"Richard Cypher, you are the true Seeker." "Bring him down!" "Heave!" "Heave!" "Never forget this day, Rachel." "Tell your grandchildren that you were there when word came that the great tyrant, Darken Rahl, was gone forever." "Where did he go?" "Thanks to the Seeker, that monster is dead and rotting for all eternity in the Underworld." "Darken Rahl." "Kneel before the Keeper." "Forgive me, Master." "I have failed you." "No, you have succeeded exactly as I intended." " My Lord?" " And now you will help me expand my dominion to the World Above." "Yes, Keeper." "But I must warn you, there is one who will stand in your way, as he stood in mine." "There is no escape from death." "Even the Seeker will belong to me." "To the Seeker!" "To the Seeker!" "This is flattering, but we should get on the road soon." "If we leave now, we can put in six leagues before the moon goes down." "And offend our hosts?" "The tyrant's only been dead a week." "Savor each victory, Richard, as though it were a juicy leg of mutton." "You never know when it'll be your last." "Well, that's encouraging." "That was lovely." "Rachel." "Come." "Heh." "Sit, child." "Are you going to stay here with us?" "It's nice here." "I wish we could." "But Richard and I need to see Kahlan safely to Aydindril." "Why are you going there?" "Well, that's where the Mother Confessor presides." "The Midlands under the rule of law and justice." "I never thought I'd live to see the day." "Are you going to marry Richard?" "Rachel." "It's all right." "No, we're not getting married." "Don't you love each other?" "Yes, but my duties as a Confessor, my powers keep me from being able to be a wife to Richard." "That's not fair." "It's awfully warm in here, isn't it?" "How about a special treat to cool you off?" "Yes, please." "Do you like apple cider?" "There you go, my dear." "Everybody stop!" "The creature can only see you if you move." "Martha." " Rachel, stop." "Hey, you!" "Over here!" "Come on." "Hyah!" "Right here, you bastard!" "We're wasting time, Cara." "You're disturbing my bath, Triana." "While you're washing your hair," "D'Hara is going to pieces." "We should go to the People's Palace, now." "And do what when we get there?" "Loot the wine cellar?" "We swear our allegiance to Lord Rahl." "Lord Rahl is dead." "If he were the last of his bloodline, then our Agiels would have lost their power." "If and when the new Lord Rahl should claim the throne, we'll decide if he's worthy of our services." "Until then, who better to bring order to the territories than the Mord-Sith?" "I've called for a meeting of all our Sisters at the Temple of Jandralyn." "We leave today." "When did you become queen?" "I must have missed the coronation." "I demand an honorable death." "It's my right as a Mord-Sith." "You deserve no honor." "You will stay alive and serve me." "Does anyone else have a problem?" "The tracks came from down here." "What in the name of the Spirits?" "It's as I feared." "The creature's escaped from the Underworld." "It's a screeling." "Like the nursery rhyme." "The screelings are loose The Keeper may win" "His assassins have come To rip off your skin" "If I remember right, the poem says the only way to kill it is to hack it into pieces." "Richard tried hacking it with the Sword of Truth." " It didn't even hurt the creature." " If we can't kill it, we'll find it and trap it." "Our problems are far greater than one nasty monster." "This crack in the earth, it's a tear in the veil that separates the Underworld from the World of the Living." "As long as it's open, there's no way to prevent the Keeper of the Underworld, the great enemy of all that walks, breathes and grows in the light, from sending his minions to bring death to every living thing." "I fear the screeling is but the vanguard." "How could this have happened?" "In all my years as a Wizard," "I've only known one form of magic strong enough to tear the veil:" "The power of Orden." "This happened when I killed Rahl, when the Boxes of Orden exploded." "Wizard's Second Rule:" "The greatest harm can come from the best intentions." "If I did this, I'll find a way to undo it." "The only way I know of to close the rift is the way the Creator sealed the Underworld at the beginning of time." "The Stone of Tears." "He who possesses the Stone will be able to repair the veil." "Then we'll find it." "The Stone has been lost for centuries beyond count." "Many have given their lives searching for it." "If anyone can find it, the Seeker can." "Kahlan, I share your faith in Richard, but the veil is delicate." "In the time it takes to find one tiny stone amid all the rocks and mountains of Creation, cracks like this could appear anywhere, spreading and splintering in all directions." "And then there would be nothing to prevent the Keeper from waging war on the World of the Living." "Seeker." "D'Haran soldiers are in the town." "They're demanding to see you." "Darken Rahl is dead." "The war is over." "Lay down your arms or you'll feel my Sword." "We have not come to fight, My Lord." "Master Rahl, guide us" "Master Rahl, protect us" "In your light, we thrive" "In your wisdom, we are humbled" "We live only to serve" "Our