"They're definitely Dragon Corps." "They're Darken Rahl's personal errand boys." "And they never stray far from their master." "Fortune has shined on us today, my friends." "All we have to do is stay on their heels, and the mice will lead us to the cheese." "You ready to face Darken Rahl, boy?" "What figure did you have in your head, peddler?" "Twenty thousand pieces of gold, and that's my best price." "For that much, I'll need to see if the merchandise is genuine." "Nobody said anything about services for free." "Well, I'm saying it now." "What do you think they're buying?" "Magical weapon, torture device." "It's a boy." "We're no good to the child if we're dead." "Let's see if you're the real thing." "What did my wife make me for breakfast the day I left on this expedition?" "It's not the lumpy porridge and the greasy eggs you're thinking about." "It's the black eye she gave you the night before." "Tell me something about one of my men that I don't know." "Take your helmets off." "He needs to see right into your eyes." "There's nothing to tell." "Not one of my men has something in his head that I don't know about?" "Not impressive." "We've come a long way for nothing." "March." " Tell the man what he wants to know." " He's thinking about the Seeker." " We're all thinking about the Seeker." " Not the way he is." "He's hoping the Seeker kills Darken Rahl." "He's planning to kill Darken Rahl himself, if he ever gets him alone." "You want time alone with Lord Rahl?" "I can arrange that, Masslar." "Lord Rahl is gonna be very happy." "Do you know what he is?" "He can see what people are thinking." "The way you and I would read a list of things to buy at the market." "He is a True Listener." "In our time, I never thought I'd see it." "The last True Listener died 700 years ago." "We have to get that boy away." " Yes, but not yet." "What?" "If we track them, they'll lead us straight to Darken Rahl." "They won't hurt him." "He's too precious to them." "We can't let Rahl get control of that type of power." " If he knew what people think..." "Richard." "If we follow them, we can find Rahl and kill him, and the boy will be safe forever." "You do what you want, but I'm getting him away from them now." "Young people." "Everything is black and white, either-or, free the boy, follow the boy." "Maybe there's a way we can do both." "So no one will recognize you as the Great Wizard" "Zeddicus Zu'I Zorander, but how are we gonna save the boy?" "With this." "I've been saving it for a rainy day, but I'd say it was pouring at the moment, wouldn't you?" "Shadow People!" "Stay back!" "To whom do I owe my thanks?" "Grannack the Great, Wizard of the First Order." "I've been after those monsters for days." "There's a rift to the underworld somewhere in these parts." "Shadow People have been escaping left and right." "Forgive me if I caught you in the crossfire." "And whom do I have the honor of addressing?" "Captain Ashgar." "Dragon Corps." "Now that's a bit of luck." "There aren't many who can afford real talent nowadays." "I was hoping perhaps the House of Rahl might see the value in what I can provide." "You want us to bring you into the presence of Lord Rahl?" "A great Wizard needs a great patron." "There are many who would like nothing more than to stand before Darken Rahl." "Some as friends, some as spies." "Let's see which you are." "Kranthor, bring out the Listener." "He's gone!" "Find him!" "Put me down!" "It's okay." "We're friends." "We just wanna take you home." "If you run, they'll just catch you again." "That's okay with me." "They're gonna give me my own room." "In a castle." "You just better hope they don't catch you, Seeker." "Killing you is all they ever think about." "So, what are you gonna do, sell me?" "Or use me yourself?" "I'll tell you right now, that'll cost you." "Where do your parents live?" "Just my father." "My mother died before they took me away." "Before who took you away?" "Some man who used me to cheat at cards." "We don't have time to talk." "We can't let Darken Rahl get ahold of you." "Where was home?" "Where did they take you from?" " Obregon Woods." "That's just over the Grey Hills." "If we walked all night, we could be there by morning and then head straight back and follow Zedd." "Whoever took him knows how to cover his tracks." "Take half the men and find him." "And take Ranik." "He can track a snowflake in a blizzard." "I'll face Lord Rahl." "The only thing he hates more than bad news is having bad news kept from him." "Surely turning up with a Wizard of the First Order in tow will temper his wrath." "His wrath isn't easily tempered." "Chain the traitor to the horse." "We march all night." "Don't take your eyes off the Wizard." "Are we close?" "I used to climb that tree." "That's my house." "Dad!" "That's not him." "Excuse me." "There was a man that used to live here." "He had a little boy who was kidnapped." "Do you know where we might find him?" "I'm sorry, I don't." "I moved in a long time after he moved away." "All I heard was..." "What?" "What did you hear?" "Not in front of the boy." "Renn, what is it?" "He heard that I wasn't kidnapped." "He heard that my father sold me for a thousand pieces of gold." "Maybe it's not