Terry Goodkind - Wizard's First Rule

Zedd rearranged the sleeves of his robes and looked down at the table, watching his hands as he spoke. “Putting the boxes in play imparts to the person certain privileged information. It must be that this information tells him how he can discover which box is which.”

That made sense. No one knew of the book but its keeper, and, it appeared, the person who put the boxes in play. The book made no reference to this, but it seemed logical. A sudden jolt went through him: Darken Rahl must be after him for the book. He almost didn’t hear Zedd beginning to speak again.

“Rahl has done something out of the ordinary, though. He has put the boxes in play before he has all three.”

Richard came to attention immediately. “He must be stupid, or very confident.”

“Confident,” the wizard said. “When I left the Midlands, it was for two main reasons. The first was because the High Council took the naming of the Seeker upon itself. The second was because they mishandled the boxes of Orden. People had come to believe that the power of the boxes was just a legend. They thought me an old fool for telling them it was no legend but the truth. They refused to heed my warnings.”

He pounded his fist down on the table, causing Kahlan to jump. “They laughed at me!” His face was red with anger, making it stand out all the more against the mass of his white hair. “I wanted the boxes kept far apart from each other, and with magic, hidden and locked away so as to never be found again. The council, instead, wanted them given to important people, like trophies to be shown off. They used them as payments for favors or promises. This exposed the boxes to covetous hands. I don’t know what happened to them in the intervening years. Rahl has at least one, but not all three. Not yet anyway.” Zedd’s eyes flashed with fervor. “Do you see, Richard? We don’t have to go up against Darken Rahl, we have only to find at least one of the boxes before he does.”

“And keep it from him, which may prove considerably harder than finding it,” Richard pointed out, letting the words hang in the air a moment. He had a sudden thought. “Zedd, do you think one of the boxes could be here in Westland?”

“Not likely.”

“Why not?”

Zedd hesitated. “Richard, I never told you I was a wizard, but you never asked before, so I didn’t really lie about it. I did tell you one lie, though. I told you I came here before the boundary went up, in reality I didn’t come here before it went up, because I couldn’t. You see, in order to create a Westland free of magic, there could be none here when the boundary went up. Magic could come here after the boundary was established, but not be here before. Since I have magic, my presence would have prevented it from happening, so I had to stay in the Midlands until after, and only then was I able to come through.”

“Everyone has their little secrets. I don’t begrudge you yours. But what’s your point?”

“My point is, we know none of the boxes could have been here before the boundary went up, or their magic would have prevented it. So if they were all in the Midlands before the boundary, because of the magic, and I didn’t bring one with me, they have to still be in the Midlands.”

Richard thought about this awhile, feeling his spark of hope die. He turned his thoughts back to the matter at hand.

“You still have not told me what a Seeker is. Or my part in this.”

Zedd folded his hands together. “A Seeker is a person who answers to no one but himself—he is a law unto himself. The Sword of Truth is his to wield as he wishes, and within the limits of his own strength, he can hold anyone to answer for anything.” Zedd held up his hand to forestall Richard’s objections and questions. “I realize this is vague. The problem with explaining it is that it is like all power. As I told you before, it’s how the person uses power that makes it what it is. This is the core of why it is so important to find the right person, a person who will use the power wisely. You see, Richard, a Seeker does exactly as the name implies—he seeks. He seeks the answers to things. Things of his own choosing. If he is the right person, he will seek the answers that will help others, not just himself. The whole purpose of a Seeker is to be free to quest on his own, to go where he wants, ask what he wants, learn what he wants, find answers to what he wants to know, and if need be, do whatever it is the answers demand.”

Richard straightened, his voice rising. “Are you telling me a Seeker is an assassin?”

“I won’t lie to you, Richard—there have been times when it has turned out that way.”

Richard’s face was crimson. “I will not be an assassin?”

Zedd shrugged. “As I said, a Seeker is whatever he wants. Ideally, a Seeker is the standard-bearer of Justice. I can’t tell you much more, because I’ve never been one. I don’t know what goes on in their heads—however, I know the proper kind of person.”

Zedd pushed his sleeves up again while he watched Richard. “But I don’t pick a Seeker, Richard. A true Seeker picks himself. I only name them. You have been a Seeker for years without knowing it. I have watched you, and that is what you do. You are always seeking the truth. What do you think you were doing in the high Ven? You were seeking the answer to the vine, to your father’s murder. You could have left that to others, others more qualified, and as it turned out, perhaps you should have, but that would have been against your nature, the nature of a Seeker. They don’t leave it to others, because they want to know for themselves. When Kahlan told you she was looking for a wizard who was lost since before she was born, you had to know who it was, and you found him.”

“But that’s only because . . .”

Zedd cut him off. “It doesn’t matter. It’s irrelevant. Only one thing matters: that you did it. I saved you with the root I found. Does it matter that it was easy for me to find the root? No. Would you be any more alive if it had been extremely difficult for me to find the root? No. I found the root, you are well. That is all that matters. Same with the Seeker. It’s of no importance how he finds an answer, only that he does. As I said, there are no rules. Right now there are answers you must find. I don’t know how you will do so, and I don’t care, only that you do. If you say, ‘Oh, that’s simple,’ all the better, as we don’t have much time.”

Richard’s guard went up. “What answers?”

Zedd smiled, and his eyes sparkled. “I have a plan, but you must first find a way to get us across the boundary.”

“What!” Richard ran his fingers through his hair in exasperation, muttering his disbelief under his breath. He looked back to Zedd. “You’re a wizard—you had something to do with putting the boundary there in the first place. You have just said you have been through it to retrieve the sword. Kahlan has come through the boundary, sent by wizards. I know nothing of the boundary! If you expect me to find you the answer, well, here it is: Zedd, you are a wizard, send us through the boundary!”

Zedd shook his head. “No. I said across the boundary, not through it. I know how to go through it, but we can’t do that. Rahl waits for us to do so. If we try to go through, he will kill us. If we are lucky. We must instead go across it, without going through it. There is a big difference.”

“Zedd, I’m sorry, but it’s impossible. I don’t know anything about how to get us across. I don’t see how it can be done. The boundary is the underworld. If we can’t go through it, then we are stuck here. The whole purpose of the boundary is to prevent anyone from doing just what you are asking me to do.” Richard felt helpless. They were depending on him, and he didn’t have any answers.