Temple of the Winds

When her head cleared the surface, there was light. Not twenty feet away was a stone lattice. Late afternoon light poured in through the openings above the water level.

As Kahlan pulled Nadine's head above the water, she clamped a hand over the woman's mouth.

On one of the stepping stones to the side, near the stone grate, facing away, stood Marlin.

Kahlan could see the broken shafts of least a half dozen arrows sticking from his back. By the way Marlin was staggering as he stepped to the next stone, she knew he couldn't live much longer.

The stump of his left arm wasn't bleeding. If only she could count on him dying before he reached the Keep. Jagang was obviously driving the wounded man relentlessly onward. She had no idea what Jagang was capable of, in controlling the man's mind, to keep him alive and moving. He had no concern for the life he occupied, and she knew he would be willing to let Marlin suffer any damage to accomplish Jagang's wishes.

Marlin lifted a hand, fingers spread, toward the stone grate. Kahlan had grown up around wizards; Marlin was conjuring air. A section of the lattice grate exploded outward in a cloud of dust and stone fragments. More light poured in through the blasted opening.

The suddenly wider spillway let the water flood out with yet greater force. Kahlan's injured arm had no strength, an I the mounting might of the discharge tore her away from the stone step. She lost her grip on Nadine.

In the powerful clutch of the water, Kahlan grasped frantically for a handhold, but found none. She twisted and tumbled under the water, trying with her arms and legs to grapple something. She hadn't had a chance to get a good breath, and she struggled, too, to fight her terror at her exigent need for air.

Her fingers caught the sharp stone at the edge of the blasted hole. The water sucked her under and jammed her hard against the lower part of the grate. She could only force her head and part of one shoulder above the surface. It seemed she was breathing more water than air.

Kahlan looked up. Jagang's wicked smile greeted her. He was only a few feet away.

The force of the water ramming against her crushed her tight to the broken grate. She didn't have the muscle to overcome the pounding weight of the water. Try as she might, she couldn't get to him. It was> all she could do to get a breath.

She glanced over her shoulder. What she saw took the breath for which she had fought so hard. They were on the east side of the palace-the high side of the foundation. The water roared out of the drainage gateway to plunge for a good fifty feet before crashing to the rocks below.

Jagang chuckled. "Well, well, darlin, how nice of you to drop by to witness my escape."

"Where are you going, Jagang?" she managed. "I thought I'd go up to the Keep."

Kahlan gasped for air and caught a mouthful of water instead. She coughed and choked it out. "Why do you want to go to the Keep? What's there that you want?"

"Darlin, you're deluding yourself if you think I would reveal anything I don't want you to know." "What did you do to Cara?"

He smiled but didn't answer. He lifted Marlin's hand. A blast of air shattered more of the grate to the side.

The stone she was holding gave way. Her back scraped over the broken edge. Kahlan snatched for a solid piece and just caught it with her fingers before she was ejected from the drain. When she looked down, she was looking at the rocks below the foundation. Water thundered above her.

She worked her fingers over the sharp stone, struggling desperately to pull herself back behind what was left of the grate. Panic powering her effort, she regained the inside of the stone lattice, but she couldn't get away from it. The water kept her pinned. "Problem, darlin?"

Kahlan wanted to scream at him, but;she could only gasp for air as she fought to keep from being swept through the opening. Her arms burned with the effort. She could think of nothing to do to stop him. She thought of Richard.

Jagang lifted Marlin's hand again, spreading his fingers.

Nadine popped up from the water right behind him. With one hand she held a stone step. In her other, she still gripped the dead torch. Looking as if she was at the ragged edge of madness, she took a mighty swing, clubbing him across the back of his knees.

Marlin's legs folded under him and he toppled into the water right in front of Kahlan. He caught himself on the broker grate with his one hand. When he saw what waited outside, he frantically tried to push himself back. Apparently, he hadn't anticipated that there might be no way down from the drain tunnel. Nadine clutched a stepping stone and held on for dear life. Kahlan reached behind with her injured arm, stuffed her left hand through a grate opening under the water, and made a fist to lodge it fast. With her other hand, she seized Marlin by the throat.

"Well, well," she said through gritted teeth. "Look what I have here: the great and all-powerful Emperor Jagang."