Terry Goodkind - Confessor - Chainfire Trilogy Part 3

“I remember the Sisters talking to Jagang about that.”

“Well, the whole thing is quite complicated but, basically, a traitor named Lothain went to the Temple of the Winds where it was hidden away in the underworld. He secretly did things to one day aid the basic cause of the Order when it eventually rekindled.”

“They thought the war would reignite?”

“There have always been, and always will be, those who are driven by hate and want to blame those who are happy, creative, and productive for their misery.”

“What sort of things did this Lothain do?”

Richard looked up. “Among other things, he made sure that a dreamwalker would one day again be born into the world of life. Jagang is that dreamwalker.”

Richard finished wrapping the fish in leaves and mud and set the little bundles in the glowing coals at the edge of the fire.

“After that, the people on our side sent the First Wizard to the Temple of the Winds. His name was Baraccus. He was a war wizard. He made sure that another war wizard would be born to try to stop the forces trying to take mankind into a dark age.”

Kahlan pulled her knees up and drew her blanket around herself to keep warm as she listened to the story. “You mean that there haven’t been any war wizards since that time?”

Richard shook his head. “I’m the first one in nearly three thousand years. Baraccus, though, did something at the temple to insure that another would one day be born to carry on the struggle. I’m the one born because of what he did back then.

“Realizing that such a person wouldn’t know anything about his ability, Baraccus came back and wrote a book called Secrets of a War Wizard’s Power . He had his wife, Magda Searus, who he loved very much, take that book away and hide it for me. He was very careful to make sure that no one but me would get ahold of the book.

“While Magda Searus was on that journey to hide Secrets of a War Wizard’s Power , Baraccus killed himself.”

Kahlan was astonished to hear this news. “But why would he do such a thing? If he loved Magda Searus, why would he do that and leave her all alone?”

Richard looked over in the flickering firelight. “I think that he had just seen so much pain and suffering in the war, as well as treason and betrayal, to say nothing of the experience of traveling through the underworld, that he just couldn’t stand it any longer.” His eyes looked haunted. “I’ve been through the veil. I can understand what he did.”

Kahlan rested her chin on her knees. “After spending time in the Order’s camp, I guess I know how disheartened a person can get about everything.” She looked over at him. “So, you need this book to help stop the Imperial Order?”

“I do. I found it, but I had to hide it again when I was taken to the Order’s camp.”

To rescue her. “Don’t tell me, the book is in Tamarang.”

He smiled. “Why else would we be going there?”

Kahlan sighed. Now she could see why it was so important. She stared into the flames, thinking about Baraccus.

“Do you know what ever happened to Magda Searus?”

Richard used a stick to drag a wrapped fish out of the fire. He opened it and tested it with his knife. When he saw that it was flaky and done, he set it beside her.

“Careful, it’s hot.” He dragged out the other baking bundle. “Well, Magda Searus was heartbroken. After the war they needed to get the truth out of Lothain, the traitor who had betrayed them. A wizard at the time, Merritt, came up with a way to do that.”

Richard stared into the flames for a moment before he went on. “He created a Confessor to get the truth.”

Kahlan paused at nibbling at the fish. “Really? That was where the Confessors came from?” When he nodded, she asked, “Do you know who she was?”

“Magda Searus. She was so heartbroken about her husband being dead that she volunteered for the experiment. It was extremely dangerous, but it worked. The Confessors were created. She was the first. Eventually she fell in love with Merritt and they married.”

Being a Confessor was the only part of her past to which Kahlan felt connected. Now she knew where Confessors had come from. They had come from a woman who had lost the man she loved.

Richard picked up a fat piece of wood and was about to toss it into the fire, but instead he paused and held it in a hand, turning it around, staring at it. He finally set it aside and tossed a different piece in the fire.

“You’d better get some sleep,” he said when they’d finished. “I want to be out of here as soon as it’s light enough to see.”

Kahlan could tell that he was more exhausted than she was, but she could also tell that something was deeply troubling him, so she didn’t argue. She wrapped herself in her blanket close enough to the fire to stay warm.

As she glanced up at Richard, she saw him still sitting before the fire, staring at the piece of firewood he’d set beside before. She had thought that he would be more interested in looking at his sword now that he finally had it back.

Kahlan woke softly. It was a good feeling not to wake the way she had the day before with Samuel on top of her. She rubbed her eyes and saw that Richard was still sitting before the fire. He looked terrible. She couldn’t imagine what must be going through his head with the responsibilities on his shoulders, with all the people depending on him.

“I have something I’d like to give you,” he said in a quiet voice that felt so soothing to hear when she first woke.

Kahlan sat up, stretching for a moment. She saw that there was just a hint of light in the sky. They would need to be on their way soon.

“What is it?” she asked as she folded her blanket and set it aside.

“You don’t have to take it, but it would mean a great deal to me if you would.”

He finally looked away from the flames and into her eyes. “I know that you don’t know what’s going on, or even who you are, much less what you’re doing here with me. I wish more than anything in the world that I could explain it all to you. You’ve been through a nightmare and you deserve to know everything, but I just can’t tell you right now. I’m asking you to trust me.”

She looked away from his eyes. She couldn’t bear to look into those eyes of his.

“In the meantime, I’d like you to have something.”

Kahlan swallowed. “What is it?”

Richard reached around on the other side of him and pulled something out. He held it out to her in the dim firelight.

It was the statue she had before, the statue she had left in the Garden of Life when she had taken the boxes for the Sisters.

It was a carving of a woman with her back arched, her head thrown back, and her hands fisted at her sides. It was the embodiment of the spirit of defiance against forces that would subdue her. It was a carving of nobility and strength.

It was the statue she had before. It had been the most precious thing she had, and she’d had to leave it behind. This was not the same one, yet it was. She remembered every curve and turn of that one. This one was the same, but a little smaller.

She saw then the wood shavings all over the ground. He had spent the night carving it for her.

“It’s called Spirit,” he said in a voice that broke with emotion. “Would you accept it from me?”

Kahlan reverently lifted it from his hands and clutched it to her heart as she broke down in tears.

“Before we start a war,” Richard said in a near whisper, “I need to get into the place where I hid the book. I have to get it back first, in case anything goes wrong.”

Kahlan let out a breath as she appraised the look of determination in his eyes. “All right, but I don’t like it. It just feels like a trap. Once we get in there we’re liable to be snared. We may have to fight a war to get out.”