"Richard Cypher." "You are the true Seeker." "People have tried for years to find the forest of the Night Wisps." "Had you come here on your own, they'd have never shown themselves." "They only come out for those they trust." "I've come to ask you for your help." "A Dreamcaster sent me a message that soon I'd be the last Confessor." "I need to know if there are any Confessors still alive." "Will you help me find them?" "May the spirits protect you." "You're beautiful." "Are you trying to tell me something?" "Who were you talking to?" " Myself." "Who else do I have to talk to?" "It is late." "Get some sleep." "Father, I'm almost a grown woman." "I can't stay here forever." "I wanna travel to distant lands and fall in love and get married." "That will never happen, Annabelle." "You're safe here." "That is all that matters." "What is it?" "The Night Wisps searched everywhere in the Midlands and beyond for another Confessor." "But they only found one." "Only one." "And who is this other Confessor?" "It's strange." "The Night Wisp didn't know who she was." "At least she's still alive." "But for how long?" "She's in a tower in Raawlenwood Castle in Ossridge." "Sounds like she's a prisoner." "We can be there and back in three days." "Ossridge?" "I've traveled across the Midlands with you people for weeks now because you said you had to get me and this thing on my hand to Pamorah to find your precious Stone of Tears." "But instead we're going to Ossridge?" "Perhaps before we see about this Confessor, we should get the stone and rid ourselves of extraneous cargo." "I'll go and meet with you in Pamorah." "You're not going alone." "Zedd, you and Cara can go to Pamorah." "Flynn, you can come with us." "What?" " Why?" "I've been thinking." "This rune is a key." "We don't know what it opens, or who or what might try to stop us from getting it." "You and Cara should find out before we put the rune or Flynn in harm's way." "We'll meet back here in three days." "Thank you, Tharla." "Father." "Help him." "It's just a sleeping potion." "I had to set you free, Annabelle." " But..." " He'll keep you locked up forever." "We must hurry." "Before his men catch us." "You're too late." "The servant, Tharla, poisoned His Lordship." "He's dead." "She took Annabelle." " Took here where?" "I don't know." "They rode away, taking the fastest horses." "Annabelle." "She's a Confessor?" "How did you know?" "Was she a prisoner here?" "She was Lord Callum's daughter." "Years ago, Lord Callum was a powerful D'Haran commander." "He attacked a neighboring village." "But the villagers had the Confessor Josephine on their side." "She confessed Lord Callum in battle." "He was betrothed to a beautiful duchess, a woman he'd loved since childhood." "But once Callum was confessed, he thought of no one but Josephine." "She took him as her mate." "Soon she was with child." "But the birth was not an easy one." "And when she died he was released." "He suddenly realized everything he had lost when he became confessed." "Feed her to the crows." "I feared he might kill the child too, he was in such rage." "But Lord Callum could not bring himself to slay his own flesh and blood." "He swore that no one would ever suffer at his daughter's hands as he did at her mother's." "He hid her away for her whole life in the tallest tower of the castle." "He never told her of her powers." "Her curse, as he called it." " We have to find her." " They can't have gotten far." " Where are we going?" " Someplace safe." "Why are we here?" "I see you've brought the girl." "A hundred gold pieces was our agreement." "What agreement?" " What are you doing?" "I need proof that she is what you say she is." "She doesn't know what she is." "She's never used her powers." "What powers?" "A demonstration won't be necessary." "I don't have any powers." "What are you doing to me?" "All right, that's enough." "No more until you pay." "Or he kills the girl." "No, no." "I have enough to see if it's genuine." "Master, how can I serve you?" "Kill her." "No." "No." "You're going to be very useful to me." "Let her go." " The Seeker." " And the Mother Confessor." "Kill him and take her." "Hide her." "Run." " Run, Annabelle." " Get her." "Are you all right?" "Where did you come from?" "Oh, I just wait around in trees hoping to rescue pretty girls." "Think you can stand?" "Argh!" "Richard?" "Are you a prince?" "Is it that obvious?" "Are you all right?" "Let them go." "We have to get Annabelle." "Annabelle, no." "Flynn." "Command me, Confessor." "What's wrong with him?" "He's been confessed." "You don't have control over your powers yet." " What powers?" "You're a Confessor." "Just like I am." "Confessor?" "When you touch someone with your powers, they become enslaved to you." " They lose their free will." "I did that?" " I enslaved him?" " I'm glad