"The Seeker now has all three Boxes of Orden." "And The Book of Counted Shadows." "My Lord." "Yes, Cara?" "I'm looking around, and I don't see any of us groveling at the Seeker's feet, begging to be commanded." "If he truly had the Power of Orden, he would have used it already." "There must be some reason he hasn't, but I'm not willing to wait around to find out what it is." "We kill him." "Tonight." "If you'd given me the task sooner, he'd already be dead." "Tell us where he is." "He was last seen yesterday." "Somewhere in West Granthia." "He's somewhere?" "In a province that crosses two rivers, a mountain range and 600 leagues of forest?" "Forgive me, My Lord, but my sisters and I are Mord-Sith, not magicians." "How will we find him?" "Tell me, Cara, how does a sea hawk find a tiny fish in the great wide ocean?" "Are you ready?" "To risk destroying his soul?" "Why wouldn't I be ready for that?" "I understand your fear, child." "But the Seeker has found the meaning within The Book of Counted Shadows, and the Book tells him that the dark power of Orden can be tempered only by the Confessor's touch." "The Seeker would be enslaved neither by love nor by evil." "He will finally be able to fulfill the Prophecy and kill Darken Rahl." "What if...?" "What if we're wrong?" "What if this is some sort of trick?" "You've always put your faith in the Seeker, even before you knew his smile, or the sound of his voice." "And that faith has been rewarded time and again." "Now is not the time to waiver." "It's going to be all right." "No." "Ah!" "Ah!" "Richard." "There's no point in struggling, Confessor." "Your Wizard is dead." "And the Seeker is no more." "Such an unattractive ornament on a such a beautiful neck." "Unfortunately, I can't risk removing the rada'han, but I can make it worthy of your beauty." "Then what do you want from me?" "Your understanding." "I understand you perfectly." "You take whatever you want." "You're wrong, Kahlan." "If I were simply to take whatever I wanted, you would already be in my bedchamber." "Oh, don't worry, I shan't lay a finger on you." "Until you invite me." "Then you'll be waiting an eternity." "You're being very selfish, Kahlan." "As my queen, you could bring comforts to the sick, rebuild razed villages, create homes for the poor children orphaned in this terrible war your Seeker and his misguided followers have waged against me." "You're afraid that even if Richard is gone, people will still believe in everything he stood for." "They'll blame you for his death, keep fighting you." "And if you think I'm gonna help you quell their anger, you're as mad as you are cruel." "Yes, Kahlan, I do want to quell the people's anger through the power of your love." "I would rather die than be your puppet." "Perhaps with some time in a cold damp dungeon, where your love and compassion will be of no use to anyone, will help you reconsider." "Oh." "And if you're expecting to be warmed by the flame of hope, know this:" "My sorcerers examined the spot where the Seeker disappeared." "They were unanimous." "No one could have survived the explosion of magic." "You haven't won." "You still have powerful enemies." "And I will destroy them one by one." "The Seeker." "Kahlan?" "Zedd?" "Ah!" " Kahlan." " Why are you calling for her, when you have me?" "You're gonna die, Seeker." "Stay back." "Don't tell me the great Shota doesn't realize her magic is useless against the Mord-Sith." "Ah!" "Thank you." "Ah!" "We'll be kings." "Ah!" "What's going on?" "Where's the Mother Confessor?" "The Wizard?" "Who are you?" "Where were you taking the boxes?" "I serve no master but the Master." "What master?" "Master Rahl." "You're the Seeker." "I saw you once in Brennidon." "You drove out the D'Harans." "How is it possible that you look exactly the same as you did on that day?" " Why should I look any different?" " Well, I was just a child." "It's almost 60 years ago." "What are you talking about?" "You disappeared." "And the Master's father declared victory." "The Master's father?" "Darken Rahl." "This Master these men served is Darken Rahl's son?" "Yes." "He sends out his followers to slaughter anyone who won't come to him to be confessed." "He's a Confessor?" "And a tyrant." "Worse than his father." "There aren't many of us left who've been able to hide from him for all these years." "The Mother Confessor, Kahlan Amnell, do you know where she is?" "Queen Kahlan?" "Queen?" "The Master's mother." "She died many years ago." "You're back, Seeker." "You can kill the Master." "You can free the confessed." "Please." "Will you help us?" "I will." "Confessor?" "Kahlan, can you hear