BBA - 1 Long Fic
Title: Revenge is a dish best served... fluttering?
Wordcount: 3170
Warnings: Set after S02E22, "Tears".
A/N: While it probably is readable regardless, this story might make more sense for those who have had the pleasure of watching S01E18, "Mirror".
Hidden in the shadows, Bianca eyed the old Wizard. It had taken a lot of time and effort to get this far, but finally she would extract her revenge. Zeddicus Zu’l Zorander would rue the day he had poked his big nose into her affairs. She would strike him, and she would strike him where it hurt.
When he had turned her into a spitting image of himself with the magic of Montressor’s Mirror, and used her to fool the Mord-Sith who was to bring the Mother Confessor and the Seeker to Darken Rahl, she and Gwildor had been taken there instead, the Mord-Sith believing she was the Wizard despite her protests to the contrary. Of course, Darken Rahl wasn’t fooled and he was not very impressed either. Set on showing the Mord-Sith what a fool she had been before he sent her off to her just punishment, he broke the spell. With a flick of his hand and a muttered word, Bianca had again looked like her old self. She had tried to tell the Mord-Sith who she really was on their long trek to the People’s Palace, but the Mord-Sith had scowled at her all the same.
She had tried to tell Gwildor too, but he hadn’t listened. Every time she had touched him, he had flinched and told her to stop it. Why he refused to believe that the mirror could turn her into an old unattractive Wizard just the same as it could turn him into a D’Haran soldier, was beyond her, but there it was. She had tried and tried to get through to him, but with no luck. In fact, by the time she was herself again, and he realized she had told the truth all along, he was so afraid of others’ touch, what with having been assaulted by the image of the old Wizard for so long, that he wouldn’t even let her touch him. Once Lord Rahl had died, and they had been freed along with other prisoners in the dungeons, the last she had seen of him was him packing up to go find a nice cave in which to live out his life as a hermit. Poor Gwildor.
At least she hadn’t gone mad like he had. No, she had plotted her revenge. Their revenge. And finally, here she was. And there, the Wizard was. It was time. She nodded to the dark-haired sorceress next to her.
*****
Cara looked on with fascinated disgust as Zedd stuffed his face with his third helping of the morning porridge. How there was enough food for all of them with the Wizard around, was completely beyond her.
“You eat as if it were your last meal, Wizard,” she said with a smirk.
“One should always eat as if it were one’s last meal, Cara,” Zedd lectured between two mouthfuls. “You never know what will happen between one meal and the next. Especially with the kind of life we lead nowadays.” He waved his spoon to mark his point. Cara rolled her eyes and turned her attention to the rest of the room instead. It was early morning, and still the inn was quite crowded with other travelers wishing to eat their breakfast so they could get an early start.
On the other side of the table, Kahlan and Richard were deep in a private conversation of their own, and Cara rolled her eyes again. Ever since they had closed the rift to the Underworld, Lord Rahl and the Mother Confessor couldn’t seem to keep their hands off each other. She supposed it was somewhat understandable, but it had been a whole week already. She only had so much patience after all.
A movement caught her eye. There, deep in the shadows of the hallway. Someone was standing there, and she’d bet 100 gold marks that their eyes were on her table. On her company. Her friends. Suddenly, she felt magic around them. Magic that wasn’t directed at her, but it was definitely directed at one of the others. As she was about to alert Richard and Kahlan, the Wizard yelped in surprise. It didn’t take her long to realize why.
His bowl, which had been nearly brimming with porridge the last time she looked at it, was now full of butterflies. Pretty colorful butterflies. Some of them had taken flight already, fluttering in a cloud in the air above the bowl, as if confused as to why they were there. She released a sound that sounded too much like a laugh and struggled to hold in the rest.
“Whatever did you do to your food, Zedd?” she heard Richard ask, his mirth not very well hidden. Around them, people were openly laughing and pointing in wonder at the spectacle.
