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.

Zedd’s voice was kind and gentle. “Richard, you are too quick to criticize yourself. What is it you say when I ask how you must solve difficult problems?”

Richard knew what Zedd was talking about, but was reluctant to answer, as he felt answering only pulled him in deeper. Zedd lifted an eyebrow, waiting. Richard looked down at the table, picking at the wood with his thumbnail. “Think of the solution, not the problem.”

“And right now you are doing it backwards. You are only concentrating on why the problem is impossible. You are not thinking of the solution.”

Richard knew Zedd was right, but there was more to it. “Zedd, I don’t think I’m qualified to be Seeker. I don’t know anything about the Midlands.”

“Sometimes it is easier to make a decision if you aren’t burdened with a knowledge of history,” the wizard said cryptically.

Richard let out a deep breath. “I don’t know the place. I’d be lost there.”

Kahlan put her hand on his forearm. “No, you wouldn’t. I know the Midlands better than almost anyone. I know where it is safe and where it is not. I’ll be your guide. You will not be lost. I promise you that much.”

Richard looked away from her green eyes and down at the table. It hurt to think that he might disappoint her, but her faith, and Zedd’s, didn’t seem justified. He didn’t know anything about the Midlands, or the magic, or how to find some boxes, or how to stop Darken Rahl. He didn’t know how to do any of it! And for the first trick, he was supposed to get them across the boundary!

“Richard, I know you think I’m thrusting this responsibility on you unwisely, but it is not me who chooses you. You are the one who has shown himself to be the Seeker. I have only recognized the fact. I have been a wizard a long time. You don’t know what that entails, but you have to trust me when I say that I’m qualified to recognize the one.” Zedd reached across the table, across the sword, and put his hand on Richard’s. His eyes were somber. “Darken Rahl hunts you. Personally. The only reason I can fathom for this is that with the insight he has gained from the magic of Orden, he too knows you to be the one and so searches you out, to eliminate the threat.”

Richard blinked in surprise. Maybe Zedd was right. Maybe this was the reason Rahl hunted him. Or maybe not. Zedd didn’t know about the book. He felt as if his mind would explode with all the things filling his head, and suddenly he couldn’t sit anymore. He stood up and began pacing, thinking. Zedd folded his arms across his chest. Kahlan leaned an elbow on the table. Both watched in silence as he paced.

The wisp had said to seek the answer or die. It didn’t say it was necessary to become this Seeker. He could find the answers in his own way, as he always had. He hadn’t needed the sword to figure out who the wizard was, although it hadn’t been that hard.

But what was wrong with taking the sword? What could it hurt to have its help? Wouldn’t it be foolish to turn down any assistance? Apparently the sword could be put to any use its owner wanted, so why not use it in the way he wanted? He didn’t have to become an assassin, or anything else. He could use it to help them, that was all. That was all that was needed, or wanted—no more.

But Richard knew why he didn’t want it. He didn’t like the way it had felt when he had drawn the sword. It had felt good, and that bothered him. It had stirred his anger in a way that frightened him, made him feel like—he had never felt before. The most disconcerting thing was that it felt right. He didn’t want to feel right about anger, didn’t want to lose his control of it. Anger was wrong. That’s what his father had taught him. Anger had killed his mother. He kept his anger behind a locked door he didn’t want opened. No, he would do this in his own way, without the sword. He didn’t need it, didn’t need the worry of it.

Richard turned to Zedd, who still sat with his arms folded across his chest, watching. The sunlight gave Zedd’s wrinkles deep shadows. The lines and sharp angles of his familiar face seemed somehow different. He looked grim, resolute—somehow more like a wizard. Their eyes met and held each other. Richard was decided. He would tell his friend no. He would help, and would stand by them. His life, too, depended on this. But he would not be the Seeker. Before he could say so, Zedd spoke.

“Kahlan, tell Richard how Darken Rahl questions people.” His voice was quiet, calm. He didn’t look at her, instead continuing, to hold Richard’s eyes.

Her voice was barely audible. “Zedd, please.”

“Tell him.” This time his voice was harder, more forceful. “Tell him what he does with the curved knife he keeps at his belt.”