"There," Richard said, as he gestured to the left. "That's what we're here for. Remember what I told you. Don't touch anything." He glanced at them both as they looked about with wide eyes. "I mean it. I don't know how to save you if you get in trouble touching something in here." Both pairs of eyes looked back at him. "We remember," Berdine said.
"We know better than to tempt magic," Raina said. "We' re just looking around, that's all. We wouldn't touch anything."
"Good. But I suggest that you don't even look at anything, either, except what we need to look at. For all I know, simply looking at something in here could trigger its magic."
"Do you think?" Raina asked in astonishment.
"What I think is that I'd rather not find out after it's too late. Come on. Let's get this over with so we can get out of here.", even though he had said the words, and knew they made sense, he didn't really feel like leaving. As potentially dangerous as he knew the place to be, he found that he liked the First Wizard's enclave. Berdine smirked. "Lord Rahl fears magic as much as we do." "You're wrong, Berdine. I know a little about magic." He started down the red carpet. "I fear it more."broad steps at the end led down into the central area. An expanse of cream-colored marble covered the floor. A border of darker brown marble ran around the floor near the edge. When Richard reached the bottom step and his foot touched the floor, it hummed and began to glow. He quickly retreated back up onto the red carpet. The glow extinguished. "What now?" Raina asked. He pried her fingers from his arm. "Did either of you put your foot to the floor?" They both shook their heads. "Try."Richard waited on the step, Berdine gingerly tried to test the marble. She withdrew her foot.
"I can't. Something stops my foot before I can get it on the floor." Richard stepped out onto the marble again. Again it glowed and hummed. "It must be a shield, then. Here, take my hand and try again." Holding Richard's hand, Berdine was able to step onto the marble with him. Raina took his other hand and followed.
"All right," he said, "since it's some kind of shield, don't let go of my hand while we're on this part. We don't know what would happen. For all I know, if you let go of my hand you could fry like bacon on a griddle."grips on his hands tightened. As they stepped onto the steps up to the wing with the books, the floor went silent. Without Richard to hold their hands on the way out, they would be trapped inside this place, unable to return across the central floor. The wing with the books wasn't the kind of library he had expected. There were rows of shelves, but they were in disarray, with books stacked every which way. Chunks of rock served as bookends for the few standing upright among the disorder. Here and there books were in piles, as if someone had pulled them from the shelves and simply tossed them in a heap. Most were closed, but a significant number lay open. some face-up, some facedown. But that wasn't the biggest surprise. Everywhere, it seemed, there were books stacked up on the floor. A few stacks were short, maybe three or four feet tall, but many more were tall pillars of books. Some of the irregular stacks lowered twelve or fourteen feet. They looked as if the mere act of breathing could make them topple. The columns of books were everywhere, creating a maze. Richard couldn't fathom the reason for the books being stacked in such disarray, but the mystery of it made him sweat.took an arm of each woman. "My grandfather told me that there were books in the Keep that were extremely dangerous. Kahlan told me that the most dangerous things were kept in here, where no one could get to them, not even the wizards she knew."shot him a look. "You mean, you think that the books themselves could be dangerous? Not just the information in them, but the actual books?"thought of the description of a book that Sister Amelia had used to start the plague. "I'm not sure, but we had better treat them as such. Look, but don't touch."'s brow drew down with a dubious frown. "Lord Rahl, there must be thousands of books I can see just standing here. There are bound to be more down the aisles. It will take us weeks to find the one we want-if it's even here."took a deep breath. Berdine was right. He hadn't expected to find so many books in here. He thought the libraries held most of the books, and there would only be a few in here.
"If you want to be out of here before dark, we don't have long," Raina said. "We might as well come back tomorrow and get an early start."was beginning to feel intimidated by the task ahead. "We'll just have to stay after dark. We'll stay all night if we have to." Raina rolled her Agiel in her fingers. "If you say so. Lord Rahl." Richard's heart sank as he stood staring at the forest of books. He needed information, not a search for one leaf in a forest. If only he could use magic to find that one leaf.idly adjusted the bands at his wrist. Under his fingers he felt the starburst pattern on one of them. Look without fixing your sight.
