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"Well, look here." She tapped the page. "Right in the beginning, this confirms what we previously had reason to suspect, that there are safeguards against any eventuality. It says that you need…"
She fell silent as she glanced over her shoulder at Kahlan.
"Well," she went on, "right here in the very beginning it says, 'Verification of the truth of The Book of Counted Shadows, if spoken by another, rather than read by the one who commands the boxes, can only be insured by the use of… ' Well, Excellency, you can see yourself what it says."
It was clear to Kahlan that the woman was avoiding saying something aloud. Jagang likewise read it in silence.
"So what?" he argued. "It is being read by the one who commands the boxes. It's being read by me, through you. I control the boxes now."
Sister Ulicia cleared her throat. "Excellency, I want to be perfectly honest with you—"
"I'm in your mind, Ulicia. It would be impossible for you to be anything but perfectly honest. I know you doubt my idea, but are unwilling to express such thoughts aloud. So, as you know, I would be aware if you were trying to deceive me."
"Yes, Excellency." She gestured to the book. "But you see, this is a very technical issue."
"What is?"
"The verification issue, Excellency. This is an instructional book on implementation of profoundly complex matters. These things are not only profoundly complex, but profoundly dangerous—to all of us. So, for that reason, it is critical to pay strict attention to what this book says. This is not a matter to be approached casually. You can't assume anything. The things this book says are exceptionally specific for good reasons. You have to think about every word, every sentence, every formula in it. You have to consider every possibility. Our lives all depend on the utmost caution in these matters."
"What's so technical about this? It says quite plainly 'Verification, if spoken by another.' It's not spoken by another. We're reading it directly."
"That's the precise point, Excellency. We are not reading it directly."
Jagang's face went red with rage. "What do you think we're standing here doing, then!"
Sister Ulicia gulped air, as if an invisible hand had her by the throat. "Excellency, you command the boxes now. But you are not really reading The Book of Counted Shadows."
He leaned toward her in a menacing fashion. "Then what is it I'm reading?"
"A copy," she said.
He paused. "So?"
"So, in this case, you are not, technically, reading The Book of Counted Shadows. You are reading a copy of it. You are, in essence, reading something spoken by another."
His frown deepened. "Who is the one reading it, then?"
"The one who made the copy."
Jagang straightened as comprehension dawned in his expression. "Yes… this isn't the original. In a sense I'm hearing it from the one who made the copy." He scratched his stubble. "So it must be verified."
"Exactly, Excellency," Sister Ulicia, visibly relieved. :
Jagang looked back over his shoulder at Kahlan. "Come here."
Kahlan hurried to do as he ordered, not wanting to be given any pain in a fight she knew he would easily win. Jillian stuck close to her side, apparently not wanting to be left standing alone back closer to the two fierce guards.
Jagang's big hand grasped the back of Kahlan's neck. He forcibly pulled her forward and bent her down toward the book.
"Look at this and tell me if it is genuine."
After he released her, Kahlan could still feel the painful, lingering impression of his powerful fingers where they had squeezed her neck. She resisted the urge to rub her throbbing flesh and instead picked up the book.
Kahlan didn't have the slightest idea how to tell if a book that she had never seen before was genuine or not. She didn't have any idea what would constitute authenticity. She knew, though, that Jagang would not accept such an excuse. He only cared about getting an answer; he wouldn't want to hear that she didn't know that answer.
Deciding that she at the least had to try, she began leafing through the pages, trying to make it look like she was putting in an honest effort when she was really doing nothing more than flipping over blank pages of a book lying open on the table before her.
"I'm sorry," she said at last, unable to think of anything to tell him other than the truth, "but this is all blank. There is nothing for me to verify."
"She can't see the words, Excellency," Sister Ulicia said under her breath, as if it were hardly a surprise to her. "This is a book of magic. An intact link to specific kinds of Han is required to read it."
Jagang glanced at the collar around Kahlan's neck. "Intact." He peered suspiciously into her eyes. "Maybe she's lying. Maybe she just doesn't want to tell us what she sees."
Kahlan wondered if this was confirmation that he was not in her mind, or if for some reason he was still carrying out a carefully crafted ruse. It didn't seem to her that at this point such reticence to reveal a presence in her mind, if there really was one, would serve any purpose. After all, the boxes, and the book, were the central reason for the entire deception of the Sisters. He had used his secret presence specifically to bring them here, to this book.
Jagang abruptly snatched Jillian by her hair. Jillian let out a surprised but brief, clipped cry. He was obviously hurting her. She did her best not to pull against the hand holding her hair, lest he rip her scalp off.
"I'm going
to gouge out one of this girl's eyes," Jagang told Kahlan. "I will then ask again if the book is genuine or not. If I don't get an answer?for whatever reason—then I will gouge out her other eye. I will ask one last time, and if you again don't give me the answer, then I will gouge out her heart. What do you have to say about that?"
The Sisters stood mute as they watched, making no move to interfere. Jagang pulled a knife from a sheath at his belt. Jillian began panting in terror as he jerked her around, drawing his arm up tight across her throat, holding her against his chest to render her helpless and keep her still as he brought the point of a knife perilously close to her face.
"Let me see the book," Kahlan said, hoping to avert the irrevocable.
With a thumb and a free finger of the hand holding the knife, he picked up the book and handed it to her. Kahlan thumbed through the pages more carefully, making sure she wasn't missing any page that might say anything at all, but she still saw nothing. Every single page was blank. There was nothing to see, no way to tell if it was real or not.
She closed the cover and smoothed the flat of her hand over it. She didn't know what to do. She had no idea what to look for. She flipped the book over, checking the back cover. She looked at the deckle edges of the pages. She turned the book, looking down at the title embossed in gold letters on the spine.
Jillian let out a strangled cry as Jagang tightened his grip across her throat, lifting her feet clear of the ground. He brought the point of the knife right up to the girl's right eye. She blinked, unable to turn away from the threat, her lashes brushing the blade's point.
"Time to go blind," Jagang growled.
"It's fake," Kahlan said.
He looked up. "What?"
Kahlan held the book out to him. "This book is a false copy. It's fake."
Sister Ulicia took a step forward. "How can you possibly know that?" She looked clearly confused that Kahlan could pronounce the book a fraud without being able to read a single word in it.
