KAHLAN SPRANG OUT OF bed, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as Richard unbolted the door. She pulled her knife. Bill, breathing hard, squeezed in and pushed the door shut with his back. Beads of sweat dotted his forehead.

"What is it? What's happened?" Richard asked.

"Everything was pretty quiet." Bill swallowed, catching his breath. "Then a little while ago these two fellows showed up. Right out of nowhere. Big men, thick necks, blond hair. Good looking. Armed to the teeth. The kind of men you try not to look in the eye." He took a few deep breaths.

Richard stole a quick glance at Kahlan's eyes. There was no doubt in them as to who the men were. Apparently the wizard trouble the quad had run into wasn't trouble enough.

"Two?" Richard asked. "You're sure there weren't more?"

"Only saw two come in, but that was enough." Bill's wide eyes looked out from under his curly eyebrows. "One was tore up pretty good, arm in a sling, big claw cuts down his other arm. Didn't seem to bother him any, though. Anyway, they started asking about a woman that sounded a lot like your lady here. Except she isn't wearing a white dress like they described. They started for the stairs, and a quarrel broke out about who was going to do what with her. Your red-haired friend jumped the one with the sling and slit his throat from ear to ear. The other fellow cut down a bunch of my customers in a heartbeat. I've never seen anything like it. Then all of a sudden he just wasn't there anymore. Vanished into nothing. There's blood everywhere.

"The rest of the lot are down there right now arguing about who's going to be first to… " He glanced at Kahlan, leaving the rest unsaid. He wiped his forehead with the back of his arm. "Randy's bringing the horses to the back; you have to get out now. Head for Adie's. The sun's an hour away, the hounds two, so you'll be all right. But not if you delay."

Richard grabbed Chase's legs, Bill his shoulders. He told Kahlan to bolt the door and get their things together. With Chase in their arms they trudged down the back stairs and out into the darkness and rain. Lamplight coming from the windows reflected in the puddles, giving the wet, black forms of the horses yellow highlights. Randy was waiting, looking worried as he held the horses. They dropped Chase in a litter and ran as quietly as possible up the stairs. Bill scooped Zedd into his arms, while Richard and Kahlan threw on their cloaks and grabbed the packs. The three of them, Bill, Richard, then Kahlan, raced down the stairs and for the door.

As they burst out the door they almost tripped over Randy, sprawled on the ground. Richard looked up just in time to see the red-haired man lunging. He leapt back, narrowly missing the sweep of the long knife. The man went face-first into the mud. With surprising quickness he came to his knees, enraged, and then went rigid, the sword point an inch from his nose. The air rang with the sound of steel. The man looked up with vicious, black eyes. Water and mud ran from the strings of his hair. Richard flicked the sword a quarter turn in his hand and whacked him hard over the head with the flat of the blade. He went down in a limp heap.

Bill laid Zedd in the litter while Kahlan turned Randy over. One eye was swollen shut. Rain splattered on his face. He groaned. When he saw Kahlan with his one good eye he broke into a grin. Relieved that he wasn't hurt worse, she gave him a quick hug and helped him up.

"He jumped me," Randy said apologetically. "I'm sorry."

"You are a brave young man. You have nothing to be sorry for. Thank you for helping us." She turned to Bill. "You, too."

Bill smiled and gave a nod. Zedd and Chase were quickly covered with blankets and oilcloth and the packs loaded. Bill told them that Adie's supplies were already on Chase's horse. Richard and Kahlan mounted their horses. She flipped the silver coin to Randy.

"Payment on delivery, as promised," she told him. He caught the coin and grinned.

Richard bent down and clasped hands with Randy and thanked him earnestly, then pointed angrily at Bill.

"You! I want you to add everything to your tally book. Include all the damage, all your time and trouble, even the grave markers. I want you to add a fair fee for saving our lives. If the council doesn't want to approve payment, you tell them that you saved the life of the brother of the First Councilor, and Richard Cypher said if they don't pay, I'll personally have the head of the man responsible and I will put it on a pike on the front lawn of my brother's house!"

Bill nodded and laughed over the sound of the rain. Richard pulled back on the reins to keep his horse in place as it danced about, eager to go. He pointed down at the unconscious man in the mud. He was furious.

"The only reason I didn't kill this man is because he killed a man worse than himself, and in so doing may have unwittingly saved Kahlan's life. But he is guilty of murder; intent to murder, and intent to rape. I suggest you hang him before he wakes."

Bill looked up at him with hard eyes. "Done."

"Don't forget what I said about the boundary. Trouble comes. Take care with yourself."

