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"I just wanted to be with you."
"Well, I'm going for a walk in the country."
She shrugged. "I wouldn't mind a walk. May I come along?"
Richard looked over. She was in her wispy maroon dress, the one with the vee shaped neckline. The day was chilly. At least she had on a useful looking violet cloak. She was wearing big gold, loop earrings. Her belt matched her necklace, with the same kind of gold medallions. She looked alluring in the outfit, but it wasn't exactly hiking in the country clothes.
"Are you wearing those useless slippers?"
She held a foot out to show him her tooled leather boots. "I had them made special, just so I could go for walks with you."
Made special, he grumbled to himself. Richard remembered how hurt she had been that time he had told her that the blue dress didn't become her. He didn't want to hurt her feelings by sending her away. She was only trying to please him. Maybe, he thought, the company of a smiling face would do him good.
"Well, all right then. I guess you can come along, as long as you don't think I'm going to entertain you in conversation."
She grinned and took his arm. "I'd be happy just to walk with you."
At least having Pasha on his arm kept most of the women away from him as they passed through the city. The ones who did boldly approach earned a glare from Pasha. The ones who braved the glare earned something else: a touch of her Han. They yelped from the invisible pinch and made themselves scarce.
Richard understood, now, why the Palace was breeding wizards. They were trying to get one with Additive and Subtractive Magic.
And now they had one.
They walked silently up into hills bathed in the golden light of the late afternoon sun. Richard felt better out in the open, rocky hills overlooking the city. Though it was an illusion, he felt free. He suddenly wished Pasha wasn't along. He hadn't come out to see Gratch in days. Gratch was probably frantic.
He was at a loss as to what he was going to do next. He didn't know if everything the Prelate had said was true, and he didn't know which he feared more—that it was a lie, or the truth.
Pasha's hand on his arm tightened in a way that brought him out of his brooding thoughts and made him draw to a halt. She glanced about nervously. He could tell by the way she was breathing through her mouth that she was frightened.
"What's wrong?" he whispered.
Her gaze searched the surrounding rocks. "Richard, there is something out here. Please, let go back."
Richard drew the sword. Its unique ring filled the still, afternoon air. He felt nothing, no sense of danger, but Pasha's Han obviously felt something that frightened her.
Pasha let out a little shriek. Richard spun. Gratch's head poked up above a rock. Pasha backed away.
"It's all right, he won't hurt you."
Gratch gave a tentative grin, showing his fangs, as he stood to his full, towering height.
"Kill it!" she screamed. "It's a beast! Kill it!"
"Pasha, calm down. He won't hurt you."
She backed farther away. Gratch stood looking from Richard to Pasha, not knowing what to do. Richard realized she might use her power to hurt the gar, so he put himself between the two.
"Richard! Move! It must be killed! It's a beast!"
"It won't hurt you. I know him. Pasha..."
She turned and ran, her violet cloak flying behind. Richard groaned as he watched her leap from the top of one rock to another, making her way down the hill. He gave Gratch a scowl.
"What's wrong with you! Did you have to scare her! What are you doing showing your face to people!"
Gratch's ears wilted. His shoulders slumped, and he began to whine. When his wings started quivering, Richard went to him.
"Well, it's too late now to be sorry. Come on and give me a hug." Gratch cast his eyes to the ground. "It will be all right."
He put his arms around the big, furry creature. Gratch finally responded. He threw his arms and wings around Richard, gurgling his happiness. In a moment, he pulled Richard off the rock and wrestled him to the ground. Richard tickled his ribs and wrestled until Gratch was giggling in glee.
After they had settled down, Gratch put a claw tip in the pocket where Richard kept the lock of Kahlan's hair. He looked at Richard from under hooded eyebrows as big as axe handles. Richard finally figured out what Gratch meant.
"No. No, that's not the same woman. It's a different person."
Gratch frowned. He didn't understand. Richard didn't feel like trying to explain that the lock of hair he was always looking at was not from Pasha. At Gratch's urging, Richard instead wrestled with his woolly friend.
It was twilight when Richard made it back to the Palace. He was going to have to find Pasha and explain to her that Gratch was his friend, and not a dangerous beast. Before he had gone far, Sister Verna found him, instead.
"Did you feed that baby gar back in the wilds, the one I told you to kill? Did you let that beast follow us!"
Richard stared at her. "It was helpless, Sister. I couldn't kill something that was no harm to me. We've become friends."
Muttering, she wiped a hand across her face. "As absurd as it sounds, I suppose I can understand; you needed companionship, and you certainly didn't want it from me."
"Sister Verna..."
"But why would you let Pasha see it!"
"I didn't. He just popped his head up. I didn't know he was there. Pasha saw him before I knew."
She let out an exasperated sigh. "The people around here fear beasts; they kill them. Pasha went screaming to the Sisters that there was a beast in the hills."
"I'll explain it to them. I'll make them understand..."
"Richard! Listen to me!" He backed away a step and stood silently while he waited for her to go on. "The Palace believes that 'pets' are a hindrance to learning to use your Han. They believe it diverts feelings away from them, to the creature. I think they are being foolish, but that is beside the point."
"What is the point? You mean they will try to keep me from seeing him anymore?"
She put an impatient hand on his arm. "No, Richard. They think it is a vile beast that could turn on you. They think you are in danger. The Sisters are forming a search party as we speak. They intend to hunt it down and kill it, for your own good."
Richard stared at her concerned expression for only a second, and then he was running. He charged over the bridge and back into the city. People gaped as he flew past. He leapt over carts that wouldn't move out of the way fast enough. He knocked over a stand selling amulets. People hollered at him, but he ran on.
His heart thumped in his ears as he raced up the hills. Several times he stumbled over ditches or rocks, but he rolled to his feet, gasping for air, and rushed on. In the darkness, he leapt from rock to rock as he crossed ravines.
At the crest of a round-topped hill near where he had been with Gratch earlier, he yelled, between panting. His fists at his sides, he tipped his head back and screamed Gratch's name. His voice echoed off the surrounding hills. Only silence answered when the echoes died out.
Exhausted, Richard fell to his knees. They would be coming soon. The Sisters would use their Han to find the gar. Gratch wouldn't know what they intended. Even if he kept his distance, their magic could reach out and kill him. They could knock him from the air, or set him afire.
"Graaaatch! Graaaatch!"
A dark shape blackened a patch of stars. The gar thumped to the ground and folded his wings. He cocked his head and gave a purling gurgle.
Richard grabbed Gratch's fur in his fists.
"Gratch! Listen to me. You have to go away. You can't stay here any longer. They're coming to kill you. You must leave."
Gratch gave a questioning whine that rose in pitch. His ears perked forward. He tried to put his arms around Richard.
Richard pushed him away. "Go! You understand me, I know you do! Go! I want you to go away! They will try to kill you! Go away and never come back!"
Gratch's ears wilted a
s he cocked his head to the other side. Richard pounded a fist to the gar's chest. He pointed north.
"Go away!" He threw his arms out and pointed again. "I want you to go away and never come back!"
Gratch tried to put his arms around Richard. Richard pushed them away. Gratch's ears lay down against his head.
"Grrratch luuug Raaaach aaarg."
Richard wanted more that anything to hold his friend and tell him that he loved him, too. But he couldn't. He had to make him go in order to save his life.
"Well I don't love you! Go away and never come back!"
