Wizard's First Rule (48 page)

Toffalar’s face hardened. “
We do not call gatherings for outsiders.
”

Kahlan could tell that Richard was getting angry and straining to control himself. She didn’t move her head, but her eyes swept around, gauging where everyone was, especially the men with weapons, in case they had to fight their way out. She didn’t judge their chances of escape to be very good. Suddenly, she wished she had never brought him here.

Richard’s eyes were full of fire as he looked around at the people of the village and then back to the elders. “In return for bringing you the rain, I ask of you only that you do not decide right now. Consider what manner of man you find me to be.” He was keeping his voice calm, but there was no mistaking the import of his words. “Think it over carefully. Many lives depend upon your decision. Mine. Kahlan’s. Yours.”

As Kahlan translated, she was suddenly suffused with the cold feeling that Richard was not talking to the elders. He was speaking to someone else. She suddenly felt the eyes of that other on her. Her own gaze swept the crowd. All eyes were on the two of them; she didn’t know whose gaze she still felt.

“
Fair,
” Toffalar proclaimed at last. “
You both are free to be among our people as honored guests while we consider. Please enjoy all we have, share our food and our homes.
”

The elders departed, through the light rain, toward the communal buildings. The crowd went back to their business, shooing the children as they went. Savidlin was the last to leave. He smiled and offered his help in anything they might need. She thanked him as he stepped off into the rain. Kahlan and Richard sat alone on the wet wooden floor, dodging the drips of rainwater leaking through the roof. The woven trays of tava bread and the bowl of roasted peppers remained behind. She leaned over and took one of each, wrapping the bread around the pepper. She handed it to Richard and made herself another.

“You angry with me?” he asked.

“No,” she admitted with a smile. “I am proud of you.”

A little-boy grin spread on his face. He began eating, with his right hand, and made short work of it. After he swallowed the last bite, he spoke again.

“Look over my right shoulder. There is a man leaning against the wall, long gray hair, arms folded across his chest. Tell me if you know who he is.”

Kahlan took a bite of the bread and pepper, chewing as she glanced over his shoulder.

“He is the Bird Man. I don’t know anything about him, except that he can call birds to himself.”

Richard took another piece of bread, rolled it up, and took a bite. “I think it’s time we went and had a talk with him.”

“Why?”

Richard looked up at her from under his eyebrows. “Because he’s the one who is in charge around here.”

Kahlan frowned. “The elders are in charge.”

Richard smiled with one side of his mouth. “My brother always says that real power is not brokered in public.” He watched her intently with his gray eyes. “The elders are for show. They are respected, and so are put on display for others to see. Like the skulls on the poles, only they still have the skin on them. They have authority because they are esteemed, but they are not in charge.” With a quick flick of his eyes, Richard indicated the Bird Man leaning against the wall behind him. “He is.”

“Then why has he not made himself known?”

“Because,” he said, grinning, “he wants to know how smart we are.”

Richard stood and held his hand out to her. She stuffed the rest of the bread in her mouth, brushed her hands on her pants, and took his hand. As he hoisted her up, she thought about how much she liked the way he always offered her his hand. He was the first person who had ever done that. It was just one part of why it felt so easy being with him.

They walked across the mud, through the cold rain, toward the Bird Man. He still leaned against the wall, his sharp brown eyes watching them come. Long hair, mostly silver-gray, lay on his shoulders, flowing partway down the deerskin tunic that matched his pants. His clothes had no decoration, but a bone carving hung on a leather thong around his neck. Not old, but not young, and still handsome, he was about as tall as she. The skin of his weathered face was as tough-looking as the deerskin clothes he wore.

They stopped in front of him. He continued to lean his shoulders against the wall, and his right knee stuck out as his foot propped against the plastered brick. His arms lay folded across his chest as he studied their faces.

Richard folded his arms across his own chest. “I would like to talk to you, if you are not afraid I might be a spirit.”

The Bird Man’s eyes went to hers as she translated, then back to Richard’s.

