Parallel Affinity

Part 8.

The plan was to follow Rahl and the Mord'Sith while their tracks were still fresh, in hopes of uncovering their hideout and therefore, with some luck, locating the real Richard. Best case scenario: They would successfully track down Rahl and his followers, identify Richard among them, assuming that he had been transferred to Rahl's body, and while remaining concealed, send the wizard to use whatever magic was necessary to free him. And in case of the worst case scenario... Well. They would simply deal with any complications as they came up.

The trio rushed back through the forest towards the field where they had encountered Rahl and the Mord'Sith. Cara easily recognised boot tracks left in the mud by the Mord'Sith, and led Zedd and Kahlan in the same direction. Soon after, she identified another set of shoe-prints, which she assumed to be Richard's, or rather, Rahl's. After an hour or so of tracking, the trio saw the footprints abruptly shift into a dozen hoofmarks, which, based on the groves left in the earth, suggested that Rahl and the Mord'Sith had galloped away at full speed.

Somewhat disheartened, Cara, Zedd and Kahlan proceeded to follow after the tracks. They were well aware that they were now at a heavy disadvantage against their enemy... But Richard had been captured, he needed their help, and that was that.

A whole day was spent trailing and a whole night. Fearing that bad weather might wash away all hope of finding Richard in time, the trio persisted, despite exhaustion and lingering side-effects of the potion that Rahl had mixed into their soup the night before. Unfortunately, towards the end of the second day of tracking, there came a point where the tracks abruptly disappeared altogether. Suspecting that magic was used to conceal the tracks, Zedd used a tracing spell to uncover them, however, his spell was repelled, which only reaffirmed his fear: Rahl had reunited with Nicci.

The bleak look on the wizard's face fuelled Kahlan and Cara's own unease. At his announcement that at this stage there was not much to be done, other than wonder aimlessly in hopes of eventually chancing upon the tracks again, the women exchanged looks of dismay. Still, giving up was not an option and the trio took the only option they had. They persisted in the direction in which they suspected Rahl would have kept going, but kept a vigilant eye out for every movement, every sway of a branch, every sound in the forest, keenly aware that dark magic had many faces.

At the end of the second day of tracking, however, after barely having eaten anything or a moment to rest, exhaustion finally kicked in. Aware that their senses had lost sharpness, they did not trust themselves to remain as alert as they knew they needed to be in a situation like this. And the longer they walked aimlessly, the more disheartened they became, though nobody dared to admit it out loud.

Kahlan also began to falter more than the others, feeling weaker than what was usual, beginning to look a little unwell too, which she justified as a consequence of lack of sleep and persistent side-effects of Rahl's soup-potion from a couple of nights before. She hadn't been feeling quite like her usual self since that night, which, considering all that had happened, was understandable enough. However, deep down, another fear rose inside of Kahlan, a disturbing suspicion that the cause of her unusual feebleness could be much more sinister than what she dared to admit to herself. She kept that suspicion, as well as her faintness, to herself though and pushed through it as best as she could, not wanting to hinder their rescue mission any more than it already was.

A little past sundown, the trio conceded that they might as well break for the night. They were going nowhere with the search and they desperately needed rest.

After consuming what little provisions they had left, Cara volunteered to keep the first watch. There was no fire that night - they did not want to draw any unwanted attention with Rahl and Nicci roaming about. Zedd fell asleep quickly enough anyway, his snores, as always, powerfully unleashed to the rhythm of his rising chest. Kahlan made herself as comfortable as she could on the ground at the base of a great oak tree, not too far from Zedd, and tried hard to fall asleep, knowing that she would feel the better for it in the morning. Unfortunately, the food they had consumed that night did not seem to agree with her stomach, and despite the profound fatigue, she felt too unsettled to rest properly. She lay on the ground, cradling her knees, uncomfortable.