Bill held Richard's eyes as he put his hairy arm around his son's shoulders. "We won't forget." A slight smile curled the corners of his mouth. "Long life to the Seeker."

Richard looked down at him in surprise and then grinned. Smiling quenched some of the fire of his rage. "When I first saw you," Richard said, "my thought was that you were not a devious man. I find I was mistaken."

Richard and Kahlan pulled their hoods up and urged their horses on into the dark rain, toward the bone woman.

–+-

The rain had quickly drowned the lights from Southaven and left the travelers to grope their way through the blackness. Chase's horses had carefully picked their way down the trail; trained by the wardens for this kind of duty, they were comfortable in the adverse conditions. Dawn had struggled interminably at bringing light to the new day. Even after Richard knew the sun was up, the world still hung in half-light between night and day, a ghost of morning. The rain had helped to cool his hot rage.

Richard and Kahlan knew that the last member of the quad was loose somewhere, and they watched every movement as a potential threat. They knew that, sooner or later, he would come at them. The uncertainty of when ate at their concentration. Worry over what Bill had said, that Zedd and Chase wouldn't last long, gnawed at his spirit. If this woman, Adie, couldn't help, he didn't know what he would do. If she couldn't help, his two friends would die. He couldn't imagine a world without Zedd. A world without his tricks and help and comfort would be a dead world. He realized that he was getting a lump in his throat thinking about it. Zedd would tell him not to worry about what might be, but to worry about what was.

But what was seemed almost as bad. His father had been murdered. Darken Rahl was close to obtaining all the boxes. Richard's two oldest friends were near death. He was alone with a woman he cared about, but wasn't supposed to care about. She still kept her secrets closed to him, locked away.

He could tell she fought a constant battle over it in her mind. Sometimes when he felt he was getting closer to her, he saw pain and fear in her eyes. Soon they would be in the Midlands, where people knew what she was. He wanted her to be the one to tell him; he didn't want to learn it from someone he didn't know. If she didn't tell him soon, he would have to ask her. Against his nature or not, he would have to.

So deep was he in thought, he hadn't realized they had been on the trail for over four hours. The forest was drinking in the rain. Trees loomed dark and huddled in the mist; the moss on their trunks was vibrant and lush. It stood out on the bark of trees, and in round humps on the ground, green and spongy. The lichen on the rocks shone bright yellow and rust in the damp. In some places water ran down the trail, turning it into a temporary creek. The poles of Zedd's litter splashed through it, going over rocks and roots, rocking the old man's head from side to side on the rougher sections. His feet rode inches from water when they crossed runoff streams.

Richard smelled the sweetness of wood smoke in the stillness. Birch wood. He realized that the area they were entering had changed somehow. It looked the same as it had for hours, yet it was different. Rain floated down in quiet reverence for the forest. The whole place felt somehow sacred. He felt like an intruder, disturbing the peace of timeless ages… He wanted to say something to Kahlan, but it seemed as if talking would be a sacrilege. He understood why the men from the inn wouldn't come up here; their foul presence would be a violation.

They came to a house that so blended with its surroundings, it was almost invisible next to the trail. A wisp of wood smoke curled from its chimney, up into the misty air. The logs of the walls were weathered and ancient, matching the color of the Surrounding trees, with nothing other than the ground it sat upon disturbed. The house seemed to be growing from the forest floor, with trees towering around it protectively. The roof was covered in a mass of ferns. A smaller, slanted roof covered a door and a porch large enough for only two or three people to stand on at once. There was a square, four-paned window in the front, and another on the side of the house Richard could see. None had curtains.

In front of the old house, a patch of ferns bowed and nodded when water from the trees dripped onto them. Mist turned their distinctive dusty pale green bright in the wetness. A narrow path slipped through their midst.

In the center of the ferns, in the center of the path, stood a tall woman, taller than Kahlan, not as tall as Richard. She wore a simple tan robe of a coarse weave, with red and yellow symbols and decorations at the neck. Her hair was fine and straight, a mix of black and gray, parted in the middle, chopped square with her strong jaw. Age had not stolen the handsome features of her weathered face. She leaned on a crutch. She had but one foot. Richard brought the horses to a slow halt in front of her.

The woman's eyes were completely white.

"I be Adie. Who be you?" Adie's voice had a harsh, throaty, raspy quality that sent a shiver up Richard's spine.

"Four friends," Richard said in a respectful tone. Light rain fell in a hushed, soft patter. He waited.

Fine wrinkles covered her face. She took the crutch from under her arm and folded both thin hands over the top, lending her weight to it. Adie's thin lips pulled tighter in a slight smile.