“
The Book of Counted Shadow
,” she said in an incredulous whisper.
“
Shadow
?” Sister Ulicia asked, peering down over Sister Armina’s shoulder. “Not
Shadows
?”
“No,” Jagang said. “It is
The Book of Counted Shadow
, the same as the one from Caska.”
“But, but,” Sister Armina stammered, “I don’t understand. Where is this copy from?”
A condescending smile joined his glare. “The Palace of the Prophets.”
Sister Armina’s jaw dropped in speechless shock.
Sister Ulicia frowned. “What? That can’t be. Are you sure?”
“Am I sure?” He grunted in derision. “Oh, yes, I’m sure. You see, I’ve had this book for quite some time. That is part of the reason why I allowed you fools to continue in your quest. I needed the same woman you were after in order to find out if this is a true copy or not.
“All the time I had this book I never noticed the word ‘shadow’ in the title as being anything other than what it should be. I just assumed it said what it was supposed to say. But our unconscious friend over there noticed it immediately.”
“But how could you have gotten this from the Palace of the Prophets?” Sister Ulicia asked. “From what we’ve learned, these copies were buried with bones, like in Caska, in hidden catacombs. No catacombs were ever discovered at the palace before it was destroyed.”
Jagang smiled to himself, as if he were explaining things to children. “You think you are so clever, Ulicia, finding out about the boxes, about the book needed to open them, about the catacombs, and about the one person needed to verify the text of the book. But I have known for decades what you have only recently discovered.
“I have been visiting minds for a very, very long time to aid our cause. You would be surprised at all the things I learned long ago. While you Sisters were engaged in palace politics, in battles for power on your own little island, in courting either the Creator or the Keeper, seeking favors in return for loyalty to one or the other, I have been working to unite the Old
World in the cause of the Fellowship of Order, which is the true cause of the Creator and therefore the only righteous cause of mankind.
“While you were teaching young men to be wizards, I was showing those same young men the true Light. Without the Sisters even being aware of it, many of those young wizards had already devoted themselves to the future salvation of mankind by becoming disciples of the Order. They spent decades walking the halls of the Palace of the Prophets, right under the noses of the Sisters, while working as brothers of the Fellowship of Order. And I was there in their minds as they read all those restricted books down in the vaults of the palace.
“As a dream walker, I gave them direction and purpose in their studies. I knew what was needed. I had them search for me. As brothers of the Order they long ago found the secret entrance down into the catacombs—it was hidden under an unused and long-forgotten storage area in the older section of the stables. They spirited this book, as well as other valuable volumes, out of the catacombs, and then when I finally arrived at the palace after triumphantly unifying the Old World, they delivered them to me. I have had this particular copy for decades.
“The only thing I didn’t have was a way through the great barrier so that I could get at both the boxes and the means of verification. But then, through their meddling, the Sisters obliged me by doing things that resulted in the destruction of that barrier.
“Now that the Palace of the Prophets has been destroyed, I’m afraid that the catacombs and the books they held have been lost for all time, but those young men searched through most of those hidden volumes, and through their eyes I’ve read most of them. The palace and the catacombs are now gone, but not all the knowledge contained there has been lost. Those young men grew up to become brothers, many still alive and serving in our struggle.
“When I witnessed you hatch your plan to capture the Mother Confessor, I realized I could use that plan to finally get my hands on her and use her for my purposes, so I allowed you to think you were accomplishing exactly what you wanted, while you were, in fact, accomplishing what I wanted. I now have the book, and the Mother Confessor that the book says must be used to confirm their validity.”
Both Sisters could only stare.
Kahlan’s mind spun in confusion. Mother Confessor. She was the Mother Confessor.
What in the world was a Mother Confessor?
Jagang flashed the Sisters a cunning smile. “You have been the perfect fools, don’t you think?”
“Yes, Excellency,” they both conceded as one in small voices.
“So, you see,” he went on, “we now have two copies of
The Book of Counted Shadows
, and both have the same mistake—the word ‘shadow’ instead of ‘shadows’ on the cover.”
