"I tell you this story not to have you feel sorry for me. I tell you only so you two will not become prey to something in the pass. Confidence can be a dangerous thing. Fear can keep you safe, sometimes."
"Then I think we shall be very safe," Richard said.
Adie continued to smile, and gave a single nod. "Good. There be one more thing. There be a place halfway through the pass, where the two walls of the boundary come very close together, almost touching. It be called the Narrows. When you come to a rock the size of this house, split down the middle, that be the place. You must pass through the rock. Do not go around it even though you may want to; death be that way. And then beyond, you must pass between the walls of the boundary. It be the most dangerous place in the pass." She put a hand on Kahlan's shoulder, and squeezed Richard's hand tighter, looking to each in turn. "They will call to you from the boundary. They will want you to come to them."
"Who?" Kahlan asked.
Adie leaned closer to her. "The dead. It could be anyone you know who be dead. Your mother."
Kahlan bit her bottom lip. "Is it really them?"
Adie shook her head. "I don't know, child. But I do not believe it to be."
"I don't think so, either," Richard said, almost more to reassure himself.
"Good," Adie rasped. "Keep thinking so. It will help you resist. You will be tempted to go to them. If you do, you are lost. And remember, in the Narrows it be even more important to keep on the path the whole way through. A step or two off to either side and you have gone too far; the walls of the boundary be that close. You will not be able to step back. Ever."
Richard let out a deep breath. "Adie; the boundary is failing. Before he was struck down, Zedd told me he could see the change. Chase said you couldn't see into it before, and that now underworld beings were getting out. Do you think it will still be safe to go through the Narrows?"
"Safe? I never said it be safe. It never be safe to go through the Narrows. Many who were keen with greed, but not strong of will, have tried to go through and never come out the other side." She leaned closer to him. "As long as the boundary be there still, so too must be the pass. Stay on the trail. Keep in mind your purpose. Help each other if need be, and you will get across."
Adie studied his face. Richard turned to Kahlan's green eyes. He wondered if Kahlan and he could resist the boundary. He remembered what it felt like to want to go into it, to long for it. In the Narrows, it would be on both sides of them. He knew how frightened Kahlan was of the underworld, with good reason; she had been in it. He wasn't anxious to go anywhere near it himself.
Richard frowned in thought. "You said the Narrows were in the center of the pass. Won't it be night? How will we see to stay on the trail?"
Adie put her hand on Kahlan's shoulder to help herself up. "Come," she said as she put the crutch under her arm. They followed slowly behind as she worked her way to the shelves. Her slender fingers clutched a leather pouch. She loosened the drawstring and dumped something in her palm.
She turned to Richard. "Hold out your hand."
He held his hand palm up in front of her. She put her hand over his, and he felt a smooth weight. In her native tongue she spoke a few words under he; breath.
`"The words say I give you this of my own free will."
Richard saw that in his palm rested a rock about the size of a grouse egg. Smooth and polished, it was so dark it seemed as if it could suck the light from the room. He couldn't even discern a surface, other than a layer of gloss. Beneath that was a void of blackness.
"This be a night stone," she said in a measured rasp.
"And what do I do with it?"
Adie hesitated, her gaze darting briefly to the window. "When it be dark, and you have need enough, take out the night stone and it will give off light so you may find your way. It only works for its owner, and then only if it be given of its last owner's free will. I will tell the wizard you have it. He has magic to find it, so he will be able to find you."
Richard hesitated. "Adie, this must be valuable. I don't feel right accepting it."
"Everything is valuable under the right conditions. To a man dying of thirst, water be more precious than gold. To a drowning man, water be of little worth and great trouble. Right now, you be a very thirsty man. I thirst for Darken Rahl to be stopped. Take the night stone. If you feel the weight of obligation, you may return it to me one day."
Richard nodded, slipped the stone into the leather pouch and then into his pocket. Adie turned to the shelf once more and retrieved a delicate necklace, holding it up for Kahlan to see. A few red and yellow beads were to each side of a small round bone. Kahlan's eyes brightened, her mouth opened in surprise.
"It is just like my mother's," she said with delight