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Sister Verna, a suspicious frown on her face, took a step toward him. "What are you going to do? Warren was right, you have no time."
In the distance, the red wings spread wide as the dragon plunged into a dive. Richard unhooked his pack from Bonnie, slinging it onto his back. He gave Bonnie's neck a good bye hug. He hooked on the quiver, and slipped the bow over his shoulder. From the corner of his eye, he watched the dragon plummet straight down.
"I'm going to have time. I must leave you now, Sister."
"What do you mean you are leaving? How?"
At the last instant the dragon pulled out of the dive. Her long neck stretched out. Wings spread wide, she shot toward them at incredible speed, skimming along just above the ground.
"I have only one chance to reach my goal in time. I must fly."
"Fly!" Warren and Sister Verna shouted together.
Scarlet swept up with a roar. Everyone else saw her for the first time. Immense wings beat to slow the dragon's speed.
Their clothes flapped in the sudden burst of wind. The grass all around flattened in the gusts. Warren, Sister Verna and Du Chaillu stepped back in surprise. Scarlet settled to the ground as her forward speed was brought to a halt by her beating wings.
"Richard," Sister Verna said as she slowly shook her head, "you have the oddest pets of anyone I have ever met."
"Red dragons are pets to no one, Sister. Scarlet is a dear friend."
Richard trotted toward the huge red dragon glistening in the sunlight. Scarlet snorted a small cloud of gray smoke.
"Richard! How good to see you again. Since you called me so urgently with my tooth, I presume you are in trouble again. As usual."
"Trouble indeed, my friend." Richard gave a pat to a glossy red scale. "I've missed you, Scarlet."
"Well, I've already eaten. I guess I must instead give you a ride in the sky to work up an appetite. Then I will eat you."
Richard laughed "Where is your little one?"
Her ears twitched. "Off hunting. Gregory is not so little anymore. He misses you, and would like to see you."
"I would like to see Gregory, too. But I'm in a terrible hurry right now. I'm running out of time."
"Richard!" Du Chaillu ran toward him. "I must go, too. I must go where my husband goes!"
Richard leaned toward Scarlet's ear as she lowered her head and peered at him with one yellow eye. "A little flame, Scarlet," he whispered. "Just for effect. Don't hurt her."
Du Chaillu leapt back with a squeal as a burst of fire charred the grass at her feet.
"Du Chaillu, your land is returned to your people. You must stay with them. You are their spirit woman; they need you. They need your guidance. I would ask something else of you: protect the towers that are on your land. I don't know if they can bring any harm, but as the Caharin, I order that no one shall ever enter them. Guard them, and keep all others out, too.
"Live in peace with others who would live in peace with you, but continue to practice with the blades so you may protect yourselves."
Du Chaillu drew herself up tall. The little strips of cloth on her prayer dress fluttered in the breeze, along with her thick black hair.
"You are wise, Caharin, I will see that it is as you say, until you return to your wife and your people."
"Richard," Sister Verna said. Her face held a serious look. "Do you know where Kahlan is?"
"Aydindril. She would have gone there; the prophecy takes place before her people. She will be in Aydindril."
"The time of choosing is upon you, Richard. Where are you going, now?"
He looked long into her steady gaze.
"D'Hara."
She gazed silently at him. At last, she put her arms around him and gave him a warm hug. She kissed his cheek. "And then?"
Richard raked his fingers through his thick hair. "Somehow I will stop what is to happen in D'Hara, and then I must get to Aydindril before it is too late. Take care, my friend."
She nodded. "Warren and I will see to the people here who have been released from the spells. They will need guidance. I have been a Sister of the Light for nearly two hundred years. All I ever wanted was to help people who needed it. But you had help. There is no excuse for taking you, or others. I want to try to set some of this right."
Warren gave Richard a firm hug. "Thanks, Richard. For everything. I look forward to seeing you again."
Richard winked. "Try not to have any adventures."
"I'll go with you," Chase said.
"No." Richard wiped a hand over his face. "No, go home, Chase. Take Rachel to her new mother, and her brothers and sisters. Emma will be worried sick by now. She hasn't seen you in ages. Go home to you wife and family. I will need to be returning home soon, too."
Richard turned back to Sister Verna. "We must do something about those six Sisters. They're sailing for Westland. The people there have no protection against magic. It Westland, those Sisters will be like hawks in a hatchery."
"I think that journey will take them some time. You have time enough for them, Richard."
"Good. Kahlan will want to wed before the Mud People. Then I may need to come and get some advice on how to handle those six. Talk to Nathan, and Ann. We can decide what to do then."
"Be careful," Warren said. He stood stoically with his hands in the opposite sleeves of his robes. "And I don't just mean with yourself. Don't forget the things Nathan and I have told you. Don't forget that everyone else is in danger from what you can do with the Stone of Tears. I don't think you have yet reached your time of choosing."
"
I'll do my best."
Scarlet lowered herself so he could climb up onto her shoulders. He gripped the black tipped spines and hauled himself up. Richard gave a slap to a red scale.
"To D'hara, my friend. Again."
With a roar of flame, Scarlet launched into the sky.
68
In the distance, in the predawn gloom, he could see the green glow. It rose from the People's Palace, through the glass roof of the garden of life, like a beacon. Richard had seen that color of green from only one place. The underworld.
The icy wind tore at his clothes as Scarlet's wings beat with a steady cadence. She had put strenuous effort into the flight to D'Hara. She understood the danger posed by the Keeper. The underworld would take her, too. And, she hated Darken Rahl. He had stolen her egg before and used it to enslave her.
As she began her descent, she peered back, her ears turning toward him. "There will be enough time, Richard. We can still make it to Aydindril. It is only just dawn."
"I know you'll get me there, Scarlet. I'll try not to give you too much time to rest."
Scarlet banked to the left, steepening their descent down toward the courtyard where they had been before. It was a place the huge dragon could land in the dark with room to spare. The Palace's vast jumble of roofs and walls rushed up toward them with frightening speed. Richard's toes tingled with the feeling of floating off her back as she plummeted.
Suddenly, from the darkness below, a blinding flash of lightning crackled up all about them. It left yellow lines of afterimage in his vision. Before Richard could make sense of it, another came.
Scarlet roared in pain and pitched to the left. They dropped into a sickening spiral toward the ground. Richard gripped her spines as the huge dragon tried to recover.
On the vast steps rotating below, he saw the woman illuminated by the light of the next bolt of lightning she sent forth from her hands. Once again, Scarlet roared in pain. He couldn't see the woman in the darkness when the lightning cut off.
Scarlet struggled to check the uncontrolled descent. Richard knew that another bolt of the lightning would finish her. He tore the bow from his back and yanked an arrow from the quiver.
