CHAPTER THREE

Richard paced back and forth across the inn's common room, muttering to himself. Zedd sat by the edge of the fire pit, watching him intently. It pained the old man to see his grandson in such anguish.

"It just doesn't make any sense," Richard moaned. "Why would she leave?"

Shrugging as he had the last dozen times Richard had begged an answer from him, Zedd had no response. He was as confused as Richard, though not nearly as distressed and wondered if Kahlan's sudden decision to leave was related to whatever she had discussed with the Shota. Kahlan had left before, when she believed she could no longer serve as Richard's confessor, but she had made certain that a new confessor was ready to replace her. He couldn't imagine that she would simply abandon her duty.

"She left before," he offered hesitantly. "You know she takes her duties as a Confessor very seriously..." His voice trailed off as Richard stared at him in disbelief.

"What about her duty to me? To my quest? To the prophecy?"

"You're right Richard, I can't ignore that duty." Richard spun around and immediately tensed; Kahlan stood framed in the doorway. She held her hands clasped at her waist, nervously wringing them as she bit at her lip. Her eyes were full of tears; the very image of contrition. "I'm so sorry Richard."

Richard stared at her dumbfounded. He tried to speak but nothing intelligible could escape his lips.

"I've been horrible," she cried as she stepped forward. Her hands danced across Richard's vest and touched lightly on his chest. "I was so scared after seeing the Shota, seeing the things she showed me. I – I had a vision of you confessed by my hand, and I was so terrified. I was just trying to protect you, and I only ended up hurting you. Can you forgive me Richard?"

Richard melted, sweeping her up in his arms and kissing her passionately. Momentarily startled, Zedd quickly gathered his wits and coughed loudly. Richard remembered himself and let go of Kahlan, taking a guilty step back from the shocked girl.

"Of course I forgive you Kahlan! I'll always forgive you, you know that. But you have to trust me, you have to tell me when you're scared. You can't – can't play these games."

"I know, I know you're right Richard." She turned away from him, dabbing her eyes. "I can't help it. My life as a confessor...So many people lie to me, try to use me to their own ends, I can't help myself, I just manipulate people to protect myself and -"

Richard wrapped his arms around her as she collapsed into sobs. He cooed quiet words into her ear while Zedd watched them skeptically. Feeling the hateful cynic for entertaining the thought, he noted that for a woman apologizing for being manipulative, she was doing a fine job of twisting Richard about. It was all the stranger for being so out of character for the sometimes painfully forthright and earnest young confessor.

Richard stepped back and gripped Kahlan, an expectant look on his face. "You're coming with us then? To the tower?"

"Of course Richard. It's imperative that we find Sinthra's Astrolabe. We should leave immediately."

Richard looked to Zedd expectantly. "Are we prepared? Can we leave now?"

"I intended to leave tomorrow in the morning, but I see no reason why we can't set out now. Assuming Kahlan is prepared?"

She nodded. "My horse is just outside and my provisions packed. Shall we go?"

Richard bounced excitedly and rushed to the door leading to the stables. "I'll fetch the horses and meet you outside!"

Zedd rose and followed Kahlan out to the street. As they walked he felt a strange sensation, neither a premonition or vision, but the powerful sense that something was deeply wrong. Richard came from the stables leading their horses, and Zedd dismissed the feeling as he climbed into the saddle.

They rode late into the night, traveling many leagues before stopping to camp.

***

The next morning they broke camp in relative silence and made out for Sinthra's Tower. It lay only a few hours further and Zedd wondered how it had remained undiscovered in such a well-traveled area. The lands around Gyrfalcon were dotted with small hamlets and villages, the vast network of farming villages that delivered food to sustain the great city. It would be several more leagues before they reached the end of what was considered civilized land.

As they came over a low pass between two small mountains, or large hills perhaps, a small valley opened up ahead of them. The valley was an intricate patchwork of small farms. A small cluster of cottages near the center of the valley passed for a village. There was little forest, mostly a thin line between farms and the rough rocky slopes of the surrounding mountains that grew widest at the northern end of the valley.

"This can't possibly be right," Zedd grumbled. "Are you sure you read the map correctly?"

Richard pulled the map from his bag and considered it. "This is the place. Should be right up there at the north end of the valley."

"There's nothing there," Kahlan noted tersely. "If there was a tower, we should be able to see it."

"I'm telling you, the map says it's there. We should ride into town, talk to the locals. Perhaps they know about the tower."

"Anclara spent the better part of her life searching for this tower. I find it hard to believe she could have missed it here, in the middle of farm lands. Especially not if it were a subject of folklore." Zedd spurred his horse forward, heading towards the town. "I suspect we have followed a dead end and that the map is simply wrong."

Spurring his horse forward, Richard stared glumly off into the distance where the tower should be. Kahlan followed along, trying vainly to conceal her annoyance.

