Temple of the Winds

Kahlan pulled her arm out from under her cloak and passed a finger before each man's face. "You will be responsible for endangering Lord Rahl's life. You will be exposing him to harm's view to no purpose. You may be killing him."

The captain looked into the eyes of each of his men. He straightened and rubbed his face as he considered. At last he spoke. "What is it you wish us to do? Swear on our lives?" "No," Kahlan said. "I want you to swear on Lord Rahl's life."

At the captain's lead, the men all went to one knee.

"We give our oath on Lord Rahl's life to tell no one that we saw you again tonight, and further to swear that no one went up to the Keep, except you and your two Mord-Sith earlier." He looked about at his men. "Swear it."

When they had all sworn, the men stood. The captain placed a fatherly hand on Kahlan's shoulder.

"Mother Confessor, I don't know anything about magic, that's Lord Rahl's business, and I don't know what you're up to tonight, but we don't want to lose you, either. You're good for Lord Rahl. Whatever you're about to do, please be careful."

"Thank you, captain. I think you men are the most danger I'll see tonight. Tomorrow is another matter."

"If you are killed, it ends our oath. If you die, we will have to tell Lord Rahl what we know. If that happens, we will be executed."

"No, captain. Lord Rahl wouldn't do something like that. That's why we have to do what we must to protect him. We all need him, lest we be ruled by the Imperial Order. They have no respect for life-it is they who started this plague. They started it among children."

Kahlan swallowed as she stared into the silver face of the sliph. "Yes, I'm ready. What do you want me to do?"

A lustrous metallic hand rose up from the pool and touched the top of the wall. "Come to me," the voice said, echoing around the room. "You do not do. I do."

Kahlan climbed up onto the wall. "And you're sure you can take me to Agaden Reach?"

"Yes. I have been there. You will be pleased." Kahlan didn't know about being pleased. "How long will it take?" The sliph seemed to frown. Kahlan could see herself reflected in the shiny surface of the sliph's face.

"From here to there. That long. I am long enough. I have been there." Kahlan sighed. The sliph didn't seem to understand that she had been asleep for three thousand years, either. What was a day, more or less. to her?

"You won't tell Richard where you took me, will you? I don't want him to know."

The silver face distorted into a sly smile. "None who know me wish others to know. I never betray them. Be at ease: no one will know what we do together. No one will know of your pleasure."

Kahlan's face assumed a perplexed expression. The liquid silver arm came up and slipped around her. The warm, undulating grip held her tight.

"Do not forget: you must breathe me," the sliph said. "Do not be afraid. I will keep you alive when you breathe me. When we reach the other place, you must then breathe me out and breathe in the air. You will be just as afraid to do that as you will be to breathe me, but you must do it or you will die."

Kahlan nodded as she panted. She rocked from one foot to the other. "I remember." She couldn't help fearing to be without air. "All right. I'm ready."

Without further word. the sliph's arm lifted her gently from the wall and plunged with her down into the quicksilver froth. Kahlan's lungs burned. Her eyes were squeezed shut. She had done it before, and knew she must, but she was still terrified to breathe in this liquid silver. Richard had been with her the last time. Alone this time, panic snatched at her. She thought about Shota sending Nadine to marry Richard. Kahlan let the air go from her lungs. She pulled a deep breath, inhaling the sliph's silken essence.

There was no heat, no cold. She opened her eyes and saw light and dark in a single, spectral vision. She felt movement in the weightless void, at once fast and slow, rushing and drifting. Her lungs swelled with the sweet presence of the sliph. It felt as if she were taking the sliph into her soul. Time meant nothing. It was rapture.

CHAPTER 38

Through the warm swirl of color, Zedd could hear Ann calling his name. It was a distant plea, even though she stood only a short distance away. In the flux of power atop his wizard's rock, it might as well have come from another world. In many ways, it did.

Her voice came again, irritating, insistent, urgent. Zedd all but ignored her as he lifted his arms into the rotating smoke of light. Shapes before him hinted at their spirit presence. He was almost through.

Abruptly, the wall of power began to collapse. The sleeves of his robes slipped down his arms as Zedd threw his contorted hands higher, trying to coerce more puissance into the field of magic, trying to stabilize it. He was madly hauling a bucket from the well, and finding it empty.