Wizard's First Rule (70 page)

Rachel sucked the hem of her dress, to keep from making a noise as she shook. Giller’s hand came out of his robe. She saw a pinch of something between his thumb and finger. The dog pushed his head under the robe and started barking. Giller opened his fingers, and sparkling dust dropped down on the dog’s head. The dog started sneezing. Then Rachel saw the Queen’s hand come and pull him away.

“There, there, my little Precious. It’s all right now. Poor little thing.” Rachel could hear her kissing the dog’s nose the way she liked to do all the time; then she sneezed, too. “As you were saying, Giller? What business does a wizard have in the stables?”

“As I was saying, Your Majesty”—Giller’s voice could get kind of mean, too, but Rachel thought it was funny when it was the Queen he was sounding mean to—“if you were an assassin, and you wanted to come into a Queen’s castle and put a big fat arrow through her, do you think you would rather walk right in the main gate, bold as day? Or would you rather ride with your long bow in a wagon, hiding, maybe under some hay, or behind some sacks? Then come out in the dark of the stables.”

“Well… I… but, are there, do you think… have you found something…”

“But, since you don’t want me
lurking about
in the stables either, well, I’ll just scratch that off my list too! But if you don’t mind, from now on, when we are in public view I will be standing well clear of you. I don’t want to be in the way if some of your subjects choose to show their love for their Queen from afar.”

“Wizard Giller”—her voice got real nice, like when she talked to the dog—“please forgive me. I have been on edge lately, what with Father Rahl coming soon. I just want everything to go well; then we will all have what we want. I know you only have my best interest at heart. Please, do carry on, and forget the momentary foolishness of a lady.”

“As you wish, Your Majesty.” He bowed again.

The Queen started hurrying away, down the hall, sneezing; then Rachel heard her thumping footsteps and the clinking armor stop.

“By the way, wizard Giller,” she called back, “did I tell you? A messenger came. He said Father Rahl will be here sooner than expected. Much sooner. Tomorrow in fact. He will be expecting the box, of course, to seal the alliance. Please see to it.”

Giller’s leg jerked so hard it almost knocked Rachel over. “Of course. Your Majesty.” He bowed again.

Giller waited until the Queen was gone and then pulled Rachel up with big hands around her waist and held her against his hip with an arm. His cheeks weren’t red, as they usually were; they were more white. He put his finger against her lips, and she knew he wanted her to keep quiet. He stretched his neck, looking up and down the hall again.

“Tomorrow!” he muttered to himself. “Curse the spirits, I’m not ready.”

“What’s wrong, Giller?”

“Rachel,” he whispered, his big hook nose close to hers, “is the Princess in her room right now?”

“No,” Rachel whispered back. “She went to pick out fabric for a new dress, for when Father Rahl comes to visit.”

“Do you know where the Princess keeps her key to the jewel room?”

“Yes. If she doesn’t have it with her, she keeps it in the desk. In the drawer on the side by the window.”

He started off down the hall, toward Princess Violet’s room. His feet were so quiet on the carpets that she couldn’t even hear his footsteps as he carried her. “Change of plans, child. Can you be brave for me? And Sara?”

She nodded that she could and put her arms around his neck to hold on as he walked fast. He went past all the dark wooden doors that were pointed at the tops, until he got to the biggest one, a double door set back in a little hall, with stone carving all around. That was the Princess’s room. He squeezed her tight.

“All right,” he whispered, “you go in and get the key. I’ll stay out here and stand guard.”

He set her down on the floor. “Hurry now.” He closed the door behind her.

The curtains were pulled back, letting in the sunlight, so she could see right away that the room was empty. None of the servants were cleaning or anything. The fire was burned out, and the servants hadn’t yet come and made another for tonight. The Princess’s big canopy bed was already made up. Rachel liked the bedcover with all the pretty flowers. It matched the gathered canopy and curtains. She always wondered why the Princess needed such a big bed. It was big enough for ten people. Where she came from, six girls slept together in a bed half the size of this one, and the bedcover was plain. She wondered what the Princess’s bed felt like. She had never once even sat on it.

She knew Giller wanted her to hurry, so she crossed the room, walking over the fur rug, to the polished desk with the pretty swirled wood. She put her fingers through the gold handle and slid the drawer open. It made her nervous to do it, even though she had done it before when the Princess had sent her to get the key, but she had never done it before without being told to by the Princess. The big key to the jewel room was lying in the red velvet pocket, right next to the little key to her sleeping box. She put the key in her pocket and slid the drawer closed again, making sure it was shut all the way.

As she started for the door, she looked at the corner where her sleeping box was. She knew Giller wanted her to hurry, but she ran over to the box anyway—she had to check. She crawled inside, into the dark, and went to the back corner where the blanket was pushed up in a pile. Carefully, she pulled the blanket back.

Sara looked back at her. The doll was right where she had left her.

“I have to go quick,” she whispered. “I’ll be back later.”

Rachel kissed the doll’s head and covered her back up with the blanket, hiding her in the corner so no one would find her. She knew it was trouble to bring Sara to the castle, but she couldn’t bear to leave her in the wayward pine, all alone. She knew how lonely and scary it got in the wayward pine.

Finished, she ran to the door, pulled it open a crack, and looked up at Giller’s face. He nodded to her and motioned with his hand that it was all right to come out.

“The key?”

She pulled it out of the pocket where she kept her magic fire stick, to show him. He smiled and called her a good girl. No one had ever called her a good girl before,
at least not for a long time. He picked her up again and walked fast down the hall and then down the dark, narrow servants’ stairs. She could hardly even hear his footsteps on the stone. His whiskers tickled her face. At the bottom he set her down again.

