The pillars of creation

"Nothing ever stays the same. The world is always changing. The world back in the great war three thousand years ago was much different. The world has changed since then. When the great barrier to the south of D'Hara was put up, wizards were different. They had vast power, back then."

"Darken Rahl had vast power."

"No. Darken Rahl, as powerful as he was, was nothing compared to the wizards of that time. They could control powers Darken Rahl only dreamed of."

" So, wizards like that, with that kind of vast power, all died out? There have been no wizards like them born since?"

Althea stared off as she answered in a grave tone. "Not since that great war has there been one like that born. Even wizards themselves have come to be born less and less often. But for the first time in three thousand years, one has again been born. Your half brother, Richard, is such a man."

It turned out her pursuer was far more fearsome than Jennsen had given him credit for, even in her all too vivid imagination. Small wonder that her mother had been murdered and Lord Rahl's men were so close on Jennsen's heels. This Lord Rahl was altogether more powerful and dangerous than had been their father.

"Because this was such an epochal event, some of those at the Palace of the Prophets knew of Richard long before he was born. There was much anticipation over this one, this war wizard."

"War wizard?" Jennsen didn't like the sound of that.

"Yes. There was much controversy as to the meaning of the prophecy of his birth-even to the meaning of the term 'war wizard. While at the palace, I had a chance on two brief occasions to meet the prophet I mentioned, Nathan. Nathan Rahl."

Jennsen's mouth fell open. "Nathan Rahl? You mean, a real Rahl?"

Althea smiled not only at the memory, but at Jennsen's surprise. "Oh yes, a real Rahl. Commanding, powerful, clever, charming, and inconceivably dangerous. They kept him locked away behind impenetrable shields of magic, where he could cause no harm, yet he sometimes managed it. Yes, a real Rahl. Over nine hundred years old, he was, too."

"That's impossible," Jennsen insisted before she had time to think better of it.

Friedrich, standing over her, harrumphed. He handed a steaming cup of tea to his wife and then passed one down to Jennsen. With the question in her eyes, Jennsen looked back at Althea.

"I am close to two hundred years old," Althea said.

Jennsen just stared. Althea looked old, but not that old.

"In part, this business with my age and how the spell slowed my aging is how I came to have dealings with you and your mother when you were young." Althea sighed heavily and took a sip of tea. "Which brings me back to the story at hand, to what you wanted to know-why I cannot help you with magic."

Jennsen sipped, then glanced up at Friedrich, who looked about as old as Althea. "Are you that age, too?"

"No," he gibed, "Althea robbed the cradle for me."

Jennsen saw the looks that passed between them, the kind of intimate glances between two people who were close. Jennsen could see in the eyes of these two that they could read each other's slightest expression. She and her mother had been like that, able to see thoughts in the slightest movement of the eyes of the other. It was the kind of communication she thought was facilitated not only through familiarity, but through love and respect.

"I met Friedrich when I returned from the Old World. I had aged only about the same as Friedrich. I had lived a much longer time, of course, but my body had not aged to show it because I had been under the spell of the Palace of the Prophets.

"When I came back, I became involved in a number of things, and one of them was how I might help those such as you."

Jennsen hung on every word. "That's when you met my mother?"

"Yes. You see, the spell at the palace, the spell that altered time, sparked an idea of how I might help those like you. I knew that regular means of casting webs-magic-around your kind never seemed to work out. Others had tried but failed; the offspring were killed. I struck on the idea, instead, to cast the web, not on you, but on those who came into contact with you and your mother."

Jennsen leaned forward expectantly, feeling sure that she was finally getting to the core of what might prove to be the help she sought. "What did you do? What sort of magic?"

"I used magic to alter people's perception of time itself."

"I don't understand. What did that do?"

"Well, the only way Darken Rahl could search for you was as I've explained-by using regular means. I tinkered with those regular means. I made it so that those who knew of you perceive time differently."

"I still don't understand. How-what-did you make them perceive? Time is time."

Althea leaned forward with a cunning smile. "I made them think you were just born."

"When?"