you did." "I want to serve you." " How do I take it away?" "You can't." "He'll be confessed to you for the rest of your life." "I didn't know." "Your father didn't tell you because he was afraid of your powers." "That's why he kept you locked in a tower." "You talked to my father?" "I'm so sorry, Annabelle." "Your father is dead." "Dead?" "He was poisoned." "Tharla killed him." "So she could sell me to that sorcerer." "He wanted to take your magic." "But don't worry." "He won't come near you again." "We're gonna take you where you can be trained." " Trained?" " Teach you how to control your magic, so nothing like this will happen." "Stop." "You're scaring her." "She just found out her father died." "She needs to know everything's all right." "I won't let anything bad happen to you." "Ever." "Annabelle, you have a very rare and special gift." "If I can teach you about it, if you'll come with us..." "It's all right." "They're good people." "I'll go wherever he goes." "Come on." "Excuse me, sir." "Pardon me, madam." "You and your Agiels don't exactly inspire a warm welcome." "I've learned it's more useful to be feared than liked." "Excuse me, sir." " What do you want?" "Could you tell us where we could find the Cloister of Pamorah?" "In the Sentinel Hills, east of the city." "But I wouldn't go now." "You don't wanna be on the road after nightfall." "Wait, sir." "Why...?" "Thank you for seeing us, Prioress." "Have you seen this symbol before?" "The parchment will do you no good." "The tomb must be opened by the one who bears the rune on his hand." "What tomb?" "In times past, the tomb was the site of many a pilgrimage." "Legend has it the Stone of Tears was buried there." "Darken Rahl sent his men to Pamorah to open the tomb." "They tried everything, but no one could get inside it." "Without the rune." "Rahl believed the bearer of the rune would arrive one day, so he stationed an elite guard around the tomb." "After Rahl fell, the villagers rose up and killed them." "Every last D'Haran." "But they came back from the dead." "Banelings." "That's what everyone around here is so afraid of." "They accepted the Keeper's twisted bargain, killing to stay alive." "They're still waiting for the bearer of the rune to arrive to make sure no one gets the stone." "Where is this tomb?" "In a cemetery to the south." "But going anywhere near it means certain death." "Wonder where Flynn's family is." "I never asked him." "It's not your fault this happened." "We took him with us because we needed him." "Now he'll spend the rest of his life desperately longing for someone he'll never see again." " Well, maybe after Pamorah..." " No." "No." "Flynn will be a distraction." "My whole life I wanted to see the world." "And now that I'm out here, I don't understand any of it." "I'll teach you." "Kahlan says I have to go to a place called Aydindril to be trained." " I'll come with you." " She says you can't." "That you have something more important to do in Pamorah with Richard." "I don't wanna go anywhere without you." "Then you'll get your wish." "How?" "It's late." "We all need some sleep." "My mistress is cold." "I'm gonna get some more wood for the fire." "Maybe Flynn and I can get married." "I'm sorry, Annabelle." "That isn't going to happen." "But he loves me." "And I love him." "And in the books I've read..." "It isn't the same with Confessors." "We serve a higher purpose." "But our gift makes the kind of romance you've read about impossible." "So you can't get married?" "A Confessor takes a mate, but not for love." "To continue our line." "And there aren't very many of us left." "I think you and I may be the only ones." "So one day, when you're ready, you'll take a suitable mate." "What makes a mate suitable?" "Well, he should be strong, noble and brave." "A leader." "So Richard's your mate, then." "No." "I love Richard." "But if he and I were to be together in that way he would become confessed." "But he already loves you." "Richard has an important mission only he can carry out." "If he were confessed, his love for me would be all-consuming." "It would distract him so much he would go mad." "And he couldn't complete his quest." "So you can never be with someone you love?" "Once you start your training and see how important our work is, you'll understand that it makes up for the things we can't have." "The sorcerer's men." "They're coming!" "Keep her safe." "Come on." " What are you doing?" " Granting your wish." "There's no one here." "Flynn." "They're gone." " And so are the horses." "You're bleeding." "Had to make it look real." "I fooled them, so that we could get away." "Isn't that what you wanted?" "Does it hurt?" "For you, nothing hurts." "When I was in the tower, the servants used to secretly bring me books to read." "Have you ever heard the story of Rosalind and