Temple of the Winds

"I have a lot of them," Richard said with sudden venom. "Which do you want to hear?"

"The winds wish to know if you will do this, or not."

"We will do it." Richard growled. "But the spirits had better know that I will have revenge."

''The winds are simply doing the only thing they can do to stop the death caused by what was stolen from them," Cara said with sudden compassion, but still with that haunting quality that told Kahlan that it wasn't Cara speaking, but the winds. "They do not do this out of animosity."

"A wise man once told me that dead is dead, no matter the how." Richard said. He defiantly took Kahlan's hand and walked with her back to the circle of stone, where they each took their places beside their chosen.

Kahlan wore her Confessor's face as she stood beside Drefan. She felt pain for Richard; he had not grown up being taught how to subjugate his emotions, his longings, his desires-for duty. She had had a lifetime to prepare for this final torment. He had had a lifetime to prepare for the opposite, expecting he would have happiness. Kahlan had only briefly felt the warmth of that flame.

With deliberate care, she ignored the words spoken to Nadine, and then to Drefan, words of loyalty and devotion to their mate. Kahlan instead focused her mind on Richard, hoping to pass to him some strength, hoping that he could get through this, so that they could save those stricken and stop the plague. Richard still had to get into the Temple of the Winds. He needed strength.

Soon, the ceremony would be over, and they would head back to Aydindril. Perhaps they would have to wait until Richard went into the temple, and did what he had to do, and then they would return to Aydindril. In any event, it wouldn't be long, and she would be going home, home to the place she had grown up, to a life of duty to which she had been bred. "Yes or no?" the legate said. Kahlan looked up. "What?"

He glanced up at the threatening clouds and then took a hurried breath. "Do you swear to honor this man, to obey him as the master of your home, to care for his needs when he is well, and when he is ill, and to be his loyal wife in this life as long as you both live?"

Kahlan glanced up at Drefan. She wondered what he had sworn to. "I swear to whatever it is that is required of me to stop the plague." "Yes or no?"

Kahlan let out an angry sigh. "Is this what is required of me to stop the magic stolen from the winds from killing people?" "It is."

In her mind, she swore the oath, but to Richard, not Drefan. She would swear words aloud to Drefan, but her heart would always be Richard's. Kahlan's fists tightened. "Then, yes, I swear to do what is required to stop the plague. I swear not one stitch more. nor for one breath longer, than that required of me."

"Then in full view of the spirits, and by the power of the spirits, you are now pronounced husband and wife."

Kahlan doubled over in sudden pain. It felt as if her insides had been torn apart. She tried to pull a breath. It wouldn't come. She saw swirling color before her wide eyes.

Drefan put his arm around her waist. "What is it? Kahlan, what's wrong?" Her legs buckled, but he held her up. "It is the spirits," came the legate and Cara's voice together, "they have bound her power. She is to live this marriage as any woman wed to a man. Her power would have interfered."

"You can't do that!" Richard screamed. "She'll be defenseless! You can't take her power!"

"Her power was not taken, but walled away so she cannot use it for the term of her vows to her husband, Drefan Rahl. It is done," the two said together. "You will now swear to the vows, or you will lose your chance to help the winds."

Kahlan stared at the ground, feeling a swirl of emptiness, feeling the void between her mind and her power, as she listened to similar words spoken before Richard. She couldn't hear his answer, but he must have said what was required because the legate pronounced him and Nadine husband and wife.

They had not only taken her love, but her Confessor's power, as the price of the path. The emptiness threatened to smother her. The profound and sudden sense of loss clouded her mind with blackness darker than the falling night.

Drefan took her arm. "Here, you'd better sit down. Even in this light, as a healer I can see that you are not well."

Kahlan let him guide her back to a bench and help her to sit. "Your wife will be fine," the legate said. He looked up at the boiling sky. "Richard Rahl, Drefan Rahl, come with me." "Where are we going?" Richard wanted to know. "We are to prepare you to consummate the marriage."

Kahlan's head came up. Even in the darkness, she could see that Richard was near to exploding in rage. His hand was on his sword.