The witch woman shook her head. "Samuel is a coward and an opportunist; his goal is not cruelty but rather is entirely self-centered. Cowards don't necessarily think things out. They act on whim. They want what they want when they want it.

"Samuel will rarely bother to consider the consequences of his actions; he simply snatches something when he sees an opportunity, when he sees something he desires. He shrinks from the pain it would cause him to kill with the sword and so he fails to complete the killing he initiated on impulse. If the person he injures suffers an agonizing and prolonged end, it doesn't matter to Samuel because he isn't around to witness it. Out of sight, out of mind. That was what he did to Chase."

"And you gave him the sword," Richard said, unable to disguise his anger. "You knew what he was like and you still made it possible for him to do this."

Shota regarded him a moment before answering. "That's not the way it was, Richard. I gave him the sword because I thought it would make him content. I believed that he would be satisfied to have it back in his possession. I thought it would mellow his lingering resentment at having the sword so abruptly taken from him."

Shota cast a brief but murderous look at Zedd.

"So, you didn't consider the consequences of your actions," Richard said. "You simply wanted what you wanted when you wanted it."

Shota's gaze slid back to Richard. "After all this time, and everything that has happened, you are still as flippant as ever?"

Richard wasn't in a mood to apologize.

"I'm afraid that there is more to this," Shota said, somewhat less heatedly, "more than I realized at the time."

Zedd rubbed his chin as he considered the situation. "Samuel must have stabbed Chase and then kidnapped Rachel."

Richard was surprised by Zedd's suggestion; he hadn't thought of that. He had assumed that Rachel had gone to find help.

He turned a frown on Shota. "Why would Samuel do such a thing?"

"I'm afraid that I don't have any idea." Shota looked up at Nicci, still standing at the top of the granite steps. "Who is this woman you say he stabbed? This Tovi?"

"She was a Sister of the Dark. And it is no idle accusation. Tovi didn't know the person who stabbed her, didn't know who Samuel was, but she certainly knew the Sword of Truth; she was once one of Richard's teachers back at the Palace of the Prophets. Just before she died she told me how she and three other Sisters of the Dark had ignited a Chainfire spell around Kahlan to make everyone forget her. They then used Kahlan to steal the boxes of Orden from the People's Palace."

Shota's brow creased. She looked truly perplexed.

"The boxes of Orden are in play," Richard added.

Shota flicked a hand dismissively as she stared off in thought. "That much I have come to know. But I did not know how it came to be."

Richard wondered how much more of the story she knew, but he told it anyway. "Tovi was taking one of the boxes of Orden away from the People's Palace, in D'Hara, when Samuel jumped her, ran her through with the sword, and then stole the box she was carrying."

Shota again looked surprised, but the look was quickly banished by quiet fury as she silently considered what she'd been told.

"I've known Chase my whole life," Richard said. "While anyone can make a mistake, I've never known him to be caught off guard by someone lying in wait. I can't imagine that Sisters of the Dark are much easier to ambush. Gifted people of their level of talent and ability have a sense of people being around them."

Shota looked up at him. "Your point?"

"Samuel was somehow able to surprise a Sister of the Dark, and a boundary warden." Richard folded his arms across his chest. "What's more, every time Samuel tries to accomplish something evil you always act all surprised and disavow any knowledge of what he was up to. What's your part in all this, Shota?"

"None. I had no idea of what he was up to."

"Unlike you to be so ignorant."

Her cheeks mantled. "You don't know the half of it." She finally turned away from him and headed for the steps. "I told you, we have much to talk about."

Richard caught her arm, turning her back. "Did you have anything to do with Samuel being able to sneak up on Chase or surprise Tovi and steal that box? Other than providing him with the weapon to accomplish the deed and no doubt telling him all about the power the boxes of Orden contain, I mean."

She searched his eyes for a time. "Do you wish to kill me, Richard?"

"Kill you? Shota, I've been the best friend you've ever had."

"Then you will put your anger aside and listen to what we have come to tell you." She pulled away from the grip on her arm and again started for the steps. "Let's get inside and out of this foul weather."

Richard glanced to the blue sky. "The weather is beautiful," he said as he watched her ascend the steps.

At the top she halted to share a brief glare with Nicci before turning to look down at Richard. It was the kind of haunting, timeless, troubling look that he imagined only a witch woman could conjure.

"Not in my world," she said in a near whisper. "In my world it's raining."

Shota glided down the steps to stand before the fountain. The diaphanous fabric of the dress that covered her statuesque form moved ever so slightly, as if in a gentle breeze. The gushing, cascading, effervescent waters danced and sparkled in the light from the skylights far above, putting on an exhilarating performance for the gathered audience. Shota stared absently at it for a moment, as if preoccupied with her own private thoughts, and then turned to the small crowd waiting just inside the huge double doors. They all stood silently, watching her, as if awaiting a queen's pronouncement.

Behind Shota, the water in the fountain sprayed high into the air. The exuberant surge of spray abruptly stopped. The last of the water, still rising just before the flow had cut off, reached its zenith, a dying liquid arc, and fell back as if slain. The dozens of uniform streams of water overflowing the down-turned points in the tiers of bowls, as if embarrassed by their frothy frolic, slowed to a stop and finally fell silent.

Zedd stepped to the brink of the steps, a forbidding look settling into the lines of his face. As he halted, the swirl of his simple robes gathered around his legs. At that moment it struck Richard that his grandfather looked very much like who he was: the First Wizard. If Richard had thought that Nicci and Shota had looked dangerous, he realized that Zedd was no less so. At that moment he was a thundercloud harboring hidden lightning.

"I'll not have you tampering with anything in this place. I indulge you because you have come here for reasons that may somehow be important to us all, but my leniency will not tolerate your meddling with anything here."

Shota flicked a hand, dismissing his warning. "I assumed that you would not acquiesce to me going any farther than this room. The fountain is noisy. I don't want Richard to fail to hear anything I or Jebra has to say."

She lifted an arm toward Ann, standing beside Nathan, watching, almost unseen in the deep shadows of the balcony and soaring red pillars. "It is a matter that has been close to your heart for half of your life, Prelate."

"I am no longer Prelate," Ann said in a quietly commanding voice that sounded very much as if she still were.

"Why were you hunting Samuel?" Cara asked, drawing the witch woman's attention.

"Because he was not supposed to have left my valley in Agaden Reach. Moreover, he should not have been able to do so without my expressed permission."

"And yet he did," Richard said.

Shota nodded. "So I went looking for him."