The town was mostly empty, not surprising given that it was midday during harvest season. The residents of the valley would be hard at work now, but Zedd was confident there would be at least one or two folks in the town's tavern. He was also confident that the town would have a tavern. He yet to meet the midlander who did not love his beer.

Sure enough at the center of town was a long, low ceilinged beer hall. It was empty except for two men, one clearly the proprietor and the other likely to be his best customer. Or most frequent at least. The barkeep, a dark skinned man built like the beer kegs he sold, looked up as they entered and quickly sized them up. His patron, a feeble old man in suit more patch than original cloth, didn't even raise his head. As Kahlan entered, her distinctive white gown flowing around her, the barkeep relaxed.

"Confessor," he cried cheerily. "We have not seen one of your order in Ten Pines in several years."

"It saddens me to hear that, and it is my hope that it will soon be remedied." Kahlan pushed past Zedd and Richard to approach the bar. "I'm afraid I have not come to serve as a confessor, but in search of information."

"All that I know is yours Confessor. What do you seek?"

"We search for a tower, the tower of Sinthra. Have you heard of it?"

"Not by that name, no. But I have heard of a tower. Everyone in Ten Pines knows of the ghost tower."

Kahlan looked excitedly at Richard and Zedd. "The what tower?"

"The ghost tower," croaked the old man slumped over the bar. He lifted his head and brushed wisp of thinning hair from his eyes. His face was heavily lined, with a cherry red nose and pink cheeks. His eyes were rheumy and jaundiced. Zedd suspected the man did not have much time left in this world. "It's at the far end of the valley, on the northernmost slope. Great spindly thing with a peaked roof. They say it once belong to a powerful wizard who lived here in a distant age, that he was cursed when he tried to use his spells to make a woman love him. Damned to an eternity as a shadow. They say he haunts the tower still, that it exists in this world and the next, which is why it only appears at night, and only when the moon is heavy in the sky.

"Of course, it's not true," laughed the barkeep. "That's just legends folks made up when they settled this valley. There's no tower."

Dravel glared at him, but nodded. "Boy is half right at least. It's no ghost, just an illusion. A trick of light and shadows. But it does exist. You can go up there and see it yourself."

Zedd leaned up against the counter and the old man turned to face him. "An illusion? You sound as if you know quite a bit about this tower. How do you come by your information?"

"A wizard told me."

The barkeep scoffed. "Don't wind these people up with tall tales Dravel, there's never been a wizard in Ten Pines." Zedd smirked at the comment, but Dravel seemed mortally offended. Rearing up on his stool he pointed an angry finger at the barkeep.

"I remember when this was your grandfather's hall boy, and my memory made be addled by too much drink, but there were many years before you were born, and I remember them. Most of them. Some of them at least." Dravel's shoulders slumped and he grabbed his mug, draining the last of his beer. "What I mean is that it was before your time, when I was still a young man. Or at least not yet an old man.

"The wizard came through about twenty years ago, with a young woman. Never did get their names, not that I remember, but they'd come looking for the tower. Paid me handsomely to lead them to the place where it sometimes stands. After I showed it to them, the wizard huffed and puffed and said it wasn't nothing but an illusion. Got real angry and left, never did come back."

"Describe them for me?"

"The wizard, he was a young man. Dark hair and skinny, with long white robes. Seemed a bit, oh how do you say it. A bit fancy, if you know what I mean. Certainly didn't pay any attention to the girl he was with, and she was a beauty. Very sophisticated like, with all them manners and gestures of a lady of the city. Had hair like gold."

"Giller and Anclara."

"Aye!" Dravel's eyes brightened. "That was their names!"

Richard looked at Zedd quizzically. "I thought Giller was loyal to Rahl? Why would Anclara work with him?"

"Not originally. Once Giller was a powerful ally of the forces of law and order in the Midlands. After I disappeared with you to the West, she must have turned to him for help in her search." Zedd turned back to consider Dravel. "Did Giller explain what he meant? It's important Dravel, you have to remember."

Dravel frowned and shook his head. "Sorry friend, my memory isn't up to what you ask."

Kahlan seized Dravel's arm, a snarl forming on her lips. "You have to remember dammit, you have no idea how much is at stake."

Richard placed a hand on Kahlan's shoulder. "Kahlan, relax. He's an old man."

"I can make him remember. It would be easy." She reached out and stroked Dravel's cheek; he blanched and tried to pull back.

Zedd shouted as Dravel jerked and Kahlan's eyes turned white. Richard and Zedd both sprung forward, the old wizard grabbing the old drunk, and the young hero pulling away his confessor. It was too late, the damage was done. As Richard and Zedd futilely and loudly protested what she'd done, neither heard Dravel quietly say: "Command me, my queen."

Kahlan jerked her arm away from Richard and angrily snapped: "What do you think you're doing? We don't have time to waste on a drunkard's wandering memory. We need to know what he knows, and we need to know it now. Confessing him gives him the focus he needs to answer our questions."

