Temple of the Winds

Drefan rubbed Kahlan's back in sympathy. "You will be all right. Everything will be all right. Don't worry, I will take care of you, as I promised." "Thank you, Drefan," she managed through the anguish. Drefan left her and strode to Richard. Drefan gripped Richard's arm and bent close, speaking to him in a whisper. Kahlan could see Richard rake his hands back through his hair and nod occasionally. Whatever Drefan was saying was cooling Richard.

After Drefan and Richard parted, the legate and Cara looked back to Nadine and Kahlan. "You two will wait here."

Kahlan huddled on the stone bench as Richard and Drefan were led off in the darkness toward the cliff, toward the two buildings, one to either side of the road that ended abruptly at the edge. It was becoming so dark that Kahlan could hardly make out Nadine's face as she sat down beside her on the stone bench. The six sisters had gone back to the horses, sucking their fingers as they watched the sky.

"I'm sorry. About your magic, I mean. I didn't know they would do that to you. I guess you'll be like any other woman, now." "I guess."

"Kahlan," Nadine said, "I won't lie to you and tell you that I'm sorry that I'm the one who married Richard, but I will tell you that I'll do my best to make him happy."

"Nadine, you just don't understand, do you? You can be as kind as pudding to him, or you can be as mean as nettles, and it won't make any difference. With the pain he's in, if you do your worst, it would be a bee sting after a beheading."

Nadine giggled uncomfortably. "Well, I know a poultice for a bee sting. Richard will see. I will-" "You have already promised me that you would be kind to him, Nadine. I appreciate that you will be kind to him, but at the moment. I'm not in the mood to hear the details of just how kind you are going to be."

"Sure. I understand." Nadine picked at the stone on the bench. "Not the way I had my wedding pictured in my head." "Me neither."

"Maybe I can make the rest of it the way I pictured." Her tone had turned cold and vindictive. "You've made me to feel a fool for wanting Richard, for thinking I might have him. You've taken the pleasure out of my wedding day, but you won't take the pleasure out of the rest of it." "I'm sorry, Nadine, if you think that I have-"

"Now that I have him, I intend to show him how a woman can really please a man. He'll see. He'll see that I can be just as good a woman for him as you. You think I can't, but I can."

Nadine leaned close. "I'll have Richard's eyes spinning in his head before this night is out. Then we'll see who the better woman is. and how much he misses you. When you're lying there with Richard's brother, listen close, and you'll hear my screams of pleasure. The screams of pleasure Richard gives me. Not you- me!"

Nadine stormed away to stand with her arms folded in a huff. Kahlan put her face in her hands. The spirits weren't content to destroy her, they had to twist the knife.

Cara and the legate returned. "It is time," they said as one. Kahlan rose woodenly, to stand, waiting to be told what to do next. The legate turned to Cara.

''This storm is going to break soon." The legate turned to peer up at the blackness. "My wives and I must be off this mountain." He gripped Cara's arm. "The winds speak to you the same as they speak to me. Can you take them?"

"Yes. It is nearly done. I can finish it," Cara said. "The winds will pass the message through me as well as through you." Without further word, he scurried off into the darkness.

Cara's strong fingers gripped under Kahlan's arm. "Come with me," she said in that icy voice of the winds. Kahlan dug in her heels. "Cara, please. I can't."

"You can, and you will, or the chance will pass and the plague will rage on." Kahlan pulled back. "No, you don't understand. I can't. I'm having my moon flow. It isn't finished yet. I can't. . do this. Not now."

Cara's sinister glare drew close. "It will not prevent you from consummating your marriage. You will do this, or all hope of stopping the plague is lost. It is not finished, yet. You must do your part in this-indulge in this. It must be now. Tonight. Or would you rather the dying continue unabated?"

With Nadine on one side of her, and Kahlan on the other. Cara led them down the road, through the darkness, toward the edge of the cliff. Standing in the black night at the edge of the cliff, Kahlan felt numb and lost. She didn't know how long Cara was gone with Nadine, taking her to Richard in the crumbling building to the right. She felt Cara's hand under her arm again. "This way," came the icy voice. Kahlan let the woman lead her to the ruins on the left. Kahlan could hardly see a thing. Cara, led by the winds, had no trouble negotiating the halls and rooms in the wreck of a building.