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  　"This is the unspeakable reality of war. There are no rules of conduct except those the aggressor makes, or those the winner can enforce. You can either fight against this, or submit to it."

  　"Can't . . . can't you do anything to help these people?" "No," he whispered. "I can only help you, but I'm not going to waste precious time doing it unless you are worth saving. The dead here died a quick death. Terrible as it was, it was quick.

  　"Vast numbers of people, many times as many people as lived in this city, are about to die horrible, suffering, lingering deaths. I can't help these people, but I can try to help those others. Is freedom worth having, life worth living, if I don't try?

  　"It is time for you to decide if you will help, if your life is worth living, worth the Creator's gift of your soul."

  　Visions of what was happening up in the great hall, out in the streets, and to her whole city flashed chaotically through her mind. She felt as if she were already dead. If she could have a chance to help others, and to live again, she must take it. This was the only chance she would get. She knew it was. She wiped the tears from her eyes, and the blood from her chin. "Yes. I'll help

  　you. I swear on my soul that I will do what you ask, if it means a chance to save lives, and a chance at my freedom."

  　"Even if I ask you to do something that you fear? Even if you think you will die doing it?" "Yes."

  　His warm 【创建和谐家园】ile made her heart lift. Surprisingly, he drew her to him and gave her a comforting hug. She had been a child the last time she had been comforted with a hug. It made her weep.

  　Nathan put his fingers to her lip, and she felt a warm sensation of succor. Her terror eased. Her memories of what she had seen now gave her the determination to stop the men who did this, to prevent them from visiting suffering on others. Her mind filled with hope that she might do something important that would help other people to be free, too.

  　Clarissa felt her lip after Nathan had taken his hand away. It no longer throbbed. The wound was healed around the ring. "Thank you-Prophet."

  　"Nathan." He ran a hand down her hair. "We must go. The longer we stay here, the greater the chance of never getting away." Clarissa nodded. "I'm ready."

  　"Not yet." He cupped his big hands to her cheeks. "We must walk through the city, through it all, to get away. You have seen too much already. I don't want you to see any more, or hear any more. I would spare you that much, at least." "But I don't see how we can ever get past the Order." "You let me worry about that. For now, I am going to put a spell over you. You will be blind, so that you don't have to see any more of what is happening to your city, and you will be deaf, so that you don't have to hear any more of the suffering and death that now possesses this place."

  　She suspected that he feared she might panic and get them caught. She didn't know that he might not be right. "If you say so, Nathan. I will do as you say."

  　Standing there in the dim light, two steps below her so that his face was closer to hers, he gave her a warm 【创建和谐家园】ile. For as old as he was, he was a strikingly handsome man.

  　"I have chosen the right woman. You will do well. I pray the good spirits grant you freedom in return for your help."

  　Holding his hand as they walked was her only connection to the world. She couldn't see the slaughter. She couldn't hear the screams. She couldn't 【创建和谐家园】ell the fires. Yet she knew that those things had to be happening around her.

  　In her silent world, she prayed as she walked, prayed that the good spirits would keep safe the souls of those who had died here this day, and for those who still lived she prayed for the good spirits to give them strength.

  　He guided her around rubble, and around the heat of fires. He held her hand tight when she stumbled over debris. It seemed they walked for hours through the ruins of the vast city.

  　Occasionally they stopped, and she lost the connection to his hand as she stood still and alone in her silent world. She could neither see nor hear, so she didn't know the exact reason for the stop, but she suspected that Nathan was having to

  　talk their way out. Sometimes those stops dragged on and on, and her heart raced at the thought of what unseen danger Nathan warded. Sometimes, the stop was followed by his arm around her waist pulling her into a run. She felt confident in his care, and comfort, too.

  　Her hip sockets ached from walking, and her weary feet throbbed. He at last placed both hands on her shoulders, turned her, and helped her sit. She felt cool grass under her.

  　Her vision suddenly returned, along with her hearing and sense of 【创建和谐家园】ell. Rolling green hills spread away before her. She looked around and saw only countryside. There were no people anywhere. The city of Renwold was nowhere to be seen.

  　She dared to feel the budding of sweet relief, not only at having escaped the slaughter but at having escaped her old life.

  　The terror had burned so deep into her soul that she felt as if she had been recast in a furnace of fear, and had come out a shiny new ingot, hardened for what lay ahead.

  　Whatever she had to face, it could be no worse than what she would have faced had she stayed. If she had chosen to stay, it would have been a turning away from helping others, and from herself.

