“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 nodded, but looked skeptical. “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 tilted 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’s a pleasure to at last have one with the gift in the palace who is more concerned with putting people’s guts back inside, than with spilling them out. I’ve 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 had to use even 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 important, 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 back 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 backward 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. “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.

“May the good spirits be mercifully kind to your future husband,” Chase said, “and at least grant him a few years” peace until you lay your eyes on the poor, doomed fool.” She frowned. “What does that mean?” Chase swung his leg down and sat up. He scooped her up and plopped her down on his knee. “I’ll tell you what it means. It means that there’s a new rule. And this one you better not break.”

“No, Father, I won’t. What is it?”

“From now on,” he said with a scowl, his face close to hers, “if you need to tell me something important, and I don’t listen to you, you are to kick me. Hard as you can. And you just go on kicking me until I listen. Got it?”

She smiled. “Yes, Father.”

“I’m not joking. I mean it.”

She nodded earnestly. “I promise, Chase.”

The big man rolled his eyes and swept her to his chest with one arm, holding her to him the way she held her doll to herself. Zedd swallowed back the lump in his throat. At that moment, he didn’t like himself very much, and he liked the alternatives a lot less.

The wizard fell to one knee before her. The dried blood made his robes stiff at his knees. “Rachel. I must ask you to do something for me.”

She nodded. “What is it, Zedd?”

He brought his arm up, the gold chain hanging from his fingers. The stone swung back and forth under his hand. This belongs to someone else. Would you wear it for now? Keep it safe? Someday Richard may come and get it from you, to take it where it belongs, but I don’t know when that will be.”

Chase’s fierce, hawkish eyes looked like what Zedd imagined a mouse must see an instant before the end.

“It’s very pretty, Zedd. I never wore such a pretty thing.”

“It’s also very important. As important as the box that Wizard Giller gave you to look after.”

“But Darken Rahl is dead. You said so. He can’t hurt us anymore.”

“I know, child, but this is still important. You did such a good and brave job with the box that I think you would be the best one to wear this necklace until the one it belongs to comes for it. You must wear it always until then. Don’t let anyone else even try it on for play. This is not something to play with.”

Her expression turned serious at the mention of the box. “I’ll take good care of it, Zedd, if you say it’s important.”

“Zedd,” Chase hissed as he pulled Rachel’s head to himself, cupping his hand over her ear so she couldn’t hear, “what do you think you’re doing? Is that what I think it is?”

Zedd gave him a forbidding look. “I’m trying to keep all the children of the world from having very bad nightmares. For eternity.”

Chase gritted his teeth. “Zedd, I don’t want…”

Zedd cut him off. “Chase, how long have you known me?” Chase glared, but didn’t answer. “In all the time you’ve known me, have you ever known me to bring harm to another, especially a child? Have you ever known me to put another at risk for anything foolish?”