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“You’d better let me see if she made it right, first,” Chase said as they passed through the tapestry lined halls of the Keep. “I’d hate you to go making any firm commitments before we even know if the stew is edible.”
“Friedrich helped me with the heavy parts,” Rachel said. “He says it’s good.”
“We’ll see,” Chase said.
Rachel turned and shook her wooden spoon at him. “You have to wash your hands, first, though. I saw you throwing that dead man over the wall. You have to wash your hands before you come to the table and eat.”
Chase gave Zedd a look of strained forbearance. “Somewhere, there’s a boy enjoying himself right now, probably carrying around a dead frog, oblivious to the sorry fact that he’s someday going to be married to little-miss-wash-your-hands-before-you-eat.”
Zedd smiled. When Chase had taken Rachel in to be his daughter, it was just about the best thing Zedd could ever have wished for. Rachel thought so, too, and it looked like she still did. She was fiercely devoted to the man.
As they sat at the table, before the cheery fire in the hearth, Zedd enjoying his third bowl of stew, he couldn’t recall the Keep being such a wonderful place. It was because there was a child, along with friends, once again in the halls of the Keep.
Friedrich, the man who had come on Richard’s orders to warn Zedd of the impending attack on the Keep, had realized he had not been in time. The man used his head and had sought out Chase, the old friend he had heard Richard talk about.
While Chase had gone to rescue Zedd and Adie, Friedrich had returned to the Keep to spy on the people who had taken it. By watching carefully and staying out of sight of a Sister, Friedrich had been able to provide Chase and Zedd invaluable information about the number of people occupying the Keep, and their routines. He then helped take the place back.
Zedd liked the man. He was not only frightfully handy with a knife, but entertaining at conversation. Friedrich, since he had been married to a sorceress, was able to converse with Zedd without being intimidated as some were of wizards. Having lived in D’Hara all his life, Friedrich was also able to fill in pieces of information.
Rachel held up a carving of a hawk. “Look what Friedrich made for me, Zedd. Isn’t it the most beautiful thing you ever did see?”
Zedd smiled. “It certainly is.”
“It’s nothing,” Friedrich scoffed. “If I had some gold leaf, then I could gild it for you. That used to be what I did for a living.” He leaned back and smiled to himself. “Until Lord Rahl made me a boundary warden.”
“You know,” Zedd drawled offhandedly to both men, “the Keep is even more vulnerable, now, to those who might come and don’t have magic than to those who do. I’m just fine protecting against those who are affected by magic, but not the other kind.”
Chase nodded. “Seems so.”
“Well, the thing is,” he went on, “I was thinking that since there’s no boundary any longer, and what with all the trouble about, perhaps you two would like to take on the responsibility of helping to protect the Wizard’s Keep. I’m not nearly so fit for the task as would be someone trained in such things.” Zedd leaned in, his brow lowering. “It’s vitally important.”
Elbows on the table, Chase chewed a bite of biscuit as he watched Zedd. Finally, he stirred his spoon around in his bowl.
“Well, it could be a disaster if Jagang were to use those ungifted men to get his hands on the place again.” He thought about it. “Emma will understand.”
Zedd shrugged. “Bring her here.”
Chase frowned. “Bring her here?”
Zedd gestured around. “The Keep is certainly big enough.”
“But what would we do with our children?” Chase leaned back. “You don’t want all my children here in the Keep, Zedd—they’d be running up and down, playing in the halls. It would drive you batty. Besides,” Chase added, peering with one scowling eye at Rachel, “each one’s uglier than the next.”
Rachel hid her giggle behind a biscuit.
Zedd remembered the sounds of children’s laughter in the Keep, the sounds of joy and love.
“Well, it would be a burden,” he agreed, “but this is, after all, about the protection of the Keep. What sacrifice wouldn’t it be worth making to protect the Keep?”
Rachel looked from Chase to Zedd. “My new sister, Lee, could bring Cat back to you, Zedd.”
“That’s right!” Zedd said, throwing his hands up. “I haven’t seen Cat for ages! Is Lee treating Cat well?”
Rachel nodded earnestly. “Oh, yes. We all take good care of Cat.”
“What do you think, Rachel?” Chase finally asked. “Would you want to live here in this dusty old place with Zedd?”
Rachel ran over and hugged Chase’s leg. “Oh, yes, can we, please? It would be ever so grand.”
Chase sighed. “Then I guess it’s settled. But you’ll have to behave and not bother Zedd by being too loud.”
“I promise,” Rachel said. She frowned up at Zedd. “Will Mother have to crawl into the Keep through that little tunnel, like we did?”
Zedd chuckled. “No, no, we’ll let her come in the proper way, like the lady she is.” He turned to Friedrich. “How about it, boundary warden? Would you be willing to continue doing Lord Rahl’s bidding and stay to help guard the Keep?”
Friedrich slowly spun the bird carving by the tip of one wing, thinking.
“You know,” Zedd added, “while you’re waiting for some fearsome attack, there are any number of old gilded things here at the Keep that are in terrible need of repair. Perhaps you would consider taking on the job of being the Keep’s official gilder? We have plenty of gold leaf. And, someday, when the people return to Aydindril, you would have a steady supply of customers.”
Friedrich stared down at the table. “I don’t know. This one adventure was all well and good, but since my wife, Althea, died, I don’t seem to be interested in much.”
Zedd nodded. “I know how it is. I used to have a wife. I think it would do you good to get paid to do something needed.”
Friedrich smiled. “All right, then. I will take your job, wizard.”
“Good,” Chase said. “I’ll have someone to help me when I need to lock troublesome children in the dungeon.”
Rachel giggled as he set her on the ground.
Chase pushed his chair back and stood. “Well, Friedrich, if we’re going to be Keep wardens, then I think we ought to make some rounds and satisfy ourselves about the security of a few things. As big as this place is, Rikka could use the help.”
“Just mind the shields,” Zedd reminded them as they headed for the door.
After the two men had gone off, Rachel got Zedd another biscuit to go with the rest of his stew. Her little brow bunched together earnestly.
“When we live here, we’ll try to be real quiet for you, Zedd.”
“Well, you know, Rachel, the Keep is a big place. I doubt you would bother me much if you and your brothers and sisters wanted to play a little bit.”
“Really?”
Zedd pulled the leather-covered ball painted with faded blue and pink zigzagged lines all around it out of his pocket and set it on the table.
Rachel’s eyes lit up in astonishment.
“I found this old ball,” he said, gesturing with his biscuit. “I think a ball has a much better time if it has someone to play with it. Do you think you and your brothers and sisters might like to play with this when you live here? You can bounce it down the halls to your heart’s content.”
Her mouth fell open. “Really, Zedd?”
Zedd grinned at the look on her face. “Really.”
“Maybe I can bounce it in the dark hall that makes the funny noises. Then it wouldn’t bother you any more than now.”
“This old place is full of funny noises—and a bouncing ball isn’t liable to cause too much trouble.”
She climbed up in his lap and put her little arms around his neck, hugging him tightly.
&nb
sp; “It’s a lot better hugging you now that you found those things to get that awful collar off your neck.”
Zedd rubbed her back as she hugged him. “Yes, it is, little one; yes, it is.”
She leaned back and looked at him. “I wish Richard and Kahlan could be here to play with the ball, too. I miss them something fierce.”
Zedd smiled. “Me, too, little one. Me, too.”
She frowned at him. “Don’t get tears, Zedd. I won’t make a lot of noise to bother you.”
Zedd shook a bony finger at her. “I’m afraid you have a lot to learn about playing with a ball.”
“I do?”