Palomar?" "Yeah." "Everybody knows that story." "She saved him from the dragon." "And then they sail away on the ocean together." "You remind me of Palomar." "At least, the way I imagined him." "I'd save you from a dragon." "Would you take me to see the ocean?" "I'd take you anywhere." "What?" "This rune is the key to finding the Stone of Tears." "Unless Richard has it, the Keeper will destroy all life, including yours." "Maybe we should go back." "How do you know what they told you is true?" "My father told me there is nothing but war and wickedness in this world." "That was a lie." "You're proof of that." "And even if what they're saying is true" "I'd rather die with you than be locked in another tower without you." "I should've separated them right away." "He was comforting a scared girl." "Would've been cruel." " She would've been safe." " We'll find them." "Look." "The tracks split." "One horse went north." "The other, east" "Trying to make it harder for us to follow him." " Clever." " Not clever enough." "These tracks are deeper." "The horse that went that way wasn't carrying any weight." "Hungry?" "Wait here." "You know what we do with thieves around here?" "Show them mercy?" "Flynn!" "Well, two thieves." "Maybe you've got something to bargain with." "Stay away from her." "Command me, Confessor." "Hey." "Stop them." "The only way to kill banelings is to burn them." "We'll need oil and torches." "Why not just use Wizard's Fire?" "I don't think that would be wise." "It's because I'm a Mord-Sith, isn't it?" "You think if you use your magic, I'll turn it against you." "I've had chances before." "With the Seeker and Confessor nearby." "And now you know where the tomb is." "Do you honestly think that's why I've followed Richard all this way?" "In the hopes that he'd send me here with you alone so that I could find a way to steal the stone for myself?" "Probably not." "But what's at stake is far too important to rely on probability." "I don't believe you have the luxury of caution." "Get them." "I think that's all of them." "For now." "But this is a place of death." "Others may crawl out of the earth to replace them." "We should get Flynn back here with the rune as quickly as we can." "We?" "Are you sure you can trust me?" "No." "But I don't have the luxury of caution." "Flynn, Annabelle," "I know this is hard for you, but we have to get moving." "We've lost enough time as it is." "If you don't leave, my friends will make you leave." "Richard, they're all confessed." "Let's go." "What's wrong?" "I know Richard and Kahlan." "Sooner or later, they'll catch us." "Kahlan." "No!" "Richard!" "Richard." "Richard?" "Mistress, how can I serve you?" "Are you hurt?" "I'm fine." "Let's go." "I'll come with you, mistress." "Everything he does is to save lives." "He saved yours." "And you've destroyed him." "I'm sorry, Kahlan." "But you didn't leave me a choice." "And you leave me no choice." " I won't let you kill her." " Kill me?" "The only way to release me from Confession." "But don't worry." "I'll protect you." " Richard, I don't wanna fight you." " Then put down your weapon." "I'll get the horse." " What are you doing?" "Don't hurt him." " Let him go." "You will order both of these men to come with me to Pamorah right now," " or I'll kill him." " You wouldn't hurt him." " You need the rune on his hand." "I need him in Pamorah." "If he doesn't go, he's of no use to me." "If we go with you and Flynn gets you your stone, will you let us be together?" "You have my word." "It's a trap." "She'll try to kill you the first chance she gets." "Richard, I know you're confessed to her, but you know me." "I'm not a liar." "No, she isn't." "Put your sword down." "We're going with her." "She said she'd order Flynn to go to Pamorah with us if I let them live." " And you agreed to that?" " I had to." "Either Richard was going to kill me, or I was gonna kill him." "I needed Zedd." "No." "Flynn." "You promised." " You lied to me." " I had to." "If the Keeper wins, everyone will die." "I need the Seeker to fight him and seal the rift in the underworld." "I need you to be you, Richard." " Annabelle!" " No." "Don't kill her." "I love her." "I love her as much as I ever loved you." "I know you, Kahlan." "You don't wanna murder the last Confessor." "I never asked to be a Confessor." "I never asked to be locked in a tower." "I just wanna be like everyone else." " If there was any other way..." " Maybe there is." "The sorcerer's quillion." "If we can get it, we can use it to drain Annabelle's powers." " Would Richard and Flynn be released?" " I doubt it's ever been tried." "But in theory, they shouldn't be bound by magic she herself no longer possesses." "Kahlan, if you love me you'll give it a try." "He's only saying that because he's been confessed." "Confessed or not," "Richard