The pillars of creation

While Nyda stood guard, Sebastian followed Captain Lerner inside. Jennsen, her knees trembling, stood in the doorway watching as the captain set the lamp down and unlocked a second door inside. He and Sebastian went into the room beyond, taking the lamp. Jennsen could hear brief words and the sounds of things being dragged off shelves.

With every passing moment, Jennsen could almost hear the wizard's footsteps bringing him ever closer. If he caught them, Sebastian's weapons would do them no good. If Wizard Rahl saw them, he would recognize Jennsen for what she was-a hole in the world, the ungifted offspring of Darken Rahl. There would be no bluffing her way out of that. They would have her at last.

Sebastian emerged ahead of the captain. "Let's go."

He simply looked like a man in a dark green cloak, the same as before. Few would suspect the collection of weapons he carried. His blue eyes and spikes of white hair made him look different from other people; maybe that was why the guards had stopped him.

The captain caught Jennsen by the arm. "As she said"-he nodded toward the Mord-Sith-"may the good spirits be with you always."

He handed her the lamp. Jennsen whispered her sincere gratitude before rushing to follow the other two down the passageway, leaving the captain of the guards behind.

Nyda led them down dark halls and through empty rooms. They raced through a narrow cleft without a ceiling-at least, when Jennsen looked up she could see nothing but darkness above. The floor appeared to be bedrock. The wall to the right was rather unremarkable fitted stone. To the left, though, the passageway was lined with colossal, speckled pink granite blocks. Each smooth-faced block was larger than any house Jennsen had ever lived in, yet the joints were so tight that no blade could have slipped between them.

At the end of the passageway beside the huge stone blocks, they ducked through a low door and out onto a narrow walkway made of iron and laid with planks to cross on. The thread of a footbridge spanned a wide chasm in the bedrock of the plateau. Jennsen could see by the light of her lamp that the walls of sheer rock to each side dropped straight down, fading away far below. The light of the lamp wasn't enough for her to see the bottom. Standing there on the slender stretch of walkway suspended over the enormous void made her feel as tiny as an ant.

The Mord-Sith, a hand on the iron rail as she moved across the bridge, paused and looked back over her shoulder. "Why is Wizard Rahl dangerous?" It was obvious that the question had been playing on her mind.

"What trouble can he cause you?" The brittle tone of her voice reverberated off the surrounding rock walls.

Stopped there in the center of the walkway over the black abyss, Jennsen could feel the bridge swaying underfoot. It was making her dizzy. The Mord-Sith waited. Jennsen tried to think of something to say. A glance back at Sebastian's blank expression told her that he had no ideas. She quickly decided to mix in some of the truth, in case Nyda knew anything about the man.

"He's a prophet. He escaped from a place where he was held, a place where he couldn't hurt anyone. They had him there because he's dangerous."

The Mord-Sith pulled her long blond braid over her shoulder, drawing her hand down its length as she considered Jennsen's words. She clearly didn't intend to move, yet. "I've heard he's quite an interesting man." In her eyes was awakened challenge.

"He's dangerous," Jennsen insisted.

"Why?"

"He can harm my mission."

"How?"

"I've already said it-he's a prophet."

"Prophecy could be a benefit. It might help you in your mission to protect Lord Rahl." The Mord-Sith's frown darkened. "Why wouldn't you want such help?"

Jennsen recalled what Althea said about prophecy. "He might tell me how I'll die, even the very day. What if you were the one who had to protect Lord Rahl against an approaching threat, and you knew that the very next day you were going to die in some horrifying fashion? Knew the exact hour, the agonizing details. It might put you in a state of paralyzing fear, and in that panic of knowing exactly when and how you were to die, you would naturally be ill suited to protect Lord Rahl's life."

Nyda's frown eased only slightly. "Do you really think that Wizard Rahl would tell you such a thing?"

"Why do you think they had him locked away? He's dangerous. Prophecy could be dangerous for those like me who protect Lord Rahl."

"Or maybe it could help," Nyda said. "If you knew that something bad was going to happen, you could stop it."

"Then it wouldn't be prophecy, now would it?"

Nyda ran her hand down her braid as she considered the implications.

"But if you knew of some dire foretelling, then maybe you could turn the prophecy aside and avert the disaster."