Richard glanced at Zedd, who was still in a state of shock. The barkeep had backed off and cowered at the far end of the bar, casting nervous glances towards them. Horrified and bewildered, Richard backed slowly away from Kahlan, shaking his head. "This is wrong. What's wrong with you?"

Kahlan only sneered at him in response. Richard turned and walked to the door. As he left the beer hall he shot an angry glance at Kahlan. "This is madness and I won't be part of it."

Kahlan snorted haughtily, unimpressed by Richard's stand. Zedd sat back on his stool, watching her in mute disbelief. Turning back to Dravel, she commanded him to remember what the wizard Giller had said.

Dravel nodded slowly. His voice became a dull monotone as he repeated Giller word for word: "This is a waste of time! There's nothing there at all, only an illusion of a tower; a spell bound to this place, activated by the moonlight. We cannot enter because it's not real in any sense." He paused, staring blankly at the Confessor for a long moment, then suddenly continued: "That's all well and fine Anclara, but it doesn't change the simple facts. That is an illusion, and nothing more. If there was something more to it then I would sense it. If your intent is to question my conclusions at every turn, then perhaps we should dissolve this partnership at once!"

"That's all?" Kahlan screeched at the old drunk, grabbing him by his shirt and angrily shaking him. "That's nothing! What a useless man you are!"

"My apologies my qu--"

"Kahlan! That's quite enough!" Zedd shouted, drowning out Dravel. "Have you completely lost your mind? In the name of the stars and all that is sacred, what makes you think you had the right to do that? And then to abuse him further?"

"Don't you question me wizard," she hissed. "You've no standing to question how I pursue our quest, not with the things you yourself have done." She inhaled sharply and let her breath out slowly, lowering her hands as if to calm herself. "Dravel will be better for the experience. The man was clearly a useless drunk, but now he will spend his days doing all that he can to be a benefit to the people of Ten Pines, and shall never again touch the spirits. Isn't that true Dravel?"

Dravel nodded. "Yes my --"

"You know that's not the point! A confessor is to use her power to seek justice, not to impose whatever choices she thinks are best on those who do only themselves harm. The world is full of people who make bad choices, will you strip them all of their free will in some misguided effort to make the world better? Isn't that exactly what Rahl wants to do?" Zedd paused, his nostrils flaring as he stared down at Kahlan. "I don't know what the Shota said to you, but you've lost your path entirely. Whatever tales she spun they've clearly corrupted --"

Dravel did his best to leap to his feet, and though he stood shakily he also stood definitely; grabbing Zedd's jacket and pulling weakly. "My queen, should I show this ass the door?"

Zedd stopped and stared at Dravel, then waved his hand absently. The old man collapsed in a heap, snoring away.

"My queen?" Zedd looked at Kahlan. Really looked at her. She was trying to hide her smile, her eyes full of glee. And guilt. As if she delighted in getting away with something but knew she was soon caught. "No confessor has held that title in a thousand years. Not since Queen --" He glanced at the fine silver gauntlet on her hand, not wanting to accept what he knew to be true.

"Clever Zedd," she sneered. "Finally figured it out."

"How is it even possible?" He was horrified and quickly stepped away from her, realizing the danger he was in. He raised his hand. "I'll blast you. Don't think I won't."

"Oh really? And what will you tell Richard?" She mimicked Zedd's deep baritone: " 'I'm sorry Richard, she was being controlled by an sorceress who died a thousand years ago. Had to blow her up. These things happen.'" She raised a hand to her mouth to stifle a laugh, her smile became a sneer as she took her hand away. "Really Zedd, let's call Richard in here. Let's see who he chooses to believe. The wizard who lied to him and manipulated him his whole life, or the woman he loves?"

Kahlan stepped forward, reaching out for him. Zedd knew that Adrione was controlling her, something far beyond confession. This was possession, one of the darkest arts that those who existed beyond the veil of death could master. There was no way to strike at the puppetmaster; Richard would never forgive him if he brought harm to the puppet. Still, he would not let her confess him.

With a flick of his wrist he send a wave of force crashing into Kahlan, hurling her across the room. She landed hard on a table, shattering it. Immediately leaping to her feet, she tossed her head to flip her hair from her face. She was still sneering.

"You think possession is the only magic I know?"

Her hand rose, clutching at the air. As it came up her gauntlet glowed red and Zedd was lifted from the ground by an invisible force. She pulled her arm towards her chest and he flew across the room. He came to a violent stop, as if he had crashed into an invisible barrier. He gestured weakly towards her and tried to speak, too dazed to work his spell. She reached out and took hold of his chin, her eyes turning into stormy white pools. He started to scream, praying he could warn Richard, but it was already too late. Zedd was hers.

"Command me, my Queen."

Kahlan smiled wickedly and turned her gaze to the door. "You're very clever Zedd. Go explain to the boy why he should do everything I say. Tell him how you've seen the error of your ways."

Zedd nodded and walked to the door of the tavern, poking his head out into the street. He turned back to look at her and shrugged.

"Richard's gone."