Blood 52

**Chapter 52**

Richard and Kahlan are back at the Grove Woods, where Richard can sense that all the Misters have left. Kahlan assures Richard that she doesn't hold it against him for banging Merissa silly, because she's an idiot who believes things that her enemies tell her as they're trying to murder her. Richard insists that Merissa was a lying liar who lied, and furthermore, that *“Since the day I met you, I've loved no one but you. No one. […] Even when I thought you didn't want me, I never . . . with Merissa or anyone else.”*

Which is not precisely true, since Denna “took him as her mate,” but since that was non-consensual I'll ignore it.

Richard and Kahlan take the Sliph Express back to Aydindril, but when Richard emerges, lo and behold he sees Merissa . . . who is somehow inside the sliph yet still talking to him. Weird.

Richard reminds Merissa that she swore an oath of loyalty to him, but she says she's keeping *“an oath to myself.”* She produces a *yabree* which acts like a tuning fork when she taps it against the stone well, instantly hypnotizing Richard. Kahlan, meanwhile, is lying there comatose as the sliph tries to get her to breathe.

For about two pages, Merissa taunts Richard as Richard fumbles around in a hypnotized state. Why she doesn't blast him with black anti-lightning or cut his throat with a *yabree* or kick him in the balls, I don't know. Finally, Richard gets his hands on the Sword of the Homicidal Hobo as Merissa stands there and watches. Richard sticks the sword into the sliph, which causes Merissa – still in the sliph because shut up \~/ – to dissolve into sliph-material.

Richard saves Kahlan, as if there was ever any tension there, and they move on. In the next room they find the Mister Queen along with *“hundreds of eggs the size of large melons,”* which she has apparently laid in the last couple hours \~/. I hope Richard thought to save before getting into this boss fight.

Richard starts smashing eggs, and Mister Queen, unsurprisingly, takes exception to this and attacks him. In an uninspired sequence, Richard and Kahlan smash all the eggs while Richard holds off the Queen. Silly me; I would have thought it better to kill the giant horrible monster first and *then* smash her eggs, but what do I know? Anyway, Mister Queen climbs up the wall and escapes.

Richard and Kahlan meander through the Keep, and along the way they meet the mysterious thing that swims/burrows under the gravel. This turns out to be a “stone hound,” and completely harmless, and Kahlan has a laugh at Richard's expense. How very . . . relevant. The stone hound will never be referenced again. \~/

Richard and Kahlan exit the Keep, only to be ambushed by Mister Queen. They fight. I'm not describing it because it's not very interesting. It ends with the Queen falling down a chasm. Yay.

Richard wants to know why Kahlan didn't use the Blue Lightning of Love, and she says *“It wouldn't work down inside the Keep.”* She in turn wants to know why he didn't use the Black Lightning of Sueness, and he says *“I don't know. I don't know how the gift works. It has something to do with instinct. I can't make it work at will.”* You know, Terry, pointing out your own storytelling flaws doesn't make them not exist.

Richard hears *“the distant cries of men and the ring of steel,”* and smells smoke. He gets a view of Aydindril and wonders *“Dear spirits, what have I caused.”* [sic] No, there's no question mark in the book; this is apparently a statement.

And the chapter ends.

Drinks: 3

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