true." "Maybe it's just a rumor he heard." "You know when you pick up a rock and there's all these disgusting bugs and worms crawling around under it?" "That's what looking inside peoples' heads is like." "Why should my father be any different?" "Kahlan." "I've talked to anybody I could find." "He has no family here." "We have to get to Zedd." "A chance like this, to get close to Rahl..." " We're not leaving him with strangers." " Of course we're not." "There's a place called Thandor." "It's a hidden valley, magically hidden from all evil." "The Sisters of Light protect children like him." "Children with gifts." " How long will it take to get there?" " Three days." "Maybe four." "We'll make it three." "You tell him, I'll pack up." "Richard." "Oh, no." "We have to race." "The trail Zedd's leaving for us, we don't know how long it'll last." "Renn!" "Renn!" " Renn!" "Tell me, Captain Ashgar, how many houses have you personally burned to the ground with the residents still inside?" "I'm under orders to deliver traitors alive for questioning," "Masslar, but I'm warning you." "When your mother was bouncing you on her knee, did she say, "Oh, what a wonderful little boy." "Someday you'll grow up to burn the eyes out of innocent men with red-hot iron stakes"?" "One-minute stop for water." "No water for the traitor." "Stop him!" "If our Wizard of the First Order is so eager to be helpful, why is he standing there with his hands at his side?" "Beyond your powers, Grannack the Great?" "Patience, captain." "I'm gathering the magical forces necessary for a spell of this magnitude." "It seems I have a more valuable and more reliable gift for Lord Rahl than I first thought." "Six pieces of silver." "Six pieces of silver and two pieces of gold." "The rose, the lion and the bull." "The lion, the lion and the star." "What sort of trick do you think you're playing, boy?" "Let him go!" "A flagon of ale for whoever gets these people out of here." " You are coming with me." " Hey!" " That was my money." "I won it!" " No, you stole it." " You cheated." " I let you take me home, but I'm not going to some orphanage for weird children." "I'm my own boss now." "You're not telling me what to do." "No, you have to come with us so we can take you to Thandor and get back to our friend." "This may be hard for you to comprehend, but the fate of the world just might depend on it." "Okay." "All right, I'm sorry to have to do this, but I can't let you run away again." "Don't!" "You will not bind his hands." "It's okay, I'm not gonna hurt him." " I'm just gonna make sure..." " No, you will not." "Okay, fine." "How about this?" "If you run away again, I'm gonna take you back to that tavern and tell that gambler how you cheated him." "Why don't you tell him why the rope upsets you so much?" "Sorry it has to be cold, but we have no time to get a fire going." "I'm not eating that." " Come on." "It's not that bad, really." " I want pheasant with blackberry sauce." "Don't we all." "That's what the prince of Aspasia used to give to me." "Every night of the week if I wanted it." "Or he could forget about knowing which one of his wives was sleeping with the captain of the guard." "Well, the first pheasant I see is all yours." "I saw a nest of pheasants a mile back, and there were blackberries growing all over." "No, no." "We don't have time." "If you're in a hurry, I'm not stopping you." "I'll just wait right here for the D'Harans to find me." "Listen, we're not stopping to pick blackberries and hunt pheasant." "Then I guess I'll have to tell her about the secret you've been keeping from her." " I don't have any secrets from Kahlan." " I'm a Listener." "Do you think there's anything you can hide from me?" "How would you like her to know what you think about when you look at her?" "Not bad." "Could use salt." "Okay, that's enough." "Come on." "I need to rest a little after all that food." "It was extremely kind of Richard to go to all the trouble of cooking you this." "Try to understand how important it is for all of us to keep moving." " I'm not ready to start walking." " That is enough." "On your feet now!" "He wants to kill me." "I saw it!" "He wants to kill me!" "He's not gonna kill you." "It was just something that he thought." "People sometimes think those sort of things when they're angry." " And then they usually do it." " No, no." "He's not gonna do it." "I wouldn't be so sure about that." "You are standing up now." " No, I'm not." " Yes, you are." "You have to stop that!" "We don't know who's in these woods." "Over there!" "This way." "Don't count on them giving you a nice room in a castle." "If they think that you're friends with the Seeker, you're gonna die with the Seeker." " We have to run." " No time for that." "We're staying right here." "You're coming with me, Listener." "Richard!" "The most anybody ever paid for me was 20,000." "I'm not worth getting killed over." "Could you crush those up for me?" "Why are you doing this?" "Why did you save my life?" "Can't you just look in our heads and see the answer to that?" "I see it." "I just don't understand it." "Why do you wanna destroy Darken Rahl if you aren't interested in his throne or his gold?" "Why are you the only people