Cara gazed about at the red marble columns holding the arches below the balcony that ran all the way around the oval-shaped room. She had a smile on her lips. "This is nothing like the place Lord Rahl took us." Cara frowned. "The lamps.

That was magic. There is magic in here. You said you would keep us away from magic."

"I said I would keep you away from dangerous magic. The lamps are kind of like a shield, except in reverse. Instead of keeping people out, they're an enabling shield, to welcome and help them enter. It's a friendly kind of magic, Cara." "Friendly. Sure."

"Come on, we came here for a purpose. We have work to do." Kahlan took them to the libraries via the elegant, warm halls, rather than the frightening way they had gone before. They encountered only three shields. Kahlan's magic allowed her to pass these, and by holding Cara and Berdine's hands, it was possible to get them through, too, though both complained about a tingling sensation.

These shields didn't guard dangerous areas, and so were weaker than others in the Keep. There were shields that Kahlan couldn't pass, like the ones Richard had taken her through to go down to the sliph, though Kahlan thought there might be other ways to get down there. There were shields which Richard had gone through that in her experience no wizard had ever crossed before.

They came to an intersection with a hall of light pink stone running down both sides. At places, the hall opened into commodious rooms ringed with padded benches for conversing or reading. Beyond double doors in each of these large outer rooms was a library.

"I've been here," Berdine said. "I remember this." "Yes. Richard brought you here, but by a different route." Kahlan continued on to the eighth sitting room, and went through the double doors into the library there. She used her lamp to light the key lamp, and as before, all the rest lit, lifting the room out of its pitch blackness, bringing it to life. The floors were polished wood, with walls paneled in the same honey-colored oak. During the day, glassed windows on the far wall bathed the room with light and provided a beautiful view of Aydindril. Now, through the snow, Kahlan could only occasionally see the lights of the city below.

She strode down the aisle between the reading tables and the rows upon rows of bookshelves, looking for the one she remembered. In this room alone, there were one hundred and forty-five rows of books. There were comfortable chairs to use while reading, but tonight they would need the tables to lay out the books.

"So this is the library," Cara said. "In D'Hara, at the People's Palace, there are libraries much larger than this."

"This is only one of twenty-six rooms like this. I can only imagine how many thousands of books are here in the Keep," Kahlan said.

"Then how are we ever going to find the ones we're looking for?" Berdine asked.

"It shouldn't be as hard as it sounds. The libraries can be a bewildering maze when you wish to find something. I used to know a wizard who searched on and off his whole life for a bit of information he knew was in the libraries. He never found it." "Then how can we?"

"Because there are a few things that are specialized enough that they are kept together. Books of language, for example. I can take you to all the books on any specific language, because they're not about magic and so they're in one place. I don't know how books on magic and prophecy are organized, if they even are.

"Anyway, this library is where certain records are kept. such as the records of trials held here. I've not read them, but I was taught about them."

Kahlan turned and led them between two rows of shelves. Nearly midway down the fifty-foot-long aisle, she came to a halt.

"Here they are. I can see by the writing on the spines that they're in different languages. Since I know all the languages but High D'Haran, I'll search all the ones in other languages. Cara, you look at the ones in ours, and Berdine, you take the ones in High D'Haran."

The three of them started picking books from the shelves and carrying them to the tables, separating them into three stacks. There weren't as many as Kahlan had feared. Berdine had only seven books, Cara had fifteen, and Kahlan eleven, in a variety of languages. For Berdine, it would be slow going translating the D'Haran, but Kahlan was fluent in the other languages, and she would be able to help with Cara's stack as soon as she finished her own.

As Kahlan started in, she quickly found that it was going to be easier than she'd first thought. Each trial began with a statement of the type of crime, making it simple to eliminate those that had nothing to do with the Temple of the Winds.

There were charges against the accused ranging from the taking of a cherished object of little worth to murder. A sorceress was accused of casting a glamour, but was found innocent. A boy of twelve was accused of starting a fight in which another boy's arm was broken; because the aggressor had used magic to cause the injury, the sentence was the suspension of his training for a period of one year. A wizard was accused of being a drunkard, a third offense, the prior punishments having failed to halt his belligerent behavior. He was found guilty and sentenced to death. The sentence was carried out two days later, when he had sobered.

Habitually, drunken wizards were viewed not with tolerance but as the true dangers they were, capable, in their inebriated state, of causing mass injury and death. Kahlan herself had seen wizards drink to excess only one time.

The accounts of the trials were fascinating, but the seriousness of their purpose kept Kahlan skimming through the books, looking for a reference to the Temple of the Winds, or to a team charged with a crime. The other two were making quick progress, too. In an hour, Kahlan had finished all eleven books in the other languages, Berdine had only three left, and Cara six. "Anything?" Kahlan asked.

Cara lifted an eyebrow. "I just found an account of a wizard who fancied hiking up his robes in front of women in the market on Stentor Street and commanding them to 'kiss the serpent. I never knew wizards could get themselves in such a variety of trouble."

"They're people, just like any other people." "No, they're not. They have magic," Cara said. "So do I. Have you found anything, Berdine?" "No, not what we're looking for. Just common crimes." Kahlan reached for one of the books Cara hadn't been through, but paused. "Berdine, you were down in the room with the sliph." Berdine made a show of shivering and producing a sound of revulsion from deep in her throat. "Don't remind me."

Kahlan shut her eyes, trying to remember the room. She remembered Kolo's bones, and she remembered the sliph, but she only vaguely recalled what else was in the room.

"Berdine, do you remember if there were any other books down there?" Berdine bit down on the end of a fingernail as she squinted in concentration. "I remember finding Kolo's journal open on the table. An inkwell and pen. I remember Kolo's bones, lying on the floor next to the chair, with most of his clothes long ago rotted away. His leather belt was still around him."

Kahlan remembered much the same thing. "But do you remember if there were any books on the shelves?" Berdine turned her eyes up as she thought. "No." "No there weren't, or no you don't remember?"

"No, I don't remember. Lord Rahl was really excited about finding Kolo's journal. He said it was something different from the books in the library, and he felt it was what he had been searching for: something different. We left right after that."

Kahlan stood. "You two keep looking through these books. I'm going down there and have a look, just to be sure."