Pride & Destiny - Chapter 2
Author: chickinwhite
Pairing: Kahlan/Cara
Rating: PG 17
Word account: 4200
Summary: End of Season 1 - And the beginning of an unexpected future for two sworn enemies, who have to learn to have faith in each other while trying to survive in a hostile world...
Disclaimer: Nothing of LotS belongs to me (such a pity!) - no business, just fan-fun
AN: Sometimes it is just a tiny little detail that holds sway over your fate... Remember Reckoning? Cara struck Richard, who was sitting close to the edge... Well, I asked myself how things would have turned out if not Richard but Kahlan had sit first in her way when Cara arrived...
Previously: Prologue, Chapter 1
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CHAPTER 2
The blonde Mord Sith made them walk until late night. She didn´t seem to tire, or at least she didn´t acknowledge it. And so tried Kahlan. She marched on, refusing to show any sign of exhaustion, though at the end of the day she felt like stumbling through thick mud. When her captor finally stopped she was barely able to hold back a sigh of relief.
All the way they had been walking in silence, Kahlan in front, the Mord Sith close behind her. The agiel had touched her briefly time and again to urge her on and Kahlan wasn´t sure whether this gruesome woman just enjoyed the short hisses she acquired from the Confessor each time she pushed her weapon against her back or if she didn´t even care; the woman had not once made a sound behind her, so that Kahlan considered her to be as confused as she was and that probably each of them was lost in their mind, allowing their own thoughts to wander freely on the paths this day had established. And there was so much food for thought...
She relived the moments before the Mord Sith had attacked. She saw Richard´s face as he´d put the third box in its place, felt the moment again when the Power of Orden had bent to her own gift. And Kahlan had contemplated all she knew about their current situation again and again.
But what she had heard from Mart and Haron had been too little to see behind the curtain.
They both had known about their attempt to stop Darken Rahl! They had known about the Boxes of Orden.
They believed her to be dead... since 40 years...
- Dear Creator! 40 years! How could that happen? And what happened to Richard!
They hadn´t said a word about Richard. Or Zedd. Or what had happened to Darken Rahl. The Mord Sith had attacked her from the abyss that had lain behind her! How had she come there? Had she been alone? Had others caught Richard...or killed him??
Kahlan gasped shortly as the thought hit her mind, feeling tears immediately threatening to flood her eyes. She swallowed and forced the thought away just as quickly, refusing to give in to the panic that lurked deep inside her chest. She didn´t know anything! She couldn´t allow herself to get lost in despair. She just wasn´t able to put two and two together.
Not yet.
Her legs ached and her head ached and her thoughts still whirled like autumn leaves confused by a gust of wind. She secretly had to admit to herself that she felt somewhat thankful when the blonde finally seemed to grant her a break.
Though, as she dropped on a log now and watched the blonde checking her surroundings suspiciously she couldn´t help a sneer that her voice carried towards the Mord Sith, together with her taunting words:
“I´ve heard narrating that Mord Sith are so very powerful and strong. And as far as I´ve seen you are a famous warrior, with all your strength and your power of endurance and all that...”
The blonde knit her brows and silently looked her over with her intense cold eyes.
“Yet... it´s been a long day! And after all that has happened... Even you need to rest... don´t you?” She raised her brow as the woman narrowed her eyes on her and nodded thoughtfully with mock regret, almost purring...
“Though there might be a problem, you know? ...You? ...sleeping? - well,... I can´t guarantee that I´ll be able to resist the temptation to turn tables. Who knows... if it´s not you who finds herself prisoner when she awakes?”
Staring at her with her indifferent blue-green glance the Mord Sith seemed to think about that for a moment, then she suddenly smirked ever so slightly and Kahlan felt a shiver running down her back as the woman stood and approached her with a swagger that was more a threat than the agiel in her hand seemed to be. Raising a brow she came to a halt and both her chin and her weapon pointed to the seem of her dress. Again there was this sneer on her face and she looked almost amused and challenging all the same. Kahlan didn´t like it. The closer the blonde came the more she felt like a deer being watched by a she-wolf. But she straightened proudly and tilted her head in an unspoken question..
“Tear a strip from the fabric.” Kahlan briefly wondered if that tone of her, that dangerous yet alluring undertone, was a well-trained trick or just her personal note. And then she realized what a strip would serve for and all of a sudden the prickling in her neck was back.
The Confessor didn´t like what she saw coming, her mouth went dry at the mere thought of it, but she winced again when the tip of the agiel met her shoulder and seeing no other way she obeyed. The blonde watched her moves with pursed lips, then ordered her to put the strips down in front of her and turn around and lay on her belly. Kahlan cursed her own boldness inwardly, her mind worked hard to find a possibility to escape the moment but she had no choice but to grit her teeth and follow the orders. Soon her hands were bound on her back and the Mord Sith sat on the log where Kahlan had settled a few moments ago.
