Confessor: Chainfire Trilogy Part 3

"It says, 'Those who have come here to hate should leave now, for in their hatred they only betray themselves.' "

"What are you babbling about?" one of the other Sisters asked, not concerned with what they saw as a dusty aphorism.

"I'm talking about a book of instruction on using the power of Orden. The Book of Life is the very first thing needed to use that power. Such power is dangerous almost beyond measure. Those who created it wanted to protect it. Most dangerous things of magic are protected by guards, defensive shields, and fail-safes.

"Orden was designed to counter Chainfire, but because it needed to be profoundly powerful to do that, that also made it profoundly dangerous. Those who created it came up with a fail-safe that is at once both striking in its simplicity, and foolproof.

"That safeguard says, 'Those who have come here to hate should leave now, for in their hatred they only betray themselves.'"

"So what!" Sister Ulicia screamed.

"So," Richard said with a shrug, "it's a warning-about as deadly a warning as there can be. It's telling you that hate will trigger a deadly reaction from the power of Orden. If you want to use Orden to cause harm then that can only mean that you would have to be someone who hates. Only those with hate in their hearts would scheme to use such a thing to harm others."

"That doesn't make any sense! How would it harm someone who is evil?" she asked. "How could you use Orden to stop us? You hate us, you would be using Orden for hate."

Richard shook his head. "You mistake hate and justice. Eliminating those like you who harm innocent people is not done out of hate, but out of love for those who have done no wrong and are being hurt and killed. It's love and respect for innocent life.

"Eliminating such people is not hate. It is a product of reasoned justice."

"But we don't hate!" another Sister cried out. "We want to eliminate those who are heathens, sinners, and are only selfishly concerned with themselves."

"No," Richard said, "you hate those you envy. You hate that they are happy."

"But we used The Book of Counted Shadows!" Sister Ulicia cried in desperation. "We followed the original exactly. It still should have worked."

"Well," Richard said as he strolled before the blackening sorcerer's sand, "even if you disregard the safeguard in The Book of Life, I'm afraid that you made a mistake thinking that The Book of Counted Shadows would be of any use."

"But it's the real book! The original!"

Richard smiled as he nodded. "It's the original of yet another fail-safe. Didn't you read the first thing in that book as well? It also put the important warning first."

"What warning!"

"The warning to use a Confessor."

"But we had the original! We had no need of a Confessor!"

"The warning wasn't that you need a Confessor. The warning was the mention of a Confessor at all."

Zedd, unable to contain himself, held up a hand. "Richard, what in the world are you talking about?"

Richard smiled at his grandfather. "Who was the first Confessor?"

"Magda Searus."

Richard nodded. "The woman who had been married to Baraccus. That was during the war. After the great barrier was up and the war was over the wizards up here discovered that the prosecutor in the trial over the Temple of the Winds, Lothain, was a traitor. To discover how he betrayed them, Wizard Merritt used Magda Searus to create a Confessor."

"Yes, yes," Zedd said, nodding. "So what?"

"The boxes of Orden were created during the great war. The first Confessor was not brought into being until long after the war. How could The Book of Counted Shadows be the key created to open the boxes if Confessors had not even been dreamed up when Orden was created?"

Zedd blinked in surprise. "The Book of Counted Shadows couldn't possibly be a key to open the boxes of Orden."

"That's right," Richard said. "They were merely a trick to prevent the misuse of the power of Orden. Using them, even the original can only get you killed. The Book of Counted Shadows is not the key to opening the power of Orden."

Richard turned to the pandemonium of a building rumble. Vapor, smoke, shadows, and light spun with a roar. The ground shook violently. The sorcerer's sand, now black as pitch, was sucked into the vortex. With a grating sound the whole of it rotated over the abyss. The sounds of the world of life and the underworld mixed in a terrible howl.

The Sisters spun in the maelstrom, arms and legs sticking out in every direction, their screams lost in the thundering clamor.

Blinding light ignited in the center of the spinning mass. Beams of white-hot light shot upward through the windows overhead and downward into the blackness of the abyss. The air shimmered with heat, light, and a piercing shriek.

With a wailing roar the blackened sand under the Sisters ripped open. Violet light shot up to engulf the terrified women. The rotating light, black sand, and lightning tightened as it built momentum.