"I have an idea," he said. "Wait here. I'll be right back." Richard returned to the pillars. He went to one that held a crackled-glass bowl upon a large square of black cloth.
"What good is that going to do?" Raina asked, when he came back holding the cloth out for them.
"There's too much to see. I'm going to use this as a blindfold, so I won't see all the things I don't want to see."'s face twisted with incredulity. "If you're blindfolded, then how are you going to see the thing we're looking for?"
"With magic. I'm going to try to let my gift guide me. Sometimes it works that way-through need. All these books are too confusing. If I'm blindfolded, I won't see them, and I'll be able to feel the one I'm looking for. At least, that's what I hope."gazed out over all the books. "Well, you are the Lord Rahl. You have magic. If it has a chance of getting us out of spending the night in here, then I say do it."placed the black cloth over his eyes and began tying its tails behind his head. "Just guide me and keep me from touching anything. Don't forget what I said about you two not touching anything, either."
"Don't worry about us. Lord Rahl." Raina said. "We're not about to touch anything." When he finished tying the blindfold over his eyes, Richard turned his head this way and that. testing to make sure that he couldn't see. He rubbed a finger over the starburst on his wristband.world was pitch-black. He sought the inner peace, the inner calm. where dwelled his gift.the plague was started by magic from the Temple of the Winds, then maybe they had a chance to halt it. If he did nothing, then untold thousands of people were going to die. He needed that book.thought about the boy he had watched die. About the little girl. Lily. who told him about the Sister of the Dark showing her the book. That was how the plague started. He knew it was.precious child had the tokens on her. Richard hadn't inquired, but he knew that she. at least, would be dead by now. He couldn't bear to inquire. He needed that book.put a foot out. "Nudge me with your fingers if I'm about to run into anything. Try not to talk, but if you must, don't be afraid to speak up."felt their fingers lightly touch his arm as he stepped forward. They guided him with that touch, keeping him from colliding with the towering stacks of books as he waded deeper into the maze.didn't know what it was he should feel. He didn't know if it was magic. a hunch, or his imagination guiding him. By the way he seemed to he winding up and down aisles and snaking through the stacks, he feared it was no more than his imagination. He tried to ignore the things that kept his thoughts skipping about and running in every direction.tried to concentrate on the book and his need to find it. Thinking of the sick children, he was able to focus better. They needed him. They were helpless.felt himself jerk to a halt. He wondered why. He turned left when he expected that he was going to turn right. It had to be the gift. With that thought, his thoughts scattered in every direction again. He focused once more.two Mord-Sith forcibly snatched his arm to halt him. He understood. Another step, and he would have collided with a stack.which way he would be turned, he found himself squatting instead. His arm lifted and he reached out.
"Careful," Berdine whispered. "Its a big. irregular stack. Be careful, or you'll knock it over."nodded, not wanting to distract himself by answering with words. He was concentrating on feeling the object of his need. He felt it near. His fingers lightly brushed the books, running down the stack, touching the bindings of some and the pages of others because they were turned around the other way. His fingers stopped on a binding.
"This one." He tapped the leather binding. "This one. What does it say?" Berdine propped a hand on his thigh to support herself as she leaned in. "It's High D'Haran, Something about the Temple of the Winds-'Tagenricht osf fuer Mosst Verlaschendreckmch Greschlechten. "
"Temple of the Winds Inquisition and Trial," Richard translated in a whisper. "We've found it."47, the sliph said.let go the silken essence and pulled a deep breath of the alien air. The dim world of the sliph's well down in the Keep whirled around her. Stone of the walls and floor finally settled in her vision. The dome overhead seemed to slow its spinning.unexpected waited in the sliph's room.back in the chair, with her feet propped up on the table, sat a figure in red leather. Kahlan sat down, dangling her feet over the edge of the stone wall, to gather her senses.front legs of the chair thunked down. "Well, well, the wandering Mother Confessor returns at last."hopped down onto the floor. She almost lost her footing with the way it seemed to twist and tilt. "Cara, what are you doing down here?"gripped Kahlan under her arm. "You better sit down until you regain your feet."
