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"But that's different, it won't work against her."
Rahl nodded. "Yes, it will. But you must be its master; half measures will get you in a lot of trouble. She controls you with one dimension of your magic, the side you offered her. You must use the other side. It is something all Seekers have been capable of, but none. has ever succeeded in mastering. Perhaps you will be the first."
"And if I'm not? If I don't succeed at it?" Darken Rahl was sounding altogether too much like Zedd for Richard's comfort. This was the way Zedd had always taught him-by making him think for himself, find the answers in his own way, with his own mind.
"Then, my young friend, you are going to be in for a very rough week. De
"Just tell me how to use the magic of the sword, how to master it."
"Of course. Right after you tell me the knowledge in the Book of Counted Shadows." Rahl smiled. "I didn't think so. Good night, Richard. Don't forget, one week."
The sun was fading as Richard left the garden and Darken Rahl. His mind was spi
He had to think of a way to get away from De
The sword, he thought De
He walked on through the halls, toward De
Close, just ahead, the way he was going, the bell for the evening devotion rang. He would go to the devotion; that would give him time to think. He knelt, relieved that the pain of the magic didn't come on. It was one of the squares with water. He liked them best; they were the most peaceful. Close to the edge of the water, with people all about, Richard put his head to the tile floor and began chanting, clearing his mind, letting himself go empty. He used the chanting to melt his worries, his fears, his concerns. He put his thoughts of all the problems away, let his mind seek peace, let it wander where it would. The devotion was over, it seemed, in no time. He stood; refreshed, renewed, and started off again toward De
The halls he passed through, the rooms and stairways, were breathtakingly beautiful, and Richard again marveled at them as he passed. He wondered at how someone as vile as Darken Rahl would care to surround himself with such loveliness.
Nothing was one-dimensional. Two sides to the magic
Richard thought about the times the strange power had come awake in him. When he had felt sorry for Princess Violet, when the Queen's guard had tried to harm De
Each time, he knew, it was the magic of the sword. But in the past the magic of the sword had been rage, too. Yet this was a different kind of rage. He thought of how he used to feel when he drew the sword in anger. The wrath, the fury, the want to kill.
The hate.
Richard stopped dead still in the center of the quiet hall. It was late and there were no people around. He was alone. He felt a wave of cold wash through him, — prickling his skin.
Two sides. He understood.
The spirits help him, he understood.
He brought it forth, let it cast everything in a white sheen.
–+-
Cradled numbly in the white haze of the magic, pearly in a trance, Richard pushed the door to De
"You have come to kill me, my love?" she whispered.
He nodded slowly, watching her. "Yes, Mistress."
She smiled a little. "That is the first time you have ever called me simply `Mistress. You have always called me Mistress De
"Yes. It means everything, my mate. It means I forgive you everything." "I have made myself ready."
"Why are you naked?"
The lamplight reflected in the wetness of her eyes. "Because everything I have to wear is Mord-Sith. I have nothing else. I did not wish to die in the clothes of a Mord-Sith. I — wish to die as I was born. De
"I understand," he whispered. "How did you know I was coming to kill you?"
"When Master Rahl chose me to go after you, he said he wouldn't order me to go, but that I must volunteer. He said the prophecies foretold of a Seeker who would be the first to master the magic of the sword: the white magic. That this one would cause the blade of the sword to turn white. He said that if you turned out to be the one of whom the prophecies spoke, it would mean that I was to die by your hand, if you so chose. I asked to be sent, to be your Mord-Sith. Some of the things I have done to you, I have done to no other, in the hope you would be the one and kill me for it. When you did what you did to the Princess, I suspected. When you killed the two guards today, I knew. You should not have been able to. I was holding you by the sword's magic at the time."
Everything was white around the childlike beauty of her face. "I'm so sorry, De
"You will remember me?"
"I will have nightmares the rest of my life."
Her smile widened. "I'm glad." She seemed genuinely proud. "You love this woman, Kahlan?"
He frowned a little. "How do you know that?"
"Sometimes, when I hurt men enough, and they don't know what they're saying, they cry for their mothers, or their wives. You cried for one named Kahlan. You will choose her for your mate?"
"I ca
"I'm sorry. This hurts you?"
He nodded slowly. "More than anything you have done to me."
"Good." De
A tear ran down his face. What had they done to this poor child?
"It is a different kind of pain. None could be your equal in the things you have done."
A tear of pride rolled down her cheek. "Thank you, my love," she breathed. She took the Agiel from her neck and held it up hopefully. "Would you wear this, to remember me by? It will not hurt you around your neck, or if you hold the chain, only if you hold the Agiel itself in your hand."
Richard held her face in the white glow. "It would be my honor, my mate." He bent, letting her put it over his head, letting her give his cheek a kiss.
"How will you do it?" she asked.
He knew what she meant. He swallowed back the lump in his throat. His hand went smoothly to the hilt of the sword.
Slowly, he drew the Sword of Truth. It didn't ring, the way it always had in the past.
It hissed. A white-hot hiss.
Richard didn't look, but he knew, knew the blade had turned white. He held her wet eyes. The power flooded through him. He was at peace. All anger, all hate, all malice, was gone. Where he had felt these things from the sword before, he now felt only love for this child, this vessel into whom others had poured pain, this receptacle of cruelty, this i
"De
She held her chin up. "If you try to leave, I will stop you with the pain of the magic, and make you sorry you have been trouble to me. I am Mord-Sith. I am your mistress. I can be no more than who I am. You can be no less, my mate."
He nodded sadly, and put the tip of the sword between her breasts, the tears in his eyes and the white glow making it difficult to see.
De