Temple of the Winds

He grinned, showing broken teeth. "Actually, darlin," he said in Jagang's grating, impudent voice, "you have Marlin."

She pulled herself close to his face. "Think so? Do you know that a Confessor's magic works faster than thought? That's why once we're touching someone, they have no chance. None. The magic bond of my loyalty to Richard Rahl denies a dream walker access to my mind. Marlin's mind is our field of battle now. Do you suppose that my magic might work faster than yours? What do you think? Do you think I can take you, along with Marlin?"

"Two minds at once?" he said with a smirk. "I don't think so, darlin." "We'll see. Maybe I'll get you, too. Maybe we'll end the war, and the Imperial Order, right here and now."

"Oh, darlin, you are a fool. Man is destined to free his world from the shackles of magic. Even if you could kill me here and now, which you can't, you will not end the Order. It will survive any one man, even me, because it is the struggle of all mankind to inherit our world."

"Do you really expect me to believe that you don't do this for yourself? For naked power?"

"Not at all. I relish rule. But I simply ride a horse already in full charge. It will run you down. You are a fool who follows the dying religion of magic."

"A fool who has you by the throat-the great Jagang, who professes to want man to triumph over magic, yet uses magic!"

"For now. But when magic dies, I will be the one with the daring, and the muscle, to rule-without magic."

Fury erupted through Kahlan. This was the man who had ordered the deaths of thousands of innocent people. This was the butcher of Ebinissia. This was the man who would enslave the world. This was the man who wanted to kill Richard.

In the silence of her mind, in the core of her power, where there was no cold, no exhaustion, no fear, she had all the time in the world. Though he made no attempt to escape, even if he had, it would have been hopeless. He was hers. Kahlan did as she had done countless times before-she released her restraint. For an imperceptible twitch of time, something was different. There was resistance where there had been none before. A wall. Like hot steel through glass, her power crashed through it. The magic exploded through Marlin's mind. Thunder without sound.

Stone chips fell from the ceiling at the concussion. Water droplets danced. Despite the water's rush, a ring of ripples raced outward around the two of them, driving a wall of mist and dust.

Nadine, clinging to the stepping stone, cried out in the pain of being so close to a Confessor's power unleashed.

Marlin's mouth went slack. Once a person's mind had been destroyed by a Confessor, they became a vessel needing her command. Marlin offered no such abdication.

Blood streamed from his ears and nose. His head lolled to the side in the rushing torrent. His dead eyes started.

Kahlan released her grip of his throat when his hand went slack on the grate and the water tore him away. Marlin's body tumbled out through the broken stone lattice and plummeted to the rocks below.

Kahlan knew: she had almost had Jagang, but she failed. His thoughts, his ability as a dream walker, had been too fast for her Confessor's magic to catch. Nadine was reaching toward her. "Grab my hand! I can't hold on forever!" Kahlan locked wrists with her. Using her power drained a Confessor of strength. After using her magic, it took even Kahlan, the Mother Confessor, and perhaps the strongest Confessor ever born, several hours before she could use her power again, but longer than that to fully recover her strength. She was exhausted, and couldn't fight the torrent any longer. Without Nadine's hold on her, she would have gone over the edge, too.

With Nadine's help, Kahlan managed to regain the stepping stones. Shivering with the cold, they both dragged themselves up.

Nadine wept at the crest of terror that had passed and had almost taken them. Kahlan was too exhausted to weep, but she knew how Nadine felt. "I wasn't touching him, when you used magic, but I thought every one of my joints had popped apart. It didn't. . do anything to me, did it? Anything magic? Am I going to die, too?" "No, you're fine," Kahlan assured her. "You simply felt the pain because you were too close, that's all. If you had been touching him, though, it would have been inconceivably worse-you would have been destroyed."

Nadine nodded in mute reply. Kahlan put an arm around her and whispered a thank you in her ear. Nadine smiled the tears away. "We have to get back to Cara." Kahlan said. "We have to hurry." "How? The torch is gone. There's no way down the outside, and as soon as we try to go back, it will be pitch black. I don't want to go back there in the dark. It's impossible until the soldiers come with torches to light our way."

"Nothing is impossible," Kahlan said wearily. "We took every turn to the right, so we have only to put a hand on the left wall and follow it to find our way back."