in the world who are like that?" "We're not." "We're just the first ones you've met." "This place you're taking me to." "What are the people there like?" "They're as good and kind as anyone I've ever known." " Then it's the wrong place for me." " Why do you say that?" "Because I'm bad." " No, you're not..." " You don't know anything about it." "About the things I've done." "When I was working for the empress of Threnegar, she wanted to know if there was anybody in her palace who was plotting against her." "I told her there were three people:" "The lord chamberlain, the grand vizier and one of her sons." "She put their heads on iron stakes in front of the palace." " That was not your fault." " Yes, it was." "And that was only one time." "If you knew how many..." "Nobody gave you a choice." "What happened to you was just as bad." " What?" "What happened?" " Nothing." "It's not nothing." "Kahlan, what happened to you?" "What I can do to people, bring them under my control..." "My mother did that to my father." "Why?" "She..." "She had to." "And when I was 5 years old, and my sister was 3, my mom died, and my father was freed from her hold on him." "So he came to get us." "To claim what was his." "He started making us use our powers to get what he wanted out of people." "We made them do such terrible things." "And if we tried not to, he would..." "Tie you up." "Bind your hands." "That's why you didn't want me..." "Yeah." "Why didn't you just use your power against him?" "Because he was her father." "When I was 11, another Confessor found us." "She took us away from my father and brought us to Thandor." "The Sisters of Light became more than parents to us." "They didn't just save our lives, they..." "They gave us our lives." "It's okay." "It's just an owl complaining about something, the way owls do." "Does it still hurt?" "I would say no, but you'd know I'd be lying." "It's my fault you got hurt." "Making you stop to pick blackberries." "Screaming like that." "Why don't you hate me?" "You should've seen what I put my father through when I was your age." "Why haven't you told her what you feel about her?" "It's complicated." "You'll understand when you get older." "It's not that complicated." "You're just scared she doesn't feel the same way." "But you don't have to be scared." "She feels the same way you do." " Why doesn't she say anything?" " I don't know." "I mean, I know." "It just doesn't make sense." "Something about she's afraid to hurt you with her powers." "Why aren't you lying down?" "I'm not tired." "You should be asleep too." "I can't." "Come on, Renn." "Give it a try." "We have a long, long walk tomorrow." "Bears have been by here." "Two of them, by the looks of it." "See where they scratched their backs on the tree?" "Do they come out during the day?" "Only to eat children." "Why do we have to go to this Thandor place?" "I could just stay with you." "You can't, Renn." "It's too dangerous." "I'm not scared." "Do you have any idea how much I could help you?" "Yes, you could, but we can't get you any closer to Rahl." "Of course." "Because then I might help him, and that wouldn't be so good for you." " That's only part of it." " It's all right." "I understand." "When shadows long o'ertake the day" "And evil doth enslave us" "When war and strife and fear hold sway The Seeker then shall save us" "I wonder how you'll sound with your tongue cut out." "When cities burn and kingdoms fall The Seeker then shall sound his call" "When men call Darken Rahl their lord" "The Seeker then shall raise his sword" "When days are dark And hope is lost" "And times grow ever weaker..." "When springtime dies Beneath the frost..." "Because then shall come the Seeker" "Change of plan." "When I stand before Darken Rahl tomorrow," "I will tell him that I took it upon myself to flay the traitor alive, tied to a pole at the crossroad, where all the passersby can watch the crows feast on his eyeballs and learn from his example!" "And my last sight in this life will be a treasonous Wizard gloating over my demise." "What's your price?" "Gar got your tongue?" "Times are hard for all of us." "Halt!" "In the name of the Council of Obregon." "Renn!" " Renn." " Dad." "I got word that you were asking for me at the old house." "I could hardly believe it." "We rode the horses half to death catching up." "We know that you sold him." "That was a rumor started by the people who took him." "It was a lie." "There's a Confessor here." "You're not taking the boy anywhere until you answer to her." "Renn, tell them." "Look in my eyes and tell them that I've been looking for you, every day, every night, for five long years." "He's telling the truth." "Whoever you are, thank you for bringing my son to me." "Your son is in great danger." "He needs help with his gift." "He should be brought to the Sisters of Light until he's a little older." "He's my father." "I'm going with him." "We should be going." "We have a long journey ahead of us." "Thank you, constable." "We should catch up with Zedd." "Prompt delivery of goods." "That's the way Darken Rahl likes to do business." "Actually, you did me a favor." "I was planning to work for the D'Harans anyway." "So thanks, Dad." "I married