Kahlan swayed on her feet as she stood over the crumbled body of the boy, feeling her emotions flood back in. As always happened, using her Confessor's power left her drained and exhausted. In the aftermath, the forest sat in silent judgment. Here and there, the virgin snow around the small body exhibited its red evidence.

Only then did Kahlan even pause to consider if she might have killed Cara, too.

A Mord-Sith would not live long after the touch of a Confessor. There had been no choice. She had done her best to warn Cara, to let her know to get clear, but in the end Kahlan couldn't allow her decision to be influenced by any consideration other than what had to be done. Hesitation could have meant disaster.

Now that it was over, though, dread roiled through.

Kahlan looked around, and to the right saw Cara sprawled in the snow.

If she had been touching the boy when Kahlan unleashed her power. .

Cara groaned. Kahlan staggered to her and dropped to a knee. She clutched the fur at Cara's shoulder and with a mighty effort pulled her over.

"Cara-are you all right?"

Cara squinted up with a look of disgust working its way to the surface of pain. "Well of course I'm all right. You didn't think I would be foolish enough to hang on to him, did you?"

Kahlan smiled in thankful relief. "No, of course not. I only thought you might have broken your neck jumping away."

Cara spat snow and dirt. "Nearly did."

Warren helped them both to their feet. Grimacing, he rubbed his shoulders and then his elbows. From what Kahlan had often been told, being too close to a Confessor unleashing her power was a painful experience, sending a shock of agony through every joint. Fortunately, it did no real damage and the suffering faded quickly.

As Warren glanced over at the dead boy, she knew that there was other pain that would not leave so quickly.

"Dear Creator," Warren whispered to himself. He looked back at Kahlan and Cara. "He was just a boy. Was it really necessary-"

"Yes," Kahlan said in a forceful voice. "I'm positive. Cara and I have encountered this situation before-with Marlin."

"But Marlin was grown. Lyle was so small. . so young. What real harm-"

"Warren, don't start down the path of what-might-have-been. Jagang controlled his mind, just as he controlled Marlin's mind. We know about this. He was a deadly threat."

"If I couldn't hold him," Cara said, "nothing could."

Warren sighed in misery. He sank to his knees at the boy's side. Warren whispered a prayer as his fingers stroked the boy's temple.

"I guess the blame rightly lies at Jagang's feet." Warren stood and brushed the snow from his knees. "Ultimately, Jagang is the one who brought this about."

Kahlan could see the distant figures of their men, rushing up the hillside to rescue her. She started down toward them.

"If it pleases you to think so."

Cara stayed right with her. Warren struggled through the snow to catch up. He snatched Kahlan's arm and pulled her to a stop.

"You mean Ann, don't you?"

Kahlan schooled her anger as she studied Warren's blue eyes.

"Warren, you were a victim of that woman, too. You were taken to the Palace of the Prophets when you were young, weren't you?"

"I guess so, but-"

"But nothing. They came and took you. They came and took that poor dead child back there." Kahlan's fingernails dug into her palms. "They came and took Richard."

Warren pressed his hand gently to the side of Kahlan's arm. "I know how it seems. Prophecy is often-"

"There!" Kahlan angrily pointed back at the corpse. "There is prophecy!

Death and misery-all in the sacred name of prophecy!"

Warren didn't try to answer her rage.

Kahlan forced control into her voice, if not the emotion behind it.

"How many are going to die needlessly in a perverted devotion to seeing prophecy carried out? Had Ann not sent Verna here for Richard, none of this would be happening."

"How do you know that? Kahlan, I can understand how you feel, but how can you be sure?"

"The barrier stood for three thousand years. It could only be brought down by a wizard born with both sides of the gift. There has been none until Richard. Ann sent Verna to get him. Had she not, the barrier would still be there. Jagang and the Order would be on the other side. The Midlands would be safe. That boy would be playing ball somewhere."

"Kahlan, it's not so simple as you make it seem." Warren opened his hands in an expression of frustration. "I don't want to argue this with you, but I want you to understand that prophecy gets fulfilled in many ways. It often seeks its own solution. It could be that had Ann not sent for Richard, he would have, for some other reason, ventured down there and brought down the barrier. Who is to know the reason? Don't you see? It could be that it was bound to happen, and Ann was simply the means. If not her, then another."

Kahlan pulled angry breaths through gritted teeth. "How much blood, how many corpses, how much grief will it take before you see the harm prophecy has inflicted upon the world?"

Warren smiled sadly. "I am a prophet. I've always wanted to be a prophet in order to help people. I wouldn't put my faith in it if I truly thought it was the cause of harm." He smiled more brightly with a memory.

"Don't forget, without prophecy, you would never have come to meet Richard.

Aren't you better off having had him come into your life? I know I am."

Kahlan's look of cold fury took the warm smile from his face.

"I-would rather have been condemned to a lonely life without love, than to know that harm has come to him because he came into my life. I would rather never have met him, than to have come to know his value, and know that that value is being dashed on the rocks of this mad faith in prophecy."

Warren stuck his hands in the opposite sleeves of his purple robes as his gaze sank to the ground. "I understand how you can feel that way.

Please, Kahlan, talk to Verna."

"Why? She's the one who carried out Ann's orders."

"Just talk to her. I almost lost Verna because she felt the same way as you do now."

"Verna?"

Warren nodded. "She came to believe she had been used maliciously by Ann. For twenty years she was on a fruitless search for Richard, when all the while Ann knew right where he was. Can you imagine how Verna felt when she discovered that? There were other things, too. Ann tricked us into believing she was dead. She maneuvered Verna into being Prelate." Warren pulled a hand from his sleeve and held his first finger and thumb an inch apart. "She was once this close to throwing her journey book into a fire."

"She should have."

Warren's sad smile returned. "I'm just saying it might make you feel better to talk to her. She will understand how you feel."

"What good is that going to do?"

Warren shrugged. "Even if you're right, so what? What's done is done.

We can't undo it. Nicci has Richard. The Imperial Order is here in the New World. Whatever caused the events, they are upon us and we must now deal with that reality."

Kahlan appraised his sparkling blue eyes. "You learned this studying prophecy?"

His smile widened into a grin. "No. That was what Richard taught me.

And, a pretty smart woman I know just told me not to start down the path of what-mighthave-been."

As much as she was of a mind to hold on to it, Kahlan felt her anger slipping away. "I'm not so sure how smart she is."

Warren waved down at the troops charging up the hill with their swords drawn, signaling the allclear. The men slowed to a fast walk, but didn't sheathe their weapons.

"Well," Warren said, "she was smart enough to figure out Jagang's plan, and in the middle of being attacked by his gifted minion to keep her wits about her and to trick him into thinking she had fallen for his scheme."