Drabble: Strategy

[hrhrionastar]

Title: Strategy
Characters: Darken Rahl, mentioned RKCZ, Nicci
Rating: PG-13
Length: ~800
Spoilers: Tears
Summary: Written for legendland; prompt was a day without magic. Darken reflects.

 

Strategy

You could be anything now…

The Keeper’s war on the Living is over. And Darken Rahl has no Bond, no magic…no power?

No responsibility…

All his life, he’s been a Rahl, bound to D’Hara and its people as surely as they were bound to him. Before he could walk, he knew he would rule.

And now—a ghost of a smile touches his lips, where he stands, watching the sorceress Nicci hanging regally in her chains. All is in readiness—to begin the ritual, long and slow but surer than any dacra, which will transfer her power to him. It’s not the Rahl Bond—but Darken will be powerless no longer.

Or—he could just walk out of here, find some quiet village and settle down, become a fencing instructor, perhaps? Knit cunning sweater sets? (He’s known an old woman who could poke someone’s eye out with one of her needles—he can just picture Kahlan brandishing one—or are knitting needles too pedestrian for the Mother Confessor?) He could bring Rosamund—she’d make a terrible housewife…

And meanwhile, let Richard rule. If he can.

(Who is going to stand in the way of the Seeker, Savior of the Land of the Living? More people, Darken sardonically expects, than Richard bargains for.)

Nonetheless, Richard has the Bond, Rahl blood beating through his veins—his band of blind fools—no, unjust: the Wizard escaped Garen without the use of his magic, Kahlan is legendary, and Cara, traitor or not, is the farthest from a fool it’s possible to be.

We’ll see how self-righteous he is after twenty years of navigating D’Haran politics, Darken thinks viciously. Assuming he lives that long.

But Richard, it is apparent, bears a charmed life.

(Darken is fast coming to the conclusion that his real mistake was in his evaluation of the war between the Creator and the Keeper—he prefers to keep theology and strategy separate where possible, but it seems obvious, in hindsight, that the Creator has all the cards, and She cheats.)

Richard—it always comes back to Richard.

And how will Richard handle the squabbling nobles, the starving peasantry (it must be hell right now in the Dynibian Desert, dear Creator—), the generals all jockeying for position, the assassination attempts—? And that’s just at home.

There are quite a few D’Haran patriots who will gladly lay down their lives for Richard, who will consider it no less than their duty to assassinate Kahlan. Confessors are not popular in D’Hara (or, indeed, anywhere)—and they’ll be well within their rights to assume she’s Confessed him, too—if he can finesse that (convince the army it’s a good move politically, integration with the conquered Midlands at last, and elicit the sympathy of the peasantry with a nice star-crossed romance—it’s how Darken would do it), there’s still the problem of the Wizard.

Neither a beautiful woman nor a member of the Rahl family, his war crimes will be harder to slip under the rug—particularly since, unless Darken is remembering wrong, he was once a close personal friend of Darken’s father, making his subsequent aid to the despised Resistance treason—far more serious than Richard and Kahlan’s status as hereditary enemies of the crown, made more complex by Richard’s inheritance of said crown—

These difficulties will go quickly from insurmountable to merely complex if Richard has the wit to leave it all in Cara’s capable hands.

Darken closes his eyes, in remembered pain and frustration at her incomprehensible betrayal—Richard takes everything from him, yes, but he would’ve thought Cara, of all people—

Well. Not quite everything. Darken opens his eyes and surveys Nicci. Her Han is Richard’s Han, after all. (Richard had the world at his fingertips, and gave it away—!) And soon, it will be Darken’s Han.

And, as help or hindrance to his frustrating, incomprehensible, generous little brother, Darken will be back in the game.

Magic—we give up everything for it, the lives we might otherwise live, the people we might otherwise be…

“What are you waiting for?” Nicci says, pale, skin traced with burns from her ‘nice warm bath.’ Her chin is raised, though—ah, defiance. It brings back pleasant memories—Darken realizes, with a start, that he wouldn’t feel quite himself if no one wanted to kill him.

Unsettling personal insight.

Obviously, a ‘normal life’ is not for him. This will be his last magic-free day. Thank the Creator.

And Darken smirks happily at Nicci, cueing Rosamund, who has the witchwoman Shota at agiel-point, with one slightly shivered eyelid.

In time, he will wrest the Rahl Bond back from Richard, or manage without it—Richard saved the world, and Darken means to rule it.

He answers Nicci’s question: “Absolutely nothing.”

Comments

[brontefanatic.livejournal.com]

What a wonderful character study of Darken. I love the idea of allowing him a few minutes of contemplating a life without magic, and then, of course, deciding that it's not for him. We all know he would be bored to tears and would still take it out on everyone around him.

I also liked Darken's very realistic thoughts about all the difficulties Richard will face as a ruler - most of which Richard is probably too naive to realize.

"Darken realizes, with a start, that he wouldn't feel quite himself if no one wanted to kill him." Great line!!

[hrhrionastar.livejournal.com]

Thank you :D

We all know he would be bored to tears and would still take it out on everyone around him. Absolutely...and the people around him would be less well equipped to deal with it, too, since they might not have magic of their own.

I also liked Darken's very realistic thoughts about all the difficulties Richard will face as a ruler - most of which Richard is probably too naive to realize. I really find all that political stuff to be fascinating - and then, too, Darken has been dealing with it for his whole life. Richard, raised in Westland under a Council that didn't face magic as one of its challenges, must be pretty unprepared for D'Haran, or even Midlands, politics.

