Chainfire: Chainfire Trilogy Part 1

"He's a dream walker, Richard. With the bond to you the Sisters of the Light who are free are out of his grasp, but he captured those Sisters-I was there, with them, when Jagang first got his clutches on us. They are Sisters of the Dark; without the bond they're helpless against the dream walker. My — feelings are what bonded me to you and allowed me to escape his control. But they couldn't escape; they're not loyal to you nor could they be."

"Oh, but they are. They swore a bond to me."

"What! That's impossible."

Richard shook his head. "You weren't with them the day it happened. It was when Jagang's troops were trying to take the Palace of the Prophets. Sister Ulicia and my former teachers-except you were gone and Liliana was dead-knew where Kahlan was being held. They wanted free of Jagang's domination and so they made me an offer. They traded the whereabouts of Kahlan in exchange for being allowed to swear loyalty to me so they could escape the dream walker's domination."

Nicci was in near apoplexy with bottled objections. She looked as if the idea was so bizarre that she had trouble even deciding where to start. She heaved a breath to gain control of her galloping objections.

"Richard, you simply have to stop coming up with such flights of fancy. None of this even works in your story. The viper, as you think you figured out, would really then have to have five heads. You forgot Merissa."

"No, Merissa is dead. She was trying to kill me-she came after me. She said she intended to bathe in my blood."

Nicci pulled a strand of hair through her finger and thumb. "Well, I admit, I often heard her make that vow."

"She tried to make good on the vow. She had followed Kahlan and me in the sliph. The Sword of Truth is incompatible with life in the sliph. When I got here I retrieved the sword and plunged it into the sliph before Merissa was able to get out. She died in there.

"Of those Sisters of the dark who swore loyalty to me, only four are still alive. Those Sisters are the viper with four heads. They're the ones who came that morning and took Kahlan. They used magic to spell me so that I wouldn't awake easily. The spell they used must have been something simple, like magnifying my sleepiness so that I wouldn't realize that magic had been used on me. The single wolf that called wasn't a wolf, but a signal given by the approaching troops. Because of the spell I didn't recognize it for what it was-the spell made me so sleepy I couldn't think, but still, I knew there was something strange about it. The Sisters then used magic to cover their trail. They took Kahlan."

Nicci seized fists full of blond hair as she growled in agitation. "But they're Sisters of the Dark! They can't be bonded to you and the Keeper both. That whole concept is crazy."

"I thought so too. Sister Ulicia convinced me that I was only looking at it from my perspective. She wanted to swear loyalty and in return I got to ask where Kahlan was. They had to answer truthfully to honor their bond. They then were to leave. If I asked any more than that it would break our agreement and we would all be back where we started-them subjects of Jagang and Kahlan a captive. Sister Ulicia said that after swearing their bond to me and my asking one question, they would then leave. They got the bond, I got Kahlan."

"But they're Sisters of the Dark!"

"Sister Ulicia said that if they didn't actively try to kill me thereafter they considered that to definitely be to my benefit so that was in their view conforming to the requirements of their bond, since not killing me was what I wanted, therefore keeping their bond to me intact."

Nicci turned away, one hand on a hip. "In an odd sort of way, that actually makes sense. Sister Ulicia is more than devious. That's the way she thinks."

Nicci turned back. "What am I saying? Now you're starting to suck me into your delusions. Richard, stop this. Look, you have to get out of here, and you have to do it now. Come on. Cara will be right behind me with your things."

Richard knew that Nicci was right. He couldn't find Kahlan if he had to worry about warding off three people with the gift who knew quite well how to use it and wanted to alter his very thoughts. They weren't likely to give him any chance to explain anything. He had already tried explanations and that hadn't worked.

They would most likely do what they thought they had to do. Richard didn't believe that they would give him any warning. Before he knew what had hit him it would be over.