Temple of the Winds

"Richard, that's a pretty big leap of reasoning, if that's what you're really thinking-to take Kolo's short way of referring to the Temple of the Winds and infer that Shota is talking about the same place."

"When Kolo talks about how everyone was in an uproar, and these men were to be put on trial, he makes it sound as if the winds have a sense of perception."

Kahlan cleared her throat this time. "Richard, are you trying to tell me that Kolo claims that this place, the Temple of the Winds, is sentient?"

She wondered how long it had been since he had gotten any sleep. She wondered if he was thinking clearly. "I said I wasn't sure." "But that's what you mean."

"Well, it sounds. . absurd, when you;;ay it like that. It doesn't sound the same when you read it in High D'Haran. I don't know how to explain the difference, but there is one. Maybe it's just a difference of degree."

"Difference of degree or not. how can a place have a sense of perception? Be sentient?"

Richard sighed. "I don't know. I've been trying to figure that out myself. Why do you think I've been up all night?" "But such a thing is not possible."

His defiant gray eyes turned to her. "The Wizard's Keep is just a place, but it knows when someone violates it. It reacts to that violation by stopping the person, even killing them if it must, to prevent an unauthorized person from entering a place they don't belong."

Kahlan made a face. "Richard, that's the shields. Wizards placed those shields to protect important or dangerous things from being stolen, or to prevent people from going where they could be hurt."

"But they react without anyone having to tell them to, don't they?" "So does a leg-hold trap. That doesn't make them sentient. You mean that the

Temple of the Winds is protected by shields. That's all you're saying, then-that it has shields."

"Yes, and no. It's more than simple shields. Shields only ward. The way Kolo talks about it makes it sound like the Temple of the Winds can. . I don't know, like it can think, like it can decide things when it must." "Decide things. Like what?"

"When he wrote how everyone was? in a panic about the red moon, that was when he said that the team who had sent the Temple of the Winds away had betrayed them." "So. . what?"

"So I think that the Temple of the Winds made the moon turn red." Kahlan watched his eyes, transfixed by the look of conviction in them. "I won't even ask how such a thing would be possible, but for the moment, let's just say you're right. Why would the Temple of the Winds make the moon turn red?" Richard held her gaze. "As a warning." "Of what?"

"The shields in the Keep react by warding. Almost no one can pass through them. I can, because I have the right kind of magic. If someone who wants to do harm has enough magic, and knowledge, they too can get by the shields. What happens, then?" "Well, nothing. They get through."

''Exactly. I think the Temple of the Winds can do more. I think it can know if someone has violated its defenses, and lend a warning." "The red moon," she whispered. "It makes sense."

She put a hand tenderly to his arm. 'Richard, you need to get some rest. You can't infer all this from Kolo's journal alone. It was just one journal, written a long time ago."

He yanked his arm away. "I don't know where else to look. Shota said the wind was hunting me! I don't need to go to sleep to have nightmares."

In that instant, Kahlan knew that it wasn't Shota's message that was driving him. It was the prophecy down in the pit.

The first part of the prophecy said: On the red moon will come the firestorm. It was the second part that truly terrified her.

To quench the inferno, he must seek the remedy in the wind. Lightning will find him on that path, for the one in white, his true beloved, will betray him in her blood.

She realized that the prophecy frightened him more than he had admitted. Someone knocked at the door. "What!" Richard yelled.

Cara opened the door and poked her head in. "General Kerson would like to see you, Lord Rahl."

Richard raked his fingers back through his hair. "Send him in, please, Cara." Richard put a hand to Kahlan's shoulder as he stared off toward the window. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "You're right. I need some sleep. Maybe Nadine can give me some of her herbs to put me to sleep. My mind doesn't seem to want to allow it when I try."

She would sooner let Shota give him something. Kahlan answered with a tender touch, fearing to test her voice at that moment.

General Kerson, wearing a wide grin, marched into the room. He saluted with a fist over his heart before coming to a halt.

"Lord Rahl. Good morning. And a good morning it is. thanks to you." Richard took a sip of his tea. "Why's that?"