Temple of the Winds

"The dream walker found a prophecy that could be used to defeat his foe, but to ignite if, he needed magic from the winds.

"The dream walker found a way to force this soul to betray her master, the Keeper, yet still carry out the dream walker's wishes. He did this by at first allowing her to maintain her oath to the Keeper and by relegating himself to the role of her secondary master, her master in your world alone. Then. with the use of a double bind, he forced her to betray her primary master. She was able to tread Betrayer's Hall, with her charge from the dream walker, and her obligation to if. intact. In this way. the dream walker violated the winds and obtained what he wanted.

"Those who sent the temple into the winds did, however, make contingency' plans, should such a thing happen. The red moon was the ignition of these plans.»

The very word «betray» had made Kahlan's heart pound. "Is this the way we must gain entrance to the winds?"

The spirit considered her. as if weighing her soul. "Once the Temple of the Winds has been violated, that path is closed, and another must be used. But this is not your concern: the winds will issue their requirements in conjunction with the precepts of balance. The five spirits guarding the winds will dictate the path accordingly.

"Honored grandfather, how can a place issue instructions? You make it seem as if the winds are alive.»

"I no longer exist in the world of life, yet, when called, I can pass information through the veil.

Kahlan's head hurt from trying to understand. She wished Richard were here to ask questions. She feared to miss the important one.

"But, honored grandfather, you can do this because you are a spirit. You lived once. You have a soul. " The spirit began fading.

"The boundary, the veil, was damaged by this event in the winds. I can remain no longer. The skrin, the guardians of the boundary between worlds, pull me hack. Because the violation in the winds altered the balance, we cannot return again in a gathering unless the balance is restored. ' The spirit faded until she could hardly see it.

"Grandfather, I must know more. Is the plague itself magic?" The voice came from a great distance. "The magic sent into the winds is of vast power. To use it fully requires vast knowledge. It was used without understanding what was released, or how to control it. The plague was begun by this magic, much as a bolt of lightning from a wizard is magic, but if the lightning strikes a tinder grassland, the resulting firestorm is not magic. The plague is like this. It was begun with magic, but it is now simply a plague, as others before-random and unpredictable-yet heated by magic.

"The plague is in Aydindril, and here. Will it stay confined?" "No."

Jagang didn't realize what he had done. This could end up killing him, too, if allowed to burn out of control.

"Is it. as you showed me, already in other places? Has it already been started in these oilier places, too?"

The light of the spirit extinguished like the weak flame of a lamp gone out. «Yes,» came the distant, echoing whisper.

They had hoped that they could confine the plague to Aydindril. That was hope lost. The whole of the Midlands, the whole of the New World, was about to be consumed in the firestorm started by that spark of magic from the Temple of the Winds.

In the center of the circle, where the spirit had been, the air swirled as the spirit vanished back into the underworld.

In the distance, in the underworld, Kahlan heard the soft echo of laughter from a different spirit. The malevolent chuckle made her skin crawl.

As Kahlan came out of the trance of the gathering, the elders were there, standing around her. They were more used to this altered state than she; her head still spun sickeningly. Elder Breginderin reached down, offering her his hand to help her up.

As she took his hand. under the covering of black and white mud, she saw the tokens on his legs. She gazed up into his face, at his kindly smile of assurance. He would be dead within the day.

Her friend, Savidlin, was there, holding out her clothes. Kahlan, despite the mud, suddenly felt very naked. She started pulling on her clothes, trying not to betray her embarrassment, and at the same time chiding herself for such mundane concerns in the face of the impending catastrophe. The gathering was about calling the spirits of the dead, not about being man or woman. Still, she was the only one of the latter, and they were all the former.

"Thank you for coming, Mother Confessor, " the Bird Man said. "We know this homecoming is not the one of joy we all wished.