“I went into the Con Dar.” She shrugged. “It’s part of the Confessor’s magic, but I had never before known how to use it. It was something to do with rage. It means “Blood Rage.’”

“Kahlan, do you realize what you’re saying? You had to have used Subtractive Magic. Otherwise, how could you have defeated them? Zedd’s magic didn’t work, and your regular magic didn’t work, because those men were protected from Additive Magic. You must have Subtractive Magic. But if wizards of long ago created your Confessor’s magic, how can it have an element of Subtractive to it?”

She stared at him. “I don’t know. I never thought about it, but it must be as you say. Maybe when we get to Aydindril, Zedd can explain it.”

With a frown, he pulled another arrow from the bundled grass. “Maybe. But why would Confessors have Subtractive Magic?” His frown deepened. “I wonder if that was what you did with the lightning.”

Richard with the gift, and her with Subtractive Magic.

Two frightening thoughts. She shivered, but not from the cold.

They shot arrows the rest of the afternoon, until the daylight began to dim. Her shoulders and arms were weary from pulling the bowstring. She told him she couldn’t shoot another arrow if her life depended on it, and told him to shoot some arrows before they went back, so his headache would be gone for a while. As she watched him, it occurred to her she hadn’t tried to distract him while he shot, and he had promised she could try.

Kahlan stepped up close behind him. Time to see if you are really as good as you think you are.”

When he drew back the bowstring, she tickled his ribs. He didn’t flinch; he shot the same as before. But he laughed and squirmed after the arrow was away. She kept trying as he shot, but wasn’t able to distract him. She became more determined. If tickling wouldn’t work, she would just have to try something else.

Kahlan pressed up against his back as he concentrated on aiming, and smoothly unbuttoned the top three buttons of his shirt. She slipped her hand inside and ran it over his chest. His skin was taut over his hard muscles. He felt good. Warm. Strong. Hard.

She unbuttoned more buttons to better extend her reach. She ran the fingers of one hand through the back of his hair as the other roamed across his stomach. Richard kept shooting.

She started to forget about distracting him as she kissed the back of his neck. He giggled and hunched his shoulders after the arrow was away. He nocked another arrow. At last, she had all the buttons undone and was feeling all of the front of his torso, all the way down to his belt. Kahlan pulled the shirttails out of his pants and ran both hands over his body, one high, one low. It didn’t keep him from hitting the target. She couldn’t break his concentration. Her breathing quickened.

She decided she was going to win this game. She smiled as she pressed harder against him and reached farther.

“Kahlan!” he gasped. “Kahlan… that’s not fair!” He still had the bowstring drawn, but his aim was starting to wander. He worked to steady it.

She drew his earlobe gently between her teeth and kissed his ear. “You said you have to be able to shoot no matter what is happening,” she whispered as she pushed her hand farther.

“Kahlan…” His voice was high and strained. That isn’t fair… that’s cheating!”

“No matter what. Those were your exact words. You have to be able to make the shot under pressure.” She ran her tongue into his ear. “Is this enough pressure, my love? Can you do it? Can you make the shot?”

“Kahlan…” he panted. “You’re cheating.

She gave a throaty laugh and squeezed. He gasped and released the bowstring. By its flight, she knew that was one arrow they would never find.

“I think you missed,” she breathed in his ear.

He twisted around in her arms, dropping his bow. His face was red as he enclosed her in his arms.

He kissed her ear. “Not fair,” he whispered, his breath hot. “You cheat.” The touch of his lips on her ear made her gasp.

She held on tight as he pulled her hair away and put his warm mouth to her neck. It made her shiver. She hunched her shoulder against his face and half moaned, half laughed as the world tilted and she found herself on the ground under him. She managed to get out most of “I love you” before his lips covered hers and she wrapped her arms around his neck. She couldn’t get her breath. She didn’t want to.

Just as she was starting to wonder when his hands were going to get even for what she had done, Richard leapt to his feet.

He drew his sword in a rush.

The passion in his eyes had been replaced by rage. Anger from the Sword of Truth flashed in his expression. The ring of steel was carried away by the wind. He stood with his shirt open, his chest exposed and heaving with fury. She pushed herself up on her elbows.

“Richard, what is it?”

“Something is coming. Get behind me. Now!”

Kahlan sprang to her feet, snatched up her bow, and nocked an arrow. “Some thing!”

A ways off, she saw the grass moving, and it wasn’t the wind.

A splotchy gray head bobbed toward them through the long grass. Whatever it was, it wasn’t very tall. Kahlan wondered if it could be another screeling. At that thought, she drew her bowstring back until the arrow’s point was at her grip on the bow and the string against her cheek. She frantically worried if she could make the shot if it came at them. Although, from what she had seen of a screeling before, an arrow, she realized, would do no good. She wondered if she could call the lightning again.

Richard lifted his arm in front of her. “Wait.” A squat, hairless figure with long arms and big feet, dressed only in pants held up with straps, broke through the grass in front of them. Blinking yellow eyes gazed up at her pointing the arrow between them. A sharp-toothed grin split its face. “Pretty lady.” It was the witch woman Shota’s companion. “samuel!” Richard growled. “What are you doing here?” The beastly creature hissed and reached for the sword. “Mine! Gimme!”

Richard brandished the blade menacingly and Samuel, pouting, snatched his arm back. Richard laid the sword’s tip on the gray folds of skin at Samuel’s neck. “I asked, what are you doing here?”

Hateful eyes peered up. “Mistress wants you.”

“Well, you can just go home by yourself. We’re not going to Agaden Reach.”

He regarded Richard with one yellow eye. “Mistress not in the Reach.” He turned, stretching up on his toes to look over the grass, and pointed a long, thick finger back toward the Mud People’s village. “Mistress waits for you there. Where those people live together.” He glared back at Richard. “she said if you don’t come, she will kill them, and Samuel can cook them in a stew.” His grin returned.

Richard gritted his teeth. “If she has hurt anyone…”

“She said she will not hurt them… if you come to her.”

“What does she want?”

“You.”

“What does she want with me?”

“Mistress not tell Samuel. Tells me only to get you.”

Kahlan had relaxed half the tension on the bowstring. “Richard, Shota said she would kill you if she ever saw you again.”

He kept his eyes on Samuel as he spoke. “No. She said she would kill me if I ever went back to Agaden Reach. She’s not in the Reach.”

“But…”

“If I don’t go, she said she will kill people. Do you doubt her?”

“No… but she still might kill you.”

He grunted and then smiled. “Kill me? I don’t think so. She likes me. I saved her life. Indirectly at least.”

Kahlan bristled. Shota had once tried to bewitch him, and she didn’t like that one bit. Other than the Sisters of the Light, the witch woman was just about the last person Kahlan ever wanted to see again. “I don’t like it.”

Richard stole a quick glance at her. “If you have a better idea, put words to it.”