"I'm all right." Kahlan glanced over her shoulder to the silver face behind her. "Thank you, sliph."
"Do you wish to travel?" The sliph's haunting voice echoed off the walls and dome overhead for a long moment.
"No, I've had enough traveling for the time being. I'm going to stay here." "When you wish to travel, call me, and we will travel. You will be pleased." "I don't know about that," Kahlan muttered as the sliph seemed to melt back into her well.
"She's a spooky companion to have down here," Cara said. "She invited me to travel with her, too, and then told me I didn't have the magic required. She comes and stares at me with that eerie smile." "Cara, what are you doing down here?"leaned Kahlan back against the sliph's well. She gave Kahlan the strangest look as she shook her head to herself.
"When Lord Rahl read your letter, it didn't take him long to figure out what you had done. Berdine told him how you had brought us here to look for that book on the trial record. He came down here, but the sliph wouldn't tell him where she had taken you.
"Lord Rahl said that now that he knew the sliph was not sleeping, as he had thought, it wasn't safe to leave her alone. He said that others, like the Sister and Marlin, could come through." Kahlan hadn't thought about that, about another one of Jagang's minions coming to Aydindril through the sliph. The sliph seemed to have no loyally. She would travel with anyone who had the required price of magic. "So, Richard left you here?"
"He said he couldn't remain down here all the time to guard the sliph." Cara's chin lifted with pride. "He said that a Mord-Sith must guard the well at all times, since we have the power to stop someone with magic. The Lord Rahl has always used the Mord-Sith to protect him against magic."wizards of old obviously had this same problem with the sliph, and had left wizards like Kolo down here to guard her. Kolo said that the enemy sometimes arrived suddenly by way of the sliph, and that only the quick reactions of the one on guard had prevented disaster.
"You mean he brought you down here and just left you?" "No. He searched for hours until he found a way without magic so we could get down here on our own. He didn't want to have to bring each of us down here for our turn, and he didn't want us trapped down here. either. We have to take shifts. I don't like it. because we should be close to Lord Rahl in order to guard him, not this.. silver thing, but I guess that we are guarding Lord Rahl by doing this, so I agreed to it."found her feet steady at last. "If we had known the sliph was awake, and had been guarding her before, then Marlin wouldn't have been able to come to try to assassinate Richard, and the Sister wouldn't have been able to start the plague."'s chest constricted with a hot. cutting pang of regret. They could have prevented the whole thing. All the awful things she had learned would not be threatening her people, her world, and her love. The realization of the chance lost left her nauseous.
"Lord Rahl also wanted us to wait until your return from the witch woman, in case you needed help." "Richard knew where I went?"
"The sliph wouldn't tell him. but he said he knew anyway. He said you went to the witch woman." "He knew, and he didn't chase after me?"pulled her long blond braid over her shoulder. "I was surprised, too. I asked him why he wouldn't go after you. He said that he loved you: he did not own you." "Really? Richard said that?"
"Yes." A smirk tightened Cara's lips. "You are training him well. Mother Confessor. I approve. And then he kicked a chair. I think he hurt his foot, but he denies it." "So, Richard is angry with me?"rolled her eyes. "Mother Confessor, this is Richard we are talking about. The man is fool in love with you. He wouldn't be angry with you if you told him to marry Nadine instead of you."swallowed at the renewed twist of pain. "Why would you say that?" Cara frowned. "I only meant he could never be angry with you. no matter what. You were supposed to laugh, not jump like I had poked you with my Agiel. Mother Confessor, he loves you: he is worried sick, but he is not angry with you." "What about kicking the chair?"stroked her long blond braid and smirked again. "He claimed the chair gave him just cause."
"I see." Kahlan couldn't seem to find pleasure in Cara's sense of humor. "How long have I been gone?"
"Not quite two days. And I expect you to tell me how you managed to slip past those D'Haran guards out there by the bridge." "It was snowing. They didn't see me."didn't look to believe it. She was giving Kahlan that odd look again. "And did you kill the witch woman?"