lives are yours" "I was born into the service of Darken Rahl's father," "Lord Panis Rahl." "Some called him a tyrant, but in his time, there was peace and order throughout the territories." "He took pride in his first-born son." "But as the boy grew older, the father came to see the darkness in his son's heart," "and his love for the dark ways of sorcery." "The father began to fear for the future of his kingdom." "When he learned of a Prophecy that said he would sire another son, one who would kill his black-hearted older brother," "Panis set out to ensure the truth of that Prophecy." "He fathered a child with a young woman whose bloodline was as powerful as his own." "Tarralyn Zorander." "That's a lie." "My daughter would never have lain with Panis Rahl." "Yes, Wizard." "Panis knew this too." "Which is why he wooed Tarralyn in the guise of a young shepherd." "In this form, he won her heart and conceived a child with her." "But in his pride, my Master made a foolish mistake." "He boasted to Darken Rahl that the son prophesied to kill him would soon be born." "In a rage, Darken Rahl slew his own father and commanded me to dispose of the body." "But I convinced Panis Rahl's most faithful Mord-Sith to revive him with the Breath of Life," "then killed her to protect the secret." "While Panis went into hiding, I dispatched a rider to Tarralyn's father, to warn him that Darken Rahl had ordered the death all first-born sons of Brennidon, where the Prophecy said the child would be born." "I never knew who sent me that message." "And we never knew if you received it." "This is some sort of trap." "It's no trap, My Lord." "I have carried this secret for 24 years, waiting for the day that the Prophecy might be fulfilled, so that I could pledge my loyalty to you and to escort you back to the People's Palace to assume your rightful place on the throne." "If you do not believe me, order your Confessor to do as she must to verify my words." "There's no need." "He's telling the truth." "Tighter." "Yes, Mistress." "Is there anything else I can do to please you?" "I'm sure there is, when we have more time." "Lord Rahl." "Scrubbing the floors, Triana?" "I would have thought that were beneath your station." "You're alive." "No, not alive, but still your master." "And I need you to perform a special task for me and for the one I serve." "Lord Rahl serves no man." "Not a man, Triana." "But we all have our masters." "Mine is the Keeper of the Underworld." "And when he conquers all life, those who stood by him will be rewarded." "If My Lord follows the Keeper, then so do I." "But Cara has taken command and..." "Cara helped the Seeker to kill me." "She cannot be trusted." "Which is why before you begin this special task I have for you, you and your Sisters must destroy her." "How could I have been so consumed by the acquisition of magic and power that I neglected to protect my own daughter?" "Zedd, I'm sorry." "Listen to me." "Thinking of myself when you've just learned that the great tyrant you fought so hard to kill was your own brother." "No, he wasn't." "Richard, I know this is hard to accept..." "Kahlan, I'm not challenging the words of the Mother Confessor here." "But blood isn't what makes somebody family." "I didn't share blood with George and Mary Cypher, but they'll always be my parents." "Now, Zedd, do you have any idea where we can pick up the trail of the Stone of Tears?" "If there is a clue, it's to be found in the ancient volumes at the Wizard's Keep, in Aydindril." "Go, find what you can." "Kahlan, stay here, call the people of the town inside," " board up every window and doorway." " What about you?" "The screeling is still out there." "I'm gonna hunt it down and kill it." "You say you and your men will follow me?" "To the death, My Lord." "Maybe with a few more swords we can hack this thing to pieces." "And then we're going to the People's Palace." "You're going to proclaim yourself the new Lord Rahl?" "You said it yourself, our problem is a lot bigger than one monster." "With the veil torn, the Keeper will wage war on the World of the Living." "And if we have to fight that war, we could use an army behind us." "I must warn you to expect violent opposition, My Lord." "What are you talking about?" "My men and I alone bear the secret to your parentage." "Many D'Harans will not easily accept your claim to the throne." "In order to win the allegiance of the greatest number," "I recommend you immediately execute every member of the Third Battalion." "I'm not gonna kill my own men." "They are D'Harans, My Lord." "If they are to follow you, they must fear you." "I'll find a way to deal with them." "Right now, we're going to kill a screeling." "Wolves?" "That's no wolf." "Since the custom has been broken, we won't give her an honorable death." "We will leave her to that shrieking creature, or the townspeople." "Whoever gets her first." "The work of the screeling, My Lord." "We'll find him before he kills again." "What is that?" "Rachel!" "Mother!" "Protect your daughters!" " Mother!" " Get up." "Mama!" "Sarah!" "Go, march in!" "Trimack." "Forgive me, Lord Rahl." "I have failed to protect you." "Seeker?" "What