Stone of Tears (124 page)

Gratch’s nose wrinkled in disgust. He let out a gurgling growl of displeasure.

Richard laughed. “You’ll get used to it.” They sat together in the quiet of the dawn. “Do you know, Gratch, that I’m a wizard?”

Gratch gurgled a laugh and frowned dubiously. Richard wondered how a gar could know what a wizard was. Gratch never failed to astonish him with what he knew, with what he could grasp.

“No, really. I am. Here, let me show you; I’ll make fire.”

Richard held his palm out. He called the power from the calm center. Try as he might, nothing happened. He could not make so much as a spark. He sighed as Gratch howled in a roar of laughter, his wings flapping with the joke.

A sudden memory came to him—something Denna had told him. He had asked her how he had done all those things with magic. She had looked at him with that all-knowing smile of peace, and said,
Be proud you made the right choices, Richard, the choices that allowed to happen what came about, but do not call arrogance to your heart by believing that all that happened was your doing.

Richard wondered where the line was. He realized he had a lot to learn before he was a real wizard. He wasn’t even sure he wanted to be a wizard, but he now accepted who he was—one born with the gift, born to be the pebble in the pond, son of Darken Rahl, but lucky enough to have been raised by people who loved him. He felt the hilt of the sword at his elbow. It had been made for him.

He was the Seeker. The true Seeker.

Richard’s thoughts again touched the spirit who had brought him more happiness than in life had brought him pain. He was deeply gratified that Denna had found peace. He could want nothing more for her, for someone he loved.

He came out of his thoughts and patted the gar’s arm. “You wait here a minute, Gratch. I’ll get you something.”

Richard ran into the kitchen and retrieved a leg of mutton. As he ran back down the steps, Gratch danced from one foot to the other in excitement. Together, they sat on the steps, Richard eating his soup, and Gratch tearing into the meat with his fangs.

When they had finished, Gratch had even eaten the bone, Richard pulled out a long lock of Kahlan’s hair.

“This is from the woman I love.” Gratch considered, then looked up as he gently reached out. “I want you to have it. I told her about you, and what you mean to me. She will love you just as I love you, Gratch. She will never chase you away. You can be with us whenever you want, for as long as you want. Here, give it back a moment.”

Gratch held out the length of hair. Richard took off the thong holding Scarlet’s tooth. I would do him no good any longer; he had already called her with it. He tied the long lock of hair to the thong, and then hung the whole thing over Gratch’s head.

With a claw, Gratch stroked the long hair. He gave a grin that wrinkled his nose and showed the full length of his fangs.

“I’m going to go to her now. Would you like to come along?”

Gratch nodded his enthusiasm, his head bobbing, his ears twitching, and his wings fluttering.

Richard looked down on the city. Troops were moving about. A lot of troops. Imperial Order troops. It wouldn’t be long before they gained the courage to investigate the death of the council, even if it was at the hands of a wizard. Richard smiled. “Then I guess I better find a horse, and we can be on our way. I think it best if we were away from here.”

He looked out on the brightening day. A breeze with a hint of warmth ruffled his mriswith cape. Before long it would be spring.

Terry Goodkind is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of
The Sword of Truth
series,
Richard and Kahlan
stories, author of
The Law of Nines
, foundational novel
The First Confessor: The Legend of Magda Searus
, as-well-as collaborator for
Legend of the Seeker
, the Sam Raimi produced, Disney ABC television series based on The Sword of Truth books.

Goodkind was born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska, where he also attended art school, one of his many interests on the way to becoming a writer. Besides a career in wildlife art, he has been a cabinet maker and violin maker, and he has done restoration work on rare and exotic artifacts from around the world -- each with its own story to tell, he says.

While continuing to maintain the northeastern home he built with his own hands, in recent years he and his wife, Jeri, have created a second home in the desert Southwest, where he now spends the majority of his time.