me?" "Shota?" "I can hear your sobs." "Why the tears?" "The Seeker is dead." "Oh, no." "The Seeker is not in the Underworld." "Where is he?" "A place much more distant than that, I'm afraid." "The Seeker is in the future." "Ah!" "Ugh!" "Darken Rahl is dead." "When you tried to kill me something happened." "We were sent to the future." "Those stones I hit you with have clouded your mind, Seeker." "Look around, everything's different, isn't it?" "Your sisters are gone." "Those madmen that tried to attack us, they serve a new Lord Rahl, a male Confessor." "His followers are everywhere, killing anyone who hasn't been confessed by him." "What if he doesn't want you to kill me?" "What if he wants to confess me?" "As Darken Rahl once did." "Then you will have displeased him." "Argh!" "On your feet, Seeker." "Where are we going?" "To find out if there's any truth in what you say." "Six fingers west of the moon." "Okay." "Seven sisters pass through the House of the Lamb every 627 revolutions." "I have it." " Where is he?" " Not where." " When." " Tell me." "The Seeker will reappear at the site of his vanishing, upon the rising of the second full moon on the 58th year after his disappearance." "Fifty-eight years." "I'll be an old woman." "You don't truly believe that Darken Rahl will let you live that long." "If Richard was able to travel to the future, there must be a way for him to travel back." "What could be easier?" "Your Seeker need only create a precise collision of the same magical powers," "Orden, Confession, and Agiel, that sent him into the future." "Richard is determined, clever, if anyone could do it..." "And how will he find a Confessor in this dark future?" "He'll travel to Valeria." "Maybe my sister will still be alive." "Darken Rahl has already blasted Valeria into dust." "He has hunted the remaining Confessors into their graves." "You are the last of your kind, Kahlan Amnell." "Even if Richard could somehow conjure up a living Confessor, even if he had a Mord-Sith's deadly Agiel, he would still have to know exactly what to do." "Maybe we could get him message." "Even if I weren't yoked by a rada'han, even if the Great Zeddicus hadn't perished, there would still be no magic I know of powerful enough to send a message through the great granite barrier of time." "Maybe we don't need magic." "I'm so glad you asked to see me." "You know I will always despise you." "Perhaps." "Full amnesty for all members of the resistance, without exception." "With your guarantee that they lay down their arms." "Places of healing in every province." "A home for every orphaned child whose parents you murdered." "I would expect you to be my wife in every way." "As long as that is understood," "I agree to all your terms, Kahlan Amnell." "Then I will be your queen." "You have made me so happy this last year." "Happier than I ever imagined I could be." "Imagine how the people will cheer when their beloved queen announces the birth of our child." "I need to rest." "Of course." "Alice." "Listen to me." "What is it, my lady?" "As soon as the baby's born..." "As soon as he has a Confessor child to bend to his will," "Lord Rahl is going to kill me." "I don't understand." "Do you remember when I first met you, talked to you about helping me care for my baby," " the way I looked into your eyes?" " Yes." "Even with this on, when without my powers," "I still know how to look into a person's heart." "And I looked into the hearts of a hundred girls, because I needed to find one strong enough, good enough, and brave enough to carry the most important secret in history." " You're frightening me." " Yes." "But will you help me anyway?" "My parents fought for the resistance all their lives." "If it weren't for you, they would have died horrible deaths." "Whatever it is you want me to do, the answer is yes." "The Seeker isn't dead." "Where is he?" "Fifty-seven years in the future." "Now, there's a way he can get back, but he doesn't know what that is." "Alice," "I need you to stay alive, no matter what that takes, no matter who you have to hurt, or betray so that you can tell the Seeker what he needs to do to wind back time." "And one of the things he'll need is a Confessor." "My child." "That's why I agreed to marry Rahl." "And no matter what it takes to convince him of your loyalty, even if it means killing me with your bare hands..." " My Lady, I could never..." " Yes, you can." "And you will, if that's what it means to stay near this child." "Alice," "you must tell her who her mother was, and who the great hero Richard Cypher was." "And you must teach her what she needs to do to help the Seeker