Parallel Affinity

Part 10.

"Where have you been?!" Zedd demanded. "We were so worried that something happened to you, that Darken Rahl and Nicci might have captured you or even killed you!"

"They almost did!" Cara protested, out of breath. As if chased by beasts from the boundary, she had ran from the forest, up the hill to the spot where she had left Zedd and Kahlan.

"They tried to trick me by disguising themselves as Richard and Kahlan. I shot arrows at them, I was able to get Rahl in the leg. But they had a horse and were able to escape before I got to them."

"Which way did they go?!" Kahlan demanded, struggling to her feet, her face just as ghostly pale as when she had vomited earlier.

"West, through the forest," Cara replied, leaning against her knees with her hands, trying to steady her breath. "I think if we hurry after them, we won't lose them this time."

Zedd nodded and the trio wasted no time in running down the hill, back into the forest. Cara showed them to the spot where she saw the false Richard and Kahlan wrestling. Zedd examined the ground and saw traces of blood, which he assumed to be Rahl's since Cara had wounded him with an arrow. Following the shoe-prints, he pinpointed to the place where the pair would have mounted their horse and the direction in which they would have ridden off. Instantly, the trio rushed in the same direction, along the horse-shoe trail, bound west, heading deeper into the forest. It took every bit of strength they had left but knowing that they had such a close brush with Rahl, that they could be close to Richard, they acted on pure adrenaline. Even Kahlan managed to keep up, more or less, while periodically wiping away sparkling beads of perspiration from her face.

For two hours they rushed through the forest, following the deep groves left in the earth by the galloping horse, until suddenly, before them, seemingly out of nowhere, materialised the base of a steep, bare mountain. The way the hoof-marks appeared to have been abruptly cut off by the mountain's rocky base suggested that the horse and its riders would have gone straight through the stone, inside the mountain. And yet, as Zedd felt the stone with his hands, it felt solid and cold, impenetrable, as any rock would.

"It's Nicci's magic," he concluded, assuming a more guarded stance. "However, something tells me this is no ordinary mountain either. We must be close to Rahl's base... I can feel it in my bones. I will cast a spell to see whether I can uncover the mountain's entrance, if there is one."

Taking a couple of steps backwards, the wizard waved his hands at the rocky formation, speaking words that neither Kahlan nor Cara understood. True enough, in the next moment, the rock dissolved before their very eyes, and in the place where the mountain's solid base had touched the ground, a broad cave opened up, illuminated from inside out with strange glowing lights. The hoof-marks also reemerged, trailing off deep into the cave as the horse would have sped towards the heart of the mountain.

For a moment, Zedd, Kahlan and Cara stood rooted to the spot, mouths agape, mesmerised by what they saw unveiled before them. It certainly was no ordinary cave to behold... From the very edge of its entrance, multitudes of patterns, jagged and spiraling, covered the entirety of the cave's dome-like walls, which stretched deep within the mountain. Hues of deep blue and green shone through the ridges of the markings, and gave the feeling of formless spirits dwelling in the light, glowing, almost pulsating, as though the mountain was alive and bleeding in sea-like hues from its very stone. Needless to say, the trio did not expect such a breathtaking sight to be waiting beyond the exterior of the mountain's plain rock.

"I don't believe it..." Zedd's voice was no more than a whisper of astonishment.

Slowly, he stepped inside the cave, eyes fixed on the glowing patterns above him, surrounding him, mouth open in awe. Kahlan and Cara tentatively followed, equally spellbound.