Faith of the Fallen

"If I can't get away from Nicci for now, try to find Zedd. He might have some idea of what to do. Ann was with him the last time we saw him.

She's the Prelate of the Sisters of the Light and knew Nicci for a very long time. Perhaps she knows something that, along with what Zedd might be able to come up with, could help."

"Richard, don't worry about me. Just take care of yourself. I'll be waiting for you when you get away, so just be at ease about that much of it and put all your effort into escaping from her. We'll wait here for a while-I promise."

"I will watch over her, Lord Rahl. Don't worry about the Mother Confessor."

Richard nodded. He turned back to Kahlan. His fingers on her arms tightened. His brow drew down.

"I know you and I know the way you feel, but you have to listen to me.

The time has not yet come. It may never come. You may think I'm wrong in this, but if you close your eyes to the reality of what is, in favor of what you would wish just because you're the Mother Confessor and feel responsible for the people of the Midlands, then there is no reason for us to bother hoping we'll be together again because we won't. We will be dead, and the cause of freedom will be dead."

His face loomed closer. "Above all else, our forces must not attack the heart of the Order's army. It's too soon. If they-if you-carry an assault directly into the heart of the Order thinking you can win, it will be the end of our forces, and the end of our chances. All hope for the cause of freedom, and all hope to defeat the Order, will be lost for generations to come.

"It's the same way we must use our heads with Nicci, and not fight her in a direct attack, or we will both die. You promised you would not kill yourself to free me. Don't throw that promise away by going against what I'm telling you now."

It all seemed so unimportant at the moment. The only thing that mattered was that she was losing him. She would have cast the rest of the world to the wolves if she could just keep him.

"All right, Richard."

"Promise me." His fingers were hurting her arms. He shook her. "I mean it. You could throw it all away if you don't heed my warning. You could destroy the hope of people for the next fifty generations. You could be the one who destroys freedom and brings a dark age upon the world. Promise me you won't."

A thousand thoughts swirled in chaotic turmoil through her mind. Kahlan stared up into his eyes. She heard herself say, "I promise, Richard. Until you say so, we'll make no direct attack."

He looked like a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders. A smile spread on his face as he pulled her into an embrace. His fingers combed into her hair and cradled her head as she rose to his kiss. Her hands slipped up the backs of his shoulders as she held him. It only lasted a moment, but in that moment of stolen bliss, they shared a world of emotions.

All too soon the kiss, the embrace, was over. His warm presence swirled away from her, allowing the awful weight of doom to settle firmly down atop her. Richard briefly hugged Cara before he hefted his pack onto a shoulder.

He turned back at the bedroom doorway.

"I love you, Kahlan. Never anyone before you, nor ever after. Only you." His eyes said it even better.

"You're everything to me, Richard. You know that."

"I love you, too, Cara." He winked at her. "Take good care of the both of you until I'm back."

"I will, Lord Rahl. You have my word as Mord-Sith."

He gave her a crooked smile. "I have your word as Cara."

And then he was gone.

"I love you, too, Lord Rahl," Cara whispered to the empty doorway.

Kahlan and Cara ran into the main room and stood in the doorway watching him running across the meadow.

Cara cupped her hands around her mouth. "I love you too, Lord Rahl," she shouted.

Richard turned as he ran and acknowledged her words with a wave.

Together, they watched Richard's dark figure flying through the dead brown grass, his fluid gait swiftly carrying him away. Just before he disappeared into the trees, he stopped and turned. Kahlan shared a last look with him, a look that said everything. He turned and vanished into the woods, his clothes making him impossible to distinguish from the trees and undergrowth.

Kahlan collapsed to her knees, sitting back on her heels as she lost control of her emotions. She wept helplessly, her head in her hands, at what seemed the end of the world.

Cara squatted beside her to put an arm around her shoulders. Kahlan hated to have Cara see her cry that way, cry in such weakness. She felt a distant gratitude when Cara held her head to her shoulder and didn't say anything.

Kahlan didn't know how long she sat on the dirt floor in her white Confessor's dress, sobbing, but after a time, she was able to make herself stop. Her heart continued to spiral down into hopeless gloom. Each passing moment seemed unendurable. The bleak future stretched out before her, a wasteland of agony.