PROLOGUE
"Parting Ways"
Kahlan brought her daggers up to parry the D'haran soldier's blow, and with a simple twist sent his blade tumbling from his hands. He was exposed, and she stepped in, her hand raising to his throat. Behind her she could hear Zedd shouting as he hurled wizard's fire, and behind the soldier she saw Richard cutting down another pair of D'haran troops.
Her hand found his throat and the power flowed out of her, into the soldier, filling him to overflowing. His eyes turned black and he slumped to his knees. She stepped back, her knees weak, when the soldier suddenly jumped to his feet, his sword in his hand. Kahlan stepped back as he growled at her.
"Die for me, Confessor."
His sword struck like snake, a straight thrust that pierced through her corset, sliding into her belly. She looked down in shock as a flower of blood blossomed across her white gown.
He drew the sword back and she fell to her knees. He lifted the blade up, and brought it down in a wide sweeping arc towards her neck, a perfect execution blow. She woke screaming, thrashing her arms and legs, desperately fending off a blow that never came.
She was sweating, her skin slick from night terrors. She panted, trying to catch her breath and hold back a scream, and cast about the campsite. Embers died in the campfire while Zedd snored loudly from across the site. Richard had risen to his elbows and was watching her.
"Another nightmare?"
"The same one," she sobbed.
Zedd stirred fitfully, then woke.
"Was that Kahlan I heard?" he asked grumpily.
"She's had the nightmare again," Richard explained. "Third night in a row."
Zedd propped himself up and considered Kahlan, then looked through the trees towards the east, where the night sky was already giving way to the pale blues of sunrise.
"Well, we might as break camp. No point in going back to sleep now."
The trio rose and set about gathering their belongings, packing their bedrolls into saddlebags and fitting reins to the horses.
Kahlan felt Zedd's eyes on her as she fixed her saddle. She must look a fright, she thought. She'd been unable to sleep since they'd left Gyrfalcon, her every resting moment plagued by thoughts of Damark.
"You won't be able to rest until you understand how Damark turned against you," Zedd consoled, and Kahlan looked at him in surprise. He smiled warmly. "No need for mind-reading Kahlan, we're all concerned about Damark."
Zedd looked over at Richard, and Kahlan followed his eyes, expecting to meet Richard's gaze, to see the concern in Zedd's eyes reflected there. Instead Richard was holding a map, the map to Sinthra's Tower.
"This thing is driving me crazy!" he exclaimed to no one in particular.
Well, Kahlan thought, at least his mind is on the mission. Though as she watched Richard turn the map over and hold it upside down, she worried that he was simply preoccupied with the riddle of the map. It seemed to be constantly in his hands.
"May I make a suggestion?" Zedd offered, addressing both Richard and Kahlan. They both gave him their attention. "Kahlan isn't going to rest until she knows why her powers turned sour, and Richard...you are frankly getting on my nerves. Finding Sinthra's Tower is important, but you're absolutely obsessed with that damn map."
"I just can't figure it out," Richard offered as he poked his finger through a large hole in the map. "There are holes in it. It's driving me crazy."
"And that is why I suggest you make your way to South Caston and look up our friend Sebastian."
"The cartogramancer that sold those bounty hunters the tracking maps?"
"That's the one," Zedd agreed. "He may know of a way to restore the map. Additionally, cartogramancers are experts in map symbology, he may be able to help you decipher it."
Richard considered it, which prompted Kahlan to ask "You said that Richard should go to South Gaston. Where are we going?"
Zedd said nothing as he mounted his horse, but a dark look fell across his face. He stared far off to the West.
"We go to see the Shota."