"No." Kahlan changed the subject. "What has Richard been doing while I was gone?"
"Well, first he asked the sliph to take him to the Temple of the Winds, but she said she didn't know that place and couldn't take him there, so he rode to Mount Kymermosst-"
"He went there?" Kahlan snatched Cara's arm. "What did he find?" "Nothing. He said that there was nothing to find. He said that if the Temple of the Winds was once there, it is now gone."released Cara's arm. "He went to Mount Kymermosst, and he's back already?"
"You know Lord Rahl; when he gets something in his head, he charges after it. The men who went with him said they rode hard. They slept little and rode much of the night. Lord Rahl expected you to return last night and wanted to be back for you. When you did not return as expected, he paced and fretted, but still he did not go after you. Whenever he looked like he was about to change his mind, he read your letter again, and went back to pacing instead."
"I guess my letter was a little strong," Kahlan said as she glanced down at the floor.
"Lord Rahl showed it to me." Cara's face was unreadable. "Sometimes it is necessary to threaten men, or they get to thinking that they are the ones who say what will be. You dissuaded him of that idea with your threats."
"I didn't threaten him." Kahlan thought that her tone sounded too much like a plea.watched Kahlan's eyes for a moment. "You are probably right. The chair must have given Lord Rahl cause, as he said."
"I did what I had to do. Richard would understand that. I guess I'd better go explain it to him."gestured behind, to the door. "You just missed him. He was here not long ago."
"He came to see if I was back? He must be worried sick." "Berdine told him about the book you were searching for. He came here and found it."blinked in astonishment. "He found it? But we looked. It wasn't there. How did he find it?"
"He went to a place he called the First Wizard's enclave, and found it there." Kahlan's jaw dropped. "He went in there? He went into the First Wizard's enclave? Alone, without me? He shouldn't have gone there! That's a dangerous place!"
"Really." Cara folded her arms. "And of course you would never do anything so foolish as to get it in your head to go run off alone to a dangerous place. Maybe you should reprimand Lord Rahl for his impulsive behavior, since you are so prudent and above such reckless conduct yourself."echo of Cara's voice lingered uncomfortably before it died out. Kahlan understood. Even though Richard did as she had asked by not coming after her, Cara had tried. Even though she didn't like magic. Cara had tried to go to protect Kahlan.
"Cara." she said in a meek voice. "I'm sorry I tricked you. too." Cara shrugged, but still showed no emotion. "I am just a guard. You have no obligation to me."
"Yes. I do. You are not 'just a guard. You may be our protector, but you are more. I consider you my friend. You are a sister of the Agiel. I should have told you what I was doing, but I feared that if I did. Richard would be angry with you for not stopping me. I didn't want that."said nothing. Still, she showed no emotion. Kahlan breached the uncomfortable silence. "Cara, I'm sorry. I guess I was afraid you would try to stop me. I tricked you. You're a sister of the Agiel: I should have trusted you and taken you into my confidence. Please, Cara. I was wrong. I beg you forgive me."smile finally spread on Cara's face. "We are sisters of the Agiel. I forgive you."managed a small smile. "Do you think Richard will be as understanding as you?"let out an amused grunt. "Well. you have better ways to persuade him to forgive you. It is not so difficult to melt a man's frown."
"I only wish I had good news, so I could bring a smile to his face. but I don't." She paused at the doorway. "What has Nadine been up to while I've been gone?"
"Well, I've been down here guarding the sliph much of the time, but from what I've seen, she has been giving the staff herbs to try to protect them. and to use in smoking the palace. It's a good thing the place is made mostly of stone or it would have been burned down by now. She has been conferring with Drefan and helping him in talking to the staff and others who come for advice.
"Lord Rahl asked her to go out to visit herb sellers and such. to make sure they are not hucksters out to swindle people who are in fear for their lives. The city seems to be sprouting shameless mountebanks the way the sudden warmth seems to be bringing green grass. Nadine also gives reports to Lord Rahl. but he has been gone much of the time. and as busy as she seems to be trying to help people, the visits since he returned are short." Kahlan tapped the side of her fist against the doorway.