  　She didn't know what he was going to ask her to do, but every day of freedom she had was one she wouldn't otherwise have had if not for the prophet. "Thank you, Nathan, for choosing me." He was staring off in thought, and didn't seem to hear her.

  　CHAPTER 23

  　Sister Verna turned to the commotion and saw a scout leaping from his lathered horse before it had skidded to a stop in the near darkness. The scout panted, trying to catch his breath, at the same time as he relayed his report to the general. The general's tense posture visibly relaxed at the report. He gestured in a jaunty fashion for his officers to stand down their concern, too.

  　She couldn't hear the scout's report, but she knew what it would be. She didn't have to be a prophet to know what the scout would have seen. The fools. She had told him as much.

  　The 【创建和谐家园】iling General Reibisch approached her, his heavy eyebrows arched with his good humor. When he came into the ring of firelight, his grayish-green eyes searched her out. "Prelate! There you are. Good news!'

  　Verna, her mind on other, more important matters, loosened the shawl around her shoulders.

  　"Don't tell me, general; my Sisters and I won't have to spend the whole night calming nervous soldiers and casting spells to tell you where panicked men have run off to hide while they await the end of the world."

  　He scratched his rust-colored beard. "Ah, well, I do appreciate your help. Prelate, but no, you won't. You're right, as usual." She snorted an I-told-you-so.

  　The scout had been watching from atop the hill, and from there could see the moonrise before any of them down in the valley.

  　"My man said that the moon didn't rise red, tonight. I know you told me it wouldn't, and that three nights of it was all there would be, but I can't help being relieved to know things are back to normal. Prelate." Back to normal. Hardly.

  　"I'm glad, general, that we will all get a good night's sleep for a change. I hope, too, that your men have learned a lesson, and that in the future, when I tell them that the underworld isn't about to swallow us all, they will have a little more faith."

  　He 【创建和谐家园】iled sheepishly. "Yes, Prelate. I believed you, of course, but some of these men are more superstitious than is healthy for their hearts. Magic scares them." She leaned a little closer to the man and lowered her voice. "It should." He cleared his throat. "Yes, Prelate. Well, I guess we better all get some sleep." "Your messengers haven't returned yet, have they?"

  　"No." He traced a finger down the lower part of the white scar running from his left temple to his jaw. "I don't expect they've even reached Aydindril yet."

  　Verna sighed. She wished she could have heard word first. It might have made her decision easier. "I suppose not."

  　"What do you think. Prelate? What's your advice? North?" She stared off, watching the sparks from the fire spiral up into the darkness, and feeling its heat on her face. She had more important decisions to make.

  　"I don't know. Richard's exact words to me were, 'Head north. There's an army of a hundred thousand D'Haran soldiers heading south looking for Kahlan. You'll have more protection with them, and they with you. Tell General Reibisch that she is safe with me.' "

  　"It would have made things easier if he would have said for sure." "He didn't say for us to go north, back to Aydindril, but it was implied. I'm sure he thought that's what we would do. However, I take seriously your advice in matters such as this."

  　He shrugged. "I'm a soldier. I think like a soldier."

  　Richard had gone to Tanimura to rescue Kahlan, and had managed to destroy the Palace of the Prophets, along with its vault of prophecies, before Emperor Jagang could capture it. Richard had said that he had to return to Aydindril at once, and that he didn't have time to explain, but only he and Kahlan had the magic required that would allow their immediate return. He said he couldn't take the rest of them. He had told her to go north to meet up with General Reibisch and his D'Haran army.

  　General Reibisch was reluctant to return north. He reasoned that with a force this large already this far south, it would be strategically advantageous to blunt an invasion of the New World before it could drive into the populous areas.

  　''General, I have no argument with your motives, but I fear that you underestimate the threat. From the information I've managed to gather, the Imperial Order's forces are large enough to crush even an army of this size without losing stride. I don't doubt your men's ability, but by sheer numbers alone the Order will swallow you whole.

  　"I understand your reasoning, but even with as many men as you have, it won't be enough, and then we wouldn't have them to lend their weight to a gathering of a larger force that might have a chance against the Order."

  　The general 【创建和谐家园】iled reassuringly. ''Prelate, what you say makes sense. I've listened to reasoned arguments like yours my whole career. The thing is, war isn't a reasonable pursuit. Sometimes, you simply have to take advantage of what the good spirits give you and throw yourself into the fray." "Sounds like a good way to be annihilated."

