Naked Empire

"In order for Richard to return from the place where he had to go to stop the plague," Kahlan said, leaving out terrible portions of the story, "he had to take the infection of plague. Had he not, he would have lived, but lived alone for the rest of his life and died alone without ever seeing me or anyone else again. He took the plague into himself so that he could come back and tell me he loved me."

Jennsen stared, wide-eyed. "Didn't you know he loved you?"

Kahlan smiled a small bitter smile. "Don't you think your mother would come back from the world of the dead to tell you she loves you, even though you know she does?"

"Yes, I suppose she would. But why would you have to become infected just to return? And return from where?"

"It was a place, called the Temple of the Winds, that was partially in the underworld." Richard gestured up the pass. "Something like that boundary was part of the world of the dead but was still here, in this world. You might say that the Temple of the Winds was something like that. It was hidden within the underworld. Because I had to cross a boundary of sorts, through the underworld, the spirits set a price for me to return to the world of life."

"Spirits? You saw spirits there?" Jennsen asked. When Richard nodded, she asked, "Why would they set such a price?"

"The spirit who set the price of my return was Darken Rahl."

Jennsen's jaw dropped.

"When we found Lord Rahl," Cara said, "he was almost dead. The Mother Confessor went on a dangerous journey through the sliph, all alone, to find what would cure him. She succeeded in bringing it back, but Lord Rahl was moments away from death."

"I used the magic I recovered," Kahlan said. "It was something that had the power to reverse the plague that the magic had given him. The magic I invoked to do this was the three chimes."

"Three chimes?" Jennsen asked. "What are they?"

"The chimes are underworld magic. Summoning their assistance keeps a person from crossing over into the world of the dead.

"Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, at the time I didn't know anything else about the chimes. It turns out that they were created during the great war to end magic. The chimes are beings of sorts, but without souls. They come from the underworld. They annul magic in this world."

Jennsen looked confused. "But how can they accomplish such a thing?"

"I don't know how they work, exactly. But their presence in this world, since they are part of the world of the dead, begins the destruction of magic."

"Can't you get rid of the chimes? Can't you find a way to send them back?"

"I already did that," Richard said. "But while they were here, in this world, magic began to fail."

"Apparently," Kahlan said, "what I began that day when I called the chimes into the world of life began a cascade of events that continues to progress, even though the chimes have been sent back to the underworld."

"We don't know that," Richard said, more to Kahlan than to Jennsen.

"Richard is right," Kahlan told Jennsen, "we don't know it for sure, but we have good reason to believe it's true. This boundary locking away Bandakar failed. The timing would suggest that it failed not long after I freed the chimes. One of those mistakes I told you about, before. Remember?"

Jennsen, staring at Kahlan, finally nodded. "But you didn't do it to hurt people. You didn't know it would happen. You didn't know how this boundary would fail, how the Order would go in there and abuse those people."

"Doesn't really make any difference, does it? I did it. I caused it.

Because of me, magic may be failing. I accomplished what the Order is working so hard to bring about. As a result of what I did, all those people in Bandakar died, and others are now out in the world where they will once again do as they did in ancient times-they will begin breeding the gift out of mankind.

"We stand at the brink of the end times of magic, all because of me, because of what I did."

Jennsen stood frozen. "And so you regret what you caused? That you may have done something that will end magic?"

Kahlan felt Richard's arm around her waist. "I only know a world with magic," she finally said. "I became the Mother Confessor-in part-to help protect people with magic who are unable to protect themselves. I, too, am a creature of magic-it's inextricably bound into me. I know profoundly beautiful things of magic that I love; they are a part of the world of life."

"So you fear you may have caused the end of what you love most."

"Not love most." Kahlan smiled. "I became the Mother Confessor because I believe in laws that protect all people, give all individuals the right to their own life. I would not want an artist's ability to sculpt to be stopped, or a singer's voice to be silenced, or a person's mind to be stilled. Nor do I want people's ability to achieve what they can with magic to be stripped from them.