Soul of the Fire

"Sometimes, in madness resides genius. Kahlan, I don't know where to draw the line. In one way not knowing about magic is a liability, but in another it means I'm not burdened by preconceived notions, the way the wizards at the Keep were, so I might recognize the truth in his words where they did not.

"You see, Joseph Ander viewed magic not so much as a set of requirements-you know, a pinch of this, this word three, times while turning round on your left foot, and all that kind of thing.

"He saw magic as an art form-a means of expression."

Kahlan was frowning. "I don't follow. Either you cast a spell properly to invoke it, or it doesn't work. Like I call my power with a touch. Like the way we called the chimes by fulfilling specific requirements of the magic, thereby releasing it."

He knew that with her magical ability, her background, and her learning about magic, she would have the same problem the other wizards did. Richard felt just a trace of the frustration Joseph Ander must have felt. In that, too, he understood the man that much better-understood a tiny bit of the frustration of having people tell you the hard facts of something when you knew better, yet couldn't get them to see the abstract concept of the greater whole right before them.

As did Joseph Ander, Richard thought to try again.

"Yes, I know, and I'm not saying that doesn't work, but he believed there was more. That magic could be taken to a higher level-to a plane beyond that which most people with the gift used."

Now she really was frowning. "Richard, that's madness."

"No, I don't think so." He picked up the journey book.

"This is in answer to something unrelated they asked- but you have to hear this to understand the way Joseph Ander thinks."

He read to her the crux of the translation.

" 'A wizard who cannot truly destroy cannot truly create. " Richard tapped the book. "He was talking about a wizard like the gifted now, a wizard with only the Additive-like Zedd. Ander didn't even consider a man to have the gift, if he didn't have both sides. He thought of such a man as simply an aberration, and hopelessly disadvantaged."

Richard went back to the journey book and read on.

" 'A wizard must know himself or he risks working ill magic that harms, his own free will. That's him talking about the creative aspects of magic beyond the structure of it. 'Magic intensifies and concentrates passions, strengthening not only such things as joy, but ruinous passions, too, and in this way they may become obsessions, and unbearable unless released. »

"Sounds like he's trying to justify being destructive," she said.

"I don't think so. I think he's on to something important, a higher balance, as it were."

Kahlan shook her head, clearly not catching what he saw, but he could think of no way to get it across to her, so he read on.

"This is important. 'Imagination is what makes a great wizard, for with it, he is able to transcend the limitations of tradition and go beyond the structure of what now exists into the higher realm of creating the very fabric of magic. »

"That's what you were talking about? About him thinking of it as an… an art form? A means of expression? Like he's the Creator Himself-weaving a cloth of magic out of nothing?"

"Exactly. But listen to this. This, I believe, may be the most important thing Joseph Ander has to say. When the chimes ceased being a problem, the other wizards cautiously asked what he did. You can almost read the anxiety in their words. This is his terse reply to their question of what he had done to the chimes.

" 'A Grace might rise in obedience to an inventive spell. »

Kahlan rubbed her arms, clearly disturbed by the answer. "Dear spirits, what does that mean?"

Richard leaned close to her, "I think it means he dreamed up something-a new magic, outside the parameters of the original conjuring that brought the chimes into this world. Magic to suit the situation, and himself.

"In other words, Joseph Ander got creative."

Kahlan's green eyes cast about. He knew she was considering the depths of aberration with which they were dealing. This was the madman who had finally inflicted the chimes on them.

'The world is coming apart," she whispered to herself, "and you're talking about Joseph Ander using magic as an art form?"

"I'm just telling you what the man said." Richard turned to the last page. "I skipped, ahead. I wanted to see the last thing he wrote the wizards."

Richard studied the High D'Haran words again to be certain of the translation, and then read Joseph Ander's words.

" 'In the end, I have concluded I must reject the Creator and the Keeper both. I instead create my own solution, my own rebirth and death, and in so doing will always protect my people. And so farewell, for I shall lay my soul on troubled waters, and thus watch over for all time that which I have so carefully wrought, and which is now safeguarded and inviolate. »