“But this is still only two,” Sister Armina said. “What if all the other copies have the same flaw?”
“I don’t think that’s going to happen,” Sister Ulicia said.
“Well, if they did, it would certainly prove something, now, wouldn’t it?” Jagang arched a questioning eyebrow over one dark eye. “I now have two, and they have the exact same error. We will need to have the rest to confirm the theory that one will have the title written correctly, as ‘shadows.’ So, as it turns out we will need to keep the Mother Confessor alive until we can see if she has really found the flaw that will verify the true copy.”
“And if all the copies have the same flaw, Excellency?” Sister Armina asked.
“Then we will have learned that the error in the title isn’t the method for verifying
The Book of Counted Shadows
. It may turn out that we need to give her access to the copy itself so that she can have a broader basis for making the verification—for making it on things that for now she isn’t able to see.”
Sister Armina lifted a hand. “But Excellency, I don’t know that such a thing is even possible.”
Jagang didn’t answer Armina’s concern, but instead took the book from her and set it beside the one on the table. “The Mother Confessor is still vital to us. She is the only way to verify the one, true copy. We can’t yet be certain that she has done that. So far she made a judgment on the only information available to her. For now, we need her alive.”
“Yes, Excellency,” Sister Armina said.
“I think she might be waking,” Sister Ulicia said.
Kahlan realized that she had been listening so intently that she had failed to completely close her eyes when Sister Ulicia looked her way. The Sister came closer, peering down at her.
Kahlan didn’t want them to know she had heard them call her by the title Mother Confessor. She stretched a little, as if trying to escape the
bounds of unconsciousness while she tried to imagine what such a title could possibly mean.
“Where are we?” she mumbled, feigning a groggy voice.
“I am confident that it will soon enough become all too clear to you.” Sister Ulicia forcefully jabbed Kahlan’s shoulder. “Now, wake up.”
“What is it? Do you wish something, Sister?” Kahlan rubbed her eyes with the backs of her knuckles, trying to look uncoordinated and dazed. “Where are we?”
Sister Ulicia hooked a finger through the collar around Kahlan’s neck and jerked her upright.
Before Sister Ulicia could say anything more, Jagang’s meaty hand grabbed her arm and drew her back out of his way. He was intent on Kahlan. His fists seized her shirt at her throat. He lifted her clear of the ground.
“You killed two trusted guards,” he said through gritted teeth. “You killed Sister Cecilia.” His face was going red with rapidly building rage. His brow drew down over his dark eyes. It seemed that lightning might flicker in the cloudy shapes drifting through those black eyes. “What made you think that you could get away with killing them?”
“I didn’t think I could get away with it,” Kahlan said as calmly as she could manage. As she had suspected, her calm only served to provoke his fury.
He roared in unleashed anger and shook her so violently that it felt like it might have torn muscles in her neck. It was obvious that he was a man who at the slightest provocation flew into fits of uncontrollable rage. He was on the brink of murder.
Kahlan didn’t want to die, but she knew that a swift death might be preferable to what he had promised her for later. She couldn’t really do anything to stop it, anyway.
“If you didn’t think you could get away with it, then why would you dare to do such a thing!”
“What difference does it make?” Kahlan asked with calm indifference as his fists on her shirt held her up so that her boots were clear of the ground.
“What are you talking about!”
“Well, you’ve already told me that your treatment of me will be terrible beyond anything I have ever experienced. I believe you; that’s the only way people like you can ever win—by threats and brutality. Because you
are such a pompous fool, you made the mistake of telling me that I could not begin to imagine all the terrible things you intend to do to me. That was your big mistake.”
“Mistake? What are you talking about?” He drew her up against his muscled body. “What mistake?”
“You’ve made a tactical error,
Emperor
,” Kahlan said, managing to stress his title in a way that made it sound like a mocking insult. She wanted him angry, and she could see that it was working.
Despite hanging from his white-knuckled fists, Kahlan tried to sound composed, even aloof. “You see, you have made it clear to me that no matter what I do I have nothing to lose. You’ve made it clear that you can’t be reasoned with. You said that you are going to do your worst to me. That empowers me because I am no longer bound by any hope for mercy from you. In revealing that I have no hope whatsoever for any mercy, you have given me an advantage I didn’t previously have.