are you doing marching with these dogs?" "Call off your men and I'll call off mine." " Put up your weapons!" " Stand down!" "I'm Morwyn Bryer, leader of the Resistance in this valley." "We got word the Dragon Corps were marching on Ehrengard and gathered as fast as we could." "But they've already left a trail of slaughtered men, women and children." "Those people were killed by a screeling, escaped from the Underworld." " A screeling?" " These men are helping me track it." "They say the Seeker is wise, but only a fool would trust D'Harans." "You will address Lord Rahl with respect." " Lord Rahl?" " It's not what you think." " Seeker has taken the title of his enemy?" " A title he was born to." "We fought and died to trade one Rahl for another?" "You fought for your freedom and you won it." "And now the war against the D'Harans is over." "But we're fighting a new war now against an even more powerful enemy." "And if we stand together..." "You expect us to fight shoulder to shoulder with the butchers who massacred our friends and defiled our daughters?" "Rebel coward!" "Any man who raises a weapon against another will die by my Sword!" "It's Ehrengard." "The screeling must have gone back to the town." "Go." "Protect your families." "Let's move." "We saved as many as we could." "But they got away with seven girls, including Rachel." "We'll get them back." "We're going after the Mord-Sith." "My Lord." "We came here to escort the new Lord Rahl to the People's Palace, not to save a few little girls." "You know what will happen to those little girls." "Torture." "Death to those who won't break." "That is how they become Mord-Sith." "How it has always been." "So they can serve the Lord Rahl." "And if you truly were him, you would not pity them, you would know that someday you will need to use them." "That's not how things are going to be anymore." "Maybe old Trimack was wrong." "Maybe this man is too soft-hearted to lead D'H..." "Anyone else wanna question my orders?" "The Mord-Sith temple was abandoned, Lord Rahl." "We found this one in a gully." "Cara." "Lord Rahl?" "You've certainly come up in the world." " Where are the children?" " What children?" "The girls you and your Sisters took from Ehrengard." "If any girls were taken, my Sisters must have done it after they beat me and left me to die." " I'll get the truth out of her." " You can tell if she's lying?" "Their training makes the Mord-Sith hard to read, but I'll find out." "She's the one who helped me kill Darken Rahl." "Whatever she did, she did it to save her own skin." "Richard, we can't trust her." "I'm not telling you to trust her," "I'm telling you to trust me." "You're going to help us find your Sisters." "If you help me kill them." "Don't be scared." "The Seeker and the Confessor will save us." "I said no talking." "No." "It's my fault." "Punish me." "Since you're so eager," "I don't see why we couldn't begin with your training right now." "Triana." "I got your message." "What's so important?" "How about a treasonous Dragon Corps Squadron, escorting none other than the Seeker to the People's Palace to proclaim him the new Lord Rahl?" "I thought that might interest you." "That way." "Wait." "If they went that way, they took the girls to the Drowning Cave." "Drowning Cave?" "During the rains, the river floods it." "Uncooperative trainees are left there just before a storm." " Charming." "In the dry season, you can get in, but only through a high, narrow canyon." "But once you're in, there's no other way out." " It's a trap." " And I'm sure it's just a coincidence that a squadron of the Third Battalion has been camped in the meadow just south of the cave." "Richard, maybe this was their plan all along." "Lure you into an ambush because they knew you would do anything to save the children." "Yes, the Seeker's kindheartedness is legendary." "If water flows into the cave, it has to flow out somewhere." "There's an aquifer that empties into the marsh." "But it's barely big enough to crawl through and anybody who tried would be greeted by Mord-Sith as soon as they came through the other side." "We can draw the Mord-Sith out of the cave if we stage an attack through the canyon." "Richard, that's exactly what they want." "That's what we'll give them, while you go through the aquifer and rescue the girls." "You'll show her the way." "Anybody who marches into that canyon will be outnumbered and pinned down." "They'll be slaughtered." "Death means nothing to us, Lord Rahl." "We will do whatever you command." "Hello, Zeddicus." "What brings the great Shota so far from Agaden Reach?" "The Great Zeddicus, what else?" "Personal visit to an old friend?" "If you're looking for answers, I don't have any yet." "On my way to Aydindril in search of them." "I've already had a vision of exactly what you will discover in Aydindril." "A passage in the Seventh Codex of Sandragon will direct you to the hiding place of the Stone of Tears." "I couldn't have hoped for better news." "Tell me what the passage says so I can relay it to the Seeker." "Yes, we're all relying on the Seeker, but not Richard Rahl." "It is written in the Halls of Prophecy that Richard Rahl