  　"Well, I've been doing it a long tine, and I'm still alive. Just because you choose to meet the enemy, that doesn't mean you have to stick your chin out and let him have a good swing at it." Verna squinted at the man. "What have you in mind?" "Seems to me that we're already here. Messengers can move a great deal faster than an army. I think we should move to a more secure location, one more defendable, and sit tight." "Where?"

  　"If we go east, into the high country of southern D'Hara, then we could be in a better position to react. I know the country there. If the Order tries to come up into the New World through D'Hara, the easy way through the Kern River valley, then we are there to stop them. We can fight on more equal terms in tighter country like that. Just because you have more men, that doesn't mean you can use them all. A valley is only so wide."

  　"What if they go more to the west as they move north, skirt the mountains and head up through the wilds?"

  　"Then we have this army to sweep in behind them when our other forces are sent south to meet them. The enemy would have to split their force and fight against us on two fronts. On top of that, it would limit their options by making it difficult for them to move freely."

  　Verna considered his words. She had read of battles in the old books, and understood the sense of his strategy. It seemed more prudent than she had thought at first. The man was bold, but he was no fool.

  　"With our troops in a strategic location," he went on, "we can send messengers to Aydindril and the People's Palace in D'Hara. We can get reinforcements from D'Hara, and from the lands of the Midlands that join with us, and Lord Rahl can send us his instructions. If the Order invades, well, then, we're already here to know about it. Information is a valuable commodity in war."

  　"Richard may not like it that you hunker down here, instead of returning to protect Aydindril." "Lord Rahl is a reasonable man-"

  　Verna interrupted with a guffaw. "Richard, reasonable? Now you stretch my cre【创建和谐家园】ty, general."

  　He frowned at her. "As I was saying, Lord Rahl is a reasonable man. He told me that he wants me to speak up with my advice, when I think it important. I think it's important. He considers my advice on matters of war. The messengers are already on their way with my letter. If he doesn't like my advice, then he can say so and order me north and I will go; but until I know for sure that he wishes it, I think we should do our job and defend the New World from the Imperial Order.

  　"I asked your advice. Prelate, because you command magic. I don't know anything about magic. If you or the Sisters of the Light have something to say that would be important to us in our struggle, then I'm listening. We're on the same side, you know."

  　Verna relented. "Forgive me, general I guess I sometimes forget that." She offered him a 【创建和谐家园】ile. "The last few months have turned my life upside down."

  　"Lord Rahl has turned the whole world upside down. He has reordered everything."

  　She 【创建和谐家园】iled to herself. "That he has." She looked back at the general's grayish-green eyes. "Your plan makes sense-at the very worst it would slow the Order, but I'd like to talk to Warren first. He . . . he sometimes has surprising insights. Wizards are like that."

  　The general nodded. "Magic is not my part. We have Lord Rahl for that. And you, too, of course."

  　Verna repressed a laugh at the idea of Richard being the one to wield magic for them. The boy could hardly get out of his own way where magic was concerned.

  　No, that wasn't entirely true; Richard often did surprising things with his gift. The problem was that it usually surprised him, too. Still, he was a war wizard, the only to be born in the last three thousand years, and all their hopes hung on his leadership in this war against the Imperial Order.

  　Richard's heart, and his determination, were in the right place. He would do his best. It was up to the rest of them to help him, and to keep him alive. The general shifted his weight and scratched under his chain-mail sleeve. ''Prelate, the Order claims to want to end magic in this world, but we all know that they use magic in their attempt to crush us." "That they do."

  　She knew Emperor Jagang had most of the Sisters of the Dark at his beck and call. He had young wizards to do his bidding, too. He had also captured a number of the Sisters of the Light, and dominated them through his ability as a dream walker. It was this that nettled her conscience; as Prelate, it was ultimately up to her to see to the safety of the Sisters of the Light. Some of her Sisters were anything but safe in the hands of Jagang.

  　"Well, Prelate, seeing as how their troops are likely to be accompanied by those with magic. I'm wondering if I can count on you and your Sisters to be the counter to them. Lord Rahl said: 'You'll have more protection with them, and they with you.' That sounds to me like he intended you to use your magic to help us against the Order's army."

  　Verna would like to think the general wrong. She would like to think that Sisters of the Light, those charged with doing the Creator's work, would be above bringing harm to anyone.

  　"General Reibisch, I don't like it; however, I'm afraid that I concur. If we lose this war, we all lose, not simply our troops on the field of battle; all free people will be slaves to the Order. If Jagang wins, the Sisters of the Light will be executed. We all must fight or die.