return to his own time and save the world from Darken Rahl." "My Lady, I'm only a blacksmith's daughter." "And the Seeker was only a woodcutter's son." "Sisters, I've brought the Seeker." "Triana." ""The Master's forces have us surrounded." "Two days since we drank the last of the water." "No word from the other temples." "They must be lost too." "Alina will not survive the night." "I am the last of the Mord-Sith. "" "Apparently this new Lord Rahl doesn't share his father's love for you and your sisters." "I'll kill him." "Funny, that's just what I was on my way to do when you attacked me." "You know where he is?" "Well, hasn't the presiding Lord Rahl always ruled from the People's Palace?" "Then that's where I'll go, as soon as I've killed you." "It'll take you weeks to get there on foot." "The Master's marauders are everywhere." "Even a Mord-Sith doesn't stand a chance on her own." "But together, maybe we can get there in one piece, find this Master, kill him, maybe even find a way back to our own time." "So we work together?" "Only until this Master is dead." "May I present young Master Rahl." "A boy." "He's beautiful." "Leave." "All of you." "Now." "My sister had a boy." "It's never happened twice in a generation." "You used some sort of magic to make this happen." "The only magic at work here, my love, is the miracle of life." "You're a fool." "You know what male Confessors will become." "You honestly believe that you'll be able to control that blood lust, that cruelty, and use it for your own dark purposes?" " The future is ours to shape." " Oh!" "And I have no doubt that with the loving guidance of his mother, he will grow to be a great ruler." "Let me kill him and I'll give you another child." "A daughter who will dote on her father." "He needs his mother." "Please, Kahlan," "I have never held a baby before." "Shh." "Look at him." "He's so generous with his toys." "Maybe his father was generous at that age too." "His father didn't have you as a mother." "Mama." "Come here." "My Nicholas." "Do you have any idea how special you are?" "Might not be roasted pheasant, but it'll keep us going." "Don't tell me a mighty Mord-Sith is afraid of a squirmy little worm." "Very good, Nicholas." "Now what about the First Wizard of the Fourth era?" "Zeddicus Zu'I Zorander." "I knew him." "Could he turn people into frogs?" "My Lady." "What is it?" "General Egremont has ordered me to pack Nicholas's things." "Lord Rahl is sending him to Aydindril to study with his sorcerers." "He knows my influence is growing." "When?" " At first light." " First light." "You have to tell him what he needs to do, before it's too late." "What if he's not ready?" "What if his father succeeds in corrupting him?" "Trust in yourself, My Lady, in every kindness you've taught him." "Nicholas?" "There's something I need to tell you." "Something very important." "Master." "I brought what you asked for." "Does it please you, Master?" "Yes, it pleases me." "You may go now." "Nicholas." "Have you confessed Ethan?" " Yes, Mother." " Why?" "He didn't wanna play the same games I did." "What was it you wanted to tell me?" "Just..." "Just that I love you very much." "I love you too, Mother." "There must be another way." "No." "I knew what he was the day he was born." "I should have done it then." "As soon as they find the body, Rahl will know it was me." "It's up to you now, Alice." "To stay alive, find the Seeker." "But without a Confessor..." "Maybe Richard will find another way." "Just tell him, Alice." "Tell him that his own Confessor never stopped loving him." "And that if he can't undo the magic, if he can't return to her, then she'll be waiting for him in the Underworld." "Forever." "We're wasting heat." "What do you mean?" "Try not to be an idiot." "Has it occurred to you that, with all his Confessed followers, we..." "We may not be able to get close enough to the Master to kill him?" "Don't worry, Seeker." "I promise not to tell your legions of admirers that you admitted to a doubt." "What then?" "We'd be alone." "Just the two of us." "I don't know about you, but I'd need to find some small bit of comfort in this cursed place." "What's wrong?" "I'm in love with somebody else." "Who said anything about love?" "I'm talking about pleasure." "I'm sorry." "Look at you." "Faithful to a woman who's probably been dead 30 years." "No!" "She's trying to kill him!" "She's trying to kill my master." "No." "No." "Alice did nothing." "It was all me." "Then why was she trying to flee at the very moment you were attempting to murder our sleeping son?" "Ah!" "As the mother of my child, however monstrous you have