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CHAPTER 28
Je
Somehow, the old wizard had escaped those impenetrable shields of magic.
Je
"I don't know. I've not met him."
"It's important he not see us." Je
At the top of the stairs, Nyda looked both ways before meeting Je
"Yes!»
"All right. Come with me, then."
"I need my things," Sebastian said.
"Here." The captain pointed at a door not far away.
While Nyda stood guard, Sebastian followed Captain Lerner inside. Je
With every passing moment, Je
Sebastian emerged ahead of the captain. "Let's go."
He simply looked like a man in a dark green cloak, the same as before. Few would suspect the collection of weapons he carried. His blue eyes and spikes of white hair made him look different from other people; maybe that was why the guards had stopped him.
The captain caught Je
He handed her the lamp. Je
Nyda led them down dark halls and through empty rooms. They raced through a narrow cleft without a ceiling-at least, when Je
At the end of the passageway beside the huge stone blocks, they ducked through a low door and out onto a narrow walkway made of iron and laid with planks to cross on. The thread of a footbridge spa
The Mord-Sith, a hand on the iron rail as she moved across the bridge, paused and looked back over her shoulder. "Why is Wizard Rahl dangerous?" It was obvious that the question had been playing on her mind.
"What trouble can he cause you?" The brittle tone of her voice reverberated off the surrounding rock walls.
Stopped there in the center of the walkway over the black abyss, Je
"He's a prophet. He escaped from a place where he was held, a place where he couldn't hurt anyone. They had him there because he's dangerous."
The Mord-Sith pulled her long blond braid over her shoulder, drawing her hand down its length as she considered Je
"He's dangerous," Je
"Why?"
"He can harm my mission."
"How?"
"I've already said it-he's a prophet."
"Prophecy could be a benefit. It might help you in your mission to protect Lord Rahl." The Mord-Sith's frown darkened. "Why wouldn't you want such help?"
Je
Nyda's frown eased only slightly. "Do you really think that Wizard Rahl would tell you such a thing?"
"Why do you think they had him locked away? He's dangerous. Prophecy could be dangerous for those like me who protect Lord Rahl."
"Or maybe it could help," Nyda said. "If you knew that something bad was going to happen, you could stop it."
"Then it wouldn't be prophecy, now would it?"
Nyda ran her hand down her braid as she considered the implications.
"But if you knew of some dire foretelling, then maybe you could turn the prophecy aside and avert the disaster."
"If you could turn prophecy aside, that would make it wrong. If it were wrong, if it were prophecy unfulfilled, then it would just be the foolish empty words of an old man, wouldn't it? Then how could prophecy be distinguished from the ranting of any lunatic who claimed he was a prophet?"
"But it's not empty ranting," Je
"You mean," Nyda asked, "that you think it would be like if I were to jab my Agiel at someone? It would make them flinch?"
"Yes. Only if we know a prophecy, and flinch, as it were, it's Lord Rahl who would be put at risk because of our weakness and fear."
Nyda released her braid and put her hand back on the railing. "But I would not flinch, knowing how I was to die, especially if it was Lord Rahl's life I was saving. As a Mord-Sith, I'm always prepared to die. Every Mord-Sith wishes to die fighting for the Lord Rahl, not old and toothless in bed."
Je
"A brave boast," Sebastian put in. "But are you willing to bet Lord Rahl's life on it?"
Nyda looked him in the eye. "If it were my life on the line? Yes. I would not flinch knowing how and when I was to die."
"Then I admit that you're a better woman than I," Je
Nyda nodded grimly. "I would not expect you to be the same as I. You may carry the knife, but are not Mord-Sith."
Je
"I'd do my best not to fail Lord Rahl in a situation like that," Je
Nyda nodded in resignation. "That's wise." She finally turned and started out once more across the footbridge. "I would still try to change the prophecy, though."
Je
She glanced over the edge but still saw no bottom. "Prophecy can't be changed, or it would cease to be prophecy. Prophecy comes from prophets, who are gifted with it."
Nyda had her braid over her shoulder again, stroking it. "But if he's a prophet, then he knows the future, and, like you said, that can't be changed or it wouldn't be prophecy-so he would only be telling you what is going to happen. He can't change it, you can't change it. It's already going to happen whether he tells you or not. If telling you would make you fail to protect Lord Rahl, then he would already see such an event, so it is preordained to happen and would be part of the prophecy to begin with."
Je
"But don't you see? Prophets don't see everything about everyone, as if the whole world and every single thing that happens is some grand play to be acted out according to a script the prophet has already read. A prophet would only see some things-maybe even some things of his choosing. But other things, things he doesn't see, he might try to influence."
Nyda frowned back at them. "What do you mean?"
Je