would do anything to save a life." "We have to get the stone first." "And then we'll go to the sorcerer's cave and get his quillion." "I don't believe what I'm hearing." "You want us to risk everything, our lives, Richard's life, to save her?" "If you don't have the stomach to kill her, I will." "I seem to remember Richard going to great lengths to save your life." "And if it doesn't release him?" "Then I'll do what needs to be done." "It's another locket." "Maybe there's another rune inside it." "Or maybe it holds the Stone of Tears." "The Seeker should be the one to open it." "When he's released from Confession." "Not when he's this unpredictable." "You got what you came for." "We need to go after the quillion." "He can still fight." "He'd do anything to save her life." "We both know Richard can't be relied upon right now." "Then Cara and I will just have to take care of the sorcerer ourselves." "Are you sure?" "Any sorcerer as powerful as Lorcus is going to be able to see right through us if we aren't convincing." "If you insist." " This will hurt." " Just do it." "I have something the sorcerer will be very interested in." "Surrender your weapon." "Go ahead." "Take it." "I know the power of the Agiel." "Lay it down yourself." "And the other one." "Now summon your sorcerer or I take my merchandise elsewhere." "And what would a Mord-Sith expect in return for her merchandise?" "A thousand gold pieces." "Why would I pay such a price?" "Rumor has it you're in the market for Confessor power." "This is the Mother Confessor." "I sincerely doubt you'll be made a better offer." "She's no use to me dead." "She's not dead." "Just compliant." " How do I know that?" " Examine her yourself." "Command me, Confessor." "Call off your guards." "Stop!" "Don't harm them." "Give me the quillion." "You spared my life even when your friends told you not to." "You can thank me if it works." "If it does, you'll be the last Confessor." "You'll have to take a mate." "Yes." "Someday I will." "Richard would make a good father for a Confessor, wouldn't he?" " Annabelle..." " If he's confessed to me, you can't hurt him." "And he could give you a child." "And then when you take my magic, he'll be released, won't he?" "Yes." " But that isn't the way that..." "Kahlan." "Maybe you should consider what she is suggesting." "If something were to happen to you, then the race of Confessors would be no longer." "I wanna do something for you." "While I'm still a Confessor." "Please?" "But I don't love her." "I love you." "This will make me very happy." "Go to her." "And love her as you would love me." "Kahlan." "It's all right." "It's all right." "Richard." "Richard." "What are you thinking about?" "Pleasing you." "Because your mistress ordered you to?" "Yes." "Yes." "You really love her, don't you?" "With all my heart." "Did I do something wrong?" "No." "You didn't do anything wrong." " But my mistress commanded me to..." " I know." "I guess I wouldn't wanna give myself to Flynn like that if he was thinking about somebody else." "It isn't just that." "Richard would never use magic to force someone to act against their will." "But it's not really against his will." "If he wasn't confessed, he would want to." "Yeah, but he is confessed, and I'm not prepared to make that decision for him." "Or make him a father without his blessing." "But for Confessors, isn't it always like that?" "That's why we don't take men we love as mates." "It's kind of like being locked in a tower, isn't it?" "We should get started." "If this works I can get married one day?" "I hope you will." "But Flynn won't love me anymore." "He's just the first one you met, there'll be other men." "But what if he's the only one that I'll ever love?" "Annabelle, are you all right?" "It didn't work." "I'm not confessed anymore." "I was just making sure she was all right." "Richard?" "We'll see you safely home." "Your father's castle is rightfully yours now." "Thank you, but I think I've spent enough of my life there." "I wanna see the world." " Where we're going won't be safe for you." " I'll go myself." "I've always wanted to see the ocean." "I don't think it's safe for you to travel alone." "I'll take her." "I mean, I'm headed toward Wynnmore anyway." "I have a cousin there." "It's near the ocean." "What?" "You don't need me anymore." "So you can come along, if you want to." "Well, I can't say it's been fun, but it's been interesting." "It's only me now." "No." "You got us." "Kahlan," "I can understand why you couldn't go through with it." "But part of me wishes you had." "Me too." "And now that we have our Seeker back, it's time to open this." "Is it the Stone of Tears?" "No." "I think it's a compass." " "This orb will guide the Seeker's way." To what?" "Hopefully the Stone of Tears." "Let's not waste time, then." "We head north."