Temple of the Winds

"You have known Nathan for over nine centuries. I've only known him a short time." He leaned down closer to her and lifted an eyebrow. "But even I know better than that. Nathan is anything but stupid. He is a wizard of remarkable talent. You make a serious mistake if you underestimate him."

She watched his eyes a moment. "You're right; it may be a trap. Nathan wouldn't kill me to escape, but beyond that. . You may be right." Zedd harrumphed.

"Zedd," Ann said, after a long, uncomfortable silence, "this business with Nathan is important. He must be caught. He's helped me in the past when we have discovered danger in the prophecies, but he is still a prophet. Prophets are dangerous. Not because they deliberately wish to cause trouble, but because of the nature of prophecy."

"You don't need to convince me of that. I know well the dangers of prophecy." "We have always kept prophets confined at the Palace of the Prophets because of the potential for catastrophe should they roam free. A prophet who wanted mischief could have it. Even a prophet who doesn't wish mischief is dangerous, not only to others but to himself; people usually extract vengeance on the bringer of truth, as if knowing the truth is its cause. Prophecy is not meant to be heard by untrained minds, those having no understanding of magic, much less prophecy. "One time, as we sometimes did at his request, we let a woman visit Nathan." Zedd frowned at her. "You took prostitutes to him?"

Ann shrugged self-consciously. "We knew the loneliness of his confinement. It wasn't the most desirable solution, but yes, we brought him companionship from lime to time. We weren't heartless."

"How magnanimous of you."

Ann glanced away from his eyes. "We did what we had to, by locking him in the palace, but we felt sorrow for him. It wasn't his choice to be born with the gift of prophecy.

"We always warned him not to tell the women any prophecy, but one time he did. The woman ran screaming from the palace. We never knew how she escaped before we could stop her.

"She spread word of the prophecy before we could find her. It started a civil war. Thousands died. Women and children died.

"Nathan sometimes seems crazy, out of his senses. Sometimes he seems to me to be the most dangerously unbalanced person I've ever known. Nathan views the world not only by what he sees around him, but through the filter of prophecy that visits his mind.

"When I confronted him, he professed not to remember the prophecy, or having told the young woman anything. I only found out much later, when I was able to link several prophecies, that one of the children who died was a boy named in prophecy as one who would go on to rule through torture and murder. Untold tens of thousands would have died had that boy lived and grown into a man, but Nathan had choked off that dangerous fork in prophecy. I have no idea how much that man knows but won't disclose.

"A prophet has the potential to just as easily cause great harm. A prophet who wished power would have a fair chance of ruling the world." Zedd was still watching the door. "So you lock them away." "Yes."

Zedd picked at a thread on his maroon robes. He looked down at her squat form in the dim light. "Ann, I am First Wizard. If I didn't understand, I wouldn't be helping you." "Thank you," she whispered.

Zedd considered their options. There weren't many. "What you are saying, if I understand you, is that you don't know if Nathan is sane, but even if he is, he has the potential to be dangerous."

"I guess so. But Nathan has often helped me to spare people suffering. Hundreds of years ago, he warned me about Darken Rahl, and told me of a prophecy that a war wizard would be born-that Richard would be born. We worked together to see to it that Richard would be safe from interference as he grew, so that you would have the time to help raise your grandson into the kind of man who would use his ability to help people."

"For that, you have my gratitude," Zedd offered. "But you put this collar around my neck, and I don't like that one bit."

"I understand. It's not something I liked doing, nor am I proud of what I did. Sometimes, desperate need calls for desperate acts. The good spirits will have the final say on my actions.

"The sooner we get Nathan, the sooner I will take the Rada'Han from your neck. I don't enjoy holding you prisoner by that collar and making you help me, but in view of the dire consequences should I fail to get Nathan. I do as I feel I must."

Zedd aimed a thumb over his shoulder. "I also don't like that." Ann didn't look; she knew what he was pointing at. "What does a red moon have to do with Nathan? It's most peculiar, but what does one have to do with the other?"