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"Richard is going to have a difficult enough time being the magic against magic—underworld magic—without troubles from steel. You have a free hand, Commander, to do as you see fit to protect him. Err on the side of duty."
Trimack gave a grunt of acknowledgment, then went on. "The Peoples' Palace, one roof though it may be, is a city. Thousands live here. Merchants and supplies, trains of wagons to lone peddlers, come and go in an endless stream in all directions except to the east, across the Azrith Plains. The roads in are the arteries that feed the heart of D'Hara—the People's Palace.
"The inside of the plateau is chambered with twice the number of rooms of the Palace above ground. As with any city of this size, the motives of the multitudes coming here are beyond our ability to judge with absolute confidence and certainty.
"I will have the great inner doors closed and seal off the Palace above ground. It is something that has not been done in a few hundred years, and it will cause worry among the people of D'Hara, but I would risk the worried talk. The only way to the Palace proper, if not through the inside entrances, is up the cliff road on the east side. I will keep the bridge up.
"That still leaves us with thousands in the Palace proper. Any of them could have designs not to our liking. Worse, there are thousands of battle-tested soldiers in the belly of the Palace, many led by men I would not want getting a glance at Lord Rahl. I have a feeling the new Lord Rahl is not the kind of Rahl they are used to dealing with, and they are not going to like the change.
"D'Hara is a vast empire, the supply routes long. Perhaps it is time some of these divisions were sent out to see to the safety of these routes, especially the ones to the far south, near the wilds, where I have heard rumor there is unrest and trouble. And perhaps from the ranks of the ones I trust, the size of the First File could be increased three fold."
Zedd studied Trimack's face as the man continued to scan the hall. "I am no soldier, but your ideas make sense. The Palace must be made as secure as possible. How you do it is up to you."
"I will give you a list then, in the morning, of the generals to be trusted and those to worry about."
"Why would I need such a list?"
Trimack's eyes came to the wizard. "Because orders such as these must come from one with the gift."
Zedd shook his head, muttering. "Wizards should not be ruling people. It's not right."
"It is the way in D'Hara. Magic and steel. I want to protect Lord Rahl. This is what I think needs to be done."
Zedd stared off into the distance, feeling the ache of exhaustion in his bones. "Do you know, Trimack, that I have fought and killed wizards who wanted to take it upon themselves to rule?"
When an answer didn't come, Zedd turned back to the officer. Trimack was studying him. "Given the choice, Wizard Zorander, I would choose to serve one who bears command as a burden, to one who wears the mantle as a right."
Zedd sighed and gave a nod. "In the morning then. There is one other matter, the most important of all: I want the Garden of Life guarded. That is where the screeling first attacked. I don't know if there will be more. There is a door up there that will have to be fixed. Put a ring of steel around the Garden. Enough men that they have room only to swing an axe. No one, no one at all, is to be allowed to go in except myself or Richard, or by our order.
"Anyone attempting to go into that room is to be viewed as harm trying to get a look at Lord Rahl. Even one who tells you he is only there to pull weeds. No one. And you can bet your mother's honor that anything trying to get out is harm trying to have more than a look."
Trimack clapped his fist to his armored chest. "To the last man, Wizard Zorander."
"Good. Lord Rahl may need what is in that room. I don't dare to move those things for the time being. They are extremely dangerous. Take very seriously the guarding of that room, Commander. More screelings could come. Or worse."
"How soon?"
"I would not have thought we would have seen the first for a year or more. At least months. That the Keeper could have loosed one of his assassins so soon is a great worry. I don't know who it was sent for. It's possible it was simply sent to kill whoever was around. The Keeper needs no reason to kill. I must leave the Palace tomorrow to learn what I can before we are surprised again."
Trimack pondered this with troubled eyes. "Do you know when Lord Rahl will return?"
Zedd shook his head. "No. I thought I was going to have time to teach him some of what he must know, but now I must send for him at once to meet me in Aydindril and see if we can discover what must be done. He is in great danger and knows nothing of it. Events have outpaced me. I have no idea what the Keeper is going to do next but I now fear how deep his tendrils may be. That they were around Darken Rahl even before the veil was torn means I have already been an ignorant fool in this business.
