Warren turned his palm up. A flame ignited just above the flesh.”What is reality? I imagined there was a flame, and my 'dream' became reality. My wakeful intellect governs what I do."

She pulled on a brown curl as she thought out loud. "Just as the veil separates the world of the living from the world of the dead, there is a barrier in our minds that separates reality from the imagination, from dreams. Through discipline and our force of will we control what is reality for us."

She looked up suddenly. "Dear Creator, that barrier in our minds is what keeps us from using our Han when we sleep. If there were no barrier, then the person would have no intellectual control of their Han while they sleep."

Warren nodded. "We have control of our Han. When we imagine, it can become real. But the conscious imagination is overlaid with the limitations of the intellect." He leaned toward her, his blue eyes intense. "The sleeping imagination has virtually none of these limitations. A dream walker can bend reality. Those with the gift can bring it to be."

"Weapon indeed," she whispered.

She took Warren's arm and started down the hall. As frightening as the unknown was, it was a comfort to have at least one friend to help. Her head swirled with a confusion of doubts and questions. She was the Prelate now, it was up to her to find some answers before trouble visited the palace.

"Who died," Warren asked at last.

"The Prelate and Nathan," Verna said absently, because that was where her thoughts were.

"No, they had the funeral rite. I mean besides them."

Verna came back from her mind travels. "Besides the Prelate and Nathan? No one. No one has died in quite a while."

The lamplight danced in his blue eyes. "Then why did the palace hire the services of gravediggers?"

CHAPTER 19

Richard swung his leg over his Horse's flanks, landed on the trampled snow of the stable yard, and tossed the reins to a waiting soldier as the company of two hundred soldiers galloped in behind him. He patted his footsore horse's neck while a tired Ulic and Egan dismounted right behind. The still, cold, late-day air steamed with drifting clouds of breath of man and horse alike. The silent men were frustrated and discouraged; Richard was angry.

He pulled off a thickly padded glove and scratched the four days growth of beard as he yawned. He was tired, dirty, and hungry, but mostly he was angry. The trackers he had taken with him were good men, General Reibisch had told him, and Richard had no cause to dispute the general's word, but as good as they were, they were not good enough. Richard was a keen tracker, too, and several times he had found telltales the others had missed, but two days of fierce blizzard made the job impossible and in the end they had failed.

It shouldn't have been necessary in the first place, but he had let himself be duped. His first minor challenge as a leader, and he had botched it. He should never have trusted the man. Why was he always thinking people would see the side of reason and do the right thing? Why did he always think that people had good in them and, if allowed the chance, it would come to the surface?

As they slogged through the snow toward the palace, its white walls and spires mellowing to a dusky gray in the evening twilight, he asked Ulic and Egan to go find General Reibisch and to inquire about any other disasters that might have transpired while he was gone. The Keep watched him from the gloom in the shadows of the mountains, the snow a dark, moody, steel blue shawl drawn around its granite shoulders.

Richard found Mistress Sanderholt busy with her covey of workers in the din of the kitchen and asked if would be possible for her to find him and his two big guards something to eat, a chunk of dry bread, some leftover soup, anything. She saw that he was in no mood for conversation and offered a silent squeeze of his arm as she told him to put his feet up while she saw to it. He headed for a quiet study not far from the kitchens to sit for a rest while he waited for the others to return.

Coming around the corner to the study doorway, Berdine stepped in front of him. She was wearing her red leather. "And just where have you been?" she asked in an icy Mord-Sith tone.

"Chasing phantoms in the mountains. Didn't Cara and Raina tell you where I was going?"

"You did not tell me." Her hard blue eyes didn't budge from his gaze. "That is what counts. You will not wander off again without telling me where you are going. Do you understand?"

Richard felt a chill run through his marrow. There was no mistaking who was speaking: not Berdine, the woman, but Mistress Berdine, a Mord-Sith. And it was not a question; it was a threat.

Richard gave himself a mental shake. He was just tired and she had been worried about the Lord Rahl. He was imagining things. What was the matter with him? He had probably given her a fright when she woke to discover he had taken off after Brogan and his sorcerous sister. She had an odd sense of humor, maybe this was her idea of a joke. He forced a toothy grin, and thought to lighten her concern.

"Berdine, you know I like you the best. I thought of nothing the whole time but your smiling blue eyes."

Richard took a step toward the door. Her Agiel came up in her fist. She planted its tip against the far side of the doorframe, blocking his way. He had never seen Berdine unmask such a sinister countenance.

"I asked you a question. I expect an answer. Don't make me ask again."

This time there was no excusing her tone or her actions. The Agiel was right in front of his face, and it wasn't there casually. He was seeing for the first time her true Mord-Sith persona, the personality her victims had seen, the core character of her vicious indoctrination — and he didn't like it. For an instant, he saw through the eyes of those forsaken victims she had had at the end of her Agiel. No one died an easy death as the captive of a Mord-Sith, and none but he had ever survived the ordeal.

He suddenly viewed his faith in these women with regret, and felt the sting of disappointment in his trust of them.

Instead of a chill, it was the heat of anger that surged through his bones this time. He realized he was about to do something he might regret, and immediately took control of his temper, but he could feel the rage powering in his glare.

"Berdine, I had to go after Brogan as soon as I found out he had escaped, if I was to have any chance to find him. I told Cara and Raina where I was going and at their insistence took Ulic and Egan with me. You were asleep. I saw no need to wake you."

Still she did not move. "You were needed here. We have many trackers and soldiers. We have only one leader." The tip of her Agiel swept around, stopping before his eyes. "Don't disappoint me again."

It took all his willpower not to reach out and break her arm. She withdrew her Agiel, along with her blistering glower, and stalked away.

Inside the small, darkly paneled room, he hurled his heavy hide mantle at the wall beside the narrow fireplace. How could he be so naive? They were vipers with fangs, and he had allowed them to drape themselves around his neck. He was surrounded by strangers. No, not strangers. He knew what Mord-Sith were; he knew some of the things the D'Harans had done; he knew some of the things the representatives of some of the lands here had done; yet he was foolish enough to believe they could do right if given the chance.

He leaned a hand on the window frame and stared out on the darkening, mountainous landscape as he let the warmth from the low, crackling fire soak in. In the distance the Wizard's Keep looked down on him. He missed Gratch. He missed Kahlan. Dear spirits, he wanted to hold her in his arms.