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Kahlan licked her lips patiently. “Sliph, I’m afraid that I don’t know anything about you, really. You are from a time before my time—from another age. I only know that you can travel, and that you helped me before. You were a valuable aid in defeating some very bad people.”
“I am glad that you were pleased with me. Perhaps you would like to be pleased again? Would like to travel again?”
A shiver ran up Kahlan’s spine. This had to be why Marlin was trying to get to the Keep. He and Sister Amelia must have come to Aydindril from the Old World in the sliph. Jagang had said he had waited to reveal himself until she returned. How else could she have returned to him so fast, except in the sliph.
Kahlan swept out an imploring arm. “Sliph, some very evil people…”
She halted, sucking a breath through her open mouth. Her eyes widened.
“Sliph,” she whispered, “you took me to the Old World before.”
“Ah. I know the place. Come, we will travel.”
“No, no, not there. Sliph, can you travel other places?”
“Of course.”
“Where?”
“Many places. You must know. You have traveled. Name the place that would pleasure you, and we will travel.”
Kahlan leaned toward the alluring, smiling silver face.
“The witch woman. Can you take me to the witch woman?”
“I do not know this place.”
“It’s not a place. It’s a person. She lives in the Rang’Shada mountains. In a place called Agaden Reach. Can you go there, to Agaden Reach?”
“Ah. I have been there. Come, we will travel.”
Kahlan touched her trembling fingers to her lips.
“Come, and we will travel,” the sliph said, her haunting voice echoing around the ancient stone walls. The sound died out slowly, letting silence settle once more, covering everything, like the veil of dust in the room.
Kahlan cleared her throat. “I have to go do something, first. Will you still be here when I get back? Will you wait for me?”
“If I am at rest, you can let me know of your need, and we will travel. You will be pleased.”
“You mean, if you’re not right here, I should call down to you, and you will come to me, and we will travel?”
“Yes. We will travel.”
Kahlan rubbed her hands together as she backed away. “I’ll be back. I’ll be back soon, and we will travel.”
“Yes,” the sliph said, watching Kahlan retreat, “we will travel.”
Kahlan snatched the lamp from where she had set it on the floor near the shelves. She paused at the door, looking back at the quicksilver face floating in the gloom.
“I’ll be back. Soon. We will travel.”
“Yes. We will travel,” the sliph said as Kahlan started running.
Kahlan had to struggle to think where she was going as she ran. Her mind spun with arguments. While she grappled with her alternatives, she also tried to pay attention as she turned down halls, raced through rooms, and dashed upstairs.
She seemed to reach Library Hall before she was ready. Huffing, she realized that she couldn’t run in on Cara and Berdine in such a state. They would know something was wrong.
Not far from the library where the two Mord-Sith waited, Kahlan collapsed onto a padded bench, letting the lamp slip to the floor. She leaned back against the wall and stretched out her aching legs. She fanned her face with one hand. She gulped air, and tried to convince her heart to slow down. She knew her face must be red as an apple.
She couldn’t walk in on the other two like this. Kahlan made plans as she rested, waiting for her heart to slow, her lungs to recover, her face to cool.
Shota knew something about the plague. Kahlan was sure of it. Shota had said about Richard, “May the spirits have mercy on his soul.”
Shota had sent Nadine to marry Richard. Kahlan vividly recollected Nadine’s tight dress, her flirtatious smiles at Richard, her accusations, telling Richard that Kahlan was heartless. The look in Nadine’s eyes when she talked to him.
Kahlan thought about what she must do. Shota was a witch woman. Everyone feared the witch woman. Even wizards feared Shota. Kahlan had never done anything against her, but that had never stopped Shota from hurting her.
Shota might kill her.
Not if Kahlan killed her first.
The distraction of making plans had allowed her to regain her composure. She stood, smoothed down her dress, and took a deep, settling breath.
Kahlan put on her Confessor’s face and strode through the doors to the library where the other two waited.
Cara and Berdine popped out from behind a row of bookshelves. The books were gone from the table.
Cara eyed Kahlan suspiciously. “You’ve been gone long enough.”
“It took me a while to find a way with shields I could pass.”
Berdine came out from behind the shelves. “Well? Did you find anything?”
“Find anything? Like what?”
Berdine spread her hands. “Books. You went to look for books.”
“No. Nothing.”
Cara was frowning. “Did you have any problems?”
“No. I’m just upset about all this… about everything. The plague and all. I’m upset that I couldn’t find anything to help. What about you two?”
Berdine swiped a stray strand of hair back from her face. “Nothing. Nothing about the Temple of the Winds or the team who sent it away.”
“I don’t understand,” Kahlan said, mostly to herself. “If there was a trial, as Kolo said, then there should be a record of it.”
“Well,” Berdine said, “we were looking through the other books to see if we missed any of the records of the trials. We didn’t find any. Where else can we look?”
Kahlan sagged in disappointment. She had been sure they would find a record of the trial for Richard.
“Nowhere. If it isn’t here, then there must be no record of the trial, or else it was destroyed. From what Kolo said, the Keep was in an uproar at the time; they may have been too busy to keep a record.”
Berdine cocked her head. “But we’re going to keep looking for part of the night, at least.”
Kahlan looked about the library. “No. It would be a waste of time. The time would be better spent if you kept working on Kolo’s journal. If we don’t have the record of the trial, translating the journal would be the best help to Richard. Maybe you can find something important in the journal.”
In the brightness of the library, Kahlan’s resolve was beginning to falter. She began to reconsider her plan.
“Well,” Cara said, “I guess we better get back, then. No telling what Nadine will be up to. If she gets into Lord Rahl’s room, she’ll get blisters kissing him while he’s asleep and helpless.”
Berdine pressed her lips tight and smacked Cara’s shoulder. “What’s the matter with you? The Mother Confessor is a sister of the Agiel.”
Cara blinked in surprise. “Forgive me. I was only making a joke.” She touched Kahlan’s arm. “You know that I will kill Nadine if you wish—you have but to ask. Don’t worry, Raina would not let Nadine into his room.”
Kahlan wiped a tear from her cheek. “I know. It’s just that with all that’s going on—I know.”
Her mind was made up. It might help Richard find an answer. It might help Richard discover something that would stop the plague. Kahlan knew she was only making excuses to herself. She knew why she was going.
“Did you find what you were looking for?” Raina asked as Kahlan, Cara, and Berdine approached.
“No,” Kahlan said. “There was no record of the trial.”
“I’m sorry,” Raina said.
Kahlan gestured to the door. “Has anyone tried to bother him?”
Raina smirked. “She came by. She wanted to check on Lord Rahl. To make sure he was sleeping, she said.”
Kahlan didn’t have to ask who came by. Her blood heated. “And you let her in?”
Raina smiled
that dark smile of hers. “I put my head in, saw that Lord Rahl was asleep, and told her so. I didn’t let her have so much as a peek at him.”
“Good. But she’ll probably be back.”
Raina’s smile widened. “I don’t think so. I told her that if I caught her in this hall again tonight, she would feel my Agiel against her bare bottom. When she left, there was no doubt in her mind that I meant it.”