The Confessor came clumsily to her feet. Her eyes threw daggers at the blonde, who glared at her coldly, raising a brow and nodding contently.
“Problem solved! Anything else that worries you, Confessor?”
Kahlan glared back at her. Tiny muscles in her cheeks danced frenziedly. She seethed. This woman was just begging to get her head bashed and Kahlan would gladly do so... But the Confessor knew another fight was ridiculous, as long as she wouldn´t get the chance to recover from this day´s happenings. She needed a break, if only a short one!
And she needed her daggers back...
Yet, being stared at from these provoking green eyes, she felt a whole new sort of anger bubbling from inside her belly and she couldn´t help but straighten and, challenging the blonde and locking eyes with her with an equal provocative stare, she raised her voice to be heard even if listening from deep in the shadows, calling out into the night:
“I know you´re here, Haron! ...Do not make yourself known! But listen closely:
I want you to stay hidden! Don´t make a noise! This woman here should not know where you are! As long as she´s awake you will not attack her, unless she´s trying to fight me or even kill me! You will wait until she sleeps soundly; and then you will sneak up on her... and knock her out cold!!...That is my wish. You will do as I told you!”
Satisfied Kahlan pursed her lips in a short rush of triumph as she watched the blonde furrowing her brows and narrowing her eyes on her. Despite her hands bound on her back she knelt with studied casualness and then lay down with as much grace as possible, mustering the blonde wordlessly.
Until, after a long and challenging stare-duel that was able to heat the air between them she closed her eyes.
The blonde sat motionless and with eyes narrowed into slits on the log, straining her ears for any sound that didn´t belong there. She held her breath as her eyes searched through the shadows, but there was nothing. At least nothing she could identify...
Finally she huffed annoyed and looked down at her captive.
“This is ridiculous...I should kill you right now and your lapdog too to join you in the Keeper´s world.”
Kahlan huffed without opening her eyes and answered coldly.
“You won´t! As proud as you wanna be, you´re just a poor creature in the grip of a maniac Lord. That´s what you´re living for. And if your Lord Rahl in this world is alike the one we know then he will make you pay in ways we can´t imagine if you deprive him the gem of all loots : the Mother Confessor...”
The Mord Sith stared down at her, trying to decide whether she could risk to kill her despite knowing that she was right...
Where she had come from Lord Rahl had never been a man who easily forgave wrong moves. If the world had really changed, what would the new Lord Rahl expect from her?
And much more important: what was she to expect from the new Lord Rahl?
It dawned on her that the Confessor had been right. They both needed to figure out what had happened.
And, after all, this woman had something about her that tempted her as much as it impressed her; something that very rarely happened. She seemed to have an inner strength, a confidence that wrapped her in a certain safety... like an armor would.
- It could be interesting to test her boundaries....
She moved to a spot where a tree stood cuddled between some rocks and sat down, her back pressed against the rocks so she didn´t need to fear an attack from behind. Her agiel hummed lowly in her fist.
She would never openly admit it, but the confessor had had a point - after all even she needed a rest. Though, it would be a short rest of course; and she wouldn´t allow her eyes to close... And with the sun rising in the morning she would take care of that invisible threat called “Haron”... and after that she would find out where her sisters had gone..
The blonde furrowed her brows and stared into the night...
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In a distance of almost one league behind them, not knowing he was this close, Haron walked on eager feet. Driven by the need to find his Mistress he didn´t tire and didn´t plan to rest.
When he had come around and found his Mistress had gone, deep despair had settled in his heart immediately. He hadn´t remembered why he had been with his friends, where they had wanted to go or why. All that had been in his mind had been the feeling of disaster for he had lost his Mistress and that he must run after her and search for her and take care for her well being. He clearly remembered the woman in red leather as well as he remembered the pain he had felt when she had stroke him with her eerie weapon;
He shivered slightly as he recalled the hate in her eyes when she had been storming against the Confessor.
There was no time!
His Mistress was in great danger!
He had turned to run after her but he had stumbled over the bundle. Looking down he had remembered. His heart had swelled with sudden pride.
This was the treasure she had given to him. She wanted him to defend it with his life! And that he would!
He had looked around and slowly, very slowly, his mind had started working again. Sliver after sliver his reasonable thinking gained space and so he sat down, taking a little time to consider the situation; to think about the next steps he should take.
Calming his mind and taking a moment had given him back some of his confidence. That was the way he usually handled problems. First think, then act...That had always been his device and it had gained him his excellent reputation.
Haron actually wasn´t the idiot Mart had assumed him to be all the time. In fact Haron had only pretended to be just one of these dumb fools that had joined the loudmouth Mart so eagerly for the last months. He suddenly smiled at he thought of how easy it had been to gain Mart´s trust... - Lord Rahl would have been very contend, if he ever came to know...
