Kahlan still knelt, bent over Zedd’s chest, her face buried in her hands as she wept. Zedd had been the wizard she had come through the boundary to find. He had been “the one.” Everyone had needed him. She had come to pull him away from his peaceful life in Westland and back into a world ablaze with war. They had all needed the First Wizard so he could name a Seeker. They needed the First Wizard to set things right.
Richard knew what else was going through her mind at that moment—the same memory that was going through his thoughts—Zedd marrying the two of them.
Nicci, standing close to his left shoulder, looked up at him. “What do you want us to do, Richard?” she asked in a broken voice.
He knew that hesitation, failure to make a decision, was deadly. They were already in enough trouble, and there was obviously yet more they hadn’t been aware of lurking in the night. It was most likely something to do with occult sorcery, otherwise Zedd and Nicci would have detected it.
He needed to make a decision, he needed to make it quickly, and he needed it to be the right decision.
He tried to think of what Zedd would want him to do, what he would advise. Richard looked around. No one knew Zedd’s wishes better than Richard. He knew that Zedd would tell him that he must push on, that he had to get to the citadel or everything, all their efforts and hopes, would be in vain.
His grandfather would tell him that the living couldn’t sacrifice their chance at life to mourn the dead.
“Zedd told me that he thought this was a beautiful place. His soul is in the hands of the good spirits, now. He is safe, there, with them, and finally at peace. He no longer has need of this vessel in which he has for so long sailed the world of life. He would want us to purify his remains in a funeral pyre. We need to build up a platform of wood and place him on it.
“We need to be quick about it. We don’t know what danger is here among us. We can’t stay here. We need to take care of Zedd, and then we must be gone.”
“I will see to it at once, Lord Rahl,” the commander said.
Richard turned to Nicci. “If we get to a containment field can you cure Kahlan and me by yourself—without Zedd?”
“Yes.”
“Are you sure?”
Nicci did not hesitate. “Absolutely.”
“Could you tell how he was beheaded? By what method?”
Nicci swallowed. “No. It looks like a blade, but it could have been something else.”
“You mean like the gift?”
“Yes. I’ve seen it done often enough. It looks much the same. But I can detect no gifted people anywhere near—other than myself, Irena, and Samantha right here with us.”
“They could have been lying in wait, and then when they saw an opportunity killed the first person of rank that they could, and then run off,” Commander Fister said.
Richard nodded. “Possibly. Send your best trackers out and have them search while we take care of Zedd. But if they do find any evidence of an intruder, they could be gifted so I don’t want them following or trying to take them on. Just come get me instead.”
He turned back to Nicci. “Could it have been someone using occult sorcery?”
Nicci’s eyes brimmed with tears. “Yes, I suppose, but I have no way of knowing, and if it was, I can’t sense such people. They could be standing right next to me and I wouldn’t be able to detect such powers. Occult powers are like the dark side of the moon. They remain out of sight and a mystery.”
Richard turned to a stricken-looking Irena. “Can you?”
She wiped her nose on her sleeve as she shook her head.
Richard gritted his teeth for a moment, fighting to keep control of the rage thundering through him. He was on the razor edge of losing control, but there was no target for his fury. He told himself yet again to think of what his grandfather would advise him to do.
“All right then, we need to see to taking care of Zedd’s remains as swiftly as possible. He is with the good spirits now. We can weep for his soul but we have to move while we weep. Though his body is only an empty vessel, now, I don’t want animals getting at it. With our gifted, we can have a fire hot enough to purify his remains in short order.
“It’s going to be light soon. We can’t afford to delay one moment longer than absolutely necessary. We need to see to this and then be on our way to Saavedra. If the trackers haven’t found anything by first light, then we must put our efforts toward what matters most right now—getting to the citadel.”
All around the small clearing, Richard saw fists go to hearts. Even Samantha, Irena, and Nicci silently bowed their heads as they touched fists to hearts.