

"Gars…?"

Berdine nodded. "He gave them the ability to sense mriswith, even when they were invisible. That's what gives the gars' eyes that green glow. Because of this interrelationship of magic all the gars share, those who dealt directly with the wizards accrued dominance over the others, becoming something like the wizards' generals among the gar nation. These intermediary gars were greatly respected by the other gars, and got them to fight with the people of the New World against the enemy mriswith, driving them back to the Old World."

Richard stared in astonishment. "What else did he say?"

"I haven't had time to read any more. We've been kind of busy since you left."

"How long?" He stepped out of the fountain and addressed Cara. "How long have I been gone?"

She glanced to the Keep. "Nearly two days. Night before last. Today, at dawn, the sentries came in a lather and said the Blood of the Fold were right on their heels. They attacked shortly after. The fighting has been going on since this morning. At first, it was going well, but then the mriswith…" Her voice trailed off.

Kahlan put an arm around his waist to steady him as he spoke. "I'm sorry, Cara. I should have been here." He stared in a daze at the sea of dead. "This is my fault."

"I killed two," Raina announced without any attempt to mask her pride.

Ulic and Egan came at a run and spun to a stop in defensive positions. "Lord Rahl," Ulic said over his shoulder, "are we ever glad to see you. We heard the cheer, but every time we got to you, you were somewhere else."

"Really?" Cara said, lifting an eyebrow. "We managed."

Ulic rolled his eyes and turned toward the battle.

"Are they always like this?" Kahlan whispered in his ear.

"No," he whispered back. "They're on their best behavior for you."

Richard saw white flags flying among the Blood of the Fold. No one paid them any heed.

“D'Harans give no quarter," Cara explained when she saw where he was looking. "It is to the finish."

Richard hopped down off the fountain. When he strode off, his guards immediately followed.

Kahlan caught up with him before he had taken three strides. "What are you doing, Richard?"

"I'm putting a stop to this."

"You can't do that. We have sworn to kill the Order to a man. You must let it be done. That's what they would have done to us."