Before meeting the Mother Confessor he had been on a quest...
Smiling to himself Haron had shaken the thought away. It didn´t matter any more. Lord Rahl´s name had become a shadow in the mist.
She filled the gap!
Her beautiful blue eyes looking at him, looking deep into his soul;
her voice so sweet that he found himself listening to its echo in his heart...-
Kahlan had appeared to shove his quest aside and with it all the importance his former life had held.
Kahlan Amnell...
She was his life now. And she needed all of him and his so well trained abilities, the strength of his arms as well as his clear mind...
Thoroughly he had looked around and started gathering a few things from the camp; he had taken an ax and the sword and one of the mad-smelling blankets. He grabbed the dead man´s two knifes from his corpse, and carelessly discarded his body after that. The bread was taken as well as the roasted half of a thin rabbit that still lay beside the fire. Then he had searched for the trail of the two women and, finding some broken twigs leading southward, he had smiled knowingly as he recognized them as a sign, meant for him to find her. His Mistress was clever! She for sure was the best Mistress a spy as himself could wish for.
He had grinned while he had sneaked away; on the heels of his Mistress and the Mord Sith; decided to find the Mother Confessor and stay at her side; whatever life had up in its sleeves for them....
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When Kahlan awoke after a few candle marks she needed a moment to remember what had happened. She stretched briefly and sat up, warily searching for her captor. She found the Mord Sith sitting on the log as if she hadn´t moved all the time, angrily staring her down with her cold green eyes narrowed as if expecting something from her. The Confessor frowned and raised her hands, growling a huffish:
“What?”
Watching the blonde purse her lips and pointing at her hands with clear annoyance she suddenly remembered that they had been bound for the night. She frowned. Only now she noticed the white strips laying on the ground beside her, as well as that ordure that made her nose crunch slightly. And that rose from the blanket that had been thrown over her.
“Congratulations, Confessor.” The blonde´s voice was biting cold. “Your bodyguard seems a better nurse than I had expected him to be. But don´t worry! Just because he has been quick enough to throw things down and cowardly enough to run away before he could taste my agiel doesn´t mean it´s gonna change his fate. I´ll kill him anyway.”
The blonde took a last bite from a roasted rabbit-leg and threw it away, coming to her feet.
“Get up and move. I won´t stay here all day.”
And turning to the woods and the light mists simmering in the early light, she called out loud:
“Whatever you´re planning, wussy-boy! - be assured: One! Wrong! Move! - and your Mistress is dead! Don´t get in my way if you want her to live!!”
And with that she winked with her agiel and forced Kahlan to move.
The Confessor shot a quick glance around, but apparently Haron had vanished into the woods. She couldn´t help a thoughtful smile.
Now this was surprising!
Not the fact that he cared for her, of course he did! He was confessed...
But as it seemed he had tricked the Mord Sith! Though, he hadn´t killed her; which meant he hadn´t been there in time to listen to her little speech last night. And that meant he had thought about how to act instead and had decided it would be best for her if he didn´t put up a fight with the blonde.
The brunette pursed her lips to avoid a gleeful smile. She hadn´t expected him to be that smart, but obviously he had been the best choice to confess rather then one of his companions.
She walked a little easier then she had the day before, knowing she was secretly accompanied by a man who was ready to help her. Perhaps there was a chance that he would be even able to help her getting out of this mess...
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“Sisters! I brought you... The Mother Confess...”
Kahlan felt pushed fiercely. She stumbled into the little hall and fell to the ground. Landing on something fracturable that broke with a dry crack under her sudden weight. Propping on her elbow she barely suppressed a yelp, finding it was a human skeleton she had tripped over, wrapped into remnants of brittle leather. Jerking back the Confessor gasped appalled, staring distraught at the long dead carcass as if it might come around every moment. For a heartbeat she could feel a twist in her stomach as she couldn´t loosen her eyes from the bones she had cracked...
Until the back-breaking silence that suddenly hovered over the room reached her mind. Frowning confused she looked around and noticed the Mord Sith had come to a halt. Watching her standing stock-still Kahlan´s brow raise at the change in her stance...
- In only two days the woman had easily found her way back to this temple, apparently the place from where Darken Rahl had ordered her and her fellow Mord Siths to ambush the Seeker together with his Confessor and the wizard. In these two days Kahlan had studied her as best as she could, knowing her fate depended on knowing this woman, on being able to estimate her in both her thinking and her reactions. As it was with Mord Sith, she couldn´t read her. Which she found was annoying enough. But even without her gift working on the blonde, she still had a sense for people´s body language, reading their features and noticing the slightest change, every twitch of a muscle that tried to announce something. Though, the blonde was hard to read even for her. Most of the times she wore a mask that was so very present that Kahlan couldn´t lift it. On her rare attempts to start a talk she had not received many answers, except for some huffish groans and a sneer every now and then. But the little she had talked had revealed a proud and strong character who didn´t know fear and appreciated a challenge anytime. Despite her harshness during fight she didn´t use her agiel on Kahlan to torture her. Kahlan assumed she would have seen it as a wasted time to really hurt her, now that she´d decided to take her with her. And apparently wasting time was not something the blonde was fond of. She seemed ruled by pride and anger. And with every step that had brought them closer to the temple she had sensed the blonde seemingly emanating more pride and something like anticipation for their near arrival amongst her sisters. Her eyes had held a sparkle that spoke of triumph...
