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hrhrionastar) wrote2011-04-09 06:31 pm
Princess Rahl: The Heir to the Throne Chapter 14
Title: Kidnapped! (Ch. 14 of The Heir to the Throne)
Pairing: Darken/Kahlan, background Darken/Cara, Richard/Kahlan
Length: 690
Rating: T
Warning! This chapter contains references to torture/Mord'Sith issues
Spoilers: Reckoning, mostly, but eventually there'll be a few references to things we learn later.
Summary: Reckoning AU: what if Darken and Kahlan's baby was a girl?
Kidnapped!
Three days. Nila had been missing for three days.
Darken was furious.
He wouldn’t let himself be worried.
He’d searched everywhere. He had quads looking throughout his kingdom. Though how she could have gone far…
Always, he came back to picturing her kidnapped, an enemy planning to use her to catch Darken off guard, weak…
He could imagine the dangers she might be in.
Could the remaining rag-tag remnants of the Resistance have murdered her? Surely Darken would know if Nila were dead…
Their shared Rahl blood was a bond impossible to erase.
Of course! That was it. Darken sat before his scrying mirror, and called with every part of himself, every last flicker of magic, for his daughter.
Kahlan had not left his side since they had discovered Nila missing. Now she asked, “Can you find her?”
“If she is anywhere in this world,” Darken replied. He did not add that he could not scry past the Veil to the Underworld—nor through a sufficiently powerful magical barrier.
If Nila were not dead, then Darken’s next fear was that she had somehow activated the World Mirror, which, some said, could not only show the skilled observer many times and places, but also transport them thither. If that were true, it would be next to impossible to find her.
Darken looked into the mirror, and as his senses extended past himself and his ornate study, he noticed one last physical sensation: Kahlan was gripping his shoulder, hard enough to bruise.
A ghost of a smile touched his lips, and then he was mere thought, following his Rahl blood to Nila.
Kahlan was frantic. The worst part was how powerless she was. She couldn’t even order the guards to stop wasting time standing around ceremonially and actually do something (honestly, Kahlan had no idea why Darken even bothered having guards in the Palace, when he demanded protection, affection, and rudimentary household service from his Mord’Sith).
And of course, she knew better than to try to talk to the Mord’Sith.
She had no magic—even if it weren’t for the Rada’Han around her neck, she had never possessed the ability to find people, or see visions, or any of the things Zedd or Shota had been able to do—Shota! Kahlan was shocked at how completely she had forgotten the sorceress, languishing in the dungeons—but what could she do to the purpose, magic bound by a Rada’Han as surely as Kahlan’s was?
Besides, despite knowing the witch-woman supported her scheme to see Richard again, Kahlan was reluctant to face her now, with or without Nila.
So she did the only thing she could—she stayed at Darken’s side, trusting that, for once, his vaunted magic might serve her purpose.
He gazed into the plain mirror, and Kahlan frowned, because she could see nothing—not even her own reflection. Her fingers dug into his shoulder as she prayed to the Creator for this to work.
Then he rose from his chair, as though in a daze, and strode to the door. Kahlan kept pace with him, her heart rising in her throat at this prospect of actual progress.
Terror nagged at her, reminding her of something Darken had once said about the Resistance plotting their children’s deaths. But the Resistance was gone—
Kahlan followed Darken through the corridors of the palace, down, down…they were nearing the dungeons, and Kahlan thought again of Shota, and then of all the other poor souls who were no doubt imprisoned there, too…
But they turned away from the door to the dungeons, turning instead into a part of the Palace Kahlan had never been in before. Almost immediately, she heard screams. Her face grew cold, and in her veins ran the Con Dar, inflaming her blood but unable to escape past her Rada’Han.
Darken went directly to one door. He pressed his palm against it, and it swung open at once.
Chains hung from the ceiling—a Mord’Sith paced in front of a small, dirty figure, her agiel humming. The girl hanging in the chains raised her chin obstinately, and Kahlan gasped.
It was Nila.
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Is it wrong of me to hope that Darken removes the rada'han from Kahlan's neck long enough for her to go all Con Dar on Mistress Cindi? I wonder if Darken will allow Nila to confess Cindi?
So many questions!!
I loved the image of Darken reaching out with his magic to find Nila - and Kahlan standing right beside him grabbing him by the shoulder. Of course, only because she was hoping that his magic would serve her purpose, and not because they were two worried parents looking for their child (Oh, Kahlan - you are just a little in denial, I think).
Nice touch to show Kahlan's reluctance to face Shota.
And you literally left us hanging!!! Please, I need to know what happens next - like now.
Great chapter - very suspenseful.
Again - Mistress Cindi had to be delusional to think that this was a good idea. It makes me wonder if she was in love with the Mord'Sith that Nicholas confessed, or if they were related in some way. Maybe a reason for why her need for revenge would over-rule her instinct for self-preservation.
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The idea that Cindi was in love with Mistress - Alina? - might have had some merit, but I think Cindi's thoughts were that she didn't overly like Alina and was just pissed that the brat could murder one of her Sisters and get away with it.
Ah, the opening to Chapter Twelve: Mistress Cindi didn’t think she was unreasonable. She served Lord Rahl with a calm efficiency that was a marvel, particularly when compared with her Sisters. She harbored little affection for any of them—particularly Dahlia, who seemed to delight in little sharp barbs about her competence, appearance, and leadership as compared to Cara’s. She hadn’t liked Cara. If Cara was killed in some magical explosion, so much the better for Cindi, new First Mistress.
But Alina was a different matter. Not that Cindi had liked her better than any of the others. Alina was older than Cindi, and if she ever felt any resentment that Cindi was the one promoted to First Mistress, she never mentioned it.
Of course, that made her that much more dangerous—but that much less irritating on a daily basis.
It was not Alina, per se, that Cindi was so devastated to lose.
She wasn’t sure what it was—security perhaps?
All she knew was that she was not anxious to let those horrible little monstrous children get away with this.
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I am eager to see how Mistress Cindi meets her end. It would be hard to imagine that Nila would not want revenge, after everything she's been put through at this woman's hands.
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Cindi's thoughts were that she didn't overly like Alina and was just pissed that the brat could murder one of her Sisters and get away with it. Pretty much - Darken marrying Kahlan and setting her children over all others wasn't universally popular, and the Mord'Sith hate Confessors...Darken may have underestimated the effect of this. He always assumes the Mord'Sith are totally loyal, in spite of some evidence to the contrary.
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We posted on the same day - How cool is that! RL has been pretty hectic lately, and my muse has been struggling - but it was nice to see the next chapter of Serpent, and be reminded about Princess Rahl ;D
Is it wrong of me to hope that Darken removes the rada'han from Kahlan's neck long enough for her to go all Con Dar on Mistress Cindi? I wonder if Darken will allow Nila to confess Cindi? We'll see...but Darken might want to kill Cindi himself ;)
(Oh, Kahlan - you are just a little in denial, I think). Oh, absolutely :D Denial is a big part of my characterization of Kahlan, I think.
Mistress Cindi had to be delusional to think that this was a good idea. It makes me wonder if she was in love with the Mord'Sith that Nicholas confessed, or if they were related in some way. Maybe a reason for why her need for revenge would over-rule her instinct for self-preservation. Fascinating idea - although for continuity's sake, I'd have to agree with Lisa - Cindi's outrage isn't necessarily on Alina's behalf so much as the entire Sisterhood. One flaw in her thinking, of course, is that she blames Nila for something Nicholas did - and once you decide one thing that's false is true, you can make anything seem reasonable.
Please, I need to know what happens next - like now. Yay! And soon :D