“Bags!” Zedd exclaimed, shooing away butterflies with both hands. “I didn’t do anything, my boy! This is definitely some foul and powerful magic at work!”
The strangers! Not feeling very hopeful, Cara looked toward the shadows again, but as she had expected, whoever had been there were long gone. She told the others of what she’d seen anyway and they all agreed that it couldn’t have been a coincidence. Yet, merely turning a bowl of porridge into pretty butterflies did not seem very sinister at all, in spite of Zedd’s protests that only dark and powerful magic wielded by wicked and horrible people could ever treat good food in such a ghastly way. In the end, they decided to move on instead of investigating the incident. Which was fine with Cara.
*****
Bianca laughed with glee as they hurried away from the Inn of Angessa. It had been splendid! Oh, the look on the Wizard’s face had been priceless! She wondered how long it would take for him to realize that he’d never taste food ever again. Not long, from what she remembered. What, with his kind of appetite, he’d soon be snacking again. Or trying to. She grinned widely.
“I take it you are pleased with my work?” Rhiandrin’s voice was as cool as ever and brought Bianca back from her moment of sweet reverie. She looked sideways at the other woman.
“Very pleased,” she responded, regretting that her emotions had already given her away. “You will keep to your end of the bargain then.” It was not a question.
“Of course. Have I ever failed to keep my word?”.
“I haven’t known you for long enough to be able to make a proper assessment of that.” Rhiandrin shrugged. Great. Of all the sorceresses she could have ended up with in the Midlands, she had found the one who took everything literally. Good thing she’d be rid of her soon enough!
“Stop worrying, Rhiandrin. I promised I’d do it and I will.”
*****
“I am feeling kind of peckish,” Zedd complained not even an hour out of Angessa. Kahlan, who had expected as much, handed him the bundle she’d secured from the innkeeper before they took off. “Ah Kahlan, whatever would I do without you?” Zedd grinned, happily checking the content.
“Possibly die from starvation,” Cara quipped from their left, her eyes studying their surroundings. “You’re much better at eating our food than restocking our supplies. It’s a good thing you have us.” Kahlan saw her amusement as their eyes met briefly, but the Wizard did not seem to notice.
“I was still too distressed from the incident with my porridge to think of bringing snacks!” he gravely protested, the bundle now bound safely to his saddle, his horse’s reigns held in his left hand and a pear in his right.
“Cara is just teasing you, Zedd.” Kahlan laughed, and looked over just as he was about to bite into the pear. She saw the fruit change color before it split up into dozens of the same colorful butterflies they’d seen at the inn before. She frowned.
“It happened again!” Zedd did not sound impressed. He didn’t look impressed either.
“Richard!” Kahlan called; he’d been a bit ahead of the rest. He doubled back to check what was up. “The butterflies again,” Kahlan offered as way of explanation, pointing to Zedd and the butterflies fluttering around his head even as he tried to wave them away.
“What did I tell you?” Zedd asked, then went on not waiting for a reply. “I told you it was dark magic. Powerful magic. But did you listen? No, you laughed. Young people today... no respect for their elders.” He scowled at them all.
“But... you’re a Wizard.” Cara stated.
“Yes, can’t you do anything about it?” Richard asked. Zedd scratched his chin and thought for a bit. They let him do so in silence.
“My hunger makes it difficult to think,” he said at last, sighing.
“You ate two helpings of porridge less than two hours ago, Zedd!” If Kahlan sounded incredulous, it was because she was.
“Exactly!” Zedd grumbled. “I only had two helpings. I usually eat at least three.” Kahlan couldn’t help but let out a sound of frustration. She looked to Richard for help.
