AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Heyya loyal readers! I know it has been soooooooo long and I'd like to thank you for waiting patiently for this part! And I want to thank you all for 1k reads!! I appreciate it sooo much and to tell you the truth? That's what made me find the time to write this part. I hope you enjoy it and again thank you all for being faithful readers. Now let's back to the story...
"Wait, you can do that?!" Akeela exclaimed.
"In truth, no," Kayla responded. "Cara's a bit of an anomaly; she's the only Mord-Sith to ever break her bonds to the Lord Rahl."
Akeela remembered the blonde, blue-eyed woman she'd seen in the dungeon, fettered to the ceiling and covered in bruises from head to toe. Kayla never referred to her as mistress; Cara had lost that title when she joined forces with the Seeker.
"How did she do it?" Akeela heard herself ask. "How did she break the bond?"
"No one knows for sure," Kayla replied. "But there's this rumour going around the temples that it happened when Lord Rahl died."
Kayla had told her this story before; about how Cara had betrayed her Sisters and aided the Seeker to capture the Power of Orden. Lord Rahl had destroyed the boxes then, but it had cost him his life.
"Some of the Mord-Sith say that when Cara and her Sisters first found the Seeker and the Confessor kneeling over the boxes of Orden, Cara had struck the Seeker with her Agiel in an attempt to stop him," Kayla continued. "But here's where it gets absurd; they said that when the Power of Orden, the Confessor's touch and the Mord-Sith's Agiel were united, it sent Cara and the Seeker ninety years into the future."
Akeela wanted to admit that it did sound absurd but she thought of her own pendant's weird abilities and said nothing.
"See, in that future," Kayla said. "The Lord Rahl we all know and love was dead and so Cara's bond to him was broken. It's said Lord Rahl somehow convinced the Confessor to marry him and they gave birth to a male confessor, a Master Rahl, who eliminated his parents as well as all the Mord-Sith in all the lands. When Cara learnt of this, she was torn; she could not accept for a Master the man who had killed her former Master and all her Sisters of the Agiel, and so she entered a temporary truce with the Seeker to take out this Master Rahl.
"It was in that moment that she became bonded to the Seeker, because though she did not know it at the time, the Seeker was a Rahl. When they united the three powers again and brought themselves to the present, Cara who was now bonded to the Seeker had no problem betraying her Sisters."
"So now Cara is loyal to the Seeker?" Akeela asked. "The false Lord Rahl?"
"Yeah, pretty much."
"But if Lord Rahl died, why didn't the rest of you bond to the Seeker when you found out who he really was," Akeela asked.
"Well that's because we were still bonded to Lord Rahl's shade," Kayla explained. "When Lord Rahl destroyed the boxes, it tore open the veil to the Underworld so Lord Rahl could come to the World of the Living whenever he chose. Now that he's back, probably for good, we are bonded to him again."
"Okay, one more question," Akeela declared. "Do you believe this? This story about Cara travelling to the future?
"Yes, actually," Kayla replied. "Mistresses Dahlia, Raina, Berdine, Hally and Cara have always been inseparable. They were the ones who were with Cara when Lord Rahl died. They were the Mord-Sith she'd betrayed. It was Cara herself that told them this story before Mistress Trianna- under Lord Rahl's explicit orders- betrayed Cara. At the time they too did not know the Seeker was a Rahl, so they could not have known that Cara was bonded to him. If they had known, I'm pretty sure they would have sworn their allegiance to the Seeker –well, all of them except Mistress Dahlia I think; she's a really shady character that one."
Akeela was silent for some time; this was a lot of information to take in, assuming she believed any of it.
"Okay one last question," Akeela said again.
"Wasn't the last one your last?" Kayla yawned.
"Yeah, but this one just came up," Akeela insisted. "The devotion. What are the words?"
"Well, now that there are two Lord Rahls, before you say it you have to think about the specific one you want to be bonded to," Kayla said before reciting the devotion.
Afterwards, Akeela closed her eyes and slept, the words of the devotion echoing through her dreams.
Master Rahl guide us
Master Rahl teach us
Master Rahl protect us
In your light we thrive
In your mercy we are sheltered
In your wisdom we are humbled
We live only to serve
Our lives are yours
***
Akeela was woken up by a sharp pain in her gut, Mistress Raina screaming obscenities into her ear.
"Wake up!" Raina screamed. "On your feet your low-life!"
She struck Akeela again and immediately swept away what was left of Akeela's grogginess. Akeela got to her feet shakily, not wanting to speak, fearing that the sound of her voice may serve to further incense Raina; she had never seen her mistress this angry before.
Raina quickly chained Akeela's collar to her belt and stormed out of the dark room, dragging a befuddled Akeela behind her.
Akeela glanced back at Kayla, to find out if she knew anything about Raina's sudden anger but Kayla merely shook her head, equally surprised by Raina's sudden outburst.
Akeela did not know what she had done to displease her mistress but it was obvious to anyone, from the vigour with which Raina tortured her, that whatever she had done must have really hurt her mistress. Initially, when Raina had begun training her, Akeela had assumed that it would be like any other day and had braced herself for the Agiel that she had thought she was so familiar with.
She had therefore been shocked when Raina's strike had caused her to scream; she couldn't remember the last time she had screamed during training. It was then that she had noticed the look on Raina's face. Mostly when her mistress tortured, she had a slight smile on her face as if she loved to see Akeela suffer –because in fact she did. Whenever Akeela coughed blood, Raina would laugh like it was the funniest thing in the world –Akeela actually didn't mind this; it delighted her that she could make her mistress laugh.
Today was different however, Raina was not smiling.
She looked pale and shaken and had a wild, haunted look in her eyes.
Raina regarded at Akeela with such malice that it made Akeela want to break out of her chains and hide herself in the dark room. Raina's gaze had always been penetrating, Akeela knew, but today was worse; today those dark eyes were filled with intense hatred.
Two hours into training and any thoughts that Akeela had imagined Raina's hate quickly evaporated. Raina tortured her relentlessly, giving her not a moment to breath or rest. Raina herself poured so much of her strength into each strike that she was panting deeply with effort, her bangs plastered to her face and the sweat that covered her entire body, stinging her eyes.
Raina's red leather was soaked, with her own sweat mixed with Akeela's blood; the same blood that covered her face and her hands.
Akeela had tried begging her mistress, sobbing for her to stop, but as Akeela had earlier predicted, the sound of her voice only served to awaken some primal beast that had lain dormant deep within Raina. Raina had doubled her efforts, screaming every time her Agiel found its mark.
Akeela had turned to Kayla for comfort, but even the cheerful auburn-haired Mord-Sith could do nothing to dull Akeela's pain. If anything, Kayla looked somewhat worried.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Dahlia had finally grabbed Raina's hand, stopping her.
"Raina, you'll kill her," she said softly.
Raina looked defiantly at Dahlia her eyes saying, "I hope I do."
Dahlia tried again. "If she dies in your hands, Lord Rahl will not be pleased."
That seemed to stop the raging beast. Raina looked at the bloody mess that was Akeela, her dark eyes riddled with realization, and then fear. She finally let her hand drop to her waist and she gave a short nod to Dahlia to indicate that she was fine.
Akeela let out a grateful sob, relieved that is was finally over.
Raina returned her Agiels to her belt before unshackling Akeela who buckled under her own weight into Raina's arms. Akeela was so delirious that she did not notice when Raina carried her back to the dark room, and sat with her until nightfall.
"Take care of her," Akeela heard her mistress whisper to Kayla that night before leaving the dark room.
***