The pillars of creation

As Jennsen followed, she didn't need the voice in her head to tell her that this was the bait that had been provided in order to draw Richard Rahl in for the killing. The voice had done its part.

Girding her resolve, gripping her knife tightly, Jennsen ran over beside the Sister. She turned her back to the unconscious woman, not wanting to think about her, or to have to look at her, putting her mind instead to the task at hand. This was her chance to finish it.

The laughing man suddenly popped out from behind a pillar not far away, no doubt to help draw in the prey. Jennsen recognized his awful grin. It was the man she had seen the night the sorceress Lathea had been murdered. It was the man that had so frightened Betty, her goat. The man Jennsen thought she recognized from her nightmares.

"I see you have found my queen," the nightmare man said.

"What?" Sebastian asked.

"My queen," the man said, still with that terrible grin. "I am King Oba Rahl. She shall be my queen."

Jennsen recognized, then, that there was a small resemblance in the eyes to Nathan Rahl, to Richard, to her. He didn't have the strong likeness that Jennsen saw of herself in Richard's eyes, but she saw enough to know that he was telling the truth-he, too, was the son of Darken Rahl.

"Here he comes," he said, turning, holding out an introductory arm,'my brother, the old Lord Rahl."

Richard strode out of the shadows.

"Don't be afraid, Jenn," Sebastian whispered in her ear, "he can't hurt you. You can get him, now."

Now was her chance; she would not again waste it.

Off to the side, through the thicket of columns, she caught glimpses of a wagon rolling up. She thought she recognized the horses-both gray with black manes and tails. They were horses as big as any she'd ever seen. From the comer of her eye, she saw that the driver was big and blond-headed.

Jennsen turned, staring in disbelief at the wagon when she heard Betty's familiar bleat. The goat stood and put its front hooves up on the seat beside the driver. The big blond man gave her ears a quick affectionate rub. It looked like Tom.

"Jennsen," Richard said, "step away from Kahlan."

"Don't do it, sis!" Oba yelled. He roared with laughter.

Knife in hand, Jennsen backed closer to the unconscious woman hanging from the pillar rising up behind. Richard would try to come through her to get at Kahlan; then Jennsen would have him.

"Jennsen," Richard said, "why would you side with a Sister of the Dark?"

She shot a brief puzzled frown at Sister Perdita. "Sister of the Light," she corrected.

Richard slowly shook his head as his gaze went beyond to Sister Perdita. "No. She is a Sister of the Dark. Jagang has Sisters of the Light, but he also has the others as well. They are both slaves to the dream walker; that's why they have that ring through their lower lip."

Jennsen had heard that name before-dream walker. She frantically tried to remember where. She recalled, too, what the Sisters had invoked that night in the woods. Everything was tumbling through her mind in a frantic rush. It wasn't helping that the voice was there, incessantly urging her on. She was screaming inside with the need to kill this man, but something was keeping her from moving. She knew it couldn't be his magic.

"You will have to come through Jennsen if you want to save Kahlan," Sister Perdita said in her cool, disdainful voice. "You have run out of time, and options, Lord Rahl. You had better at least save your wife, before her time is up, as well."

Off in the distance to the side, Jennsen caught sight of the brown goat bounding through the forest of stone, outpacing Tom by a wide margin.

"Betty?" Jennsen whispered through choking tears as she unwrapped the black veil from her head so the goat would recognize her.

The goat bleated at the sound of her name, her little upright tail wagging in a blur as she ran. Something else, smaller, was coming from behind, back by Tom. Before the goat could reach her, it reached Oba. Spotting him as it came around the pillar, Betty let out a plaintive cry and sidestepped away. Jennsen knew well Betty's cry of distress and terror, her plea for help and comfort.

Overhead, the sky went wild with lightning and thunder, further frightening the poor animal.

"Betty?" Jennsen called, hardly able to believe what she was seeing, wondering if it could be an illusion, some cruel deception. But Lord Rahl's magic couldn't do that to her.

At the sound of her voice, the goat bounded toward Jennsen, her beloved lifelong friend. Not a dozen strides away, Betty looked up at Jennsen and froze in her tracks. The wagging tail stopped dead. Betty bleated in distress. The bleats turned to terror at what she was seeing.

"Betty," Jennsen cried, "its all right. Come-it's me."

Trembling in fear as it gazed up at her, Betty backed away. The goat was reacting the same way it had to Oba, just now, and the same way it had that first night she saw him.

Betty turned and ran.

Right for Richard.