Confessor: Chainfire Trilogy Part 3

The woman stepped closer to the drawing. "This here"-she waggled the finger at one of the places Rachel had altered-"how did you do this?"

"Well, I remembered what you told Violet about terminal elements." Rachel didn't say that she knew what a "terminal element" was, but she did. "I remember you saying how that junction locked it, by means of the azimuth angle, to the person to enable the spell to locate them and then attach the proper parcels. I figured that would make it essential to the function of the whole thing. I altered the ratio so that it would change the position linking it to the subject."

Six was nodding slightly as she listened. "Thus interrupting a fundamental support for the positional structure," Six said to herself. "My, my, my." She shook her head thoughtfully as she peered closer at the drawing. She turned a frown on Rachel. "You are not only quite talented, little one, but quite inventive."

Rachel didn't think she had better say thank you. Six, despite the smile on her thin lips, was probably not at all happy to discover all the damage Rachel had done to the drawing-and Rachel understood pretty well how much damage she really had done.

Six pointed the bony finger. "This here. Why did you add that line? Why didn't you simply erase the junction?"

"Because I reasoned that it would only weaken the hold of the spell if I did that." Rachel pointed at several other elements. "These here support the main elements as well, so if I erased that junction it would have still held. Near as I could figure, if I added that variance to it, instead, then it would redirect the link it had established and in that way break it, rather than merely loosen it."

Six shook her head to herself. "What good ears you have. I never knew a child could pick such things up so quickly."

"It wasn't quick," Rachel said. "You had to keep telling Violet those same things over and over. It would be pretty hard not to catch on after a while."

Six chuckled to herself. "Yes, she was quite stupid, wasn't she?"

Rachel didn't answer. She wasn't feeling very smart herself at the moment, what with being so easily caught and all.

Six folded her arms as she paced before the huge drawing, inspecting Rachel's handiwork. She made little noises to herself as she carefully looked over the whole thing. Rachel was disheartened to see that she looked right at every alteration Rachel had made. The witch woman didn't miss a single one.

"Quite impressive," she said without looking back. She flicked a hand in the air. "You've completely undone the whole thing." Six turned to Rachel. "You ruined the entire spell."

"I'm not sorry I did it."

"No, I don't expect you are." She heaved a sigh. "Well, no harm done, really. It served its purpose. I suppose there is no further need for it."

Rachel was disappointed to hear that.

"This hasn't been a total loss, however." Six, her arms still folded, directed a sly look at Rachel. "I've gained myself a new artist. One who is quicker to learn than the last one. You might very well prove to be quite useful. I think I'll keep you alive for the time being. What do you say to that?"

Rachel stiffened her courage. "I won't draw things that hurt people."

The smile returned, wider yet. "Oh, we will see about that."

CHAPTER 46

Exhausted, Kahlan was about ready to fall off the back of the big horse. She could tell by its uneven stride that the lathered horse, too, was ready to drop. Her rescuer, though, appeared determined to ride the horse to death.

"The horse is not going to last at this pace. Don't you think we should stop?"

"No," he said back over his shoulder.

In the faint light of false dawn, Kahlan could at last see the black shapes of a few trees beginning to appear. It was a relief to know that they would soon be free of the open Azrith Plain. Out on the plain, once the sun was up, they could be spotted for miles from any direction. She didn't know if they were being followed, but even if they weren't there were liable to be patrols that could easily catch sight of them.

She really didn't think, though, that Jagang was simply going to allow her to race away without sending special soldiers to hunt her down. He had some grand plan that involved extracting revenge, and he was not simply going to give up on that plan. As soon as the Sisters healed the emperor, he would no doubt be in an ugly mood and determined to do whatever he had to do in order to get her back. Jagang was not a man who tolerated being denied what he wanted.

No doubt the Sisters would be coming after her as well. For all Kahlan knew it was possible they were already on her heels. Even without being able to spot her and Samuel the Sisters could probably use their powers to follow Kahlan's trail.

Perhaps Samuel was wise not to stop.

But if they killed the horse, that would only put them in worse peril.