"Thanks, Cara." She looked into the other's blue eyes. "There are rats down here. Are you all right?" "There are worse things than rats." "Indeed there are," Kahlan whispered.48was late, and with the dark, people on the streets didn't recognize her. Without her usual escort of guards, they had no reason to give her a second look, no reason to suspect she was the Mother Confessor out among them. Just as well; there were some people who wished the Mother Confessor harm. Mostly, people kept their distance from her, as they did with everyone else, hoping to keep the plague from themselves.Cara had said, there were hucksters everywhere, hawking potions to ward off the plague, or to cure your loved ones already stricken. Others strolled the streets with trays, held up on straps over their shoulders, neatly laid out with amulets possessing magic to protect against the plague. Kahlan remembered seeing some of these same people not long ago selling the same amulets as magic to find a husband or wife, or to enthrall an unfaithful spouse. Old women with small carts or simple wooden stands sold carved spell-invested plaques made to hang over the door to a home as a sure way to keep the plague from entering the house. As late as it was, business seemed brisk. Even the vendors selling meats and produce extolled the healthful virtues of their goods and their value in promoting continued health, if eaten regularly, of course.would send the soldiers out to put a stop to some of these swindlers, but she knew that such intervention would likely be viewed with hostility on the part of the buyers. If she tried to use the army to stop such foolish practices, desperate people would concoct theories about those in power wanting to stop the cures so that the decent, working folk would get the plague. Despite common sense, or evidence to the contrary, many people believed that those in power were always scheming to harm them; if they only knew the truth.Kahlan were to order the sale of these items stopped, the «cures» would be sold in secret, and for a higher price. No matter how insupportable the claims of these cures, their benefits would be vehemently supported as self-evident truth.'s First Rule: people would believe any lie, either because they wanted to believe it was true. or because they feared it was. These people were desperate, and would become more so, yet. Many wanted to believe.tried to imagine what she would do if Richard had the plague. Would she be despairing enough to put her faith in such trickery, hoping against hope that it would save him? Sometimes hope was all people had. Groundless as it was, she couldn't take that hope away from them: it was all they had, and all they could do. It was up to Kahlan and Richard to do that which would help these people. As she made her way through the familiar splendor of the Confessors' Palace, on her way to find Richard, Kahlan paused at the open double doors to a large room used for formal receptions. The room was a calming blue color, with dark blue drapes over the tall, narrow windows. The granite floor had a starburst pattern of darker and lighter stone radiating out from the center. Lamps on cherrywood stands around the edge of the room lent a mellow light to the gathering hall. The table where small foods were sometimes set out for guests now held only an array of candles.'s attention had been drawn by the sound of Drefan's voice. He stood to the right, before the table with the candles, speaking to perhaps fifty or sixty people. They sat cross-legged on the floor before him, listening with rapt attention as he spoke of the way of health, of keeping the body sound by being in touch with the inner self.of the people nodded absently as they listened to Drefan explaining how, by defiling their bodies with unhealthy thoughts and actions, people opened the pathway for sickness to enter. He told them that the Creator had endowed them with the ability to fight off things such as the plague, if only they would do as nature provided, by eating the right foods that would strengthen the auras that defended the body, and by using inner reflection to direct the vigor of various energy fields to their proper function in harmony with the whole.of the things he said made sense: not eating foods that you knew gave you headaches, because it interfered with the mind's ability to regulate the body: not eating foods that you knew caused pains and cramps in the gut. because it interfered with the body's ability to digest the good foods you needed: not eating heavy meals right before sleeping, because it interfered with your body getting the rest it needed to remain strong, and how all of these things disrupt the auras that give us strength and protect health.marveled openly that Drefan could make it all so simple for them to understand. They spoke as if they had been blind, and now for the first time had vision. They watched with unblinking eyes as he went on. telling them that we had within us the power to control our own bodies, and that disease could only afflict us if we allowed it to. He spoke of herbs and foods that