The pillars of creation

Jennsen carved off a chunk of sizzling meat and blew on it to cool it a little. "And so you use magic in that way?"

"That's right." Sebastian chewed, giving a moan of approval to the taste before he swallowed and went on. "We want to eliminate the evil of magic, but to do so we have to use magic in the fight, or else evil would win.»

Jennsen took a juicy bite of the pork, moaning her agreement with his opinion of the taste. It was wonderful having something hot to eat.

"And do Brother Narev and the Emperor Jagang think that knives and swords are evil, too?"

"Of course, because their sole purpose is to maim and kill-naturally we don't mean tools like bread knives, but weapons, certainly, are evil things. People will eventually be free of their scourge, though, and then the plague of murder and death will be a thing of the past."

"You mean to say that even soldiers won't have weapons?"

"No, soldiers will always have to be armed in order to defend a free and peaceful people."

"But, then how can people protect themselves?"

"From what? Only the soldiers will carry deadly weapons."

Jennsen tilted her head toward him in admonition. "Were it not for the knife I carry, soldiers would have easily murdered me along with my mother.»

"Evil soldiers. Our soldiers fight only for good, for the defense and security of the people, not to enslave them. When we defeat the D'Haran forces, then there will be peace."

"But even then-"

He leaned toward her. "Don't you see? Eventually, with magic eliminated, weapons will no longer be needed. It's the corrupt passions of people which are made lethal because they have access to weapons that result in crimes and murders."

"Soldiers have passions."

He dismissed the thought with a wave of a hand. "Not if they're trained properly and are under supervision of good officers."

Jennsen gazed off at the sparkling dome of stars. The world he envisioned certainly sounded inviting. But if what he claimed were true, then magic, as they used it, was being used for a good end, so that would mean it could be neither good nor bad, but that, much like her knife, the intent of the person wielding magic actually carried the moral condition, not the magic itself. Rather than say so, she asked another question.

"What would a world without magic be like?"

Sebastian smiled wistfully. "Everyone would be equal. No one would have an unfair advantage." He stabbed another piece of meat and pulled it off the stick on the point of his knife. "Everyone would work together, then, because we would all be the same. No one would have the unfair use of magic and be able to take advantage of others. You, for example, would be free to live your life without Lord Rahl hunting you with his magic.»

Althea said that Richard Rahl had been born with powers of the gift not seen in thousands of years. He had, after all, gotten closer to her than Darken Rahl ever had. He had sent those men who had murdered her mother. But Althea had also said that Jennsen was a hole in the world to those with the gift; Lord Rahl could hunt her, but not with magic.

"You will never be free," Sebastian finally added in a quiet voice, until you eliminate Richard Rahl."

Her eyes turned toward him. "Why me? With all those fighting against him, why do you say until I eliminate him?"

But even as she was asking the question, she began to see the terrible answer.

"Well," he said, leaning back. "I guess what I really meant to say was that you won't be free until Lord Rahl is eliminated."

He turned away and pulled a waterskin closer. She watched him take a long drink, then changed the subject.

"Captain Lerner said that Lord Rahl was married."

"To a Confessor," Sebastian confirmed. "If Richard Rahl was looking to find a wife who was his match in evil, he found her."

"You know about her, then?"

"Only the little I've heard from the emperor. I can tell you what I know, if you want."

Jennsen nodded. With a finger and thumb, she pulled some more salt pork off one of the long sticks, eating while she watched the firelight dance in his eyes as he spoke.

"The barrier between the Old World to the south and the New World to the north stood for thousands of years-until Lord Rahl destroyed it so that he might conquer our people. Probably not long before your mother would have been born, I think, the New World was itself divided up into three lands. To the far west was Westland. D'Hara is to the east. After killing his father and seizing rule, Richard Rahl destroyed these boundaries separating the three lands of the New World.

"Between Westland and D'Hara is the Midlands, an evil place where magic is said to hold sway and where the Confessors live. The Midlands is ruled by the Mother Confessor herself. Emperor Jagang told me that, while she is young, maybe my age, she is as smart as she is deadly."

Jennsen was given pause by his chilling words. "Do you know what a Confessor is? What 'Confessor' means?"