"If Richard should happen to return unexpectedly, or if anything happens to me... help him. He sees himself as a woods guide, not the Lord Rahl. He will be distrustful. Tell him I said to trust you."
"If he is distrustful, how shall I convince him to trust me?"
Zedd smiled. "Tell him I said it is the truth. The toasted toads' truth."
Trimack's eyes widened with incredulity. "You wish the Commander General of the First File to say such a childish thing to the Lord Rahl?"
Zedd straightened his face and cleared his throat. "It's a code, Commander. He will understand it."
Trimack gave a suspicious nod. "I had better see to the Garden of Life, and the rest of it. No disrespect intended, but you look like you could use some rest." He gave a tilt of his head toward where the army of maidservants were still cleaning blood off the marble floor. "All the healing you did looks to have tired you."
"It did. Thank you Commander Trimack. I will take your advice."
Trimack's fist snapped to his heart, the salute softened by the hint of a smile. He began to turn, but hesitated. His intense blue eyes looked back to the wizard.
"May I say, Wizard Zorander, that it is a pleasure to at last have one with the gift in the Palace who is more concerned with putting peoples' guts back inside, than with spilling them out. I have never seen the like of it."
Zedd didn't smile. His voice was quiet. "I am sorry Commander, that I could do nothing for that lad."
Trimack gave a sorrowful nod. "I know that to be the truth, Wizard Zorander. The toasted toads' truth."
*****
Zedd watched the Commander stride across the hall, drawing armored men to him like a huge magnet. The wizard brought his hand up, staring at the gold chain looped over his sticklike fingers. He gave a pained sigh. Wizard business—using people. And now for the worst of it. He brought the black, tear-shaped stone from a pocket deep in his robes. The spirits be cursed, he thought, for the things a wizard must do.
He held the mounting where the blue Stone had been, and pressed the point of the smooth, black stone to it. Elemental power flowed from the fingers of each hand, joining in the middle, welding the stone to the mount.
Hoping he was wrong, Zedd brought forth a painful memory of his long dead wife. With the way Jebra's mind had shredded his barriers, it wasn't difficult. When a tear ran over his cheek, he wet his thumb in it, and shut the memory away with the greatest of effort. He smiled a little at the irony that wizards even had to use themselves, and that the horrible memory at least brought with it one with a little pleasure to balance it.
Holding the black stone in the palm of one hand, he buffed its surface with the tear dampened thumb. The stone turned a clear amber as he rubbed it with his thumb. His heart sank a little. There was no doubt now as to what it was.
Resigned to what must be done, Zedd wove a wizard's web around the stone. The spell would work to hide the true nature of the stone from everyone, except Richard. More importantly, the web would draw Richard's attention to the stone. If he ever saw it, the attraction would be planted firmly in his mind.
He glanced over at Chase, who was stretched out on his b
ack on a marble bench across the hall. One foot was planted on the floor, and Rachel was sitting on the ground, an arm wrapped around his calf, her head against his knee. His other foot was on the bench. A bandaged forearm rested across his forehead.
Zedd sighed and started across the polished marble floor. He wondered for a moment what the boundary warden was supposed to guard, now that the boundary was gone. He stopped, standing over the two.
Without removing his forearm from his eyes, Chase spoke. "Zedd, my old friend, if you ever again have some ruthless, strong-armed, witch of a healer pour a concoction that tastes that spirits-be-cursed foul down my gullet, I'll twist your head around so you have to walk backwards to see where you're going."
Zedd grinned. Now he knew he had picked the right woman for the job.
"Did the medicine taste really awful, Chase?" Rachel asked.
He lifted his arm a little, letting it hover over his eyes as he looked down at her. "If you call me Chase again, you may find out."
"Yes, Father." She grinned. "I'm sorry she made you drink that awful medicine." Her face turned to a pout. "But it scares me something fierce to see blood on you." He grunted.
She peered at him from under her eyebrows. "Maybe the next time, if you take your sword out when I tell you to, you wouldn't get blood on you and have to drink awful medicine."
Zedd marveled at the childlike innocence of the perfectly delivered, stinging rebuke. Chase held his head up a little off the bench, with his arm frozen in the air several inches above his eyes, as he glowered at the little girl. Zedd had never seen a man struggle so mightily to keep from laughing. Rachel's nose wrinkled up and she giggled at the strained face he was making.