Then they had entered the temple and Kahlan had briefly wondered why there had been no guards and why the gates had been deserted. Furthermore she had incidentally noticed the shabby state of the building. Bricks had been broken from the walls and cracks in the walls had long become home of small plants. Though, Kahlan hadn´t seen too many Mord Sith temples so closely; so she assumed it was possible that they just disregarded their homes? After all, Mord Sith were not known for their housewife´s skills...
But since the blonde had urged her on she hadn´t spent too much time thinking about it, irritated and too busy to avoid that exasperating touch of the woman´s weapon.
Though, of course she had registered that deep frown that had lain on the blondes face constantly increasing while they had marched on....
And now?
Where just a few moments ago a strong blond warrior had pushed her into the hall, proudly expecting to present her loot to her sisters who most certainly would be very excited to have the Mother Confessor at their mercy; there she saw now a woman standing with her shoulders sagged, slightly swaying like a ship rolling in the wind.
As Kahlan looked into her face she saw stunned horror settling in the Mord Sith´s eyes before the woman stepped on unsure feet towards the other side of the hall, where another carcass had been pinned to a pylon by a few arrows.
Feeling finally left to her own devices the Confessor sighed relieved and slowly came to her feet, moving around in a circle, thoroughly appraising what she saw.
All over the ground of the hall there lay half-rotten corpses. Most of them had been shot by arrows, some had been dashed their brains out. Two had been bound to pylons, obviously they had been still alive and given to the strange positions their bones held and the hole in one´s crown they had been tortured to death.
The attack against the temple must had happened in such a massive cruelty that it had most probably not been a fair fight - but a slaughter!
The ground beneath Kahlan´s feet was parched, but the stones it was made of where flooded with rusty-brown color. A shiver ran down her spine as she imagined the enormous amount of blood and pain it had seen.
As far as she was able to judge it seemed a long time ago that this had happened. Though she couldn´t say for sure; the corpses where almost mummified in their state as the air in the hall was dry and cool. Wind blew through the hallways and she didn´t feel any humidity. To the Confessor it seemed impossible to say how much time had passed since this temple had been dispunged.
Kahlan sighed. She had quickly overcome her first shock. She was used to death and pictures of destruction. And this had been a Mord Sith temple. They had been warriors for the evil. Cold and emotionless monsters. They had come to attack them when they had felt safe on the clearing. Though, after all the sight of their death rather stirred a distant feeling of satisfaction in her.
She felt no sorrow for them!
But then...
There was a longstretched, doleful sound that permeated through her walls and made her turn around and look at the Mord Sith with surprised curiosity.
“...Triana...”
The way the Mord Sith half-breathed just this one word held a tragedy that seemed to stir something deep inside Kahlan. It sounded so forlorn, so broken that she could feel the melancholy overwhelm her own heart. She couldn´t help but stare at that woman who she had thought an emotionless monster.
Kahlan held her breath as if not daring to disturb this moment of grief and despair.
It held only for a heartbeat.
All of a sudden the Mord Sith turned around and the flame of hate she saw burning in her eyes was close to insanity. Her voice trembled as she spoke through gritted teeth:
“Whoever did this... They are dead! They just don´t know yet!”
She approached slowly. Her fist wrapped tightly around her weapon. Kahlan straightened warily and stepped backwards.
“Do you understand now that we need to find out what has happened?”
The blonde slowly shook her head, glaring at her with lust to kill clearly written in her eyes.
“I do not care what happened. It doesn´t matter anymore! - If this is the work of the new Lord Rahl, I´ll find him! And kill him!”
She stepped closer and drew her agiel out. Every fiber of her being calling for action. She growled darkly:
“But first...”
One more step...
“I´ll kill you!”
With deliberate movements Kahlan had drawn further back, but now she stood with her back to the wall. Her nerves were all on edge. All her muscles went tense in expectation of a sudden move and a strike. The blonde had her jaw set as she stared her down, getting closer and closer, obviously decided to strike.
Though, in the very moment when Kahlan jerked her arm up to block the strike she heard a bump and the Mord Sith slumped to the ground, felled by an invisible hand. Kahlan panted as she watched her falling and behind her Haron loomed with a club in his fist, grinning contently and snarling with his voice dark:
“No, bitch!!... You won´t!!!”