“You see, by making that mistake, you showed me that I had nothing to lose by killing your guards and, since I’m to be subjected to your worst anyway, I might as well have my revenge on Sister Cecilia. By making such a tactical mistake, you have shown me that you are not so smart after all, that you are just a brute and can be bested.”
He relaxed his grip just enough for Kahlan to touch the toes of her boots to the ground so that she could gain some leverage.
“You really are something,” he said as a slow, cunning smile overcame his rage. “I’m going to enjoy what I have planned for you.”
“I’ve already told you your mistake, and you repeat it? Apparently, you don’t learn very well, either, do you?”
Before, when he’d pulled her up against him in a rage and had brought her face close to his, when his hands had been firmly occupied holding her in a threatening manner, Kahlan had used the distraction to gingerly slip his knife from the sheath on his belt. With two fingers she’d worked it up into her hand. He had been so angry he hadn’t noticed.
Rather than get worked up into another fit of rage at her latest insult, he began to laugh.
Kahlan already had his knife gripped tightly in her fist.
Without ceremony or warning, she thrust it at him as hard as she could.
Her intention had been to drive the blade up under his ribs, to cut open vital organs, maybe even his heart if she could get it in that far. The way
he was holding her, though, hampered her movement just enough so that she missed her mark by a fraction of an inch and instead struck his lowest rib. The point stuck in bone.
Before she had time to yank it back and stab him again, he seized her wrist and wrenched her arm over, spinning her around. Her back slammed against his chest. He had the knife out of her grip before she had a chance to do anything about it. His arm across her throat cut off her air as he held her against his massive muscles. His chest heaved in anger against her back.
Rather than admitting defeat, and before she blacked out from lack of air, she used all her muscle to drive the heel of her boot into his shin. By his cry she knew it hurt. She struck sharply with her elbow directly into the fresh wound. He flinched. As her elbow rebounded from the blow she cocked it forward to gain momentum and then smashed back into his jaw. He was so big, though, so strong, that it didn’t have a disabling effect. It had been rather like punching a bull. And, like a bull, he was only enraged further.
Looking no worse for her attack, Jagang seized a fistful of her shirt before she could slip out of his reach. He punched her in the middle hard enough to double her over and drive her breath from her lungs. She gasped, trying to draw a breath against the stunning pain.
Kahlan realized that she was on her knees only when he lifted her by her hair and placed her back on her feet. Her knees wobbled unsteadily.
Jagang was grinning. His flash of anger had been washed away by an unexpected, dangerous, but one-sided brawl, and an opportunity to inflict pain. He was beginning to enjoy the game.
“Why don’t you just kill me?” Kahlan managed to get out as he stood watching her.
“Kill you? Why would I want to kill you? Then you would just be dead. I want you alive so that I can make you suffer.”
The two Sisters made no move to rein in their master. Kahlan knew that they would not have objected to anything he did to her. As long as his attention was on Kahlan, it wasn’t on them. Before he could strike her again, light abruptly flooded the tent, drawing his attention.
“Excellency,” a deep voice said. It had come from the side. One of the big brutes held the carpet aside as he waited. The man looked similar to the two guards she had killed before. Kahlan supposed that Jagang had an endless supply of such men.
“What is it?”
“We’re ready to strike your camp, Excellency. I am sorry for interrupting, but you asked to be told as soon as we were ready. You said that you wanted us to make haste.”
Jagang released Kahlan’s hair. “All right, get started then.”
He swung around unexpectedly, backhanding her across the face hard enough to send her tumbling across the floor.
While she lay on the floor recovering her senses, he pressed a hand to the wound over his rib. He pulled the hand away to see how much he was bleeding. He wiped his hand on his trousers, apparently deciding that it was a relatively minor wound and nothing to be concerned about. From what Kahlan could see of him, he bore a number of scars, most testifying to injuries far worse than the one she had given him.