"Even given the convoluted ways magic can interpret incidents to constitute the fulfillment of requirements and conditions to trigger an event, she can be counted as no more than his second wife. There was that other one, that Nadine girl, and Kahlan. One and one equals two; Kahlan can be no more than number two."

Zedd shrugged. "We know the chimes have been unleashed. That is the problem we must address, not the how of it."

Ann grudgingly nodded her assent. "Do you think that grandson of yours will do as he says and go straight to the Keep?"

"He promised he would."

Ann's eyes turned up to him. "We are talking about Richard, here."

Zedd opened his hands in a helpless gesture. "I don't know what else we could have done to insure he goes to the Keep. We gave him every motivation, from noble to selfish, to rush there. He has no wiggle room. We made the consequences, should he fail to do as we told him he must, frighteningly clear to him."

"Yes," Ann said, smoothing the blanket folded over her arm, "we did everything except tell him the truth."

"We mostly told him the truth of what would happen if he doesn't go to the Keep. That was no lie, except that the truth is even more grim than we painted it for him.

"I know Richard. Kahlan loosed the chimes to save his life; he would be bound and determined to set it right, to help. He could only make what is bleak worse. We can't allow him to play with this fire. We gave him what he needs most: a way to help.

"His only safety is the Keep. The chimes can't get him where they were called forth, and the Sword of Truth is the only magic likely to still work. We will see to this. Who knows, without him in then" grasp, the threat could even die out on its own."

"Slim thread to hang the world on. However, I suppose you're right," Ann said. "He is one resolute man-like his grandfather."

She tossed the blanket on the pallet. "But at all costs, he must be protected. He leads D'Hara and is pulling the lands together under that banner to resist the scourge of the Imperial Order. In Aydindril, besides being safe, he can continue the task of forging unity. He has already proven his leadership ability. The prophecies warn that only he has a chance to successfully lead us in this struggle. Without him, we are lost for sure."

Nissel shuffled in carrying a tray of tava bread spread with honey and mint. She smiled at Zedd as she let Ann unload the three steaming cups of tea she was also holding. Nissel set the tray of tava on the floor before the pallets and sat down where Zedd had been lying. Ann handed her one of the cups and sat on the folded blanket at the head of the other pallet.

Nissel patted the bedding beside her. "Come, sit, and have tava and tea before you must leave on your journey."

Zedd, considering weighty matters, offered her a weak smile as he sat beside her. She sensed his somber mood and silently lifted the platter to offer him tava. Zedd, seeing she understood his worry if not its cause, slipped a thankful arm around her shoulders. With his other hand, he took a piece of sticky tava.

Zedd licked honey from the crusty edge. "I wish we knew something about that book Richard mentioned, Mountain's Twin. I wish I knew if he knew anything about it."

"He didn't seem to. All Verna told me at the time was that Mountain's Twin was destroyed."

Ann had already known that much when Richard asked. She had offered to inquire through her journey book, even though its magic had already, faded, so they might conceal from Richard the spreading extent of the trouble.

"I wish I'd had a look at it before it was destroyed."

Ann ate a few bites of her tava bread before she asked, "Zedd, what if we can't stop them? Our magic is already beginning to dwindle. It won't be long until it fails completely. How are we going to stop the chimes without magic?"

Zedd licked honey from his lips. "I'm still hoping answers can be found at the place they were entombed, somewhere in the land of Toscla. Or whatever they call it now. Perhaps I can find books there, books of the history or culture of the land. They might give me the clue I need."

Zedd was growing weaker by the day. His departing power sapped vitality as it bled away. His journey would be slow and difficult. Ann had the same trouble.

Nissel cuddled close to him, happy to simply be with someone who liked her as a woman, and didn't want healing from her. Her healing would not help him. He genuinely did like her. He felt sympathy for her, too, for a woman most people didn't understand. It was hard to be unlike those around you.

"Do you have any theories at all of how to banish the chimes from this world?" Ann asked between bites.

Zedd tore his tava bread in half. "Only what we discussed; if Richard stays at the Keep, then without him the chimes very well may be pulled back to the underworld even without our help. I know it's a slim hope, but I will just have to find a way to fight them back into the underworld if need be. How about you? Any ideas?"

"None."

"And do you still have your mind set on trying to rescue your Sisters of the Light from Jagang?"

She swished away a gnat. "Jagang's magic will fail just the same as all other magic. The dream walker will lose his grip on my Sisters. In danger there is opportunity. I must use the opportunity while it is available."

"Jagang still has a huge army. For one who often criticizes my plans, you prove no more ingenious at the task of scheming."

"The reward is well worth the risk." Ann lowered the hand with her tava. I shouldn't admit it… but, since we are to part ways, I will say it. You are a clever man, Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander. I will miss your vexing company. Your trickster ways have saved our hides more than once. I admire your perseverance-and see where Richard gets his."

"Really? Well, I still don't like your plan. Flattery will not change that."

Ann simply smiled to herself.

Her plan was too artless, but he understood her commitment. Rescuing the Sisters of the Light was essential, and not simply because they were captives being brutalized. If the chimes could be banished, Jagang would again control those sorceresses, and so their power.

"Ann, fear can be a powerful master. If some of the Sisters don't believe you that they can escape, you can't allow them to remain a menace, albeit an unwilling one, to our cause."

Ann looked over out of the corner of her eye. "I understand."

He was asking her to either rescue them or assassinate them.

"Zedd," she said in soft compassion, "I don't like mentioning it, but if what Kahlan has done…”

"I know."

In calling forth the chimes, Kahlan had invoked their aid to save Richard's life. There was a price.

In return for keeping Richard in the world of life until he recovered, she had unwittingly pledged the chimes the one thing they needed in order to also remain in the world of life.

A soul. Richard's soul.

But he would be safe at the Keep; the place where they had been called was a safe haven for the one pledged.

Zedd put half his tava bread to Nissel's lips. She smiled and chomped a big bite. She fed him a bite of her tava bread, after touching it to the end of his nose first. The foolishness of this old healer putting a dot of honey on his nose, like some mischievous little girl, made him chuckle.

Finally, Ann asked, "What ever happened to your cat, Lurk?"

Zedd frowned as he puzzled, trying to recollect. "To tell you the truth, I don't recall. So much was happening back then. The war with D'Hara-led by Richard's other grandfather, Panis Rahl, was just igniting. The lives of thousands hung under threat. I was yet to be named First Wizard. Erilyn was pregnant with our daughter.

"I guess with all that was going on, we just lost track of the cat. There are countless places in the Keep with mice; it probably found lurking about more appealing than two busy people."