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Pairing: Kahlan/Cara
Rating: PG 17
Word account: 4200
Summary: End of Season 1 - And the beginning of an unexpected future for two sworn enemies, who have to learn to have faith in each other while trying to survive in a hostile world...
Disclaimer: Nothing of LotS belongs to me (such a pity!) - no business, just fan-fun
AN: Sometimes it is just a tiny little detail that holds sway over your fate... Remember Reckoning? Cara struck Richard, who was sitting close to the edge... Well, I asked myself how things would have turned out if not Richard but Kahlan had sit first in her way when Cara arrived...
Previously: Prologue, Chapter 1
:::::::::::::::::::::::::
CHAPTER 2
The blonde Mord Sith made them walk until late night. She didn´t seem to tire, or at least she didn´t acknowledge it. And so tried Kahlan. She marched on, refusing to show any sign of exhaustion, though at the end of the day she felt like stumbling through thick mud. When her captor finally stopped she was barely able to hold back a sigh of relief.
All the way they had been walking in silence, Kahlan in front, the Mord Sith close behind her. The agiel had touched her briefly time and again to urge her on and Kahlan wasn´t sure whether this gruesome woman just enjoyed the short hisses she acquired from the Confessor each time she pushed her weapon against her back or if she didn´t even care; the woman had not once made a sound behind her, so that Kahlan considered her to be as confused as she was and that probably each of them was lost in their mind, allowing their own thoughts to wander freely on the paths this day had established. And there was so much food for thought...
She relived the moments before the Mord Sith had attacked. She saw Richard´s face as he´d put the third box in its place, felt the moment again when the Power of Orden had bent to her own gift. And Kahlan had contemplated all she knew about their current situation again and again.
But what she had heard from Mart and Haron had been too little to see behind the curtain.
They both had known about their attempt to stop Darken Rahl! They had known about the Boxes of Orden.
They believed her to be dead... since 40 years...
- Dear Creator! 40 years! How could that happen? And what happened to Richard!
They hadn´t said a word about Richard. Or Zedd. Or what had happened to Darken Rahl. The Mord Sith had attacked her from the abyss that had lain behind her! How had she come there? Had she been alone? Had others caught Richard...or killed him??
Kahlan gasped shortly as the thought hit her mind, feeling tears immediately threatening to flood her eyes. She swallowed and forced the thought away just as quickly, refusing to give in to the panic that lurked deep inside her chest. She didn´t know anything! She couldn´t allow herself to get lost in despair. She just wasn´t able to put two and two together.
Not yet.
Her legs ached and her head ached and her thoughts still whirled like autumn leaves confused by a gust of wind. She secretly had to admit to herself that she felt somewhat thankful when the blonde finally seemed to grant her a break.
Though, as she dropped on a log now and watched the blonde checking her surroundings suspiciously she couldn´t help a sneer that her voice carried towards the Mord Sith, together with her taunting words:
“I´ve heard narrating that Mord Sith are so very powerful and strong. And as far as I´ve seen you are a famous warrior, with all your strength and your power of endurance and all that...”
The blonde knit her brows and silently looked her over with her intense cold eyes.
“Yet... it´s been a long day! And after all that has happened... Even you need to rest... don´t you?” She raised her brow as the woman narrowed her eyes on her and nodded thoughtfully with mock regret, almost purring...
“Though there might be a problem, you know? ...You? ...sleeping? - well,... I can´t guarantee that I´ll be able to resist the temptation to turn tables. Who knows... if it´s not you who finds herself prisoner when she awakes?”
Staring at her with her indifferent blue-green glance the Mord Sith seemed to think about that for a moment, then she suddenly smirked ever so slightly and Kahlan felt a shiver running down her back as the woman stood and approached her with a swagger that was more a threat than the agiel in her hand seemed to be. Raising a brow she came to a halt and both her chin and her weapon pointed to the seem of her dress. Again there was this sneer on her face and she looked almost amused and challenging all the same. Kahlan didn´t like it. The closer the blonde came the more she felt like a deer being watched by a she-wolf. But she straightened proudly and tilted her head in an unspoken question..
“Tear a strip from the fabric.” Kahlan briefly wondered if that tone of her, that dangerous yet alluring undertone, was a well-trained trick or just her personal note. And then she realized what a strip would serve for and all of a sudden the prickling in her neck was back.
The Confessor didn´t like what she saw coming, her mouth went dry at the mere thought of it, but she winced again when the tip of the agiel met her shoulder and seeing no other way she obeyed. The blonde watched her moves with pursed lips, then ordered her to put the strips down in front of her and turn around and lay on her belly. Kahlan cursed her own boldness inwardly, her mind worked hard to find a possibility to escape the moment but she had no choice but to grit her teeth and follow the orders. Soon her hands were bound on her back and the Mord Sith sat on the log where Kahlan had settled a few moments ago.