your mother, but I'm not your father." "No son of mine would be a freak like you." "I would've sold you back to those people you were with, but nowadays, nobody pays better than Darken Rahl." "He would've paid three times more for me." "You sold me too cheap." "Specially outfitted for the Listener." "Is there anything I can get you?" "Pheasant with blackberry sauce." "Get the boy whatever he wants, then we race to the meeting point." "Lord Rahl is getting impatient." "What are you thinking?" "If Renn was here, you wouldn't have to ask." "I don't have to ask." "You're thinking what I'm thinking." "We shouldn't have let Renn go." "He read his father's thoughts." "If something was wrong he wouldn't have gone with him." "I'm not a Listener or a Confessor." "I can't always tell when people are lying, but something in my gut is telling me that man was hiding something." "Richard, are you sure this isn't just because Renn got into your heart?" "Like he got into mine?" "Maybe, but I can't let it go." "Stop!" "Why?" "He's under a powerful enchantment." "Whoever kills him will come to terrible harm." "Possibly death." "Argoth will be honored to take that risk." "Proceed." "Shoot it down!" "Kill it!" " You did that." " Me?" "I told you he was under an enchantment." "Astonishing magic and a Great Wizard in the same place at the same time." "Coincidence, do you think?" "But who am I to judge the truth of such matters?" "We'll leave that to Darken Rahl." "Bind his hands." "He can't do magic without his hands." " Where's Renn?" " That's no concern of yours." "Tell me where he is." " Did you sell him?" " To the D'Harans?" "He was only my stepson." "And that's an excuse?" " Don't." "Don't." "He's not worth it." "Just take the money." "That's all he cares about." " Which way did they go?" " South." "If you ever show your face to that boy again," "I will roast you like a pig on a spit." "Richard, look." " Zedd's headed the same way as Renn." " Yeah." "Whoa." "Welcome back, Listener." " Seems you've had quite an adventure." " What do you need me to do?" "I need you to tell me who he is, what he wants, and most importantly, who is he working with?" "You'd better tell the truth." "Yes, he's a spy." "I suspected as much." " What he wants is to kill Darken Rahl." " That I could have guessed." "But what you couldn't have guessed is who he's working with." " And that would be?" " Him." "What?" "That's a lie." "I swear to you, I've never seen the Wizard before." "Do you also swear that you don't have a flask of spirits tucked into your left boot, either?" "Spirits?" " On duty?" "All right." "Give me my 10 lashes, but I swear to you on my mother," "I've never met the Wizard." "He didn't need to meet him." "It was all organized by him." "Calgor has been my friend since childhood." "I know him and trust him like a brother." "Well, ask your friend what he was doing with your wife while you were on maneuvers last month." "That won't do you any good, unless you do the same to him, and him, and him." "They're all in on the Wizard's plot." "Arrest them all!" "If you could free two fingers, I'd be able to..." "Hurry, Renn!" " Look out!" " Renn!" "Renn." "If you saw what your father was thinking, why did you go with him?" "I saw that he was going to kill you both if I didn't." "I saw that he had more men on their way." "Men with big knives." "And then I saw that you were their friend." "And whose tracks are those?" "Fox." "Silver, by the size of the prints." " Excellent!" " Okay, enough tracking for today." "Time for history." "Tell me the First Wizards of Aydindril, starting with Elenath." "Oh, leave him be." "Give the boy too many lessons, he won't have time to learn anything." "As if you ever let up on me for one second." " We're here." "We're where?" "Thandor." "Wildranath, Galadrahn." "Welcome, Renn." "We've all been looking forward to meeting you." " How did you...?" "Henry." "Henry always knows what's coming, long before it gets here." "We have to say goodbye now." "I don't want to." "I wanna stay with you." "We'll come back when the Midlands are free." "Tell him what you feel about him." "It'll be okay." "I'm sorry I kicked you where I kicked you." "It's closing now." "Remember, moss grows on the north side of the tree, and cows lie down when it's going to rain, and you're gonna be all right, no matter what." "Go." "Well, if we ever get to be parents, I guess we'll have had some practice." "Hey!" "Shoo!" "Get away." "Is that how you treat a friend of mine?" "Thank you, Wizard." " I'm sorry I doubted you." " You had every reason to." "I hope you enjoyed your moment of flight, because you won't have another." "That's a spell that only works one time in a thousand." "You were lucky." "Long life to the Seeker." "Long life to you, sir." "I will join you in your fight against Rahl, wherever I am, however I can, but right now I must make sure my family is safe." "What I can give you right now is something I heard at the fort." "Darken Rahl just sent 200 men to a city called Kelabra, on a mission of great importance." "To Kelabra, then." "There's just one problem." "Kelabra was destroyed in the eruption of Mt." "Mariah 2000 years ago, and buried under millions of tons of rock."