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  　Zedd looked across the road and shook his head. "I'm just saying I don't like it."

  　"He probably wanted what's in there enough that it distracted him from worrying about me. He simply wanted some female companionship, and ignored the dangers of being caught."

  　"You have known Nathan for over nine centuries. I've only known him a short time." He leaned down closer to her and lifted an eyebrow. "But even I know better than that. Nathan is anything but stupid. He is a wizard of remarkable talent. You make a serious mistake if you underestimate him."

  　She watched his eyes a moment. "You're right; it may be a trap. Nathan wouldn't kill me to escape, but beyond that . . . You may be right." Zedd harrumphed.

  　"Zedd," Ann said, after a long, uncomfortable silence, "this business with Nathan is important. He must be caught. He's helped me in the past when we have discovered danger in the prophecies, but he is still a prophet. Prophets are dangerous. Not because they deliberately wish to cause trouble, but because of the nature of prophecy."

  　"You don't need to convince me of that. I know well the dangers of prophecy." "We have always kept prophets confined at the Palace of the Prophets because of the potential for catastrophe should they roam free. A prophet who wanted mischief could have it. Even a prophet who doesn't wish mischief is dangerous, not only to others but to himself; people usually extract vengeance on the bringer of truth, as if knowing the truth is its cause. Prophecy is not meant to be heard by untrained minds, those having no understanding of magic, much less prophecy. "One time, as we sometimes did at his request, we let a woman visit Nathan." Zedd frowned at her. "You took prostitutes to him?"

  　Ann shrugged self-consciously. "We knew the loneliness of his confinement. It wasn't the most desirable solution, but yes, we brought him companionship from lime to time. We weren't heartless."

  　"How magnanimous of you."

  　Ann glanced away from his eyes. "We did what we had to, by locking him in the palace, but we felt sorrow for him. It wasn't his choice to be born with the gift of prophecy.

  　"We always warned him not to tell the women any prophecy, but one time he did. The woman ran screaming from the palace. We never knew how she escaped before we could stop her.

  　"She spread word of the prophecy before we could find her. It started a civil war. Thousands died. Women and children died.

  　"Nathan sometimes seems crazy, out of his senses. Sometimes he seems to me to be the most dangerously unbalanced person I've ever known. Nathan views the world not only by what he sees around him, but through the filter of prophecy that visits his mind.

  　"When I confronted him, he professed not to remember the prophecy, or having told the young woman anything. I only found out much later, when I was able to link several prophecies, that one of the children who died was a boy named in prophecy as one who would go on to rule through torture and murder. Untold tens of thousands would have died had that boy lived and grown into a man, but Nathan had choked off that dangerous fork in prophecy. I have no idea how much that man knows but won't disclose.

  　"A prophet has the potential to just as easily cause great harm. A prophet who wished power would have a fair chance of ruling the world." Zedd was still watching the door. "So you lock them away." "Yes."

  　Zedd picked at a thread on his maroon robes. He looked down at her squat form in the dim light. "Ann, I am First Wizard. If I didn't understand, I wouldn't be helping you." "Thank you," she whispered.

  　Zedd considered their options. There weren't many. "What you are saying, if I understand you, is that you don't know if Nathan is sane, but even if he is, he has the potential to be dangerous."

  　"I guess so. But Nathan has often helped me to spare people suffering. Hundreds of years ago, he warned me about Darken Rahl, and told me of a prophecy that a war wizard would be born-that Richard would be born. We worked together to see to it that Richard would be safe from interference as he grew, so that you would have the time to help raise your grandson into the kind of man who would use his ability to help people."

  　"For that, you have my gratitude," Zedd offered. "But you put this collar around my neck, and I don't like that one bit."

  　"I understand. It's not something I liked doing, nor am I proud of what I did. Sometimes, desperate need calls for desperate acts. The good spirits will have the final say on my actions.

  　"The sooner we get Nathan, the sooner I will take the Rada'Han from your neck. I don't enjoy holding you prisoner by that collar and making you help me, but in view of the dire consequences should I fail to get Nathan. I do as I feel I must."

  　Zedd aimed a thumb over his shoulder. "I also don't like that." Ann didn't look; she knew what he was pointing at. "What does a red moon have to do with Nathan? It's most peculiar, but what does one have to do with the other?"

  　"I'm not saying it has anything to do with Nathan. I just don't like it." With the thick clouds of the last few days, they had been slowed at night, both by the darkness and also by the difficulty of seeing the tracer cloud he had hooked to Nathan. Fortunately, they had been close enough to sense the link of magic without having to see the tracer cloud; the tracer cloud was only used to get its tracker close enough to sense the link.

  　Zedd knew they were very near to Nathan-within a few hundred feet. This close to the object of the trace, the link's magic distorted Zedd's senses, his ability to judge with the aid of his magic, his capacity to access his familiar ability with his gift. This close, his magic was like a bloodhound on scent, so concentrated on the object of its search that it disregarded anything else but the trail. It was an uncomfortable form of blindness, and another reason for his unease.

  　He could break the link, but that was risky before they actually had Nathan; once broken, it couldn't be reestablished without physical contact.

  　The snow flurries of the last few days had slowed them and made the going cold and miserable. Earlier in the day the clouds had at last cleared away, even if they had left behind the bitter wind to vex them. They had been looking forward to the moonrise, and the light it would provide as they closed in on Nathan.

  　They had both watched in stunned silence when the moon had risen: It had risen red.

  　At first, they thought that it might be a lingering haze that was causing it, but with the moon well overhead, Zedd knew it was not being caused by some innocent atmospheric event. Worse, with the recent cloud cover, he didn't know how long it had been since the moon had turned rid.

  　"Zedd," Ann finally asked into the breeding silence, "do you know what it means?"

  　Zedd looked away, pretending to scan the shadows. "Do you? You've lived a lot longer than I. You must know something about such a sign."

  　He could hear her fussing with her wool cloak. "You are a Wizard of the First Order. I would defer to your expertise in such matters." "You all of a sudden think my judgment worthwhile?" "Zedd, let's not joust with words about this. I know that such a sign is without precedent in my experience, but I do recall a reference to a red moon in an ancient text, a text from the great war. The book didn't say what it meant, only that it brought great alarm. ''

  　Zedd squatted in the shadow of the comer of the building they hid behind. He leaned his back against the clapboards and held a hand out in invitation. Ann sat beside him, deeper in the shadow

  　"In the Wizard's Keep there are dozers of libraries, huge libraries, most at least as large as the vault of books at the Palace of the Prophets, many a great deal larger. There are also many books of prophecy there."

  　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 an; 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 he 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 he 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 you 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.

  　CHAPTER 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 【创建和谐家园】iled 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 【创建和谐家园】ile, 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 di【创建和谐家园】issed 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 black【创建和谐家园】ith'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.