Temple of the Winds

He handed back the collar. "I've keyed the spell to his Rada'Han." "What spell are you going to weave" she asked in a suspicious tone. He considered the resolve in her eyes. "A light spell. If he comes out without me. . You will have twenty of his heartbeats to get that around his neck, or the light web will ignite."

If she didn't get the collar around his neck in time to extinguish the spell, Nathan would be consumed by it. Without the collar, there would be no escape for Nathan from such a spell. With it, he would escape the spell but then there would be no escape from her. A double bind. At that moment, Zedd didn't much like himself.

Ann took a deep breath. "Someone else coming out won't trigger it, will they?" Zedd shook his head. "I will link it to the tracer cloud. The spell will recognize him and only him by that and that alone."

His voice lowered in warning. "If you don't get it around him in time, and it ignites, then others beside Nathan will be hurt or killed if they're close enough. If you can't get that around his neck for any reason, then you make sure you get away in time. He may prefer death over having that around his neck again.

CHAPTER 20

As he ambled in, surveying the gloomy room, Zedd realized that his heavy maroon robes with black sleeves and cowled shoulders were out of place. The mellow lamplight showed off the three rows of silver brocade at each cuff, and the thicker gold brocade running around the neck and down the front. A red satin belt set with a gold buckle cinched the waist of the rich robes.

Zedd missed his simple robes, but they were long gone-at Adie's insistence. The old sorceress had chosen his new disguise; for powerful wizards, simple accoutrements were the equivalent of military dress. Zedd suspected she just didn't like his old robes, and preferred him in this He missed Adie, and felt sorrow for the heartache she must feel at believing him dead. Nearly everyone thought he was dead. When they had time, maybe he would have Ann write a message in her journey book, letting Adie know he was alive.

He felt the most sorrow, though, for Richard. Richard needed him. Richard had the gift, and without proper instruction he was as helpless as an eaglet fallen from the nest. At least Richard had the Sword of Truth to help protect him, for now. Zedd intended to go to Richard just as soon as they had Nathan. It wouldn't be long, and then he could hurry on his way to Richard.

The innkeeper eyed Zedd's flashy outfit, his gaze snagging on the gold belt buckle. A collection of scraggy patrons dressed in furs, tattered leather, and ragged wool watched from a few booths at the wall to the right. The two plank tables sat empty on the straw-covered floor, waiting for diners, or drinkers.

"Rooms are a silver," the innkeeper said in a disinterested tone. "If you'd like company, it's an extra silver."

"It would appear that my choice of outfits has turned out to be rather costly," Zedd observed.

The burly innkeeper smiled with one side of his mouth as he held out a meaty hand, palm up. "The price is the price. You want a room, or not?" Zedd dropped a single silver in the man's hand.

"Third door on the left." He nodded his head of curly brown hair toward the hall in the back. "Interested in company, old man?"

"You'd have to share it with the lady who called. I was thinking you might be interested in a bit more profit. A considerable bit more."

The man's brow twitched with curiosity as he closed his fist around the silver coin. "Meaning?"

"Well, I heard a dear old friend of mine has been known to stop here. I've not seen him in quite a while. If he were here, tonight, and you could direct me to his room. I'd be so overwhelmed with joy and happiness to see him again that I'd foolishly part with a gold piece. A full gold piece."

The man looked him up and down again. "This friend of yours have a name?"

"Well," Zedd said in a low voice, "like many of your other patrons, he has a problem with names-he can't seem to remember them for very long, and has to keep thinking up new ones. But I can tell you that he's tall, older, and with white hair down to his broad shoulders."

The man stroked his tongue across the inside of his cheek. "He's. . busy at the moment."

Zedd produced the gold piece, but pulled it back when the innkeeper reached for it. "So you say. I'd like to decide for myself just how busy he is." "Then it's another silver."

Zedd forced himself to keep his voice down. "For what?" "For the lady's time and company." "I've no intention of availing myself of your lady."

"So you say. When you see her with him, you might have a change of mood, and decide to try to rekindle your. . youth. It's my policy to collect the money first. If she tells me you gave her no more than a smile, then you can have the silver back."