“
I have seen spirits before,
” he said in a quiet voice. “
They do not carry swords.
”

Kahlan translated. Richard laughed. She liked his easy laugh.

“I also have seen spirits, and you are right, they do not carry swords.”

A small smile curled the corners of the Bird Man’s mouth. He unfolded his arms and stood up straight. “
Strength to the Seeker.
” He gave Richard a gentle slap.

“Strength to the Bird Man,” he said, returning the easy slap.

The Bird Man took the bone carving that hung on the leather thong at his neck, and put it to his lips. Kahlan realized it was a whistle. His cheeks puffed out as he blew, but there was no sound. Letting the whistle drop back, he held his arm out while he continued to hold Richard’s eyes. After a moment, a hawk wheeled out of the gray sky and alighted on his outstretched arm. It fluffed its feathers, then let them settle as its black eyes blinked and its head swiveled about in short, jerky movements.

“
Come,
” the Bird Man said, “
we will talk.
”

He led them among the large communal buildings, to a smaller one at the back, set away from the others. Kahlan knew the building with no windows, although she had never been in it. It was the spirit house, where the gatherings were held.

The hawk stayed on his arm as the Bird Man pulled the door open and motioned
them inside. A small fire was burning in a pit at the back end, offering a little light to the otherwise dark room. A hole in the roof above the fire let the smoke out, although it did a poor job of it, and left the place with a sharp smoky smell. Pottery bowls left from past meals lay about the floor, and a plank shelf along one wall held a good two dozen ancestral skulls. Otherwise, the room was empty. The Bird Man found a place near the center of the room where the rain wasn’t dripping, and sat down on the dirt floor. Kahlan and Richard sat side by side, facing him, as the hawk watched their movements.

The Bird Man looked at Kahlan’s eyes. She could tell he was used to having people be afraid when he looked at them, even if it wasn’t warranted. She could tell because she was used to the same thing. This time he found no fear.

“
Mother Confessor, you have not yet chosen a mate.
” He gently stroked the hawk’s head while he watched her.

Kahlan decided she didn’t like his tone. He was testing. “
No. Are you offering yourself?
”

He smiled slightly. “
No. I apologize. I did not mean to offend you. Why are you not with a wizard?
”

“
All the wizards, save two, are dead. Of those two, one sold his services to a queen. The other was struck down by an underworld beast, and lies in a sleep. There are none left to protect me. All the other Confessors have been killed. We are in dark times.
”

His eyes looked genuinely sympathetic, but his tone still was not. “
It is dangerous for a Confessor to be alone.
”

“
Yes, and it is also dangerous for a man to be alone with a Confessor who is in great want of something. From where I sit, it would seem that you are in greater danger than I.
”

“
Perhaps,
” he said, stroking the hawk, his slight smile returning. “
Perhaps. This one is a true Seeker? One named by a wizard?
”

“
Yes.
”

The Bird Man nodded. “
It has been many years since I have seen a true Seeker. A Seeker who was not a real Seeker came here one time. He killed some of my people when we would not give him what he wanted.
”

“
I am sorry for them,
” she said.

He shook his head slowly. “
Do not be. They died quickly. Be sorry for the Seeker. He did not.
” The hawk blinked as it looked at her.

“
I have never seen a pretend Seeker, but I have seen this one in the rage. Believe me, you and your people do not want to ever give this one cause to draw his sword in anger. He knows how to use the magic. I have even seen him strike down evil spirits.
”

He studied her eyes for a moment, seeming to judge the truth of what she said. “
Thank you for the warning. I will remember your words.
”

Richard spoke up at last. “Are you two about done threatening each other?”

Kahlan looked at him in surprise. “I thought you couldn’t understand their language.”

“Can’t. But I can understand eyes. If looks caused sparks, this place would be ablaze.”

