Blood of the Fold

Lunetta made no effort to resist. She seemed in a numb daze. Brogan's sword lay nearby. Kahlan dove for it. Frantic, she snatched up the sword. She wasn't fast enough.

Galtero sliced his knife across Lunetta's throat.

Before Lunetta had hit the floor, Kahlan ran him through.

As he toppled she yanked the sword free. "Adie, are you hurt?"

"Not on the outside, child."

"I understand, but we don't have time for sorrow right now."

Kahlan grasped Adie's hand, and after carefully checking to insure that Lunetta had indeed removed the shield before they had entered, the two of them stepped out into the hall.

At either end lay the remains of a Sister: their guards. Lunetta had killed them both.

Kahlan heard boots clambering up the steps. She and Adie leapt over the bloody mess at the other end of the hall and dashed down the service stairs and out the back way. They looked about in the darkness, seeing no one, but hearing a commotion in the distance — the clash of steel. Together, hand in hand, they ran for their lives.

Kahlan could feel tears coursing down her face.

With her head down, so the Sister wouldn't recognize her, Ann crossed the distance in the dim light of the vaults. Zedd trailed in her footsteps. The woman behind the table stood with a suspicious frown and marched forward.

"Who is it?" Sister Becky's voice was terse. "No one is allowed down here anymore. All have been warned."

Ann felt a thrust of Han smack her shoulder to bring her to a halt as Sister Becky rushed up before her. When Ann raised her head, Becky's eyes went wide.

Ann drove the dacra into her, and the eyes seemed to light from within before the woman went down.

Zedd leapt out to the side. "You killed her! You just killed a pregnant woman!"

"You," Ann whispered, "condemned her to death. I pray you have ordered the execution of a Sister of the Dark, and not the Light."

Zedd wrench her around by the arm. "Have you lost your mind, woman!"

"I ordered the Sisters of the Light to get out of the palace. I told them they had to escape. I have begged you countless times to let me use the book. I needed to confirm that they have done as ordered. Since you refused to allow me to use the journey book, I am forced to assume my instructions were carried out."

"That's no excuse to kill her! You could have simply incapacitated her!"

"If my orders were followed, then she is a Sister of the Dark. I have no chance in a fair fight with one of them. Neither do you. We couldn't take the risk."

"And what if she's not one of the Keeper's Sisters!"

"I can't risk everyone else on a mere chance."

Zedd's eyes flashed with cold fury. "You are mad."

Ann lifted an eyebrow. “Oh? And you would risk the lives of thousands to fret over one who you are reasonably sure was an enemy bent on stopping you? Did you get to be a Wizard of the First Order by such choices?"

He released her arm. "All right, you've gotten me here. What is it you want?"

"Check the vault first, to make sure there are no others."

They each stole down one side, Ann checking between the rows of bookshelves to watch the old wizard and make sure he was doing as instructed. If he tried to run, she could bring him back by the Rada'Han, and he knew it.

She liked Richard's grandfather, but need demanded she cultivate his hatred. For this, he had to be in a fury, and willingly take the chance she would give him.

When they reached the rear of the gloomy vaults, they had found no others. Ann kissed her naked ring finger and thanked the Creator. She blocked the emotion of having killed Sister Becky, telling herself that she would not be guarding the vaults unless she were sworn to the Keeper, and a pawn of the emperor. She tried not to think of the innocent unborn child she had also killed.

"Now what?" Zedd snapped when they met in the rear, near one of the small, restricted rooms.

"Nathan will do his part. I brought you here to do you part, the other half of what is needed.

' "The palace is charged with a spell cast three thousand years ago. I have been able to determine that it's a bifurcated web."

Zedd's eyebrows went up. His curiosity overcame his indignation. "That's quite a claim. I've never heard of anyone able to spin a bifurcated web. Are you sure?"

"No one now can spin such a web, but the wizards of old had such power."

Zedd drew a thumb down his smooth jaw as he stared off. "Yes, they would have had the power, I imagine." His gaze returned to her eyes. "To what purpose?"

"The spell alters the grounds of the palace. The outer shield, where we left Nathan, is the shell encasing it all. It creates the environment in which this half can exist in this world. The spell here, on this island, is linked to other worlds. Among other things, it alters time. That's why we age more slowly than people living outside the spell."

The old wizard pondered. "Yes, that would explain it."

Ann glanced away from his eyes. "Nathan and I are both almost one thousand years old. I have been Prelate of the Sisters of the Light for nearly eight centuries."