Wizard 48

Chapter 48
Only two chapters left. We're in the home stretch now!
It's raining. Richard is wet and unhappy. He's searching for Zedd, Chase and Kahlan, and hasn't found them. For some odd reason Red the dragon isn't helping him, despite that “fly Richard around for six days” deal. Richard angsts about having to help Rahl, but reasons that life under Rahl is better than the utter annihilation of all life...which, yeah, I can't really ague with. Morning comes, and it's the first of winter.
Suddenly, heart hounds! Yes! They pop up out of nowhere and maul Richard's horse (wait; where did he get a horse? And when?), then come after him. Richard slaughters bunches of them with his mad skillz, but apparently every heart hound in the world has converged on this one spot with the sole purpose of taking him down. Oh, and we finally learn for a fact that they are tan, despite already having seen some that were black.
Richard is saved from becoming a chew-toy by a dragon-shaped deus ex machina, when Red swoops in and fries all the puppies. She then flies Richard to the People's Palace where, oddly, there are no people around. Richard is angsty and emo, going on about being “The last Seeker,” and how Red won't get a chance to eat him because he'll be dead in a few hours. Red tells him to die fighting, then flies off into the Sequel Sunset.
Richard wanders around for a bit, then comes to a “devotion square” just as the Crazy Ceremony bell rings. Richard starts reciting the devotion, to avoid the attention of two Dominatrices who happen to be nearby, but then decides “If he was going to give a devotion, it was going to be one that meant something to him.” He thus changes the words:
“Kahlan guide me. Kahlan teach me. Kahlan protect me. In your light I thrive. In your mercy I am sheltered. In your wisdom I am humbled. I live only to love you. My life is yours.”
It becomes clearer and clearer that Richard is attracted to abusive women. \~/
In any event, “The shock of realization made him sit bolt upright,” and he ponders Wizard's First Rule. He tries to leave the devotion square, and the two Dominatrices try to stop him. Richard intimidates his way past them (yeah, sure \~/).
Back to Zedd, Kahlan and Chase. They march up the People's Palace, and are let in by the guards. It turns out they are expected, and Chase is astonished to discover that Rahl is a wizard, which doesn't say much about his keen perception skills. Zedd offers a brief infodump which boils down to: wizards used to rule; there was a war; Rahl bad and Zedd good.
The Trio makes their way to a devotion square where we get a glimpse into Terry Goodkind's opinion of organized religion:
“People dressed in white robes strolled the halls. A few sat on marble benches, and others knelt at squares with a stone and bell, meditating. All worse the same perpetual smile of the divinely deluded, the peaceful countenance of those self-assured in their fantasy of certainty and understanding. Truth was only a shifting fog to them, to be burned off by the light of their convoluted reasoning.”
Now, I'll be the first to agree that faith and religion were and are responsible for a number of horrors, from the Inquisition to suicide bombings, but...wow. That's downright anti-spiritual. It could be argued that this applies only to Rahl's followers, but the language is so broad that I find this hard to believe. It's particularly interesting given that we have seen no other churches, shrines, mosques, synagogues, or other centers of religion in the entire book, and had only a few vague references to “the good spirits.” 
Although I find the last sentence to be delightfully ironic, given that Mr Goodkind claims that Richard and Kahlan are admirable, self-sacrificing heroes. \~/
The “heroes” continue to march through the Palace, with Zedd giving directions. Chase asks how he knows where to go, and Zedd explains that there are two reasons. The first is that the entire palace is built on the pattern of a spell, designed to amplify Rahl's power and suppress that of other wizards; Zedd claims to be”next to helpless.” Second, Zedd can feel the presence of the magic boxes, but he's confused because he knows what one box feels like, and the feeling should be twice as strong. Instead, it's three times as strong.
Well, no one ever claimed Zedd was smart, did they? \~/
They reach the doors to the Garden of Life, where Zedd bizarrely reassures Kahlan that “Darken Rahl has only two boxes. He will be dead soon. Without your help.” Apparently “wizard” is not an Intelligence-based class in this setting. \~/
Kahlan comments that this means she had better hurry, and heads on in.
Drinks: 5
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