Confessor: Chainfire Trilogy Part 3

Looking to be deep in thought, Jagang started toward the doorway. Two of the elite guards pulled open the double hanging, allowing their emperor to walk through the opening without pause. Kahlan, knowing that if she didn't stay close at hand the pain of the collar was only an instant away, followed him out before he gave her that reminder. Behind her, Sisters Ulicia and Armina hurried to keep up.

The big men of the elite guard outside the tent casually stepped away to each side, making way for the emperor. The other soldiers-Kahlan's special guards-marched back and forth just beyond them.

Standing close behind Jagang in the cold dawn, Kahlan rubbed her arms, trying to work up some warmth. A wall of dark clouds towered to the west. Even through the stink of the encampment, she could smell the rain carried on the damp air. The thin clouds fleeing to the east were stained bloodred in the sunrise of the first day of winter.

Jagang stood silently considering the immense plateau in the distance. Atop that towering tableland was the People's Palace. While certainly a palace, it was vast almost beyond belief. It was also a city, really, a city that was the seat of power for all of D'Hara. That city stood as the last vestige of resistance to the Imperial Order's lust to rule the world and enforce their beliefs on mankind. The army of the Order spread like a poisonous black sea across the Azrith Plain around the plateau, leaving it isolated from any hope of rescue or salvation.

The first rays of light were just touching the distant palace, making the marble walls, columns, and towers glow golden in the sunrise. It was a breathtakingly beautiful sight. To all these people of the Order, though, the sight of the palace, of such beauty yet untouched by their lecherous hands, only inspired jealousy and hate. They lusted to destroy the place, to blot such majesty out of existence, to insure that man never again aspired to such merit.

Kahlan had been up in that palace-Lord Rahl's palace-when the four Sisters had taken her there to have her steal the boxes out of the Garden of Life. The splendor of the place was awe-inspiring. Kahlan had hated to take those boxes from Lord Rahl's garden. They didn't belong to the Sisters, and, worse, the Sisters were driven by evil intent.

On that altar where the boxes had sat, Kahlan left in their place her most precious possession. It was a small carving of a woman, her head thrown back, her fists at her sides, her back arched as if opposition to a force trying to subdue her. Kahlan could not imagine where she would have gotten such a beautiful thing.

She was heartbroken to have to leave that carving behind, but she had to in order to fit the last two boxes in her pack. Had she not, Sister Ulicia would have killed her. As much as she loved that small statue, she loved her life more. She hoped that Lord Rahl, when he saw it, would somehow understand that she was sorry for taking what was his.

Now Jagang had captured the Sisters and he had possession of the sinister black boxes. Two of them, anyway. Sister Tovi had started ahead with the first of the three boxes. Now she was dead and the box she'd had was missing. Kahlan had killed Sister Cecilia. That left Sisters Ulicia and Armina, out of her four original captors. Of course, Jagang had other Sisters under his control.

"Who could put a box in play?" Jagang asked as he stared off toward the palace atop the plateau. It wasn't entirely clear if he was asking the Sisters for an answer, or if he was merely thinking out loud.

Sisters Ulicia and Armina shared a look. The elite guards stood like stone sentinels. The special guards marched slowly back and forth, the closest one taking note of Kahlan, giving her a superior, smug glance each time he turned to march in the opposite direction. Kahlan knew the man, knew his habits. He was one of her less intelligent guards, substituting arrogance for competence.

"Well," Sister Ulicia finally said into the uneasy silence, "it would take someone with both sides of the gift-both Additive and Subtractive Magic."

"Other than the Sisters of the Dark you have here, Excellency," Sister Armina added, "I'm not sure who could accomplish such a task."

Jagang shot a look back over his shoulder. The soldier was not the only one who foolishly harbored an attitude of arrogant superiority. Jagang was a lot smarter than Sister Armina; she just wasn't smart enough to know it. She was, however, smart enough to recognize the look in Jagang's eyes, the look that said he knew she was lying. She quailed, momentarily struck silent by the emperor's glare.

Sister Ulicia, also a great deal smarter than Sister Armina, quickly recognized the danger of the situation and spoke up.

"There are only a couple of people it could be, Excellency."

"It had to have been Richard Rahl," Sister Armina was quick to put in, eager to redeem herself.