“Zedd, no more games. I am Seeker now, no more tests. True?”

“True as toasted toads.”

“Then we are wasting our time. I am sure Rahl is not wasting his.” He turned to Kahlan. “I hold you to your pledge to be my guide when we reach the Midlands.”

She smiled at his impatience and nodded. Richard turned to Zedd.

“Show me how the magic works, wizard.”

Zedd’s impish smile spread across his face. He handed Richard the baldric. The finely tooled leather was old and supple. The gold and silver buckle matched the scabbard. It was adjusted too small, its last user having been smaller than Richard. Zedd helped readjust it as Richard strapped it across his right shoulder, and fit the Sword of Truth to it.

Zedd led them to the edge of the grass, amid long shadows stretching from the nearby trees, to where two small rock maples grew, one as thick as Richard’s wrist, the other as thin as Kahlan’s.

He turned to Richard. “Draw the sword.” The unique ringing, metallic sound filled the late-afternoon air as the sword came free. Zedd leaned closer. “Now, I will show you the most important thing about the sword, but to do so I need you to briefly abdicate your post as Seeker, and allow me to name Kahlan Seeker.”

Kahlan gave Zedd a suspicious glare. “I don’t want to be Seeker.”

“Just for the purpose of demonstration, dear one.” He motioned for Richard to give her the sword. She hesitated before taking it in both hands. The weight was uncomfortable—and she allowed the point to lower until it rested on the grassy ground. Zedd waved his hands over her head with a flourish. “Kahlan Amnell, I name you Seeker.” She continued to give him the same suspicious stare. Zedd put his finger under her chin, tilting her head up. His eyes had a fierce intensity. He put his face close to hers, speaking in a low voice.

“When I left the Midlands with this sword, Darken Rahl used his magic to place the larger of these two trees here, to mark me, to be able to come for me at a time of his choosing. So he could kill me. The same Darken Rahl who had Dennee killed.” Her countenance became darker. “The same Darken Rahl who hunts you, to kill you like he killed your sister.” Hate flared in her eyes. Her teeth clenched, making the muscles in her strong jaw line stand out. The Sword of Truth rose from the ground. Zedd stepped behind her. “This tree is his. You must stop him.”

The blade flashed through the autumn air with speed and power Richard could scarcely believe. The arc of its sweep went through the larger tree with a loud crack, like a thousand twigs snapping at once. Splinters flew everywhere. The tree seemed to hang in the air a moment, then dropped down next to the ragged stump before toppling over with a crash. Richard knew it would have taken him at least ten blows with a good axe to have felled the maple.

Zedd slipped the sword from Kahlan’s hands as she sank to her knees and rocked back on her heels, putting her hands over her face with a moan. Instantly, Richard crouched at her side, steadying her.

“Kahlan, what’s wrong?”

“I’m all right.” She laid a hand on his shoulder as he helped her to her feet. Her face was pale as she forced a small smile. “But I resign my post as Seeker.”

Richard spun to the wizard. “Zedd, what is this nonsense? Darken Rahl didn’t put that tree there. I’ve seen you water and care for those two trees. If you held a knife to my throat, I’d say you planted them there as a memorial to your wife and daughter.”

Zedd gave only a small smile. “Very good, Richard. Here is your sword. You are Seeker again. Now, my boy, you cut down the little tree, and then I will explain.”

Annoyed, Richard took the sword in both hands, feeling the anger surge through him. He gave a mighty swing at the remaining tree. The tip of the blade whistled as it sliced through the air. Just before the blade hit the tree, it simply stopped, as if the very air about it had become too thick to allow it to pass.

Richard stepped back in surprise. He looked at the sword, and then tried again. Same thing. The tree was untouched. He glared over at Zedd, who stood with his arms folded and a smirk on his face.

Richard slid the sword back into its scabbard. “All right, what’s going on?”

Zedd lifted his eyebrows with an innocent expression. “Did you see how easily Kahlan cut through the bigger tree?” Richard frowned. Zedd smiled. “It could just as well have been iron. The blade would have cut through it the same. But you are stronger than she, and you couldn’t even scratch the smaller tree.”

“Yes, Zedd, I noticed.”

Zedd’s brows wrinkled in mock bewilderment. “And why do you think that is?”

Richard’s irritation melted. This was the way Zedd often taught lessons, by making him come up with the answer on his own. “I would say it has something to do with intent. She thought the tree was evil, I didn’t.”

Zedd held up a bony finger. “Very good, my boy!”

Kahlan knitted her fingers together. “Zedd, I don’t understand I destroyed the tree, but it wasn’t evil. It was innocent.”

“That, dear one, is the point of the demonstration. Reality isn’t relevant. Perception is everything. If you think it is the enemy, you can destroy it, whether true or not. The magic interprets only your perception. It won’t allow you to harm someone you think innocent, but it will destroy whoever you perceive to be the enemy, within limits. Only what you believe, and not the truth of your thoughts, is the determining factor.”

Richard was a little overwhelmed. “That leaves no room for error. But what if you aren’t sure?”

Zedd lifted an eyebrow. “You had better be sure, my boy, or you are liable to find yourself in a lot of trouble. The magic could read things in your mind you are not even aware of. It could go either way. You could kill a friend, or fail to kill a foe.”

Richard drummed his fingers on the hilt of the sword, thinking. He watched the setting sun offer small golden flashes through the trees to the west. Overhead, the snakelike cloud had taken on a reddish cast on one side, deepening into darker purple on the other. It didn’t really matter, he decided. He knew who he was after, and there was no doubt at all in his mind about him being the enemy. None whatsoever.

“There’s one more thing. One more important thing,” the wizard said. “When you use the sword against an enemy, there is a price to pay. Is that not true, dear one?” He looked to her. Kahlan nodded and lowered her eyes to the ground. “The more powerful the enemy, the higher the price. I am sorry it was necessary to do that to you, Kahlan, but it is the most important lesson Richard must learn.” She gave him a small smile, letting him know that she understood the need. He turned back to Richard.

“We both know that sometimes, killing is the only choice, that it has to be classified as the right thing to do. I know you do not need to be told that any time you kill, though, it is a terrible thing. You live with it always, and once done, it cannot be undone. You pay a price within yourself—it diminishes you for having done it.”

Richard nodded—it still made him uneasy that he had killed the man on Blunt Cliff. He wasn’t sorry about what he had done—he had had no time or other choice, but in his mind he still saw the man’s face as he went over the edge.

Zedd’s eyes became intense. “It is different when you kill with the Sword of Truth, because of the magic. The magic has done your bidding, and it extracts a price. There is no such thing as pure good or pure evil, least of all in people. In the best of us there are thoughts or deeds that are wicked, and in the worst of us, at least some virtue. An adversary is not one who does loathsome acts for their own sake. He always has a reason that to him is justification. My cat eats mice. Does that make him bad? I don’t think so, and the cat doesn’t think so, but I would bet the mice have a different opinion. Every murderer thinks the victim needed killing.