There were books of prophecy at the Keep that were considered so dangerous that they were kept locked behind the powerful shields protecting the First Wizard’s private enclave. Not even the old wizards who had lived at the Keep when Zedd was young were allowed to read those prophecies. Even though he had access to them after he became First Wizard, Zedd had not read nearly all of them; the ones he had read left him in sleepless sweats.
“Dear spirits,” he went on. “there are so many books at the Keep that I’ve not even read all the titles. There used to be staffs of curators for each library. Each knew the books in his section of the stacks. Long ago, well before my time, these curators were gathered when an answer was sought. Each knew his own books and could speak up if his particular books held information on the subject in question. In this way it was a relatively simple task to locate the reference volumes or prophecies that might help with the problem at hand.
“When I was very young, there were only two wizards left acting as curators. Two men could not begin to tap the knowledge held there. A plethora of information is held in those books, but finding a specific bit of it is a formidable challenge. The guidance of the gift is needed to even begin to narrow the search.
“Needing information from the libraries is like being adrift in the ocean and needing a drink of water. Information is in overabundance, yet you can die of thirst for it before you can locate it. When I was young, I was guided as to what were the more important books of history, magic, and prophecy. I mostly confined my studies to those books.”
“What about the red moon?” Ann asked. “What did the books you read say of it?”
“I only recall once reading about a red moon. What I read wasn’t very explicit, mentioning it only obliquely. I wish I had thought to inquire into the subject further, but I didn’t. There were other matters in the books that were of greater importance at the time and demanded my attention—matters that were real, and not hypothetical.”
“What did this book say?”
“If I recall correctly, and I’m not saying that I do, it said something about a breach between worlds. It said that in the event of such a breach, the warning would be three nights of a red moon.”
“Three nights. For all we know, with the clouds we’ve had, we could already have had our three nights. What if there were clouds all the time? The warning would be missed.”
Zedd squinted in concentration as he tried to recall what he had read. “No… no, it said that the one to whom the warning was directed would see all three nights of the warning—all three nights of the red moon.”
“What exactly is meant by such a warning? What kind of breach could there be between worlds?”
“I wish I knew.” Zedd thumped his head of wavy white hair back against the wall. “When the boxes of Orden were opened by Darken Rahl, and the Stone of Tears came into this world from another, and the Keeper of the Underworld was near to coming into our world through the breach, there was never a red moon.”
“Then, maybe the red moon doesn’t mean that there is a breach. Perhaps you recall it wrongly.”
“Perhaps. What I recall most vividly are my thoughts at the time. I remember picturing a red moon in my mind, and telling myself to remember such an image, and that if I ever saw it for real, I must remember that it was grave trouble, and I must at once search out the meaning of the sign.”
Ann touched his arm, an act of compassion she had never done before. “Zedd, we almost have Nathan. We’ll have him tonight. When we do, I’ll take the Rada’Han from your neck so that you can hurry to Aydindril and see to this matter. In fact, as soon as we have Nathan, we will all go. Nathan will understand the seriousness of this, and will help. We’ll go to Aydindril with you and help.”
Although Zedd didn’t like that this woman had insisted he come with her to capture Nathan, he had come to understand how afraid she was of what could happen with Nathan free, and that she needed his help. At times he had difficulty maintaining his indignation. He knew how desperate she was to keep the prophecies from being loosed along with Nathan.
Zedd knew how dangerous it could be if people were exposed to raw prophecy. He had been lectured since he was a boy on the dangers of prophecy, even for a wizard.
“Sounds like a worthwhile bargain to me; I help you get Nathan back, and you two help me find the meaning of the red moon.”
“A bargain, then—we work together willingly. I must admit, it will be a pleasant change of affairs.”
“Is that so?” Zedd asked. “Then why don’t you take this collar off me?”
“I will. Just as soon as we have Nathan.”
“Nathan means more to you than you have admitted.”
She was silent a moment. “He does. We have worked together for centuries. He can be trouble on two legs, but somewhere in all that bluster, Nathan has a noble heart.” Her voice lowered as she turned her head away. Zedd thought she wiped a hand at her eyes. “I care greatly for that incorrigible, wonderful man.”
Zedd peeked around the corner at the inn’s silent door.
“I still don’t like it,” he whispered. “Something about this is wrong. I wish I knew what it was.”
“So,” she finally asked, “what are we going to do about Nathan?”
“I thought you wanted to do the talking.”
“Well, I guess you have convinced me that we should be careful. What do you think we should do?”
“I’ll go in there alone and ask for a room. You wait outside. If I find him before he leaves, I’ll surprise him and put him down. If he comes out before I find him, or if something… goes wrong, you seize him.”
“Zedd, Nathan is a wizard; I’m only a sorceress. If he had his Rada’Han around his neck I could easily control him, but he is without it.”
Zedd mulled it over for a moment. They couldn’t take a chance on his getting away. Beyond that, Ann could be hurt. They would have a difficult time of finding Nathan again; once he knew they were onto him, he might figure out the tracer cloud and possibly unhook it. That was not likely, though.
