"Ah, ah, ah." The finger twitched side to side again. "Be polite. Be awfully polite."

The soldier, his eyes wide, seemed surprised by his own haughty words.

The voice sounded too deep-too mature-to belong to this young man.

The voice, in fact, sounded dangerous in the extreme.

"What is this?" Nicholas frowned at the soldier. "What's this about?"

The man started into the room, his legs moving in a most peculiar, stilted manner. In some ways it reminded Nicholas of how it must look when he used his own legs after not being in his body for a long spell. He stepped aside as the man walked woodenly into the center of the dim room and turned. Blood dripped from the hand that had been pounding against the door, but the man, his eyes still wide with fear, seemed not to notice what had to be painful injuries.

His voice, though, came out anything but afraid. "Where are they, Nicholas?"

Nicholas approached the man and cocked his head. "They?"

"You promised them to me, Nicholas. I don't like it when people don't keep their word. Where are they?"

Nicholas drew his brow down even farther, leaned in even more. "Who?"

"Richard Rahl and the Mother Confessor!" the soldier bellowed in unrestrained rage.

Nicholas backed away a few paces. He understood, now. He had heard the stories, heard that the man could do such things. Now he was seeing it for himself.

This was Emperor Jagang, the dream walker himself.

"Remarkable," Nicholas drawled. He approached the soldier who was not a soldier and tapped a finger against the side of the man's head. "That you in there, Your Excellency?" He tapped the man's temple again. "That's you, isn't it, Excellency."

"Where are they, Nicholas?" It was as dangerous-sounding a question as Nicholas had ever heard.

"I told you that you would have them, and you shall."

"I think you're lying to me, Nicholas," the voice growled. "I don't think you have them, as you promised you would."

Nicholas flipped a hand dismissively as he strolled off a few paces.

"Oh, foo. I have them by a string."

"I think otherwise. I have reason to believe that they aren't down here at all. I have reason to believe that the Mother Confessor herself is far to the north.. with her army."

Nicholas frowned as he approached the man, leaning in close, peering into the eyes. "Do you completely lose your senses when you go cavorting into another man's mind like that?"

"Are you saying it isn't so?"

Nicholas was losing patience. "I was just watching them when you barged in here to pester me. They were both there-Lord Rahl and the Mother Confessor."

"Are you sure?" came the deep gravelly voice out of the young soldier's mouth.

Nicholas planted his fists on his hips. "Are you questioning me? How dare you! I am Nicholas the Slide. I will not be questioned by anyone!"

The soldier took an aggressive step forward.

Nicholas held his ground and lifted a finger in warning. "If you want them, then you had better be awfully careful."

The soldier watched with wide eyes, but Nicholas could see more in those eyes: menace.

"Talk, then, before I lose my patience."

Nicholas screwed his mouth up in annoyance. "Whoever told you that they were to the north, that the Mother Confessor is with their army, either doesn't know what they're talking about or is lying to you. I've kept a careful eye on them."

"But have you seen them lately?"

The room was growing dark. Nicholas cast a hand toward the table, sending a small spark of his gift into three candles there, setting their wicks to flame.

"I told you, I was just watching them. They are in a city not far from here. Soon, they will be coming here, to me, and then I will have them. You don't have long to wait."

"What makes you think they're coming to you?"

"I know everything they do." Nicholas held his arms aloft, his black robes slipping up to his elbows, gesturing expansively as he walked around the man, speaking of what he alone knew. "I watch them. I have seen them lying together at night, the Mother Confessor tenderly holding her husband in her arms, holding his head to her shoulder, comforting his terrible pain.

It's quite touching, actually."

"His pain?"

"Yes, his pain. They are in Northwick right now, a city not far to the north of here. When they are finished there, if they live through their visit, then they will be coming here, to me."

Jagang in the soldier looked around, taking in the freshly dead bodies lying against the wall. His attention returned to Nicholas.

"I asked, what makes you think so?"

Nicholas looked over his shoulder and lifted an eyebrow at the emperor.

"Well, you see, these fool people here-the pillars of Creation who so fascinate you-have poisoned the poor Lord Rahl. They did it to try to insure his help in getting rid of us."

"Poisoned him? Are you sure?"

Nicholas smiled at the note of interest he detected in the emperor's voice. "Oh, yes, quite sure. The poor man is in a great deal of pain. He needs an antidote."

"Then he will do what he must to get such an antidote. Richard Rahl is a surprisingly resourceful man."

Nicholas leaned his backside against the table and folded his arms. "He may be resourceful, but he's now in a great deal of trouble. You see, he needs two more doses of the antidote. One of them is in North-wick. That's why he went there."

"You would be surprised at what that man can accomplish." It would have been impossible to miss the bristling anger in the emperor's voice. "You would be a fool to underestimate him, Nicholas."

"Oh, but I never underestimate anyone, Excellency." Nicholas smiled meaningfully at the emperor watching him through another man's eyes. "You see, I'm reasonably sure that Richard Rahl will retrieve the antidote in Northwick. In fact, I am counting on it. We shall see. I was watching him as you came in, watching what would happen. You spoiled it.

"But even if he obtains the antidote in Northwick, he will still need to get the last dose. The antidote in Northwick alone will not spare his life."

"Where's this other dose of his antidote?"

Nicholas reached in a pocket and showed the emperor the square-sided bottle, along with a satisfied smile.

"I have it."

The man with an emperor inside him smiled. "He may come to take it from you, Nicholas. But, more likely, he will have someone else make him more of the antidote so that he won't even have to bother coming here."

"Oh, I don't think so. You see, Excellency, I am quite thorough in my work. This poison that Lord Rahl took is complex, but not nearly as complex as the antidote. I know, because I had the only man who can make it tortured until he told me what it was, told me all about it, told me its secrets. It contains a whole list of things I couldn't even begin to recall.

"I had the man killed, of course. Then I had the man who tortured the confession out of him, tortured the antidote's list of ingredients out of him, killed as well. It wouldn't do to have the resourceful Richard Rahl find either man and somehow discover from them what was in the cure.

"So, you see, Excellency, there is no one to make Lord Rahl any more of the antidote." He held the bottle by the neck and wagged it before the man.

"This is the last dose. Lord Rahl's last chance at life."

Through the eyes of a young soldier, Jagang watched the bottle Nicholas dangled before him. Any trace of humor had vanished.

"Then Richard Rahl will come here and get it."

Nicholas pulled the cork. He took a whiff. The liquid inside carried the slight aroma of cinnamon.

"You think so, Excellency?"

Making a great show of it, Nicholas poured the liquid out onto the floor.

As Emperor Jagang watched, Nicholas shook the bottle, making sure that the very last drop fell out.