Phantom: Chainfire Trilogy Part 2

Zedd didn't argue but instead gestured at the amulet Richard wore around his neck. In the center, surrounded by a complex of gold and silver lines, was a teardrop-shaped ruby as big as Nicci's thumbnail. "You found that in my enclave. Do you also have an idea of what it means?"

"It was part of this outfit, part of the outfit worn by a war wizard, but unlike the rest of it, like you said, this was left in the protection of the First Wizard's enclave."

"And its meaning?"

Richard's fingers reverently brushed the amulet. "The ruby is meant to represent a drop of blood. The emblems engraved in this talisman are the symbolic representation of the way of the primary edict."

Zedd pressed his fingers to his forehead, as if confounded by yet another confusing conundrum. "The primary edict?"

Richard's gaze seemed lost in the amulet. "It means only one thing, and everything: cut. Once committed to fight, cut. Everything else is secondary. Cut. That is your duty, your purpose, your hunger. There is no rule more important, no commitment that overrides that one: cut."

Richard's words came softly, with a kind of knowing, deadly seriousness that chilled Nicci to the bone.

He lifted the amulet out away from his chest, his gaze fixed on its ornate engravings.

"The engraved lines are a portrayal of the dance and as such they have a specific meaning." He traced a finger along the swirling designs as he spoke, as if following a line of text in an ancient language. "Cut from the void, not from bewilderment. Cut the enemy as quickly and directly as possible. Cut with certainty. Cut decisively, resolutely. Cut into his strength. Flow through the gaps in his guard. Cut him. Cut him down utterly. Don't allow him a breath. Crush him. Cut him without mercy to the depths of his spirit."

Richard glanced up at his grandfather. "It is the balance to life: death. It is the dance with death or, more precisely, the mechanism of the dance with death — its essence reduced to form, its form prescribed by concepts.

"It is the law a war wizard lives by, or he dies."

Zedd's hazel eyes were unreadable. "So these marks, these emblems, ultimately regard a war wizard as a mere swordsman?"

"The same overriding principle I told you about before applies to this just as it does the other symbols. The primary edict is not meant to merely convey how a war wizard fights with a weapon, but, more importantly, with his mind. It's a fundamental understanding of the nature of reality that must encompass everything he does. By being true to the primary edict, any weapon is an extension of his mind, an agent of his intent. In a way it's what you once told me about being the Seeker. It's not the weapon that matters so much as the man who wields the weapon.

"The man who last wore this amulet was once First Wizard. His name was Baraccus. He also happened to have been bora a war wizard, as am I. He, too, went to the Temple of the Winds, but when he returned, he went into the First Wizard's enclave, left this there, came out, and committed suicide by leaping off the side of the Keep."

Richard's gaze drifted into distant visions and memories. "For a time, I understood and ached to join him." Nicci was relieved when the haunted look in his gray eyes was banished by the return of his easy smile. "But I came to my senses."

The room rang with the silence, as if death itself had just silently glided through the room, paused for a moment, and then moved on.

Zedd at last smiled himself as he gripped Richard's shoulder, giving his grandson an affectionate joggle. "I'm glad to know I made the right choice in naming you Seeker, my boy."

Nicci wished that Richard still had the sword that belonged with the Seeker, but he had sacrificed it for information in an attempt to find Kahlan.

"So," Zedd said at last, getting back to the matter at hand, "because you know about these symbols, you believe you understood symbols within the Chainfire spell-form."

"I was able to shut it down, wasn't I?"

Zedd clasped his hands behind his back again. "You have a point there. But that doesn't necessarily mean that you could read forms within the spell as emblems, much less know that the spell-form was corrupted by the chimes."

"Not the chimes themselves," Richard patiently explained, "but the contamination left behind as a result of the chimes having been in this world. That corruption is what infected the Chainfire spell. That's the issue."

Zedd turned away, his face hidden in shadows. "But still, Richard, even if you actually do understand something of the emblems having to do with war wizards, how can you be sure that you accurately understand this, this"—he gestured in the vague direction of the room where it had all happened — "this other business with the Chainfire spell and the chimes?"

"I know," Richard insisted in a quiet voice. "I saw the mark of the nature of the corruption. It was caused by the chimes."