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He put an arm around her as he levered himself into a sitting position. "That I am, little one."
Zedd could see that that wasn't entirely true. "Chase, go sit on that bench. I have to help those people, and I don't want little eyes to see what is over there."
He knew this appeal would work better than telling Chase he didn't want him walking around with his injuries until they could be seen to. Still, Zedd was a little surprised when Chase nodded without protest.
The commander and eight of his men rushed up. A few of them were bloody, one had ragged claw cuts right through the metal of his breastplate. They all cast an eye to the screeling frozen in the pool. "Nice bit of work, Wizard Zorander." He gave a small nod and smile of respect. "There are a few over there who are still alive. Is there anything you can do for them?"
"I will have a look. Commander, have your men use their battle axes to hack that thing to pieces before it figures out how to melt the ice."
His eyes went wide. "You mean it's still alive?"
Zedd gave a grunt that it was so. "The sooner the better, Commander."
The men already had their crescent axes unhooked from their belts, waiting for the order. The commander gave them a nod and they charged onto the ice, swinging before they slid to a stop.
He lowered his voice. "Wizard Zorander, what is that thing?"
Zedd looked from the man's face over to Chase, who was listening intently. He held the boundary warden's gaze. "It's a screeling." Chase didn't show any reaction; the boundary warden rarely did. Zedd turned back to the commander.
The big man's blue eyes were wide. "The screelings are loose?" he whispered. "Wizard Zorander... you can't be serious."
Zedd studied the man's face. He saw scars he hadn't seen before, scars earned in battles to the death. For a D'Haran soldier, there rarely was any other kind. This was a man not used to letting fear show in his eyes. Even in the face of death.
Zedd sighed. He hadn't slept in days. After the quads had come and tried to capture Kahlan, and she thought Richard had been killed, she had gone into the Con Dar, the blood rage, killing their attackers. She, Chase, and Zedd had walked for three days and nights to reach the Palace, for her to extract vengeance. There was no stopping a Confessor in the Con Dar, that ancient mix of magics. Then they had been captured and discovered Richard alive. That was only yesterday, but it seemed forever ago.
Darken Rahl had worked all night drawing forth the magic of Orden from the three boxes as they had watched, helpless, and only this morning was he killed by opening the wrong box. Killed by the Wizard's First Rule, wielded by Richard. Proof that Richard had the gift, even if Richard didn't believe it, for only one with the gift could use the Wizard's First Rule on a wizard of Darken Rahl's talent.
Zedd glanced over momentarily at the men hacking at the screeling in the ice. "What is your name, Commander?"
The man stiffened proudly to attention. "Commander General Trimack, First File of the Palace Guard."
"First File? What are they?"
Pride stiffened the man's jaw even more. "We are the ring of steel around Lord Rahl himself, Wizard Zorander. Two thousand strong. We fall to a man before harm gets a glance at Lord Rahl."
Zedd nodded. "Commander General Trimack, a man in your position knows that one of the responsibilities of rank is to bear the burden of knowledge in silence and solitude."
"I do."
"Your knowledge that this creature is a screeling is one of those burdens. For the time being anyway."
Trimack let out a heavy breath and gave a nod. "I understand." He looked over to the people on the floor across the hall. "About the injured, Wizard Zorander?"
Zedd had respect for a soldier who held concern for wounded innocents. His disregard before had been duty, not callousness. By instinct, his first duty had been to meet the attack.
Zedd started across the hall with Trimack at his side. "You know Darken Rahl is dead?"
"Yes. I was in the grand courtyard earlier today. I saw the new Lord Rahl before he flew away on the red dragon."
"And you will serve Richard as loyally as you have served in the past?"
"He is a Rahl, is he not?"
"He is a Rahl."
"And he has the gift?"
"He does."
Trimack nodded. "To the last man. Before harm gets a glance at him."
Zedd looked over. "He will not be an easy man to serve under. He's headstrong."
"He is a Rahl. That says the same thing."
Zedd smiled in spite of himself. "He is also my grandson, although he doesn't know it yet. As a matter of fact, he doesn't even know he is a Rahl. Or the Lord Rahl. Richard might not take well to the position he finds himself in. But someday, he is going to need you.
I would take it as a personal favor, Commander General Trimack, if you would give him a little understanding."
Trimack's eyes surveyed the area, ever ready for any new danger. "I would give him my life."
"I think the understanding would serve him better in the beginning. He thinks of himself as nothing more than a woods guide. He is a leader by nature and by birth, but not by his own appraisal. He will not want anything to do with it, but it has come to him nonetheless."
At last a smile came to Trimack's face. "Done." He stopped and turned to the wizard. "I am a D'Haran soldier. I serve the Lord Rahl. But the Lord Rahl must also serve us. I am the steel against steel. He must be the magic against magic. Without the steel, he may still survive, but without the magic, we will not. Now tell me what a screeling is doing out of the underworld."
Zedd sighed and gave a nod. "Your former Lord Rahl was meddling with dangerous magic. Underworld magic. He tore the veil between this world and the underworld."
Trimack swallowed. "Bloody fool. He's supposed to serve us, not take us into eternal night. Someone should have killed him."
"Someone did. Richard."
Trimack gave a grunt. "Then Lord Rahl is already serving us."
"A few days ago, some would have viewed that thought as treason."
"It is a greater treason to deliver the living to the dead."
"Yesterday you would have killed Richard to keep him from harming Darken Rahl."
"And yesterday he would have killed me to get at his foe. But now we serve each other. Only a fool walks into the future backwards."
Zedd gave a nod and a small, but warm, smile of respect. His eyes narrowed and he leaned closer. "If the veil is not closed, Commander, and the Keeper is loosed on the world, everyone will share the same fate. It won't be just D'Hara, but the whole of the world that is consumed. From what I have read of the prophecies, Richard may be the only one who can close the veil. You just remember that, if harm tries to get a glance at Richard."
Trimack's eyes were ice. "Steel against steel, that he may be the magic against magic."
"Good. You have it right."