The Confessor came clumsily to her feet. Her eyes threw daggers at the blonde, who glared at her coldly, raising a brow and nodding contently.
“Problem solved! Anything else that worries you, Confessor?”
Kahlan glared back at her. Tiny muscles in her cheeks danced frenziedly. She seethed. This woman was just begging to get her head bashed and Kahlan would gladly do so... But the Confessor knew another fight was ridiculous, as long as she wouldn´t get the chance to recover from this day´s happenings. She needed a break, if only a short one!
And she needed her daggers back...
Yet, being stared at from these provoking green eyes, she felt a whole new sort of anger bubbling from inside her belly and she couldn´t help but straighten and, challenging the blonde and locking eyes with her with an equal provocative stare, she raised her voice to be heard even if listening from deep in the shadows, calling out into the night:
“I know you´re here, Haron! ...Do not make yourself known! But listen closely:
I want you to stay hidden! Don´t make a noise! This woman here should not know where you are! As long as she´s awake you will not attack her, unless she´s trying to fight me or even kill me! You will wait until she sleeps soundly; and then you will sneak up on her... and knock her out cold!!...That is my wish. You will do as I told you!”
Satisfied Kahlan pursed her lips in a short rush of triumph as she watched the blonde furrowing her brows and narrowing her eyes on her. Despite her hands bound on her back she knelt with studied casualness and then lay down with as much grace as possible, mustering the blonde wordlessly.
Until, after a long and challenging stare-duel that was able to heat the air between them she closed her eyes.
The blonde sat motionless and with eyes narrowed into slits on the log, straining her ears for any sound that didn´t belong there. She held her breath as her eyes searched through the shadows, but there was nothing. At least nothing she could identify...
Finally she huffed annoyed and looked down at her captive.
“This is ridiculous...I should kill you right now and your lapdog too to join you in the Keeper´s world.”
Kahlan huffed without opening her eyes and answered coldly.
“You won´t! As proud as you wanna be, you´re just a poor creature in the grip of a maniac Lord. That´s what you´re living for. And if your Lord Rahl in this world is alike the one we know then he will make you pay in ways we can´t imagine if you deprive him the gem of all loots : the Mother Confessor...”
The Mord Sith stared down at her, trying to decide whether she could risk to kill her despite knowing that she was right...
Where she had come from Lord Rahl had never been a man who easily forgave wrong moves. If the world had really changed, what would the new Lord Rahl expect from her?
And much more important: what was she to expect from the new Lord Rahl?
It dawned on her that the Confessor had been right. They both needed to figure out what had happened.
And, after all, this woman had something about her that tempted her as much as it impressed her; something that very rarely happened. She seemed to have an inner strength, a confidence that wrapped her in a certain safety... like an armor would.
- It could be interesting to test her boundaries....
She moved to a spot where a tree stood cuddled between some rocks and sat down, her back pressed against the rocks so she didn´t need to fear an attack from behind. Her agiel hummed lowly in her fist.
She would never openly admit it, but the confessor had had a point - after all even she needed a rest. Though, it would be a short rest of course; and she wouldn´t allow her eyes to close... And with the sun rising in the morning she would take care of that invisible threat called “Haron”... and after that she would find out where her sisters had gone..
The blonde furrowed her brows and stared into the night...
::::::::::::::::::::::::
In a distance of almost one league behind them, not knowing he was this close, Haron walked on eager feet. Driven by the need to find his Mistress he didn´t tire and didn´t plan to rest.
When he had come around and found his Mistress had gone, deep despair had settled in his heart immediately. He hadn´t remembered why he had been with his friends, where they had wanted to go or why. All that had been in his mind had been the feeling of disaster for he had lost his Mistress and that he must run after her and search for her and take care for her well being. He clearly remembered the woman in red leather as well as he remembered the pain he had felt when she had stroke him with her eerie weapon;
He shivered slightly as he recalled the hate in her eyes when she had been storming against the Confessor.
There was no time!
His Mistress was in great danger!
He had turned to run after her but he had stumbled over the bundle. Looking down he had remembered. His heart had swelled with sudden pride.
This was the treasure she had given to him. She wanted him to defend it with his life! And that he would!
He had looked around and slowly, very slowly, his mind had started working again. Sliver after sliver his reasonable thinking gained space and so he sat down, taking a little time to consider the situation; to think about the next steps he should take.
Calming his mind and taking a moment had given him back some of his confidence. That was the way he usually handled problems. First think, then act...That had always been his device and it had gained him his excellent reputation.
Haron actually wasn´t the idiot Mart had assumed him to be all the time. In fact Haron had only pretended to be just one of these dumb fools that had joined the loudmouth Mart so eagerly for the last months. He suddenly smiled at he thought of how easy it had been to gain Mart´s trust... - Lord Rahl would have been very contend, if he ever came to know...