“You’re right,” he said at last. “I’ll cast a web outside the door, so that if he comes out it will hobble him, and then you can snap that infernal collar around his neck.”
“That sounds a good idea. What sort of web will you use?”
“As you’ve said yourself, we can’t fail.” He studied her eyes in the dim light. “Bags! I can’t believe I’m actually doing this,” he muttered. “Give me the collar for a moment.”
Ann searched under her cloak for the pouch at her waist. When her hand came out, the light of the red moon glinted dully off the Rada’Han.
“This is the same one he wore?” Zedd asked.
“For almost a thousand years.”
Zedd grunted. He took the collar in his hands and let his magic flow into the cold object of subjugation, let it mingle with the magic of the collar. He could feel the warm hum of the Additive Magic the collar possessed, and he could feel the icy tingle of its Subtractive Magic.
He handed back the collar. “I’ve keyed the spell to his Rada’Han.”
“What spell are you going to weave?” she asked in a suspicious tone.
He considered the resolve in her eyes. “A light spell. If he comes out without me… You will have twenty of his heartbeats to get that around his neck, or the light web will ignite.”
If she didn’t get the collar around his neck in time to extinguish the spell, Nathan would be consumed by it. Without the collar, there would be no escape for Nathan from such a spell. With it, he would escape the spell but then there would be no escape from her.
A double bind.
At that moment, Zedd didn’t much like himself.
Ann took a deep breath. “Someone else coming out won’t trigger it, will they?”
Zedd shook his head. “I will link it to the tracer cloud. The spell will recognize him and only him by that and that alone.”
His voice lowered in warning. “If yo
u don’t get it around him in time, and it ignites, then others beside Nathan will be hurt or killed if they’re close enough. If you can’t get that around his neck for any reason, then you make sure you get away in time. He may prefer death over having that around his neck again.
20
As he ambled in, surveying the gloomy room, Zedd realized that his heavy maroon robes with black sleeves and cowled shoulders were out of place. The mellow lamplight showed off the three rows of silver brocade at each cuff, and the thicker gold brocade running around the neck and down the front. A red satin belt set with a gold buckle cinched the waist of the rich robes.
Zedd missed his simple robes, but they were long gone—at Adie’s insistence. The old sorceress had chosen his new disguise; for powerful wizards, simple accoutrements were the equivalent of military dress. Zedd suspected she just didn’t like his old robes, and preferred him in this.
He missed Adie, and felt sorrow for the heartache she must feel at believing him dead. Nearly everyone thought he was dead. When they had time, maybe he would have Ann write a message in her journey book, letting Adie know he was alive.
He felt the most sorrow, though, for Richard. Richard needed him. Richard had the gift, and without proper instruction he was as helpless as an eaglet fallen from the nest. At least Richard had the Sword of Truth to help protect him, for now. Zedd intended to go to Richard just as soon as they had Nathan. It wouldn’t be long, and then he could hurry on his way to Richard.
The innkeeper eyed Zedd’s flashy outfit, his gaze snagging on the gold belt buckle. A collection of scraggy patrons dressed in furs, tattered leather, and ragged wool watched from a few booths at the wall to the right. The two plank tables sat empty on the straw-covered floor, waiting for diners, or drinkers.
“Rooms are a silver,” the innkeeper said in a disinterested tone. “If you’d like company, it’s an extra silver.”
“It would appear that my choice of outfits has turned out to be rather costly,” Zedd observed.
The burly innkeeper smiled with one side of his mouth as he held out a meaty hand, palm up. “The price is the price. You want a room, or not?”
Zedd dropped a single silver in the man’s hand.
“Third door on the left.” He nodded his head of curly brown hair toward the hall in the back. “Interested in company, old man?”
“You’d have to share it with the lady who called. I was thinking you might be interested in a bit more profit. A considerable bit more.”
The man’s brow twitched with curiosity as he closed his fist around the silver coin.
“Meaning?”
“Well, I heard a dear old friend of mine has been known to stop here. I’ve not seen him in quite a while. If he were here, tonight, and you could direct me to his room, I’d be so overwhelmed with joy and happiness to see him again that I’d foolishly part with a gold piece. A full gold piece.”
The man looked him up and down again.
“This friend of yours have a name?”
“Well,” Zedd said in a low voice, “like many of your other patrons, he has a problem with names—he can’t seem to remember them for very long, and has to keep thinking up new ones. But I can tell you that he’s tall, older, and with white hair down to his broad shoulders.”
The man stroked his tongue across the inside of his cheek. “He’s… busy at the moment.”
Zedd produced the gold piece, but pulled it back when the innkeeper reached for it. “So you say. I’d like to decide for myself just how busy he is.”
“Then it’s another silver.”
Zedd forced himself to keep his voice down. “For what?”
“For the lady’s time and company.”
“I’ve no intention of availing myself of your lady.”
“So you say. When you see her with him, you might have a change of mood, and decide to try to rekindle your… youth. It’s my policy to collect the money first. If she tells me you gave her no more than a smile, then you can have the silver back.”