purged poisons from the body and left people truly healthy for perhaps the first time since their birth.people weren't listening to Lord Rahl's brother, they were listening to Drefan Rahl, High Priest of the Raug'Moss.one, they followed the High Priest's instructions when he told them to close their eyes and draw the breath of life and healthy steams through their noses and down into their inner core by using the muscles low in their bellies. He explained how to let it reach deep into the source of the power of each person's unique aura. to draw out the poisons from the furthest, darkest coiners of their beings and expel it out through the mouth, to be replaced with a renewing breath of life drawn in again through the nose., Kahlan guessed, that these people would come to Drefan for advice that might help them, and at least sounded like it could do no harm. than spend their savings on false hope from the hucksters in the street. Paying attention to their body's needs with things like proper food and rest seemed sound advice.they all drew the slow, deep breaths in through their noses. Drefan turned his head and locked his Darken Rahl eyes on Kahlan, as if he had known all along that she had been standing there outside the doorway. He gave her a kind-hearted smile that sparkled benevolently in his blue eyes. She could see why these people put their trust in him. She made herself return a little smile. Kahlan remembered the talk she had had with Shota about how difficult it was to banish unpleasant memories. Kahlan wished she could forget Drefan's hand between Cara's legs.was trying to help people. He was doing everything he could to halt the plague. He was a great healer-the High Priest of the Raug'Moss. She tried to put the image of him comforting those sick children in place of the memory of his forcing his big hand down between Cara's legs.had explained, at the time, why he had done that to Cara. He had saved Cara's life. A Mord-Sith, screaming in pain, then unconscious, and Drefan had brought her back. Richard found comfort in Drefan, as did everyone else. Kahlan broke eye contact with him and continued on her way to find Richard.Bashkar, the Jarian ambassador staying at the Confessors' Palace while he waited for further signs from the stars, further word from above, before surrendering, paused at a balcony as she passed below. As was his habit, he drew back his coat and rested his hand on his hip. It displayed the wicked dagger he wore at his belt. Oftentimes, in conversation, he would also put a boot up on a chair or stool and casually rest his forearm on his knee. It provided those in conversation with him the opportunity to see also the knife he kept in his boot.more she saw Tristan in the palace, watching her with his cunning eyes, the more she disliked his presence. If there was a man who acted more childish, Kahlan didn't know him.watched silently as she hurried on her way. Kahlan was glad he was up on a balcony, so that she wouldn't have to waste time playing word games with him.and Egan gave Kahlan an odd look as she greeted them before whisking through the door to the small room Richard liked to use to study Kolo's journal. He was sitting with his head in his hands, his fingers buried in his hair, as he read from another book that lay open on the table. Two candles and a lamp on the table beside him provided light, and a small, fragrant fire of birch logs added warmth to the cozy room. His cloak lay over a nearby chair, but he wore his sword.looked up. When he saw her, he shot to his feet. Without the gold cloak, he was like a big, black shadow gliding across the room. Before he could speak, Kahlan rushed into his arms.pressed the side of her face to his chest as she hugged him. "Please, Richard, don't yell at me. Please, just hold me." Tears choked her voice. "Please, don't say anything-just hold me."was ecstasy being with him again. It never failed to astound her, whenever she saw him, just how much she needed and loved him.'s arms enclosed her in comforting shelter. She listened to the fire crackle, and the sound of his heart under her ear. She could almost imagine, in the safety of his strong arms. that everything was fine, and that they had a future. She remembered her mother's words. Confessors don't have love, Kahlan. They have duty.clutched his black shirt as she fought a losing battle to hold back tears. He held her and stroked her hair. She had asked him to hold her and not speak, and he was doing just that. That only made her feel worse.must have questions. He must want to say something to her, to tell her how relieved he was to see her sate, to tell her how worried he had been, to ask her where she had been and what she had found out, to tell her what he had found, to yell at her; but he didn't. Instead, without protest, he did as she had asked, relegating his own desires to secondary, after hers.would she go on without his love? How would she draw a breath? How would she manage to make herself go on until she was old and could finally finish her duty and at last die?
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