Before meeting the Mother Confessor he had been on a quest...
Smiling to himself Haron had shaken the thought away. It didn´t matter any more. Lord Rahl´s name had become a shadow in the mist.
She filled the gap!
Her beautiful blue eyes looking at him, looking deep into his soul;
her voice so sweet that he found himself listening to its echo in his heart...-
Kahlan had appeared to shove his quest aside and with it all the importance his former life had held.
Kahlan Amnell...
She was his life now. And she needed all of him and his so well trained abilities, the strength of his arms as well as his clear mind...
Thoroughly he had looked around and started gathering a few things from the camp; he had taken an ax and the sword and one of the mad-smelling blankets. He grabbed the dead man´s two knifes from his corpse, and carelessly discarded his body after that. The bread was taken as well as the roasted half of a thin rabbit that still lay beside the fire. Then he had searched for the trail of the two women and, finding some broken twigs leading southward, he had smiled knowingly as he recognized them as a sign, meant for him to find her. His Mistress was clever! She for sure was the best Mistress a spy as himself could wish for.
He had grinned while he had sneaked away; on the heels of his Mistress and the Mord Sith; decided to find the Mother Confessor and stay at her side; whatever life had up in its sleeves for them....
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When Kahlan awoke after a few candle marks she needed a moment to remember what had happened. She stretched briefly and sat up, warily searching for her captor. She found the Mord Sith sitting on the log as if she hadn´t moved all the time, angrily staring her down with her cold green eyes narrowed as if expecting something from her. The Confessor frowned and raised her hands, growling a huffish:
“What?”
Watching the blonde purse her lips and pointing at her hands with clear annoyance she suddenly remembered that they had been bound for the night. She frowned. Only now she noticed the white strips laying on the ground beside her, as well as that ordure that made her nose crunch slightly. And that rose from the blanket that had been thrown over her.
“Congratulations, Confessor.” The blonde´s voice was biting cold. “Your bodyguard seems a better nurse than I had expected him to be. But don´t worry! Just because he has been quick enough to throw things down and cowardly enough to run away before he could taste my agiel doesn´t mean it´s gonna change his fate. I´ll kill him anyway.”
The blonde took a last bite from a roasted rabbit-leg and threw it away, coming to her feet.
“Get up and move. I won´t stay here all day.”
And turning to the woods and the light mists simmering in the early light, she called out loud:
“Whatever you´re planning, wussy-boy! - be assured: One! Wrong! Move! - and your Mistress is dead! Don´t get in my way if you want her to live!!”
And with that she winked with her agiel and forced Kahlan to move.
The Confessor shot a quick glance around, but apparently Haron had vanished into the woods. She couldn´t help a thoughtful smile.
Now this was surprising!
Not the fact that he cared for her, of course he did! He was confessed...
But as it seemed he had tricked the Mord Sith! Though, he hadn´t killed her; which meant he hadn´t been there in time to listen to her little speech last night. And that meant he had thought about how to act instead and had decided it would be best for her if he didn´t put up a fight with the blonde.
The brunette pursed her lips to avoid a gleeful smile. She hadn´t expected him to be that smart, but obviously he had been the best choice to confess rather then one of his companions.
She walked a little easier then she had the day before, knowing she was secretly accompanied by a man who was ready to help her. Perhaps there was a chance that he would be even able to help her getting out of this mess...
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“Sisters! I brought you... The Mother Confess...”
Kahlan felt pushed fiercely. She stumbled into the little hall and fell to the ground. Landing on something fracturable that broke with a dry crack under her sudden weight. Propping on her elbow she barely suppressed a yelp, finding it was a human skeleton she had tripped over, wrapped into remnants of brittle leather. Jerking back the Confessor gasped appalled, staring distraught at the long dead carcass as if it might come around every moment. For a heartbeat she could feel a twist in her stomach as she couldn´t loosen her eyes from the bones she had cracked...
Until the back-breaking silence that suddenly hovered over the room reached her mind. Frowning confused she looked around and noticed the Mord Sith had come to a halt. Watching her standing stock-still Kahlan´s brow raise at the change in her stance...
- In only two days the woman had easily found her way back to this temple, apparently the place from where Darken Rahl had ordered her and her fellow Mord Siths to ambush the Seeker together with his Confessor and the wizard. In these two days Kahlan had studied her as best as she could, knowing her fate depended on knowing this woman, on being able to estimate her in both her thinking and her reactions. As it was with Mord Sith, she couldn´t read her. Which she found was annoying enough. But even without her gift working on the blonde, she still had a sense for people´s body language, reading their features and noticing the slightest change, every twitch of a muscle that tried to announce something. Though, the blonde was hard to read even for her. Most of the times she wore a mask that was so very present that Kahlan couldn´t lift it. On her rare attempts to start a talk she had not received many answers, except for some huffish groans and a sneer every now and then. But the little she had talked had revealed a proud and strong character who didn´t know fear and appreciated a challenge anytime. Despite her harshness during fight she didn´t use her agiel on Kahlan to torture her. Kahlan assumed she would have seen it as a wasted time to really hurt her, now that she´d decided to take her with her. And apparently wasting time was not something the blonde was fond of. She seemed ruled by pride and anger. And with every step that had brought them closer to the temple she had sensed the blonde seemingly emanating more pride and something like anticipation for their near arrival amongst her sisters. Her eyes had held a sparkle that spoke of triumph...
