“Be warned, child, you have the true power of the tongue. You have never seen it. It will be a terrible doing if you ever let it loose.”

“I don’t know what you are talking about,” Kahlan said, her eyebrows in a frown.

“True,” Adie nodded. “True.” She reached out and gently placed her hand on Kahlan’s shoulder, working her fingers, bringing her closer. “Your mother died before you became a woman, before you were of the age when she could teach you of it.”

Kahlan swallowed hard. “What can you teach me of it?”

“Nothing. I am sorry, but I have no understanding of its workings. It be something only your mother can teach, when you reached the age of woman. Since your mother did not show you, the teaching be lost. But the power be still there. Be warned. Just because you were not taught its use does not mean it cannot come out.”

“Did you know my mother?” Kahlan asked in a painful whisper.

Adie’s face softened as she looked at Kahlan. She nodded slowly. “I remember your family name. And I remember her green eyes—they not be easy to forget. You have her eyes. When she carried you, I knew her.”

A tear rolled down Kahlan’s cheek, and her voice came in the same painful whisper. “My mother wore a necklace, with a small bone on it. She gave it to me when I was a child. I wore it always, until… until, Dennee, the girl I called my sister… when she died, I buried it with her. She had always been fond of it. You gave that necklace to my mother, didn’t you?”

Adie closed her eyes and nodded. “Yes child. I gave it to her to protect her unborn daughter, to keep her child safe, that she might grow to be strong, like her mother. I can see that she has.”

Kahlan slipped her arms around the old woman. “Thank you, Adie,” she said tearfully, “for helping my mother.” Adie held the crutch with one hand, and with the other rubbed Kahlan’s back in genuine sympathy. After a few moments Kahlan separated from the old woman and wiped the tears from her eyes.

Richard saw his opening, and went for it with single-minded determination.

“Adie,” he said in a soft voice, “you helped Kahlan before she was born. Help her now. Her life and the lives of a great many others are at stake. Darken Rahl hunts her, hunts me. We need the help of these two men. Please help them. Help Kahlan.”

Adie gave him her small smile. She nodded her head a little to herself. “The wizard chooses his Seekers well. Fortunately for you, patience be not a prerequisite for the post. Be at ease—I would not have had you bring them in if I did not intend to help them.”

“Well, perhaps you cannot see,” he pressed, “but Zedd especially is in bad shape. His breathing is hardly there at all.”

Adie’s white eyes regarded him with strained tolerance. “Tell me,” she said in her dry rasp, “do you know Kahlan’s secret, the one she keeps from you?”

Richard said nothing and tried to show no emotion. Adie turned to Kahlan.

“Tell me, child, do you know the secret he keeps from you?” Kahlan said nothing. Adie looked back to Richard. “Does the wizard know of the secret you keep from him? No. Do you know the secret the wizard keeps from you? No. Three blind people. Hmm? Seems I be able to see better than you.”

Richard wondered what secret Zedd was keeping from him. He lifted an eyebrow. “And which of these secrets do you know, Adie?”

She pointed a thin finger at Kahlan. “Hers only.”

Richard was relieved, but tried to let his face show nothing. He had been on the verge of panic. “Everyone has secrets, my friend, and has a right to keep them when there is need.”

Her smile widened. “That be true, Richard Cypher.”

“Now, what about these two?”

“Do you know how to heal them?” she asked.

“No. If I did, I obviously would have already done so.”

“Your impatience is to be forgiven—it be only right for you to fear for the lives of your friends. I bear you no ill will for your concern. But be at ease, they have been receiving help from the moment you brought them in.”

Richard gave her a confused look. “Really?”

She nodded. “They be struck down by underworld beasts. It will take time for them to wake, days. How many I cannot say. But they be dry. Lack of water will be the death of them, therefore they must be brought awake enough to drink, or they will die. The wizard breathes slow not because he be worse, but because that be the way wizards save strength in time of trouble they go into a deeper sleep. I must bring them both awake to drink. You will not be able to talk to them, they will not know you, so be not afraid when you see it. Go to the corner, bring the water bucket.”

Richard retrieved the water and then helped Adie lower herself to sit cross-legged at the heads of Zedd and Chase. She pulled Kahlan down next to her. She asked Richard to bring a bone implement from the shelf.

Part of it looked very much like a human thighbone. The entire object had a dark brown patina, and looked to be ancient. Down the shaft of the bone were carved symbols Richard didn’t recognize. At one end were two skull tops, one to each side of the ball. They had been cut smoothly into half spheres, and covered with dried skin of some kind. In the center of each skin was a knot that looked like a navel. Spaced evenly around each skin, where it stretched across the skull edge, were tufts of coarse black hair tied on with beaded thread that matched that around the neck of Adie’s robe. The skull tops looked like they could be human. Something inside rattled.

Richard handed it respectfully to Adie. “What makes the rattle?”

Without looking up, she said, “Dried eyes.”

Adie shook the bone rattle gently from side to side over the heads of Zedd and Chase while mumbling a chant in the strange language in which she had spoken to Kahlan. The rattle made a hollow, wooden sound. Kahlan sat cross-legged next to her, head bowed. Richard stood back and watched.

After ten or fifteen minutes, Adie motioned with her hand for him to come closer. Zedd suddenly sat up and opened his eyes. Richard realized she wanted him to give him water. She continued to chant as he dipped the ladle in and held it up to Zedd’s mouth. He drank thirstily. Richard was thrilled to see the old man sit up and open his eyes, even if he couldn’t talk, even if he didn’t know where he was. Zedd drank half a bucket of water. When finished, he lay back down and closed his eyes. Chase was next, and he drank the other half of the water.

Adie handed Richard the bone rattle and asked him to return it to the shelf. Next she had him bring the bone pile from the corner and stack half over Zedd’s body, half over Chase’s, directing him on how to place each bone, to some alignment that only she could see or understand. Finally she had him stack rib bones in a wagon-wheel pattern with the hub centered over each man’s chest. When he finished, she complimented him on doing a fine job, but he felt no pride, because she had directed his hand at each turn. Adie looked up at him with her white eyes.

“Can you cook?”

Richard thought about the time Kahlan had told him that his spice soup was like hers, and that their two lands were much the same. Adie was from the Midlands—maybe she would like something from her homeland. He smiled at her.

“I would be honored to make you some spice soup.”

She put her hands together in a swoon. “That would be wonderful. I have not had a proper spice soup in years.”

Richard went to the opposite corner of the room and sat at the table, cutting up vegetables and mixing spices. For over an hour, as he worked, he watched the two women sitting on the floor, talking in the strange language. Two women catching up on the news from home, he thought happily. He was in a good mood—someone was finally doing something to help Zedd and Chase. Someone who knew what the problem was. When he was finished and had the soup on the fire, he didn’t want to disturb them—they looked like they were enjoying themselves—so he asked Adie if he could cut some firewood for her. She seemed pleased by the idea.