that matters? Should we let Jagang slaughter all those who wish to be free? Let the Fellowship of Order enslave the world? Allow Chainfire to run rampant and destroy our memory of everything good? Let the contamination within that spell wipe magic from the world along with everything that depends on it for life? Shall we just sit downand give up? Shall we let the world end at the hands of people who would destroy it all?
“Sister Ulicia opened the gateway to the power of Orden. She put the boxes in play. What is Richard supposed to do? He has to have the weapons he needs to fight this battle. I have just given him what he needs.
“The struggle is now truly in balance. The two sides of this battle are now fully engaged in the struggle that will decide it all.
“We have to trust Richard in this struggle.
“There was a time a few years back when you were faced with similar decisions. You knew your choices, your responsibilities, the risks, and the lethal consequences of inaction. You named Richard the Seeker of Truth.”
Zedd nodded, hardly able to summon his voice. “Yes, I did indeed.”
“And he lived up to everything you believed of him, and more, didn’t he?”
He couldn’t make himself stop trembling. “Yes, the boy did all I ever expected and more.”
“This is no different, Zedd. The Sisters of the Dark no longer have exclusive access to the power of Orden.” She brought an arm up and made a fist. “I have given Richard a chance—I have given us all a chance. In that sense, I have just put Richard into play, giving him what he must have to win this struggle.”
Through his watery vision Zedd gazed into her eyes. Besides the resolve, the fury, the determination, there was something else. He saw there in her blue eyes a shadow of pain.
“And…?”
She drew back. “And what?”
“As complete as your rationale has been, there is something more to this, something that you have not said.”
Nicci turned away, the fingers of one hand trailing alongthe tabletop, trailing through spells drawn in her own blood, spells she had risked her life to invoke.
Her back to him, Nicci gestured vaguely, a self-conscious flick of her hand, a simple motion gracefully betraying unimaginable anguish.
“You’re right,” she said in a voice on the ragged edge of control. “I have given Richard one other thing.”
Zedd stood for a moment, considering the woman turned away from him. “And what would that be?”
She turned back. A tear traced a slow path down her cheek.
“I have just given him the only chance he has of getting back the woman he loves. The boxes of Orden are the only counter to the Chainfire spell that took Kahlan from him. If he is to have her back, the boxes of Orden are the only way.
“I have given him the only chance he has to have what he loves most in life.”
Zedd sank back down in the chair and put his face in his hands.
CHAPTER 5
Nicci stood, her back stiff and straight, as Zedd, slumped in the chair before her, wept into his hands.
She had locked her knees for fear that her legs would give way beneath her. She told herself that she would not allow a single tear to escape her control.
She had almost succeeded.
When she had invoked the power of Orden, putting the box in play in Richard’s name, that power had done something to her. It had, to a degree, countered the damage of the Chainfire spell infecting her.
When Nicci named Richard the player, completing the links to the power she had invoked, Nicci had suddenly known Kahlan.
It was not a rebuilding of her lost memory of Kahlan—that was gone—but rather it was a simple reconnection to the awareness of the reality of Kahlan’s existence, to the here and now.
For ages, it seemed, Nicci had thought that Richard was deluded in his belief in the existence of a woman no one but he remembered. Even later, when Richard had found the Chainfire book and had proven to them what had really happened, Nicci had at last believed him,
“Sister Ulicia opened the gateway to the power of Orden. She put the boxes in play. What is Richard supposed to do? He has to have the weapons he needs to fight this battle. I have just given him what he needs.
“The struggle is now truly in balance. The two sides of this battle are now fully engaged in the struggle that will decide it all.
“We have to trust Richard in this struggle.
“There was a time a few years back when you were faced with similar decisions. You knew your choices, your responsibilities, the risks, and the lethal consequences of inaction. You named Richard the Seeker of Truth.”
Zedd nodded, hardly able to summon his voice. “Yes, I did indeed.”
“And he lived up to everything you believed of him, and more, didn’t he?”
He couldn’t make himself stop trembling. “Yes, the boy did all I ever expected and more.”
“This is no different, Zedd. The Sisters of the Dark no longer have exclusive access to the power of Orden.” She brought an arm up and made a fist. “I have given Richard a chance—I have given us all a chance. In that sense, I have just put Richard into play, giving him what he must have to win this struggle.”
Through his watery vision Zedd gazed into her eyes. Besides the resolve, the fury, the determination, there was something else. He saw there in her blue eyes a shadow of pain.
“And…?”
She drew back. “And what?”
“As complete as your rationale has been, there is something more to this, something that you have not said.”
Nicci turned away, the fingers of one hand trailing alongthe tabletop, trailing through spells drawn in her own blood, spells she had risked her life to invoke.
Her back to him, Nicci gestured vaguely, a self-conscious flick of her hand, a simple motion gracefully betraying unimaginable anguish.
“You’re right,” she said in a voice on the ragged edge of control. “I have given Richard one other thing.”
Zedd stood for a moment, considering the woman turned away from him. “And what would that be?”
She turned back. A tear traced a slow path down her cheek.
“I have just given him the only chance he has of getting back the woman he loves. The boxes of Orden are the only counter to the Chainfire spell that took Kahlan from him. If he is to have her back, the boxes of Orden are the only way.
“I have given him the only chance he has to have what he loves most in life.”
Zedd sank back down in the chair and put his face in his hands.
CHAPTER 5
Nicci stood, her back stiff and straight, as Zedd, slumped in the chair before her, wept into his hands.
She had locked her knees for fear that her legs would give way beneath her. She told herself that she would not allow a single tear to escape her control.
She had almost succeeded.
When she had invoked the power of Orden, putting the box in play in Richard’s name, that power had done something to her. It had, to a degree, countered the damage of the Chainfire spell infecting her.
When Nicci named Richard the player, completing the links to the power she had invoked, Nicci had suddenly known Kahlan.
It was not a rebuilding of her lost memory of Kahlan—that was gone—but rather it was a simple reconnection to the awareness of the reality of Kahlan’s existence, to the here and now.
For ages, it seemed, Nicci had thought that Richard was deluded in his belief in the existence of a woman no one but he remembered. Even later, when Richard had found the Chainfire book and had proven to them what had really happened, Nicci had at last believed him,
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