  　"The Order would not want to fall into your plans so conveniently. They may try to sneak past undetected-farther to the west, possibly even to the east of you. The Sisters can be of use in detecting the movements of the enemy, should they advance into the New World and try to slip past you.

  　"If those with magic mask the Order's movements from you, our Sisters will know it. We will be your eyes. If fighting comes, the enemy will use magic to try to defeat you. We will have to use our power to thwart that magic."

  　The general considered the flames for a moment. He glanced off toward the men bedding down for the night.

  　"Thank you. Prelate. I know that decision can't be easy for you. Since you've all been with us, I've come to know the Sisters as gentle women."

  　Verna barked a laugh. "General, you have not come to know us at all. The Sisters of the Light are many things, but gentle is not one of them." She flicked her wrist. Her dacra sprang into her hand. A dacra resembled a knife but had a sharpened rod instead of a blade.

  　Verna twirled the dacra. "I have had to kill men before." Reflected flashes of firelight sparkled and danced as she spur the weapon with graceful ease, walking it over her knuckles and back. "I can assure you, general, I was anything but gentle."

  　He lifted an eyebrow. "A knife in talented hands, such as yours, is trouble, but it's hardly a match for the weapons of war."

  　She 【创建和谐家园】iled politely. "This is a weapon possessing deadly magic. If you see one of these coming for you, run. It only must penetrate your flesh-even if it's your little finger-and you will be dead before you can blink."

  　He straightened, and his chest grew with a deep breath. "Thanks for the warning. And thanks for your help. Prelate. I'm glad to have you on our side."

  　"I regret that Jagang has some of our Sisters of the Light under his control. They can do the same as I, maybe more." She gave him a reassuring pat on the

  　shoulder when she saw that his face had paled. "Good night, General Reibisch. Sleep well-the red moons are gone."

  　Verna watched the general make a zigzag course through his officers, speaking with them, checking on his men, and issuing orders. After he had disappeared into the darkness, she turned to her tent.

  　Deep in thought, she idly cast her Han and lit the candles inside the 【创建和谐家园】all field tent the men had provided for her use. With the moon up, Annalina-the real Prelate-would be waiting.

  　Verna pried the little journey book from its secret pouch in her belt. Journey books had magic that allowed a message written in one to appear simultaneously in its twin. Prelate Annalina had the twin to Verna's. She sat cross-legged on her blankets and opened the book in her lap.

  　There was a message waiting. Verna pulled a candle closer and bent in the dim light to better see the writing in the journey book.

  　Verna, we have trouble here. We finally caught up with Nathan, at least who we thought was Nathan. The man we had been pursuing turned out not to be Nathan. Nathan tricked us. He is gone, and we don't know where he went.

  　Verna sighed. She had thought it had sounded too good to be true when Ann told her that they were closing in on the prophet.

  　Nathan left us a message. The message is more trouble than the thought of Nathan being on the loose. He said that he had important business-that one of "our Sisters" was going to do something very stupid, and that he must stop her if he could. We have no idea where he went. He also confirmed what you told me Warren said, that the red moon means Jagang has invoked a bound fork prophecy. Nathan said that Zedd and I must go to the Jocopo treasure, and that if we wasted time going after him instead, we would all die.

  　I believe him. Verna, we must talk. If you are there, reply. I will be waiting. Verna pulled the stylus from the spine of the journey book. Moonrise was the time they had agreed upon to communicate through the journey books if they needed to. She bent closer and wrote in her book: / am here, Ann. What happened? Are you all right? In a moment, words began appearing in the book.

  　It's a long story, and I don't have time for it now, but Sister Roslyn was hunting Nathan, too. She was killed, along with at least eighteen innocent people. We can't be sure of the true number consumed in the light spell.

  　Verna's eyes widened at hearing that people were killed so. She wanted to ask what they were doing casting such a dangerous web, but decided not to ask as she read on.

  　First of all, Verna, we need to know if you have any idea what the "Jocopo treasure '' is. Nathan didn't explain.

  　Verna put a finger to her lips as she squeezed her eyes closed, trying to remember. She had heard the name before. She had been on her journey to the New World for twenty years, and she had heard of it there.

  　Ann, I think I recall hearing that the Jocopo were a people living somewhere in the wilds. If I recall correctly, they are all dead-exterminated in a war. I believe all traces of them were destroyed.

  　The wilds, you say. Verna, are you sure it was the wilds? Yes. Wait a moment while I tell Zedd this news.