Then they had entered the temple and Kahlan had briefly wondered why there had been no guards and why the gates had been deserted. Furthermore she had incidentally noticed the shabby state of the building. Bricks had been broken from the walls and cracks in the walls had long become home of small plants. Though, Kahlan hadn´t seen too many Mord Sith temples so closely; so she assumed it was possible that they just disregarded their homes? After all, Mord Sith were not known for their housewife´s skills...
But since the blonde had urged her on she hadn´t spent too much time thinking about it, irritated and too busy to avoid that exasperating touch of the woman´s weapon.
Though, of course she had registered that deep frown that had lain on the blondes face constantly increasing while they had marched on....
And now?
Where just a few moments ago a strong blond warrior had pushed her into the hall, proudly expecting to present her loot to her sisters who most certainly would be very excited to have the Mother Confessor at their mercy; there she saw now a woman standing with her shoulders sagged, slightly swaying like a ship rolling in the wind.
As Kahlan looked into her face she saw stunned horror settling in the Mord Sith´s eyes before the woman stepped on unsure feet towards the other side of the hall, where another carcass had been pinned to a pylon by a few arrows.
Feeling finally left to her own devices the Confessor sighed relieved and slowly came to her feet, moving around in a circle, thoroughly appraising what she saw.
All over the ground of the hall there lay half-rotten corpses. Most of them had been shot by arrows, some had been dashed their brains out. Two had been bound to pylons, obviously they had been still alive and given to the strange positions their bones held and the hole in one´s crown they had been tortured to death.
The attack against the temple must had happened in such a massive cruelty that it had most probably not been a fair fight - but a slaughter!
The ground beneath Kahlan´s feet was parched, but the stones it was made of where flooded with rusty-brown color. A shiver ran down her spine as she imagined the enormous amount of blood and pain it had seen.
As far as she was able to judge it seemed a long time ago that this had happened. Though she couldn´t say for sure; the corpses where almost mummified in their state as the air in the hall was dry and cool. Wind blew through the hallways and she didn´t feel any humidity. To the Confessor it seemed impossible to say how much time had passed since this temple had been dispunged.
Kahlan sighed. She had quickly overcome her first shock. She was used to death and pictures of destruction. And this had been a Mord Sith temple. They had been warriors for the evil. Cold and emotionless monsters. They had come to attack them when they had felt safe on the clearing. Though, after all the sight of their death rather stirred a distant feeling of satisfaction in her.
She felt no sorrow for them!
But then...
There was a longstretched, doleful sound that permeated through her walls and made her turn around and look at the Mord Sith with surprised curiosity.
“...Triana...”
The way the Mord Sith half-breathed just this one word held a tragedy that seemed to stir something deep inside Kahlan. It sounded so forlorn, so broken that she could feel the melancholy overwhelm her own heart. She couldn´t help but stare at that woman who she had thought an emotionless monster.
Kahlan held her breath as if not daring to disturb this moment of grief and despair.
It held only for a heartbeat.
All of a sudden the Mord Sith turned around and the flame of hate she saw burning in her eyes was close to insanity. Her voice trembled as she spoke through gritted teeth:
“Whoever did this... They are dead! They just don´t know yet!”
She approached slowly. Her fist wrapped tightly around her weapon. Kahlan straightened warily and stepped backwards.
“Do you understand now that we need to find out what has happened?”
The blonde slowly shook her head, glaring at her with lust to kill clearly written in her eyes.
“I do not care what happened. It doesn´t matter anymore! - If this is the work of the new Lord Rahl, I´ll find him! And kill him!”
She stepped closer and drew her agiel out. Every fiber of her being calling for action. She growled darkly:
“But first...”
One more step...
“I´ll kill you!”
With deliberate movements Kahlan had drawn further back, but now she stood with her back to the wall. Her nerves were all on edge. All her muscles went tense in expectation of a sudden move and a strike. The blonde had her jaw set as she stared her down, getting closer and closer, obviously decided to strike.
Though, in the very moment when Kahlan jerked her arm up to block the strike she heard a bump and the Mord Sith slumped to the ground, felled by an invisible hand. Kahlan panted as she watched her falling and behind her Haron loomed with a club in his fist, grinning contently and snarling with his voice dark:
“No, bitch!!... You won´t!!!”
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