“Well...” he ran a hand through his hair as he paused. “...first, I suppose we should check if this only happens to Zedd.” Yes, that was a sound suggestion. She watched as Richard got down from his horse to brave the scowling Wizard and get the bundle of food. From it, he took out a piece of bread and parted it in four equal pieces, then handed one to each of them. Zedd looked at his piece longingly. When he tried to bite into it however, it was replaced with the butterflies, just as the pear had been, and the porridge before that. Kahlan slowly lifted the bread to her mouth, not particularly fond of the thought of accidentally biting down on a butterfly. Her bread didn’t change though, and neither did Richard’s or Cara’s. Zedd went back to scowling at them, and Kahlan put her bread away, as did Richard. It didn’t feel right to enjoy the food when Zedd wasn’t able to. Of course, Cara seemed to possess no such inhibitions where she sat munching away on her piece of bread, still keeping her eyes on the fields around them.
“It’s only Zedd then.” She knew she was stating the obvious, and was well aware of the scowl she earned from one hungry Wizard of the First Order. She ignored him and looked at Richard. “What do we do?”
“I guess we have to go back.” Richard sighed.
*****
“Come now, Rhiandrin. It isn’t that hard, is it?” Bianca felt exasperated.
“I’m trying, Bianca!” Rhiandrin glared at her.
“Well, obviously not hard enough!” Bianca shifted her weight from one foot to the other. It wasn’t that she was nervous, but ... oh who was she kidding, of course she was nervous. Her last encounter with Kahlan, Richard and Zedd had resulted in the worst time of her life. First, stuck looking like the Wizard, and then stuck in Darken Rahl’s dungeon. She still wasn’t quite sure which had been worse. She only knew that she blamed the Wizard for it all. Of course, none of it would have happened in the first place if not for the magical mirror, Gwildor and Gwildor’s dim-witted ideas. She bit her lip and then pushed the sorceress to the side.
“Oh move over. Let me show you again.”
*****
Richard was slightly worried about his grandfather. He had tried to get the Wizard to talk, maybe come with suggestions as to what exactly had happened at the inn. But the Wizard was in too foul a mood to be of any help. Getting back to the village wouldn’t take them long with the pace they set though, and Richard was hopeful that they would find some answers there.
“Do you think it is a curse?” Kahlan asked from somewhere to his left.
“It could be. Maybe.” Richard shook his head slowly and sighed. “I really don’t know. I don’t know enough about the magic of the Midlands to make an educated guess.”
“Of course it is a curse,” Zedd grumbled from behind them. “A filthy and deadly curse. Since I don’t know what exactly was done to me, I can’t safely try to undo it either. The butterflies only serve to decorate what will eventually be the death of me.”
“You’re alive yet, and will be for years to come,” Richard said with what he hoped was reassurance as he looked back at Zedd.
Ahead of them, Angessa came back into view. They slowed their pace slightly, heading straight towards the inn. Once there, Cara and Zedd stayed with the horses, Cara because she didn’t feel like questioning people without the use of torture and violence, and Zedd because he didn’t think he was up to questioning people without the use of torture and violence. Not on this particular morning anyway. So the task fell to Kahlan and himself as they were both used to seeking out the truth without having to resort to such means. And indeed, they hadn’t been inside for very long before they learnt of two women who had been very interested in their little party of four on that particular morning. The innkeeper had never seen either of them before, but one of his early customers had seen them walk off in the direction of one of the closer farms.
“I’ll betcha a gold mark tha’s where you’ll find’em!” he had assured them, looking hopeful. None of them had taken him up on that bet though.
Outside, they told Zedd and Cara of their findings, and they set off again. A little way away from the farm in question, they slowed down and stopped. It was no good sneaking up on these mysterious women while on horses, so the horses had to be left behind for a little while. They took the things they needed, and went the rest of the way on foot. The farm house itself wasn’t very big. It seemed to be very empty though. As he and Kahlan snuck around it closest to the barn, Cara and Zedd having gone around on the other side, they suddenly heard a familiar voice.
“Oh move over. Let me show you again,” it said.
He looked at Kahlan, and was sure that his own face was as surprised as hers. As Zedd and Cara approached, he signaled that they keep quiet. They all snuck up to the barn door and sneaked a peak in.
