Wizard's First Rule

Richard tried not to believe him. He let his face show nothing. "A brave boast. But a lie, nonetheless. In one week, you are going to die."

Rahl raised his eyebrows. "I speak the truth. You have been betrayed. The same one who has betrayed you to me has also betrayed the box to me. It will be here in a few days."

"I don't believe you," Richard said flatly.

Darken Rahl licked his fingertips and turned, walking around the circle of white sand. "No? Let me show you something."

Richard followed him to a wedge of white stone upon which sat a flat slab of granite held up by two short fluted pedestals. In the center of the slab sat two of the boxes of Orden. One was ornately jeweled like the one Richard had seen before. The other was as black as the night stone, its surface a void in the light of the room: the box itself, its protective covering removed.

"Two of the boxes of Orden," Rahl announced, holding his hand out to them. "Why would I want the book? The book would be useless to me without the third box. You had the third box. The one who betrayed you told me so. If the box were not on its way, why would I need the book? I would instead cut you open to get the location of the box."

Richard shook with anger. "Who betrayed me and the box? Tell me the name."

"Or what? Or you will cut me open and read the name on my guts? I will not betray the name of one who has helped me. You are not the only one with honor."

Richard didn't know what to believe. Rahl was right about one thing. He wouldn't need the book if he didn't have all three boxes. Someone really had betrayed him. It was impossible, but it must be true.

"Just kill me," Richard. said in a weak voice, turning away. "I'm not going to tell you. You might as well cut me open."

"First you must convince me you are telling the truth. You could be, deceiving me that you really know the whole book. You may have read just the first page, and burned the rest, or simply be inventing what you have told me of it."

Richard folded his arms and looked back over his shoulder. "And what possible reason could I have for wanting you to believe me?"

Rahl shrugged. "I thought you cared about this Confessor. Kahlan. I had thought you cared what happened to her. You see, if you can't convince me that.you are telling the truth, then I will have to cut her open, and have a look at her entrails, see if they have anything to say about this."

Richard glared. "That would be the biggest mistake you could make. You need her to confirm the troth of the book. If you harm her, you destroy your chance."

Rahl shrugged. "So you say. How would I know you really do know what the book says? It could even be that this is the manner in which she will confirm the truth."

Richard said nothing, his mind racing in a thousand directions at once. Think of the solution, he told himself, not the problem.

"How did you get the covering off that box, without the book?"

"The Book of Counted Shadows is not the only source of in-, formation about the boxes. There are other places that are of aid to me." He looked down at the dark box. "It took a full day, and every talent I have, to get the covering off." He looked back up, lifting an eyebrow. "It's held on with magic, you know. But I did it, and I will be able to do it to the other two."

It was discouraging that Rahl had managed to get the covering off. To open a box, the covering had to be removed. Richard had hoped that without the book, Rahl wouldn't be able to figure out how to remove the covers, and not be able to open a box. That hope was now lost.

Richard stared blankly at the jeweled box. "Page twelve of the Book of Counted Shadows. Under the heading Shedding the Covers, it says: The covering on the boxes may be removed by anyone with the knowledge, not only the one who has put them in play." Richard reached out and lifted the jeweled box off the granite. "Page seventeen, third paragraph down on the page. -If not, however, in the hours of darkness, but in the hours of the sun, the covering may be removed from the second box in the following manner. Hold the box where the sun may touch it, and face north. If there be clouds, hold the box where the sun would touch it if they were not present, but face the west." Richard held the box up in the late-day sunlight. "Turn the box that the small end with the blue stone may face the quadrant with the sun. The yellow stone is to face asp. " Richard turned the box. "With the second finger of the right hand on the yellow stone in the center of the top, place the thumb of the right hand on the clear stone in the corner of the bottom. " Richard grasped the box as directed. "Place the first finger of the left hand on the blue stone on the side facing away, the thumb of the left hand on the ruby stone of the side closest. " Richard placed his fingers so. "Clear your mind of all thought, and in its place, put nothing but the image of white with a square of black in its center. Pull the two hands apart, taking the covering away with them."