But while no one would mistake Drefan for Richard, they would have no trouble telling that they were brothers.

She wondered why Cara had made that mistake. Then she saw the Agiel in Cara's fist. That wasn't what Cara had meant by "Lord Rahl." In a confused state, looking at him upside down as she regained consciousness, she hadn't thought he was Richard. She had thought he was Darken Rail.

The only sound in the otherwise dead silence was the click, click, click of Richard's thumbnail on one of the points of the recurved cross guard on his sword The elbow of his other arm rested on the polished tabletop while he cradled his head between a thumb under his chin and his first finger along his temple With a calm face, he did his best to control his anger He was furious This time, they had crossed the line, and they knew it In his mind he had gone over a whole list of possible punishments, but had rejected them all, not because they were too harsh, but because he knew they wouldn't work In the end, he settled on the truth. There was nothing harsher than the truth, and nothing else as likely to get through to them Before him, in a row, stood Berdine, Raina, Ulic, and Egan They stood stiffly, their eyes focused at some point over his head and behind him as he sat at the table in the small room he used for meeting with people, reading, and various other work.

To the side of the table hung small landscape paintings of idyllic country scenes, but from the window behind, from which streamed the low angled rays of morning sunlight, the massive, baleful stone face of the Wizard's Keep glared down on him He had been back in Aydindril for only an hour-long enough to discover what had happened after he had left the evening before All four of his guards had been back since before dawn, he had ordered them to return to Aydindril after Raina and Egan had sauntered into camp the night before They had thought he wouldn't make them return in the dead of night They had been wrong. As brazen as they ordinarily were, the look in his eyes had insured that none of the four dared disobey that order Richard had also returned much earlier than he had planned He had pointed out the quench oak to the soldiers, told them what to collect, and then, instead of overseeing the task, had started back alone for Aydindril before the sun was up After what he had seen in the night, he'd been too troubled to get any sleep, and had wanted to be back in Aydindril as soon as possible Drumming his finger on the tabletop, Richard watched his guards sweating Berdine and Raina wore their brown leather outfits, their long, braided hair disheveled from their hard ride The two great, blond-headed men, Ulic and Egan, wore uniforms of dark leather straps, plates, and belts The thick leather plates were molded to fit like a second skin over the conspicuous contours of their muscles Incised in the leather at the center of their chests was an ornate letter "R," for the House of Rahl, and beneath that, two crossed swords Around their arms, just above their elbows, they wore golden bands brandishing razor-sharp projections-weapons for close combat No D'Haran but the Lord Rahl's persona bodyguards wore such weapons They were more than simply weapons, they were the rarest, the highest badges of honor, earned he knew not how.

Richard had inherited the rule of a people he didn't know, with customs that were mostly a mystery to him, and expectations he only partly fathomed.

Since they had returned, these four, too, had discovered what had happened with Marlin the night before. They knew why they had been summoned, but he hadn't said anything to them, yet. He was trying to get a grip on his rage, first. "Lord Rahl?" "Yes, Raina?"

"Are you angry with us? For disobeying your orders and coming out to you with the Mother Confessor's message?"

The message had been a pretense, and they knew it as well as he. Click, click, click, went his thumbnail. "That will be all. You may go. All of you."

Their postures relaxed, but none made a move to leave. "Leave?" Raina asked. "Aren't you going to punish us?" A smirk spread on her face. 'Maybe clean out the stables for a week, or something?

Richard pushed back from the table as he ground his teeth. He was not in the mood for their impish humor. He rose behind the table. "No, Raina, no punishment. You may go."

The two Mord-Sith smiled. Berdine loaned toward Raina, speaking in a whisper, but loud enough for him to hear. "He realizes that we know best how to protect him." They all started for the door.

"Before you go," Richard said, as he strolled around the table, "I just want you to know one thing." "What's that?" Berdine asked.

Richard walked past them, pausing long enough to look each in the eye. "That I'm disappointed in you."

Raina made a face. "You're disappointed in us? You're not going to yell or punish us, you're simply disappointed?

"That's right. You've disappointed me. I thought I could trust you. I can't." Richard turned away. "Dismissed."

Berdine cleared her throat. "Lord Rahl, Ulic and I went with you by your command."

"Oh? So if it had been you I'd left here to protect Kahlan, instead of Raina, you would have done as I asked and stayed?" She didn't answer. "I've counted on all of you, and you've made me feel a fool for trusting you." He flexed his fists instead of yelling. "I would have seen to Kahlan's protection if I'd known I couldn't trust you."

Richard leaned an arm against the window frame and stared out at the cold spring morning. The four behind him shifted their feet uneasily. "Lord Rahl," Berdine said at last, "we would lay down our lives for you." Richard rounded on them. "And let Kahlan die!" He carefully quieted his tone. "You can lay down your lives for me all you want. Play your games all you want. Pretend you're doing something important. Play at being my guards. Just stay out of my way, and out of the way of people helping me in this effort to stop the Imperial Order."

He flicked his hand toward the door. "Dismissed."

Berdine and Raina shared a look. "We will be outside, in the hall, if you need us, Lord Rahl."

Richard gave them such a cold look that it drained the color from their faces. "I won't be needing you. I don't need people I can't trust." Berdine swallowed. «But-» "But what?"

She swallowed again. "What about Kolo's journal? Don't you want me to help you with the translation?" "I'll manage. Anything else?" Each of them shook their heads.

They began filing out. Raina, at the end of the line, paused and turned back. Her dark eyes fixed on the floor.

"Lord Rahl, will you be taking us out, later, to feed the chipmunks?" "I'm busy. They'll manage just fine without us." "But. . what about Reggie?" "Who?"

"Reggie. He's the one missing the end of his little tail. He… he… sat in my hand. He'll be looking for us."

Richard watched her for a silence-filled eternity. He teetered between wanting to hug her and wanting to yell at her. He had tried the hugging, or its equivalent, anyway, and it had nearly gotten Kahlan killed. "Maybe another day. Dismissed."

She wiped the back of her hand across; her nose. "Yes, Lord Rahl." Raina quietly pulled the door closed behind her. Richard raked back his hair as he flopped down in his chair again. With a finger, he slowly spun Kolo's journal around and around as he ground his teeth. Kahlan could have died while he was off looking for trees. Kahlan could have died while the people he thought were protecting her were instead following their own agenda.

He shuddered to think what the added magic, the added rage, of the sword would do were he to draw it at that moment. He couldn't recall being this angry, without the Sword of Truth in his hand. He couldn't imagine the wrath of the sword's magic on top of this.