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"I decided to see just what you could accomplish if left to your own devices, see what you could learn for me. After all, I could have dropped any of you at any time if I grew weary of my little experiment. There were times when I was greatly tempted, such as the time not long ago when Armina said 'I'd love to string Jagang up and have my way with him.'"
He arched an eyebrow. "Remember that, Armina? Not to worry if it has slipped your mind. I will be reminding you of it from time to time, just to refresh your memory."
Sister Armina lifted a hand, as if in supplication. "I, I was only…"
He glared at her until she fell silent, unable to conjure an excuse, and then went on.
"Yes, I was there all along. Yes, I saw everything. Yes, I could have struck you down at any time. But I have something you don't have, Ulicia. I have patience. With patience you can move mountains—or go around them, or climb over them."
"But you could have had Richard Rahl right there, when we offered him our terms. Or you could have had him at his camp."
"You could have had him at camp as well. You spelled him, and had him down. You could have ended it. Then why didn't you? Because you had a grander plan, so you left him be, thinking that your bond to him was your protection, while you went on to pursue something of greater worth to you."
"But you didn't need him," she pressed. "You could have taken him."
"Ah, but while killing people as punishment is useful, it's not nearly as beneficial as what you can do with them when they are alive. Take you three, for example. Death brings no great punishment, only the reward of the afterlife if you have served the Creator in this one. You three, however, will be denied the Creator's Light. What use is that to me? But if a person is alive I can make them suffer." He leaned closer. "Don't you agree?"
"Yes, Excellency," Sister Ulicia managed to say in a strangled voice as blood began to trickle from her ear.
"I liked parts of your plan," he said as he straightened. "I find them very useful for my own purpose—things such as the boxes of Orden. Why should I kill Richard Rahl; I have the opportunity to do so much more than simply kill him. I want him to be alive to endure inconceivable suffering.
"By letting him live that day at his camp, the same as you did when you ignited your Chainfire spell, I knew that I would be able to use this new opportunity to take everything from him. Since I was in your minds, I, too, was protected from the Chainfire spell, the same as you.
"Now, with everything you have given me, I can strip Richard Rahl of his power, his land, his people, his friends, his loved ones. I can take everything from him in the name of the Fellowship of Order."
Jagang drew his hand into a tight fist before him as he gritted his teeth. "For opposing our rightful cause, I intend to crush him down to his soul, and then, when I have wrung everything out of him, given him every kind of pain there is in this world, I will extinguish the flame of that soul. And you have made it all possible."
Sister Ulicia nodded tearfully at all that was lost to her. She seemed resigned to her new duty.
"Excellency, we can accomplish none of it without the book we came here for."
Jagang lifted a volume off the table and held it up for them to see. "The Book of Counted Shadows. The book you came here to find. I thought to search for it while I waited for you to complete your journey here."
He tossed the book back on the table. "An exceedingly rare book. This, of course, is one of the few copies that were never supposed to be made and so it was hidden in this place. Of course I was there, in your mind, when you found all of this out.
"You even brought me the means of verification." His unsettling gaze moved to Kahlan. "And you have a collar around her neck by which I can control her." He turned a condescending smile on Sister Ulicia. "You see, since I'm in your mind I have but to command it and through you I control her every move—just as easily as you do."
Kahlan's hope for a chance to escape evaporated. If the Sisters were cruel masters, this man was something far worse. Kahlan didn't yet know what his intentions were, but she held no illusions that they were anything but vile.
An inkling of something else began to well up in her. For some reason she was of value to the Sisters and now just as valuable to Jagang. How could she be the means of verification of some ancient book hidden away for thousands of years? She had always been told that she was a nobody, a slave, and nothing more. She was beginning to understand that the Sisters had been lying to her. They only wanted her to think she was a nobody. It appeared, instead, that she was, somehow, pivotally important to all of them.
Jagang flicked a hand at Jillian. "Besides the collar, I have her to help me convince Kahlan here to do as she is told. Tell me, my dear, have you ever been with a man?"
Jillian pushed up against Kahlan. "You said you would free my grandfather. You said that if I did exactly as you said, and brought the Sisters here, you would set him and the others free. I did what you told me to do."
"Yes, you did. And you really were quite convincing. I was there, in their minds, the whole time, watching your performance. You followed my instructions flawlessly." His voice turned as threatening as his glare. "Now answer the question or your grandfather and the others will be vulture food by morning. Have you ever been with a man?"
"I'm not sure what you mean," she said in a small voice.
"I see. Well, if Kahlan doesn't do everything I tell her to do, you will be given over to my soldiers for their amusement. They like getting their hands on young things like you who haven't before experienced… desires such as theirs."
Jillian's fingers tightened on Kahlan's shirt. She pressed her face against Kahlan's arm as she stifled a sob. Kahlan squeezed the girl's shoulder, trying to comfort her, trying to let her know that she wouldn't let anything bad happen to her if she could help it.
"You have me," Kahlan said. "Leave her be."
"Tovi has the third box," Sister Ulicia said. It was clear to Kahlan that she was trying to stall, to buy time, as well as ingratiate herself with Jagang.
He glared at her. "It was stolen from her."
"Stolen? Well… I can help you find it."
Jagang leaned his backside on the table as he folded his massive arms. "Ulicia, when are you going to learn that not only do I stand in front of you, but I am in your mind as well. I know everything you're thinking. But do keep coming up with your schemes. They're quite inventive.
"And did you ever conceive some grand plans," he said with a satisfied sigh as he strolled closer. "You got farther with them than I thought you would ever be able to."
His voice took on an edge that ran shive
rs up Kahlan's spine. "And look at what my patience has netted me," he said as he turned to her, fixing her in the gaze of his terrible, inky eyes. "You wanted to know why I let you wander around free, doing as you wished? Here is the answer. Letting you cast about on your own, Ulicia, has netted me the prize of prizes."
Kahlan knew now that she had been correct. She was for some reason valuable. She wished she knew why. She wished she knew who she really was.
Kahlan could do nothing but watch as Jagang closed the distance to her. There was nowhere to run. Just in case she might have had that thought, though, she felt a shock of pain blaze down her spine and burn through her legs, locking them in place. She knew it was the collar causing the painful paralysis, because the Sisters had done that very thing before. He, of course, would know that, because he had been in their minds all along to see it done. She could see in his merciless expression that, this time, he was the cause of the pain.
Jagang reached out and ran his thick fingers through Kahlan's hair. She didn't want him touching her, but she could do nothing to prevent it. He seemed to forget everyone else in the room as he stared at her.
"Yes, Ulicia, you surely did bring me the prize of prizes. You brought me Kahlan Amnell."
Amnell.
So now she knew her last name. She had detected the slightest hesitation after her name, almost as if a title should have been added to her name.
Jagang leaned close with an obscene smile that carried meaning she didn't want to consider. Kahlan stood her ground by her own will, even if she had no real choice. Jagang's powerful, muscled body pressed up against her. It was like feeling the weight of a bull leaning against her.
With one finger, the man lifted her hair away from her neck. His stubble scraped her cheek as he put his mouth by her ear.
"But Kahlan doesn't know who she is, doesn't even know the true nature of the prize that she truly is."
For the first time, Kahlan wished that she were invisible, that this man could not see her just as everyone but the Sisters and Jillian could not see her. This was not a man she wanted to recognize her. This was a man she didn't want anywhere near her.