Kahlan turned back to the Bird Man. “
The Seeker wishes to know if we are finished threatening each other.
”

He glanced at Richard and then back to her. “
He is an impatient man, is he not?
”

She nodded. “
I have told him so myself. He denies it.
”

“
It must be a burden traveling with him.
”

Kahlan broke into a smile. “
Not at all.
”

The Bird Man returned her smile, and then addressed his gaze to Richard. “
If we choose not to help you, how many of us will you kill?
”

Kahlan interpreted the words as they spoke.

“None.”

The Bird Man studied the hawk as he asked, “
And if we choose not to help Darken Rahl, how many of us will he kill?
”

“Sooner or later, a great many.”

He took his hand away from the hawk, and looked at Richard with his sharp eyes. “
It would seem you argue for us to help Darken Rahl.
”

A smile spread across Richard’s face. “If you choose not to help me and remain neutral, foolish as that would be, it is your right, and I will harm none of your people. But Rahl will. I will press on and fight against him with my last breath if need be.”

His face took on a dangerous expression. He leaned forward. “If, on the other hand, you choose to help Darken Rahl, and I defeat him, I will come back, and…” He pulled his finger across his throat in a quick gesture that needed no translation.

The Bird Man sat stone-faced, no quick retort at hand. “
We wish only to be left alone,
” he said at last.

Richard shrugged, looking down at the ground. “I can understand that. I too wished only to be left alone.” His eyes came up. “Darken Rahl killed my father, and sends evil spirits that haunt me in my father’s guise. He sends men to try to kill Kahlan. He brings down the boundary, to invade my homeland. His minions have struck down my two oldest friends. They lie in a deep sleep, near death, but at least they will live… unless he is successful the next time. Kahlan has told me of many he has killed. Children; stories that would make your heart sick.” He nodded, his voice soft, hardly more than a whisper. “Yes, my friend, I too wished only to be left alone. On the first day of winter, if Darken Rahl gains the magic he seeks, he will have a power no one can stand against. Then it will be too late.” His hand went to his sword. Kahlan’s eyes widened. “If he were here, in my place, he would pull this sword and have your help or have your head.” He took his hand away. “That, my friend, is why I cannot harm you if you choose not to help me.”

The Bird Man sat quiet and still for a while. “
I can see now that I do not want Darken Rahl for an enemy. Or you.
” He got up and went to the door, casting the hawk into the sky. The Bird Man sat once more, sighing heavily with the weight of his thoughts. “
Your words seem to flow true, but I cannot know for sure yet. It would also seem that although you want us to help you, you also wish to help us.
I believe you are sincere in this. It is a wise man who seeks help by helping, and not by threats or tricks.
”

“If I wanted to get your help by tricks, I would have let you believe me to be a spirit.”

The corners of the Bird Man’s mouth turned up in a small smile. “
If we had held a gathering, we would have discovered you were not. A wise man would suspect that too. So which reason is it that made you tell the truth? You did not want to trick us, or you were afraid to?
”

Richard smiled back. “In truth? Both.”

The Bird Man nodded. “
Thank you for the truth.
”

Richard sat quietly, took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. “So, Bird Man, I have told you my tale. You must judge it true or not. Time works against me. Will you help?”

“
It is not that simple. My people look to me for direction. If you asked for food, I could say ‘Give him food,’ and they would do so. But you have asked for a gathering. That is different. The council of seers are the six elders you spoke to, plus myself. They are old men, firm in the ways of their past. An outsider has never been given a gathering before, never been permitted to disturb the peace of our ancestors’ spirits. Soon these six will join the ancestor’s spirits, and they do not want to think they will be called from the spirit world for an outsider’s needs. If they break the tradition, they will be forever burdened with the results. I cannot order them to do this.
”

“It is not only an outsider’s needs,” Kahlan said, telling them both her words. “Helping us also helps the Mud People.”

“
Maybe in the end,
” the Bird Man said, “
but not in the beginning.
”

“What if I were one of the Mud People?” Richard asked, his eyes narrowing.

“
Then they would call the gathering for you, and not violate the tradition.
”

“Could you make me one of the Mud People?”