[dorothydeath.livejournal.com]

I, too, like that you bring up politics here. True, Richard has no idea what he will be facing in the near future. He doesn't know how the things work there. And with all of his tendencies like "you're wrong because you don't do it MY way" will gain him lots of haters in no time!

About Zedd's war crimes... I've seen it mentioned before. Is it that book!canon I have no idea about? Or have I missed something in the show?

[hrhrionastar.livejournal.com]

And with all of his tendencies like "you're wrong because you don't do it MY way" will gain him lots of haters in no time! Exactly. Plus, there might be people who really aren't evil, but have legitimate concerns about Richard's leadership style, who are accidentally killed before the end of the episode (something that has happened before, after all). Richard might end up quashing some important, even morally upright people.


About Zedd's war crimes... I've seen it mentioned before. Is it that book!canon I have no idea about? Or have I missed something in the show? Zedd's war crimes are certainly book!canon, but additionally, I was mostly thinking about all the D'Harans RKZ kill in season 1, and even in season 2, when the war is supposed to be over - that is, Richard and Kahlan kill people too, but as the Seeker and Confessor they are sort of natural enemies of D'Hara, and as Lord Rahl and his affianced wife, they probably get some amnesty, or even credit, given how General Trimack thought Richard should kill the 3rd Battalion in order to make it clear who was in charge. But Zedd being such a friend to Panis and then turning around and boiling all the D'Harans with Wizard's Fire...they might react differently to him, I think, in light of that.

Anyway, it's fun to speculate :D

[dorothydeath.livejournal.com]

Oh, I love this!!
Everything that Becky said + this:

the Creator has all the cards, and She cheats.
Ahaha! So true! :D Loved it!

Great drabble!!)))
It made my day. Thank you! ^_^

[hrhrionastar.livejournal.com]

Thank you :D

It made my day. I'm so glad :D

You know, I really think of that last-minute-Kahlan-cries-the-Stone-of-Tears thing as being a really neat trick, on the part of the Creator. And then too, the Keeper spent all that time deciding what to do based on the prophecies, which everyone agrees come directly from the Creator, his opponent...that always struck me as odd...

[dorothydeath.livejournal.com]

the Keeper spent all that time deciding what to do based on the prophecies, which everyone agrees come directly from the Creator, his opponent
OMG! I've never thought of it this way! You're right!! O_O How's that? The Creator could easily send a false prophecy to trick everyone into doing what She wants. And by the way doesn't She create ppl's destinies when She comes up with Her stupid prophecies like "Darken Rahl is the greatest evil"? o_O It all would have been so different without it... But She clearly needed it for something. She gave the Keeper his most trusted servant only to have him betraying his Master. O_O What a plan! O_o
Ehm... Am I making sense? o_O

[brontefanatic.livejournal.com]

If I am remembering right - the origin of the prophecy about Darken Rahl becoming the greatest tyrant the world had ever seen originated with Shota, who then relayed it to Carractacus, who of course told Zedd. An argument could be made that the Creator might not be the source of Shota's visions.

Zedd's war crimes - What about all the innocent monks he murdered in cold blood in "Vengeance"? - just because they had sheltered Panis Rahl for many years. Zedd expressed no remorse whatsoever about that.

[hrhrionastar.livejournal.com]

An argument could be made that the Creator might not be the source of Shota's visions. Absolutely. Although I do wonder what other prophecies were on the Creator's Wall in the Palace of the Prophets...and if some of those prophecies appeared 3000 years ago, like "If the Son of Brennidon should seek the Stone..." etc, then why didn't the people of 3000 years ago assume it applied to them? (Or was that before there was a Brennidon? Or were all the Creator's prophecies there already, except for the one about the Mother Confessor's pure heart?)

Zedd's war crimes - What about all the innocent monks he murdered in cold blood in "Vengeance"? - just because they had sheltered Panis Rahl for many years. Zedd expressed no remorse whatsoever about that. Oh, I completely agree. Sheltering Panis hardly made them as evil as he was, and Zedd seemed to forgive Panis by the end of the episode, anyway. If even Panis deserved forgiveness (which is up for debate), why not those poor monks? I feel it's another case of disregard for the little people. Like all the D'Haran soldiers and Sisters of the Dark, those monks were red shirts, so we're not supposed to examine their deaths too closely.

[hrhrionastar.livejournal.com]

But She clearly needed it for something. She gave the Keeper his most trusted servant only to have him betraying his Master. Interesting theory - certainly I wonder if the world is more a game of solitaire than chess, whatever the Keeper thinks about His epic battles with the Creator.

But I think I agree with Becky - we never actually saw or heard the real prophecy saying Darken would be evil. In fact, I'm not even sure that one was implied to come from the Creator, in addition to Shota.

(I like to think of it as, the Creator's prophecies must come true, if not always the way you expect, whereas Shota's visions are mere probabilities or possibilities for the future. After all, from what we saw in Vengeance, I've always felt that Panis and Caracticus between them made Shota's prophecy about Darken come true, by trying to prevent it. And even, Darken made the prophecy about Richard killing him come true, although in the event he killed himself by stupidity. But still.)

[meridian_rose]

Interesting introspection from Darken on everything from the Creator to Richard's likelihood of ruling well and how he will no longer be powerless once he's finished with Nicci :D

[hrhrionastar.livejournal.com]

Thank you :D

I had fun exploring the politics on this one ;D