The pillars of creation

CHAPTER 60

"Betty,what are you doing?" Je

"Magic," Sister Perdita whispered from behind, in answer to Je

Could it be that Richard Rahl had bewitched even her goat-turned it against her?

Richard took a step toward her. Betty and her twins romped around his legs, having no conception of the life-and-death events taking place before them.

"Je

"Kill him!" Sebastian whispered with vicious determination. "Do it, Je

Je

Je

"How do you know? How do you know that? I never told you that magic can't harm me."

"You too?" Oba called. He'd come closer. "We're both invincible, then! We can rule D'Hara together-but I'll be the king, of course. King

Oba Rahl. I'm not greedy, though. You could be a princess, maybe. Yes, I could let you be a princess, if you're good."

Je

"Je

"Richard. ." It was Kahlan, waking, but groggy. "Richard, where are we?" She winced in pain, and cried out, even though no one touched her.

When Richard took a step toward her, Je

"If you want her, you must come through Je

Richard watched her without emotion for a long moment. "No."

"You must!" the Sister growled. "You will have to kill Jermsen, or Kahlan will die!"

"Are you crazy!" Sebastian yelled at the Sister.

"Get ahold of yourself, Sebastian," the Sister snapped. "Salvation comes only through sacrifice. All of mankind is corrupt. One individual is unimportant-one life is meaningless. It matters not what happens to her-only her sacrifice matters."

Sebastian stared at her, unable to answer, unable to find a reason to argue for Je

"You'll have to kill Je

"Richard. ." Kahlan moaned, clearly not understanding where she was or what was happening.

"Kahlan," Richard said in a calm voice, "stay still."

"Last chance!" Sister Perdita screamed. "Last chance to save the Mother Confessor's precious life! Last chance before the Keeper has her! Stop him, Jermsen, while I kill his wife!"

Je

Je

Unless Sister Perdita was trying to anger Richard so that he would lash out with his magic, strike with his power at Je

That had to be it. Je

Unleashing a cry of fury filled with a lifetime of hate, filled with the burning agony of her mother's murder, filled with the howling rage of the voice in her head, Je

She knew he would hurl his magic at her in order to save himself, unleash magic at her as he had unleashed it at the thousand men. He would be shocked that it didn't work, shocked as she burst through his deadly conjuring at the last instant to suddenly plunge her knife through his evil heart. He would know too late that she was invincible.

Screaming her rage, Je

She expected a horrific blast, expected to fly through the lightning, thunder, smoke, but it never came. He caught her wrist in his fist. Simple as that. He used no magic. He cast no spell. He invoked no wizardly power.

Jermsen had no immunity to muscle, and he had plenty of that.

"Calm down," Richard said.

She fought him furiously, an angry storm throwing all her hate and pain into her onslaught. He securely held her knife-wielding fist as she raged, her other fist pounding against his chest. He could have snapped her in two with his bare hands, but he instead let her scream and strike out at him, then let her yank herself back away to stand in the center of everyone, panting, knife held up, tears of anger and hate streaming down her cheeks.

"Kill her or Kahlan dies!" Sister Perdita shrieked again.

Sebastian shoved the Sister back. "Have you lost your mind! She can do it! He isn't even armed!"

Richard pulled a small book from one of the pouches at his belt and held it up.

"Oh, but I am."

"What do you mean?" Jermsen asked.

His raptor gaze settled on her. "This is an ancient text titled The Pillars of Creation. It was written by some of our ancestors, Jermsen-those among the first to be Lord Rahl, among the first who came to understand the full extent of what had been engendered by the first of the line, Alric Rahl, who created the bond, among other things. It's very interesting reading."

"I suppose it says that as Lord Rahl you should kill those like me," Je

Richard smiled. "You're right. It does."

"What?" She could hardly believe that he would admit it. "It really says that?"

He nodded. "It explains why all the truly ungifted offspring of the Lord Rahl-the Lord Rahl who carries down the gift of the bond to his people-must be killed."

"I knew it!" Je

"I didn't say that I would take the advice. I only said that the book says that your kind are to be killed."

"Why?" Je

"Je

Richard gestured to Sebastian. "He knows why. That's why he knew you couldn't be harmed by my magic. He knew because he knows what's in the book."

Je

"Je

"I saw it, Sebastian. The Pillars of Creation. I saw it in his tent. It's an ancient book, in his old tongue. It's one of his prized books. He knew what it says. You are one of his prized strategists. He told you. You knew all along what it said."

"Je

"It was you," she whispered.

"How can you doubt me? I love you."

Then, over the terrible tumult of the voice, the whole thing began unravelling in her mind. The crushing pain of it all came crashing in on her. The true dimensions of the betrayal became horrifyingly clear.

"Dear spirits, it was you all along."

Sebastian, his face going nearly as white as his white spikes of hair, turned deadly calm. "Je

"It was you," she whispered, wide-eyed. "You took a single mountain fever rose-"

"What! I don't even have any such thing."

"I saw them in a tin in your pack. There was twine on top of them, hiding them. They spilled out."

"Oh, those. "I got them from the healer-the one we visited."

"Liar! You had them all along. You took one to give yourself a fever."

"Je

Trembling, Je

"Je

"You claim to love me. Prove it! Don't lie to me! Tell me the truth!"

Sebastian stared a moment before finally holding his head up and answering. "I only wanted to gain your trust. I thought that if I had a fever you would take me in."

"And the dead soldier I found?"

"He was one of my men. We captured the man who carried that knife. I gave it to one of my men, had him dress in a D'Haran uniform, then, after we saw you pass below, I pushed him over the cliff."

"You killed your own man?"

"Sacrifice for the greater cause is sometimes necessary. Salvation comes through sacrifice," he added in defiant defense.

"How did you know where I was?"

"Emperor Jagang is a dream walker. He learned about your kind through the book years ago. He used his ability to search for any who might know of your existence. Over time, he put together evidence in order to track you down."

"And the note I found?"

"I planted it on him. Jagang found out through his ability that you once used that name."

"The bond prevents the dream walker from entering a person's mind," Richard said. "He must have searched for a long time, looking for those who aren't bonded to the Lord Rahl."

Sebastian nodded with satisfaction. "That's right. And we succeeded, too."

Je

Sebastian licked his lips. "Je

"They were your own men. That's why it was so easy for you to kill them. They weren't expecting you to attack them-they thought you were there to fight alongside them. And that's why you were confused when I told you about the quads, about how many more men I thought there were. They weren't really quads. You had to kill some i