Ann waved a hand over the book, the vine, and the statue. «But this, this, this is all still conjecture, Richard. Who in the world could even have dreamed up such a plot?»

«Sister Ulicia hatched the plan,» Nicci said. «She had Sisters Cecilia, Armina, and Tovi with her.»

Ann frowned. «How do you know this?»

«Tovi confessed to me.»

Ann looked more than astonished. «Confessed — Why would she do such a thing? How did you even catch her?»

«She was fleeing with one of the boxes of Orden.» Richard said. «She was ambushed by the man I gave the Sword of Truth to. He stabbed her and stole the box of Orden she was carrying.»

Zedd slapped his forehead, unable to speak, and thumped down into his chair.

«Tovi also told me,» Nicci said, «that they were here, in Aydindril, and planted that corpse in the Mother Confessor's grave to make sure no one believed Richard, should he happen to try digging it up to convince people he was telling the truth. They got the dress out of the Confessors' Palace. They wanted to make sure everyone thought Richard was deluded.

«Regarding that, I think you should also know that we traveled to the ruins of a city called Caska, down in southern D'Hara. Imperial Order scouts were there. I conducted an experiment on one of them. I used the Subtractive spell all of you wanted me to use to 'cure' Richard of his supposed delusions.»

Ann cautiously cocked her head. «And?»

«He didn't live more than a few moments.»

Zedd, nearly as white now as his unruly hair, put his face in his hands.

«I'm sure that some of this will prove quite — useful,» Ann said, looking rather confused, «and it's good that you have uncovered it. But as I said, the fact remains that you need to be with our troops, Richard. We revealed to you that vitally important prophecy: 'If fuer grissa ost drauka does not lead this final battle, then the world, already standing at the brink of darkness, will fall under that terrible shadow.'

«These other matters you bring up are intriguing, to be sure, but the prophecy remains our most important mission. We simply can't fail or the world will fall under the shadow.»

Richard gripped his temples between his thumb and second finger as he looked down, trying to gather patience. He reminded himself that these people were trying to do what was right.

He looked up, meeting their gazes. «Don't you see?» He pointed at the snake vine on the table. «This is the final battle. The Sisters of the Dark have put the boxes of Orden in play. They intend to bring the Keeper of the dead into the world of the living. They intend to give life over to death in a bid to gain immortality for themselves. The world stands at the brink of darkness.

«Don't you see? If you three had had your way, bent on enforcing prophecy, and tried to live by words you believed to be foreordained, I would not have survived the attempt to 'cure' me. I would be dead. In attempting to fulfill prophecy, you would have insured the success of the Sisters of the Dark, and the end of all life. The world of life would have ended because of you.

«Only free will-Nicci's free will, my free will-has prevented what you three would have brought upon mankind in following your blind faith in prophecy.»

Ann, the last one standing, dropped into her chair.

«Dear spirits, he's right,» Zedd whispered to himself. «The Seeker has just saved three old fools from themselves.»

«No. None of you are fools,» Richard said. «We all can do foolish things from time to time by not thinking. The thing to do then is to recognize a mistake and not repeat it. Learn from it. Don't allow yourself to fail the next time. I'm not here to tell you that you are fools, because I know you're not. I'm here because I need your help. I want you to start using your minds. You are all brilliant in your own way. You each have knowledge that probably no one else alive has.

«The woman I love, the woman I'm married to, has been kidnapped by Sisters of the Dark and had a Chainfire event unleashed on her life. That event is now burning through the lives of everyone who knew her and will eventually consume everyone living.»

He gestured to the statue of Spirit. «I carved that of your granddaughter's spirit, Zedd. It was precious to her. She left it there, on that stone altar, covered in her blood. I want her back.

«I need help. Neither Nicci nor Cara remembers Kahlan, but they both know the truth of the fact that they don't remember her because of what's in this book, Chainfire, not because she doesn't exist. You all lost something incredibly precious when your memory of Kahlan was taken from you. You lost a value in your lives that you could not begin to replace. You lost one of the best.»

Richard had to stop because he couldn't get the words past the constriction in his throat. Tears dripped from his face onto the table.

Nicci came close and put a hand on his shoulder. «It will be all right, Richard. We'll get her back.»

Cara laid a hand on his other shoulder. «That's right, Lord Rahl. We'll get her back.»

Richard nodded, unable to speak as his chin trembled.

Zedd rose up. «Richard, I hope you don't think we will fail you again. We won't. You have my word as First Wizard.»

«I'd rather have your word as my grandfather.»

Zedd smiled through his own tears. «That, too, my boy. That, too.»

Nathan shot to his feet. «My sword's in play as well, my boy.»

Ann scowled at him. «Your sword is in play? What in the world does that mean?»

«Well, you know,» Nathan said, swirling his hand in a display of cut and thrust. «It means I will fight the good fight.»

«The good fight? How about if you help us find Kahlan.»

«Well, bags, woman.»

Ann shot a look at Zedd. «Did you teach him to talk like that? He never cursed like that before he spent time with you.»

Zedd shrugged innocently. «My goodness, no. Not me.»

Ann scowled at the wizard on each side of her before looking at Richard and smiling.

«I remember when you were first born, Richard. When you were a bundle of life in your mother's arms. She was so proud of you then just for being able to cry. Well, I guess she'd be pretty proud of you now. We all are, Richard.»

Zedd wiped his nose on his sleeve. «How true.»

«If you can forgive us,» Ann said, «we'd like to be a part of stopping this threat. I, for one, am quite keen to take care of those Sisters.»

Nicci squeezed Richard's shoulder. «I think you may have a fight on your hands over that. I think we'd all like to be the one to get at them.»

Cara leaned past Richard. «Sure, easy for you to say. You got to kill Sister Tovi.»