Zedd knew there was no chance of that. It would be his word against hers, and her word would carry the sweet ring of extra profit, if not the truth. But in the scheme of things, the price was of no consequence, no matter how much it irked him. Zedd dug into an inner pocket and handed over the silver coin.
“Last room on the right,” the innkeeper said as he turned away. He turned back to Zedd. “And we have a guest in the next room who doesn’t want to be disturbed.”
“I won’t bother your guests.”
He gave Zedd a cunning grin. “Plain as she is, I offered her a little companionship—no extra charge—and she told me that if anyone disturbed her rest, she’d skin me alive. A woman with enough brass to come in here alone, I believe her. I’m not giving her her silver piece back if you wake her. I’ll take it out of your hide. Understand?”
Zedd nodded absently as he gave brief consideration to asking for a meal—he was hungry—but reluctantly dismissed the thought.
“Would you happen to have a back door, in case I… need some night air?” Zedd didn’t want Nathan slipping out the wrong door. “I’d understand if it cost extra.”
“We’re backed up to the blacksmith’s shop,” the innkeeper said as he walked away. “There’s no other door.”
Last room on the right. Only one way in. One way out. Something about this was wrong. Nathan wouldn’t be so foolish. Yet Zedd could feel the air crackling with the magic of his link.
As dubious as he was that Nathan would be so conveniently bedded down for them, he moved silently down the dark hall. He listened intently for anything out of the ordinary, but heard only the well-practiced, feigned sounds of passion from a woman in the second room to the left.
The end of the hall was lit by a single candle on a wooden bracket to the side. From the next to last room Zedd could hear the soft snores of the brassy lady who didn’t want to be disturbed. He hoped it wouldn’t come to that, and that she would sleep through the whole thing.
Zedd put his ear close to the last door on the right. He heard soft, throaty laughter from a woman. If this went wrong, she might be hurt. If it went very wrong, she might be killed.
He could wait, but having Nathan distracted would certainly be convenient. The man was a wizard, after all. Zedd didn’t know how strongly Nathan felt about being captured.
Zedd knew how he would feel about it. That decided him. He couldn’t afford not to take the opportunity of the distraction.
Zedd threw open the door, casting a hand out, igniting the air with silent, confusing flashes of heat and light.
The naked couple on the bed cringed away, covering their eyes. With a fist of air, Zedd threw Nathan off the woman and over the far side of the bed. With Nathan grunting and flailing at the air, Zedd seized the woman’s wrist and threw her back out of the way. She snatched a sheet with her.
As the flashes of light sparked out, and before she was even able to throw the sheet around herself, Zedd loosed a web, paralyzing her where she stood. Almost simultaneously, he cast a similar web at the man behind the bed, except this web was laced with serious consequences should he try to fend it off with magic of his own. This was no time to be polite, or indulgent.
With hardly a sound, other than a bit of thumping onto the floor, the gloomy room was suddenly silent. Only a single candle on a washstand flickered weakly. Zedd was relieved it had gone so well, and he hadn’t had to hurt the woman.
He rounded the bottom of the bed to see the man on the floor, frozen in place, his mouth opened in the beginning of a scream, his hands clawed to defend himself.
It wasn’t Nathan.
Zedd stared in disbelief. He could feel the magic of the hook in the room. He knew this was who he had been chasing.
He leaned over the man. “I know you can hear me, so listen carefully. I’m going to release the magic holding you, but if you cry out I will put it back on and leave you like that forever. Think carefully before you dare to call for help. As you
may have already surmised, I’m a wizard, and anyone who comes will not be able to do anything to save you, should you displease me.”
Zedd passed his hand before the man, pulling back the veil of the web. The man scooted back to the wall, but he remained silent. He was older, but not as old as Nathan appeared. His hair was white, but wavy, rather than Nathan’s straight hair. It wasn’t as long, either, but the short description Zedd had given the innkeeper would have been close enough for him to think this was the man Zedd sought.
“Who are you?” Zedd asked.
“William’s my name. You’d be Zedd.”
Zedd straightened. “How do you know that?”
“The fellow you’d be looking for told me.” He gestured toward the nearby chair. “Mind if I pull on my trousers? I have a feeling I’ll not be needing them off anymore tonight.”
Zedd tilted his head toward the chair, signaling for William to go ahead. “Talk while you do it. And keep in mind what I told you about my being a wizard. I know when a man is telling me a lie. Keep in mind, too, that I’m suddenly in a very foul mood.”
Zedd wasn’t exactly telling the truth about being able to detect a lie, but he reasoned that the man didn’t know that. He was, however, telling the truth about his mood.
“I ran into the man you were chasing. He didn’t tell me his name. He offered me…” William glanced to the woman as he pulled the trousers up. “Can she hear this?”
“Don’t you worry about her. Worry about me.” Zedd gritted his teeth. “Talk.”
“Well, he offered me…” He peered at the woman. Her wrinkled face was frozen in a startled expression. “He offered me a… purse, if I’d do him a favor.”
“What favor?”
“Taking his place. He told me to ride like the Keeper himself was after me until I got at least this far. He said that when I got here, I could slow, rest, or stop, whatever my choice. He told me that you’d be catching up with me.”
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