Rather than worrying about the loss of his ability, though, Nathan seemed oddly enthusiastic about this unexpected new opportunity. He had always considered prophecy to be bothersome. Imprisoned in the Palace of the Prophets for a thousand years, considered a danger to the world, he had been denied the opportunity to lead his own life. Now with prophecy gone and the undead Emperor Sulachan sent back to the underworld, Nathan felt more free than ever before.
He was delighted when Richard Rahl sent him off as a roving ambassador for the newly expanded D’Haran Empire, to see if he could help the people in the Dark Lands—a thinly disguised pretext for Nathan to go wherever he liked while still ostensibly achieving something useful. The wizard had been eager to see lands unknown. (And the way Nathan said the words made it sound like the name of an actual country, “Lands Unknown.”)
Knowing his intent, Nicci couldn’t possibly let the wizard go off alone. That would have been dangerous to Nathan and possibly dangerous to the world. While the battered D’Haran army returned from the bloody battles, and the dead were still being tallied and mourned, Nicci had accepted an important mission of her own. A mission for Richard.
Everyone from Westland to the Midlands, from D’Hara to the Dark Lands, and even far south into the Old World, needed to know that Lord Rahl was the new ruler of a free world. Richard had decreed that he would no longer tolerate tyranny, slavery, or injustice. Each land would remain independent, so long as the people followed a set of commonly agreed-upon rules and behaviors.
But much of the world didn’t even know they had been liberated, and there would surely be petty warlords or tyrants who refused to accept the new tenets of freedom. Richard needed to know the extent of his empire, so much of which remained unexplored, and that was a service Nicci could provide, gathering information as she traveled with Nathan.
Nicci believed in her mission wholeheartedly. This was the dawn of a golden age. In the Old World, what remained of the Imperial Order in the aftermath of Emperor Jagang and his predecessors was now a mixed bag of local leaders, some of them fair-minded and enlightened, others abusive and selfish. If any local leader caused trouble, Nicci would deal with the problem. Though she knew Richard would back her up with his full military might, she did not intend to bother the whole D’Haran army, unless it became absolutely necessary.
Nicci would make certain that it did not become necessary.
On a more personal level, although she loved Richard with a depth she had never felt for anyone else, Nicci knew that he belonged with Kahlan, and she would always feel out of place close to them. She didn’t belong there.
By going off with Nathan to Lands Unknown, she could serve Richard, but also have a new freedom. She could have her own life.
*
“I’ve heard what the witch woman can do.” Nathan strode along with far too much cheer in the brightening morning. He tossed his blue cape over his shoulder with a flourish. “I need to ask something of her, and I have no reason to believe she won’t grant it. We’re practically colleagues, in a certain sense.”
They maneuvered through a dense grove of spindly birch saplings, pushing aside the white-barked trees as they followed the mounds of crumbling bones. Nathan sniffed the air. “Are you certain this is the way?”
“Red will be found if she wants to be found.” Nicci glanced down at the staring empty eye sockets filled with moss. “Many people regret finding her.”
“Ah, yes—be careful what you wish for.” He chuckled. “That should have been another one of the Wizard’s Rules.”
“Up on her mountain pass, Red left the ground strewn with thousands and thousands of bones and skulls from a great army of the half people she slaughtered single-handedly.” Nicci looked from side to side. “But some of these remnants are much older. She has been killing for a long time, and for her own reasons.”
Nathan was undeterred. “I shall endeavor not to give her a reason to kill us.”
The granite boulders around them grew more prominent, shaded under lush maples and domineering oaks. A tingle crept along the back of her neck, and Nicci looked up to see a muscular catlike thing regarding them from the top of a large, rounded outcropping. The strange creature had green eyes and darkly spotted fur. Seeing them, it let out a sound that was partly purr, partly growl.
Nathan leaned against a birch, unafraid. “Now, what is that animal? I’ve never seen a species like that before.”
“You lived most of your life locked in a tower, Wizard. The world has many species you haven’t seen.”
“But I had plenty of time to peruse books of natural history.”
Nicci had recognized the animal at first glance. “The Mother Confessor named him Hunter. He is Red’s companion.” The catlike thing’s pointed ears pricked up.
Nathan brightened. “That must mean we are close.”
Without seeming to hurry, Hunter jumped down from the boulder and trotted off through the birches, guiding Nicci and Nathan along. “He has led me to the witch woman before,” Nicci said. “We should follow.”
“And of course we shall,” Nathan said.
They moved at a fast pace, following the creature through the slatted birch forest and tangled underbrush. Hunter paused every so often to glance over his shoulder, making sure they were still there.
Finally, Nicci and Nathan emerged above a serene, hidden hollow. The outstretched boughs of a gigantic lichen-covered oak spread over the entire glen like an enormous roof. The bitter smell of smoke rose from an ill-tended cook fire that burned in a ring of stones not far from a fieldstone cottage constructed against the side of the opposite slope.
As if waiting for them, a thin woman sat primly on a stone bench in front of the cottage, watching them with piercing sky-blue eyes. She wore a clinging gray dress, and her hair was a mass of tangled red locks. Black-painted lips made her smile ominous instead of welcoming. The crow perched on her shoulder looked more curious about the visitors than the witch woman did.
Knowing full well how dangerous Red could be, Nicci met the other woman’s gaze without speaking. Even though he had seen the countless skulls, Nathan ignored the danger and strode forward with a hand raised in greeting. “You must be the witch woman. I am Nathan Rahl—Nathan the prophet.”
“Wizard, not prophet,” Red corrected. “Everything is changed now.” Her black lips smiled again, without warmth. “You are Nathan Rahl, ancestor of Richard Rahl. I have been called a seer and an oracle, but I have had enough visions to last me for quite some time. I foresaw that you would come to me.”
The spotted catlike creature sat beside her, blinking his green eyes as he faced the visitors. Still seated on her stone bench, Red fastened her gaze on Nicci. “And Nicci the Sorceress. I’m pleased to see you again.”
“You have never been pleased to see me,” Nicci said. Part of her wanted to summon her magic, release a flow of destruction, both Additive and Subtractive Magic, anything that might be necessary to blast the witch woman into ashes. “In fact, you commanded the Mother Confessor to kill me.”