Blood 51

**Chapter 51**

Back to Richard and Kahlan, who are sneaking down into the vaults. Richard senses the presence of magic, and then they find a bunch of Red Sheep who have all been sliced in half at chest level. Our dynamic duo decide there must be some sort of magical slicey trap at that height – which is visible as a thin layer of *“hazy light”* - and proceed to crawl for a bit.

Kahlan suggests they just light some torches and heave them into the room full of flammable books and scrolls rather than sneak in and risk all manner of traps, but our boy Richard won't do it. Richard tries to persuade Kahlan to stay behind while he does Manly Man Stuff, but she's having none of it. Richard admits that he wants to save one particular tome, the one that molested his finger in the last book.

Creep creep creep, and the six-foot-thick door slams shut behind them, but Richard is confident he can open it again. Also, that's either one truly gigantic door, or it's less of a door than a stone cube. No, the door's absurd thickness was never mentioned before this.

Kahlan randomly mentions that she'd prefer that they both survived, which, yeah, I would have assumed. This prompts Richard to start apologizing – er, no. To start **justifying** *“what [he] did there,”* by which he seems to mean surrendering Galea to D'Hara on her behalf. He also says *“I know that the goal of the Confessors is to protect people, not to simply hold dominion.”*

Saying it over and over won't make it true, Terry. \~/

Long story short, Kahlan isn't exactly thrilled but she understands Richard's reasoning. So, drama averted, I guess.

They retrieve the book, which is above the Slicey Hazy Light of Death (hereafter SHLD) by the simple expedient of knocking over the bookcase it's on. It's, um, tense. Kahlan notes that the SHLD is lower than it was, and it seems to be sinking as Our Heroes crawl back to the exit. The metal plate Richard needs to touch to open the door, of course, is above the layer of the SHLD. Richard and Kahlan squabble for a bit over him risking the SHLD to reach the plate, and then Kahlan unleashes the Blue Lightning of Love, which somehow drives back the SHLD. Richard opens the door, and the two of them escape.

Yay.

But oh noes! They run smack into an invisible force field! And the SHLD is following them!

*“With a rage of need, without thought, Richard threw his hands out.”*

What is the deal with Goodkind's heroes only being able to access their powers by *not* thinking?

This conjures up Minus Magic which destroys the force field and also ignites the light web which, as you no doubt recall, Zedd left behind earlier. Fortunately it doesn't go off all at once; no, *this* unstoppable bomb spell *“tumbled and wailed, brightening all the time,”* which gives Our Heroes enough time to escape.

And escape they do, right into the middle of a fight between the Red Sheep and the Order (again, *why are they fighting?* They're supposed to be allies! \~/). Richard and Kahlan run and run and run and run and run and then the Big Stone Witch House explodes real good.

Cut to Zedd and Hypocrite, observing the explosion from some indeterminate distance away. Zedd somehow \~/ knows that Richard was the one to set off his light web, and Hypocrite is sad because her home is gone. Aww. However, she very conveniently sees Ahern's carriage fleeing, and thus knows that all the *important* people are safe and well.

They head back to find Nathan, Hypocrite using her magic to track his collar, and find it . . . wedged into a rock, with Nathan nowhere around. Zedd rather happily notes that this means Nathan got his collar off somehow and left it there as a nice middle finger to Hypocrite. He demands that she take his off, as she promised to do, and then she can go chase Nathan down or whatever she wants.

Hypocrite refuses.

Yep.

She breaks her promise and says that she's not releasing Zedd until after he helps her capture and re-enslave Nathan. Zedd calls her on this, saying *“You intend to break your word!”*

Hypocrite's response: *“No, I intend to keep it, just as soon as we find that troublesome prophet.”*

Yeah, no, it doesn't work like that. You **promised** Zedd you would remove his collar after he helped wreck the Big Stone Witch House. You are now **breaking** that promise. You are now (even more of) a liar and an oathbreaker. If I had any remaining respect for you, that would have killed it. Hypocrite, you are a vile, disgusting, and despicable character.

\~/\~/

Hypocrite instructs Creepy Little Girl – remember her? - to find Verna . . . somehow, in the ruins of a half-exploded city crawling with Red Sheep and Order soldiers and Bad Nuns and who knows what else . . . and tell her everything that happened. She then makes some more worthless promises to Zedd and they ride off into the night.

God, I hate Hypocrite.

Drinks: 5

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