“Rachel,” he said, squatting down close to her, “listen carefully, this is very important, this is no game. We must get out of the castle, or we will both get our heads chopped off, just like Sara told you. But we must be smart about it, or we will get caught. If we run away too quickly, without doing the right things first, we will be found out. And if we are too slow, well, we just better not be too slow.”

She started to get tears in her eyes. “Giller, I’m afraid to get my head chopped off, people say it hurts terrible bad.”

Giller hugged her tight. “I know, child. I’m afraid too.” He put his hands on her shoulders, holding her up straight while he looked in her eyes. “But if you trust me, and do exactly as I say, and are brave enough, we will get away from here, and go to where no one ever chops off people’s heads, or locks them in boxes, and where you can have your doll and people will let you, and they will never take Sara away from you or throw her in the fire. All right?”

Her tears started to go away. “That would be wonderful, Giller.”

But you must be brave, and do just as I tell you. Some of it will be hard.”

“I will, I promise.”

“And I promise, Rachel, that I will do whatever I must to protect you. We are in this together, you and me, but a lot of other people are depending on us too. If we do a good job, we will be able to fix it so a lot of other people, innocent people, won’t get their heads chopped off anymore.”

Her eyes got wide. “Oh, I would like that, Giller. I hate it when people get their heads chopped off. It scares me fierce.”

“All right then, the first thing I need you to do is to go scold the cooks, just like you are supposed to, and while you are down in the kitchen, get a big loaf of bread, the biggest you can find. I don’t care how you get it, steal it if you have to. Just get it. Then bring it up to the jewel room. Use the key and wait inside for me. I must tend to some other things. I’ll tell you more then. Can you do that?”

“Sure,” she nodded. “Easy.”

“Off with you then.”

She went through the door into the big hall on the first floor while Giller disappeared up the steps without making a sound. The stairs to the kitchen were at the other end, on the other side of the grand stairs in the middle that the Queen used. Rachel liked going up the grand stairs with the Princess because they had carpets, and weren’t cold like the stone steps she was supposed to use when she was on errands. The hall was open in the middle, where the grand stairs came down to a big room with black and white marble squares on the floor. They were very cold under her feet.

She was trying to think of a way she could get a big loaf of bread without stealing it, when she saw Princess Violet coming across the room to the grand stairs. The royal seamstress and two of her helpers were following behind, carrying bolts of pretty, pink cloth. Rachel looked quick for a place to hide, but the Princess had already seen her.

“Oh good, Rachel,” the Princess said. “Come here.”

Rachel went and curtsied. “Yes, Princess Violet?”

“What are you doing?”

“I was doing my errands. I was just going to the kitchen now.”

“Well… don’t bother.”

“But Princess Violet, I have to!”

The Princess frowned. “Why? I just said you didn’t.”

Rachel bit her lip; the Princess’s frown scared her. She tried to think of how Giller would answer. “Well, if you don’t want me to, I won’t,” she said. “But your lunch was simply dreadful, and I would hate to see you eating another dreadful meal. You must be starving for something good. But if you don’t want me to go tell them, I won’t.”

The Princess thought this over a minute. “On second thought, go ahead, it was dreadful. Just be sure to tell them how angry I am, too!”

“Yes, Princess Violet.” She curtsied. She turned and started to leave.

“I’m going for a fitting.” Rachel turned back to her. “Then I want to go to the jewel room, and try on some things, to go with my new dress. When you’re finished with the cooks, go get the key and wait for me in the jewel room.”

Rachel’s mouth felt as if it were stuck together. “But Princess, wouldn’t you rather wait until tomorrow, when the dress is finished, to see how pretty the jewelry will look with the dress?”

Princess Violet looked surprised. “Well, yes, that would be good, to see the jewels with the dress.” She thought another minute, then started up the steps. “I’m glad I thought of that.”

Rachel let out a breath, then headed off to the servants’ stairs. The Princess called down to her.

“On second thought, Rachel, I need to pick out something for tonight’s dinner, so I need to go to the jewel room anyway. Meet me there in a little while.”

“But, Princess…”

“But nothing. After you deliver my message to the cooks, go get the key and wait for me in the jewel room. I’ll be there as soon as I’m done with the fitting.”

The Princess went up the grand stairs and disappeared.

What was she going to do now? Giller was going to meet her in the jewel room, too. She was breathing hard, as if she was going to cry. What was she going to do?

She was going to do as Giller said, that’s what. She was going to be brave. So those people didn’t get their heads chopped off. She stopped herself from crying and went down the steps to the kitchen. She wondered what Giller wanted a big loaf of bread for.

“Well, what do you think?” he whispered. “Any ideas?”

Kahlan was lying close, next to him on the ground, frowning while she looked over the edge to the scene below.

“I can’t even imagine,” she whispered back. “I have never seen so many short-tailed gars together in one place.”

“What could they be burning?”

“They’re not burning anything. The smoke is coming from the ground. This place is called Fire Spring. Those are vents where steam comes up from the ground, and from other openings water boils up from below, and more over there where other things boil, foul-smelling yellow liquid and thick mud. The fumes keep people away from this place. I have no idea what gars would be doing here.”

“Well, look there, near the back where the hill rises up, where the biggest vent is. There’s something on top of it, something egg-shaped, with steam coming out around it. They keep going up to look at it, to touch it.”

She shook her head. “Your eyes are better than mine. I can’t tell what it is, or even that it’s round.”

Richard could hear and feel rumbles from the ground, some followed by great belches of steam roaring from the vents. The awful suffocating smell of sulfur wafted up to where they hid in the stunted trees of the high ridge.

“Maybe we should go have a closer look,” he whispered, half to himself, as he watched the gars moving about below.