*****
If the woman was too daft to understand how this worked, then it wasn’t Bianca’s problem. She had tried to keep to the bargain, and that was all Rhiandrin could ask of her. Rhiandrin would have to understand... after all, she wouldn’t still want to be here when the Seeker and his friends returned, either.
“I hope you’re paying attention?” she said and looked over at the sorceress sitting next to her.
“I am,” Rhiandrin said, a focused frown on her face.
Bianca worked for a while, letting Rhiandrin study the movement of her hands. When she thought she had been at it for long enough, she got up.
“And that is how you milk a goat. Now I really need to go!”
She turned to leave, only to find the Wizard and his friends blocking the way out, their expressions unreadable.
“Well Bianca, I see that someone took mercy on you,” remarked Zedd. “Was it she who turned you back to your old self again?”
Bianca groaned. “I really had hoped to be far away from this village before you people returned,” she sighed.
“Who is your friend, Bianca?” the Mother Confessor asked, her face unreadable.
Next to her, Rhiandrin had knelt down on one knee without Bianca noticing.
“My name is Rhiandrin Deuhray, Mother Confessor. I am a sorceress, albeit not a very powerful one.” Bianca frowned down at her, until she heard Kahlan say in a formal voice; “Rise, my Child.” That snapped her attention back to the Mother Confessor only to find Kahlan walking closer to them both. But it was Rhiandrin her attention was focused on.
“Why did you assist this woman?” Kahlan was gazing into Rhiandrin’s eyes intently.
“At first I wasn’t going to,” Rhiandrin explained. “She couldn’t pay, you see. But then it turned out that she knew how to do something that I did not, so I did her the favor if she’d teach me in return.”
“You agreed to kill a man just to learn how to milk a goat?” Bianca saw the surprise in Rhiandrin’s eyes as she looked from the Confessor to the old Wizard and back again. Bianca did not like what she saw. She had a feeling she wouldn’t like what she was about to hear.
“K-kill him? M-my spell won’t kill him,” she stammered.
Kahlan looked at the sorceress a little while longer. Then. “She is telling the truth.”
“It won’t kill him?” Bianca couldn’t help herself. “I explained to you what I wanted and you said you could do it!”
“You didn’t say anything about killing him,” Rhiandrin retorted. “If you had, I wouldn’t have helped you with the spell. And besides everyone knows that my spells are harmless and don’t last very long. Whoever sent you my way must have mentioned as much.” Then she addressed Zedd; “You should already be able to eat again, First Wizard.” The Wizard fished an apple out from somewhere in his robes and took a bite out of it. It did not turn into pretty butterflies. Bianca could have cried.
“I think we can let Rhiandrin go,” Kahlan said.
“Can I beat the other one?” their new companion asked, looking bored with the whole thing.
“Let her,” Zedd grumbled.
“Zedd!” Richard admonished.
“Bianca... what shall we do with you?” Kahlan asked, tapping her lip thoughtfully.
Bianca had a feeling that Forgive and forget? was not the right answer. She opted to stay quiet.
*****
Zedd hadn’t felt this well since finishing his second helping of porridge at breakfast that morning. He hummed a melody as he made his way through the bundle of food, sampling a little bit of everything.
“You don’t think they will go too hard on her?” he heard Richard ask.
“Too hard on her?” he didn’t need to see Kahlan’s face to know she’d raised an eyebrow. “She planned to kill a man, Richard. Your grandfather, at that. Whatever they decide on, I’m sure she deserves it.”
Zedd was inclined to agree, but he was too busy eating to voice his opinion.
“I agree with the Confessor, and so does Zedd,” Cara stated. For that, Zedd offered her a plum, which she accepted with a half-smile.
All in all, it had been a dreadfully horrible day, thought Zedd. One of the most dreadfully horrible days he had ever been through. Everything was well that ended well though. And this was the type of ending he preferred, he thought, as he shoved a persimmon into his mouth.
THE END!