proven yourself," "I shall grant you a merciful death." " Egremont, take her to the block." " No, Father." "Please." "Let me do it." "We came all this way for nothing." "No one's been here in years." "I wouldn't be so sure of that." "Seeker." "Has the time finally come?" "Shota?" "When the magic goes, so does precious youth." "What happened here?" "The Master went mad." "So it is with male Confessors." "Sometimes with old sorceresses." "He destroyed the palace, magical barriers fell, and I was released from the dungeon." "When did all this happen?" "Time's a slippery old eel, isn't he?" "The House of the Lamb, 40 years." "Or 50." "Why have you stayed?" "I'm looking for the key to this." "Must be here somewhere." "Where is the Master?" "Oh, he's not here." "Never comes here." "He's afraid of his mother." "Kahlan's here?" "No, no, no." "Not her." "Her ghost." "It's just you and me now, Nicholas." "No, Father." "It's just me." "Argh!" "Have I pleased you, Master?" "You've pleased me very much." "There must be a way to send us back to our own time." "That's exactly what she said to me." "What did you tell her?" "It was perfectly simple." "All you have to do is combine the magic of Orden, Confessor and Agiel precisely the right way, precisely the right time." "But even if you have the boxes, even if this harlot's willing to help you, you're still missing one essential ingredient:" "the touch of a Confessor." "That's why she agreed to marry Rahl, so she could bear a child that would help you." "Instead she gave birth to an abomination." "Maybe her child will help us after all." " A trick?" " No." "The truth." "You speak in riddles, Seeker." "It's simple." "You're going to let the Master confess you." "Do you know where we can find him?" "The Master would be very unhappy if you killed the only person in the world that knows how he can get his hands on the power of Orden." "Take me to him." "Master?" "Are you here?" "Command me, Confessor." "Tell me why you're here." "The Seeker has returned." "He has all three boxes of Orden." "He wants you to confess him." "Why would he want that?" "Because if you do it at the very moment he puts the boxes together, and then he's struck with a Mord-Sith's Agiel, he will return to a time before you were born and kill your father." "And then you, Master, will never be." "I destroyed the Mord-Sith." "One of them has traveled with him from the past." "They plot your demise." " Then I will kill them." " You won't be able to." "The Seeker will be waiting with the boxes at the Crags of Blood, under the full moon." "And he is the Seeker." "The moment he senses the slightest threat, he will put the boxes together." "And if you do not confess him, he will have the power of Orden and he will rule even you." "But you know how I can defeat him." "If you confess him, but prevent the Mord-Sith from adding her magic to his, then you will control the man who controls Orden." "Your power will be absolute and eternal." "You said we'd only be fighting on the same side until the Master's dead." " And?" " If this works, he'll be wiped from history." "He'll never be born." "But if you go back to fighting on the side of his father, this could all happen all over again." "You've seen the legacy of Rahl." "You've seen what can happen if he wins." "Ask yourself, is this really a future worth fighting for?" "I've been expecting you, Master Rahl." "I'm an old friend of your mother's." "Find the Mord-Sith." "No!" "No!" "You're too late." "Ah!" "Ah!" "Ah!" "You betrayed us." "What I did, I did to save all of us." "Lord Rahl is dead." "You will follow my orders now." "I'm sure we'll meet again, Seeker." "Some time in the future." "I thought I'd never see you again." "Either of you." "What are you talking about?" "I don't know where to start." "I can't believe I would marry Rahl, bear his child." "Kahlan, now that I'm back, that future didn't happen or never will happen." "Still." "Kahlan, when we first met, you told me you'd give your life for the Seeker." "And that's what you did." "Even when it looked like you had no hope, you loved me across time." "The magic of Orden is no more." "Rahl is dead." "The Prophecy has been fulfilled." "So it's over?" "The magic bonds that bent Rahl's followers to his will are broken now." "It's possible that we're at the dawn of a new age." "An age of peace, harmony, justice." "It's also possible that with the demise of Rahl, new and unimagined evils will arise to fill the void and seize the broken shards of power." "Richard, you've done everything we've asked of you and more." "No one can blame you if you want to go home." "I am home."