Terry Goodkind

It was hard to tell because the eyes were as dark as the rest of it, except when the light caught them just right, then they gleamed a golden color.

The horn blew

Therefore, we have to leave and then ignite the protective state."

"How will be get back in?" Cara asked.

"I will have to shut the thing down. I know the sequence necessary to inactivate the spell. Once I shut it down, though, I don't believe it can be reactivated, so we dare not shut it down unless it's absolutely necessary for some reason, or until

With the back of her wrist, Rachel wiped sweat from her forehead. She knew that as soon as she stopped working she would get cold, but at the moment she was sweating. It was hard to stop, because she was in a hurry. She knew that she couldn't hurry when she was stopped for the night, but she still felt driven to rush, so she raced to as she built her shelter.

Kahlan said. She smiled sheepishly. “Like this, I mean.”

After leaving the People’s Palace in D’Hara and

coming out into a

errant events.”

Cara folded her arms. “Mind giving us the translation?”

The woman was in her red leather. Nicci wondered if that meant there was more trouble about or if she was just surly from the beast paying them a visit.

“It’s a containment

of Jebra telling her story Shota simply up and vanished.”

“Vanished,” Richard repeated, cautiously.

Nicci nodded. “We thought she would stick around and have something to say after Jebra finished.”

“Maybe she had to go find someone to intimidate,” Cara said.

Ann sighed. “Maybe she wanted to be on her way after that other witch woman.”

“Maybe, being a witch woman, she isn’t much for good-byes,” Nathan suggested.

Richard didn’t say anything. He had seen Shota do this before, like when she had shown up at his and Kahlan’s wedding and given Kahlan the necklace. No one had heard her then, either, when she had spoken to Richard and Kahlan. No one had seen her leave.

Everyone went back to their conversation, except for his grandfather. Zedd looked distant and distracted.

“What is it?” Richard asked.

Zedd shook his head as he laid his arm around Richard’s shoulders, leaning closer as he spoke intimately. “For some reason, I find my mind wandering to thoughts of your mother.”

“My mother.”

Zedd nodded. “I really miss her.”

“Me too,” Richard said. “Now that you mention it, I guess I’ve had her on my mind as well.”

Zedd stared off into the distance. “Part of me died with her that day.”

It took Richard a moment to find his voice. “Do you have any idea why she went back into the burning house? Do you think there was anything important in there? Maybe someone we didn’t know about?”

Zedd shook his head insistently. “I felt sure that there had to have been some good reason, but I went through the ashes myself.” His eyes welled up with tears. “There was nothing in there but her bones.”

Richard glanced out the door and saw the spectral shadow of Shota atop her horse start down the road without looking ba

When Violet eventually tired of hurting her, Rachel suspected that she would be put to death. She’d heard Violet ordering the deaths of prisoners accused of “high crimes.” If someone displeased her enough, or if Six told her that