will fail in his quest to defeat the Keeper." "Richard puts no faith in Prophecy." "He will defeat the Keeper just as he defeated Darken Rahl." "Yes, he did defeat Darken Rahl exactly as the Prophecies predicted." "But now the Prophecy says he will fail." "You cannot pick or choose which Prophecies you want to believe in, Zeddicus." "So I should throw up my hands?" "Give up?" "No, the Prophecy is forked." "It can be avoided." "But if the World of the Living is to be saved, you must name a new Seeker." "What kind of trick is this?" "Richard is the one true Seeker." "Are you speaking now as a Wizard of the First Order?" "Or as his grandfather?" "Three signs will come before you." "First, Richard will deny that which gives him power." "Second, he will embrace the one in red." "And finally, he will bear the mark of the one who will destroy all of life." "When you have seen these three signs, you will know that I have spoken the truth." "And if you do not then do what must be done, the Keeper will win, and the World of the Living will be devoured by the Realm of Death." "Where's the Seeker?" "Has your new Lord Rahl abandoned you already?" "Give us the girls and we'll let you live." "It is you and your men who will die here today." "Halt." "Traitors!" "Slaughter them all!" "For D'Hara and Lord Rahl!" "This way." "Give me your hand." "I don't know exactly what you did to make Richard trust you," "but if this is some sort of trick, I will kill you." "Hello, Sisters." "I brought you a prize." "The Mother Confessor." "Kahlan, I knew you'd come." "We have to go, fast." "Help me get them out of here." "I didn't come for the children." "This belongs to me." " Mother." "Thank you, Seeker." "I shudder to think what would have happened if you weren't here." "You should thank these men too." "They fought together to help save Rachel and the other girls." "It would have been an honor to die for Lord Rahl." "My men and I fight for the Seeker, not Lord Rahl." "War is easy." "It's peace that would break your heart." "Zedd, why are you back so soon?" "I ran into our old friend, Shota." "What did she want?" "Zedd, is something wrong?" "Run!" "Hey!" "You wanna rip somebody's head off, take mine." "Uhn!" "Zedd, now!" "Yeah!" ""Seek out the Abbot of the Cloister of Ulrich, for he keeps the secret of the Stone close to his heart."" "These are the words written in Codex." "Ulrich is in the opposite direction of the People's Palace." "I'm not going to the People's Palace." " But I thought...?" " I'm not claiming the throne." "You're denying that which would give you power." "What's important now is finding the Stone of Tears and closing the rift." "Richard, the Stone is a very small object in a very large world." "Think how much more ground you could cover with the armies of D'Hara under your command." "Even if an army could help us, how many would I have to kill to unite the D'Harans?" "How long would it take while the Keeper grows stronger?" "And think of the thousands who saw their brothers and sons die fighting the House of Rahl." "Would they follow me if I claim the title of the tyrant they despised?" "Or would I have become the same enemy I just defeated?" "You could do things differently." "Today you convinced enemies to fight side by side." "A few men against other followers of Rahl who still wanted to kill me." "If people want to follow me because they believe in what I'm fighting for," "I'll lead them." "But I'm not crowning myself king." "I'm not Lord Rahl," "I'm Richard Cypher." "I'm the Seeker." "And you are the Mother Confessor." "Zedd and I will see you safely to Aydindril, and then we'll hunt for the Stone." "And when it's over, I'll come back for you." "Richard, I don't like it." "The two of you alone?" "Three." "A Mord-Sith serves Lord Rahl." "You don't strike me as the type of person who likes to serve anybody." "And I'm not accepting the title Lord Rahl." "If you're foolish enough to turn down the throne of D'Hara, then you need me all the more." "All right." "Richard." "Twice now she's proven herself to me." "I can use her." "We'd better say our goodbyes, we've got a long journey." "Embracing the one in red." "What?" "Nothing." "Aydindril." "Seventy leagues over that ridge." "I've been thinking." "You said yourself the most important thing right now is finding the Stone of Tears." "I should be helping you do that." "What about Aydindril?" "I'll get there, when all this is over." "But as long as you're still the Seeker, you need your Confessor by your side." "What do you want?" "To give you fair warning." "We are brothers after all." "You're no brother to me." "You've already killed me once, you can't kill me again." "You believe you're fighting for peace, for freedom." "But how many have you killed in this fruitless quest already?" "And how many will you kill tomorrow?" "Everything you do trying to defeat my Master only makes him stronger." "You believe you're serving life, Brother." "But the truth is, you are for the Keeper." "Richard." "Are you all right?" "I'm fine, just a bad dream." "Well, it's over now." "What is it?" "It's the mark of the Keeper." "The mark of the one who would destroy all life."