Temple of the Winds

"Because the Temple of the Winds is gone. The wizards who did it were put on trial. There are records in the Keep of all the trials held there. I want to find that record. Tomorrow, Richard can read it over, after he's gotten some sleep. It could help him."

"Makes sense, going to the Wizard's Keep after dark. I will go get Berdine and some food and meet you in the stables. We'll make a picnic of it," Cara said with blithe sarcasm.

CHAPTER 34

Kahlan batted the big, wet snowflakes from her lashes and pulled the hood of her cloak forward as she considered the foolishness of not thinking to change out of her white Confessor's dress. She stood in the stirrups, reached between her legs, and pulled more of the back of the dress under her bare legs to protect them from the cold saddle. Fortunately, her boots were high enough that hiking up the dress to sit in the saddle didn't expose her calves to the wind. She was glad, though, to be back on Nick, the big warhorse her Galean soldiers had given her. Nick was an old friend.

Cara and Berdine looked just as uncomfortable as she, but Kahlan knew that it was because they feared going to a place of magic. They had been in the Wizard's Keep before. They didn't want to return. Back at the stables they had tried to talk her out of it. Kahlan had reminded them of the plague.

Nick's ears twitched even before the dark shapes of soldiers appeared out of the swirling snow to challenge them. Kahlan knew they had reached the stone bridge; the soldiers were posted just to the city side of it.

The men sheathed their swords when Cara growled at them, pleased to have someone handy upon whom to vent her foul mood.

"Terrible night to be out. Mother Confessor," one of the soldiers said, happy to address someone other than the Mord-Sith. "Terrible night to be stationed out here," she said.

The man looked back over his shoulder. "Any night you're stationed on watch up here at the Keep is a terrible night."

Kahlan smiled. "The Keep looks sinister, soldier, but it's not so bad as it looks." "If you say so. Mother Confessor. Myself, I think I'd just as soon stand guard over the underworld itself." "No one has tried to get in the Keep, have they?"

"If they had, you'd have heard about it, or found our bodies. Mother Confessor." Kahlan urged her big stallion on. Nick snorted and surged ahead on the slick snow. She trusted him in such conditions and let him lead the way. Cara and Berdine both swayed easily in their saddles as they followed behind. Back in the stables, Cara had snatched her horse's bit, looked the animal in the eye, and ordered it not to give her any trouble. Kahlan had the odd feeling that the bay mare understood the warning.

Kahlan could just see the stone walls at the sides of the bridge. Just as well that the horses couldn't see the chasm beyond. She knew Nick wouldn't spook, but she wasn't sure about the other two. The sheer rock walls of the yawning abyss dropped for thousands of feet. Unless you had wings, there was only this one way into the Wizard's Keep. In the snowy darkness, the vast Keep, its soaring walls of dark stone, its ramparts, bastions, towers, connecting passageways, and bridges all blended into the inky darkness of the side of the mountain into which it was built. To those without magic or those who didn't understand magic, the Keep presented an unmistakable spectacle of sinister menace.

Kahlan had grown up in Aydindril and had been up to the Keep uncountable times, more often than not, alone. Even as a child, she had been allowed to go alone to the Keep, as were the other young Confessors. When she was little, wizards had tickled her and chased her through the halls, laughing with her. The Keep was a second home to her: comfortably safe, welcoming, and protective.

She knew, though, that there were dangers in the Keep, just as in any home. A home could be a safe, welcoming place, as long as one wasn't foolish enough to walk into the hearth. There were places in the Keep you didn't walk into, either.

It was only when she was older that she no longer went to the Keep alone. When a Confessor became older, it was dangerous to go anywhere alone. After a Confessor had begun taking confessions, it wasn't safe for her to be without the protection of her wizard.

When she was older, a Confessor earned enemies. Family of the condemned rarely believed that a loved one had committed violent crimes, or they blamed Confessors for the man's death sentence, even though she was only the means of confirming its justice.

There were always attempts on the lives of Confessors. There was no shortage of people, from commoners to kings, wanting a Confessor dead.

"How are we going to go through the shields without Lord Rahl?" Berdine asked. "His magic enabled us to pass through, before. We won't be able to get through the shields."