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“They would simply fight until they killed, or were killed.” She leaned a little toward him and lowered her voice meaningfully. “The idea of one flying Rahl around on its back is very odd. It’s impossible for me to imagine anyone ruling a red dragon.”
She watched him a moment, then straightened and picked at the lichen on a rock.
“Are these dragons a threat to us?” He felt stupid asking if a dragon was dangerous.
“Not likely. I have only seen red ones up close a few times. Once, I was walking on a road, and one swooped down, close, in the field right next to me, and grabbed two cows. Carried them off, one in each claw. If we came upon one, a red one, and it was in a foul temper, I suppose it could be big trouble, but that is not very likely.”
“We have already come upon a red one,” he reminded her in a quiet voice, “and it was big trouble.”
She didn’t answer. By her expression, the memory obviously pained her as much as it did him.
“Well, there you two are!” a stranger’s voice called out.
They both jumped. Richard sprang to his feet with his hand on the sword; Kahlan was in a half crouch ready for anything.
“Sit, sit.” The old man motioned with both hands as he walked down the path toward them. “I didn’t mean to give you a fright!” His white beard shook when he laughed. “It’s just Old John, come looking for the two of you. Sit. Sit.”
His large round belly jiggled under his dark brown robes as he laughed. White hair was parted neatly down the middle, and long curly eyebrows and drooping lids shaded his brown eyes. His jolly round face wrinkled with a wide smile as he waited. Kahlan cautiously eased herself back down. Richard lowered himself partway, to sit lightly on the rock he had been leaning against. He kept his hand on his sword.
“What do you mean you have been looking for us?” Richard asked in a not entirely friendly tone.
“My old friend, the wizard, sent me looking for you….”
Richard jumped back to his feet. “Zedd! Zedd sent you?”
Old John held his stomach as he laughed. “How many old wizards do you know, my boy? Of course old Zedd.” He gripped his beard, pulling it a little as he peered at them with one eye. “He had important business to attend to, but he needs you, needs you with him, now. So he came and asked me if I’d go get you. Had nothing better to do, so I told him I’d do it. He told me where I’d find you. Looks like he was right, as usual.”
Richard smiled at that. “Well, how is he? Where is he, what’s he want us for?”
Old John pulled a little harder on his beard, nodding and smiling. “He told me. Told me you asked a lot of questions. He’s just fine. Thing is, I don’t know why he wants you. When old Zedd’s in a fret, you don’t ask questions, you just do as he asks. So I did. And here I am.”
“Where is he? How far?” Richard was excited about seeing Zedd again.
Old John scratched his chin and leaned forward a little. “Depends. How long you plan on standing there wagging your tongue?”
Richard grinned, then snatched up his pack, his weariness forgotten. Kahlan gave him one of her special tight-lipped smiles as they followed Old John up a rocky trail. Richard let Kahlan walk ahead of him as he watched the surrounding woods. She had told him that they weren’t far from the witch woman.
He was excited about seeing Zedd again. He hadn’t realized how tense he had been, deep down inside, with worry about his old friend. He knew Adie would have taken good care of him, but she had made no promise that he would be all right. He hoped this meant Chase was well, too. He felt overwhelmed with cheer about seeing Zedd again. He had so much to tell him, to ask him. His mind raced.
“So he’s all right then?” Richard called ahead to Old John. “He’s recovered? He didn’t lose any weight, did he? Zedd can’t afford to lose any weight.”
“No,” Old John laughed without turning as he walked, “he looks the same as always.”
“Well, I hope he didn’t eat you out of your larder.”
“Not to worry, my boy. How much could one skinny old wizard eat?”
Richard smiled to himself. Zedd might be all right, but he couldn’t be fully recovered, or Old John wouldn’t have a scrap of food left.
After a couple of hours during which they hurried to keep pace with Old John, the woods became thicker, darker, the trees bigger and closer together. The trail was rocky, hard to walk over, especially at this pace. Calls of strange birds echoed from the murk. The three came to fork in the trail. Old John took to the right without a pause and kept going. Kahlan followed him. Richard stopped, uncertain about something, but he couldn’t quite seem to squeeze it out of the back of his mind. Every time he tried, he found himself thinking again of Zedd. Kahlan heard him stop, and turned, then walked back.
“Which way to the witch woman?” he asked her.
“Left,” Kahlan answered, a note of relief in her voice because the old man had gone right. She hooked a thumb under the front of her pack’s shoulder strap and pointed with her chin to several stark spines of rock he could just see through the upper branches of the trees. “Those are some of the peaks that surround Agaden Reach.” The snow-covered caps shone brightly in the high thin air. He had never seen such inhospitable-looking mountains. Ring of thorns indeed.
Richard looked off down the left trail. It looked to be little traveled, and disappeared quickly into the thick forest. Old John stopped and turned, his hands on his hips.
“You two coming?”
Richard looked back down the left trail. They had to get the
last box before Rahl did. Even if Zedd needed them, they had to find out where the box was. That was his first duty.
“Do you think Zedd could wait?”
Old John shrugged, then pulled on his beard. “Don’t know. But he wouldn’t have sent me if it wasn’t important. It’s up to you, my boy. But Zedd is this way.”
Richard wished he didn’t have to make this decision. He wished he knew if Zedd could wait. He wished he knew what Zedd wanted. Stop wishing and start thinking, he told himself.
He frowned up at the old man. “How far?”
Old John looked up at the late-afternoon sun off through the trees as he tugged some more on his beard. “If we don’t stop early, and don’t sleep late, we’ll be there by midday tomorrow.” He looked back to Richard, waiting.
Kahlan said nothing, but he knew what she was thinking. She would rather not go anywhere near Shota, and even if they went to Zedd first, it wasn’t that far, they could always come back if they had to. And maybe Zedd knew where the box was, maybe he even had the last box, and they wouldn’t have to go into Agaden Reach. It made more sense to go after Zedd. That was what she would say.
“You’re right,” he said to her.
She looked confused. “I said nothing.”
Richard gave her a big grin. “I could hear you thinking. You’re right. We’ll go with Old John.”
“I didn’t know my thoughts were that loud,” she muttered.
“If we don’t stop at all,” he called up to Old John, “we could be there before morning.”
“I’m an old man,” he complained, then sighed loudly. “But I know how anxious you are. And I know how badly he needs you.” He wagged his finger at Richard. “I should have listened when Zedd warned me about you.”
Richard laughed a little as he let Kahlan walk ahead of him. She strode fast to catch up with the old man, who was already on his way. He watched her absently as she walked, watched as she pulled a spiderweb off her face, spit some of it out of her mouth. Something nagged at him; something was wrong. He wished he could figure out what it was. He tried for a minute, but all he could think about was Zedd, how much he wanted to see him again, how he couldn’t wait to talk to him. He ignored the feeling that there were eyes watching him.
