“Of course. I didn’t know. I’m sorry.” Jennsen chewed her lower lip as she looked back at the curtain drawn across the doorway to the back, where Sebastian was being seen to. She wished there would be some word. She turned back to the Sister. “I was only puzzled because I’ve never seen such words.”
“These are in the tongue of the emperor’s homeland.”
“Really?” Jennsen gestured to the book the Sister was returning to its place. “Do you know what it says?”
“I don’t know the language very well, but…let me see if I might be able to tell.” In the dim light, the Sister squinted at the book for a time, her lips moving silently as she worked at the translation, before finally sliding the volume back in place.
“It says, The Pillars of Creation.”
“The Pillars of Creation… What can you tell me about such a book?”
The woman shrugged. “There’s a place in the Old World called by that name. I would guess the book must be about that.”
Before Jennsen could ask anything else, Sister Perdita suddenly emerged from behind the rear partition of the tent, the candles casting harsh shadows across her somber face.
Jennsen rushed to meet her. “How are they?” she asked in an urgent whisper. “They’re both going to be all right, aren’t they?”
Sister Perdita’s gaze shifted to the Sister who had just replaced the book. “Sister, you are needed by the others. Please go help them.”
“But His Excellency told me to guard—”
“His Excellency is the one who needs the help. The healing is not going well. Go and help the Sisters.”
At that, the woman nodded and rushed off to the back.
“Why isn’t the healing going well?” Jennsen asked after the Sister had vanished behind the heavy curtain.
“A healing that is started and then interrupted, as Emperor Jagang’s was, creates unique problems—especially since the Sister who started it is dead. Each person brings unique ability to the task, so to go in later and try to unravel exactly how it was started, much less build on it, makes the healing much more difficult and delicate.” She offered a small smile. “But we’re confident that His Excellency will be fine. It’s just a matter of some concentrated work by the Sisters of the Light. I imagine they will be at it most of the night. By morning, I’m sure everything will be under control and the emperor will be as strong as ever.”
Jennsen swallowed. “What about Sebastian?”
Sister Perdita appraised her with a cool, unreadable look. “I would say that depends on you.”
“On me? What do you mean? What do I have to do with healing him?”
“Everything.”
“But, what is it you could possibly need from me?—You have but to ask. I’ll do anything. Please, you must save Sebastian.”
The Sister pursed her lips as she clasped her hands. “His recovery hinges on your commitment to eliminating Richard Rahl.”
Jennsen was baffled. “Well, yes, of course, I want to eliminate Richard—”
“I said commitment, not words. I need more than mere words.”
Jennsen stared a moment. “I don’t understand. I’ve traveled a long and difficult journey to come here so that I might secure the help of the Sisters of the Light so that I can get close enough to Lord Rahl to put my knife in his heart.”
Sister Perdita smiled that terrible smile of hers. “Well then, if that’s true, then Sebastian should have nothing to worry about.”
“Please, Sister, just tell me what it is you want.”
“I want Richard Rahl dead.”
“Then we share the same goal. If anything, I’d venture that I feel more strongly about it than you ever could.”
One of the Sister’s eyebrows lifted. “Really. Emperor Jagang said that the Sister who was trying to heal him, up in the palace, was killed by wizard’s fire.”
“That’s right.”
“And did you see the man who did it?”
Jennsen thought it strange that Sister Perdita didn’t ask how it was that she wasn’t also killed by the wizard’s fire. “He was an old man. Skinny, with wavy white hair sticking out in disarray.”
“First Wizard Zeddicus Zu’l Zorander,” the Sister said in a venomous hiss.
“Yes,” Jennsen said, “I heard someone call him Wizard Zorander. I don’t know him.”
Sister Perdita glared. “Wizard Zorander is Richard Rahl’s grandfather.”
Jennsen’s jaw dropped. “I didn’t know.”
“Yet here was a wizard doing all this damage, nearly killing Emperor Jagang, and you—who claim to be so committed—failed to kill him.”
Jennsen held her hands out in frustration. “But, but, I tried, I did. He got away. There was so much going on—”
“And you think it will be easier to kill Richard Rahl? Words are easy. When it comes to true commitment, you couldn’t even stop the threat from his doddering old grandfather!”
Jennsen refused to allow herself to fall to tears. It was a struggle. She felt foolish and shamed. “But I—”
“You came here for the help of the Sisters. You said you wanted to kill Richard Rahl.”
“I do, but what does that have to do with Sebastian—”
Sister Perdita held up a finger, commanding silence. “Sebastian is in grave danger of dying. He was struck by a dangerous form of magic cast by a very powerful sorceress. Those shards of magic are still in him. Left alone, they will shortly kill him.”
“Please, you must hurry then—”
An incensed expression silenced Jennsen. “That magic is also dangerous to us, to those trying to heal him. For us Sisters to attempt to remove those embedded shards of magic endangers our lives, as well as his. If we are to risk the lives of Sisters, then I want in return your commitment to kill Richard Rahl.”
“How could you place a condition on the life of a man!”
The Sister straightened with contempt. “We will have to let many others die in order to devote the necessary numbers and time to healing this one man. How dare you ask that of us? How dare you ask us to let others die so that your lover might live?”
Jennsen had no answer to such a terrible question.
“If we are to do this, then it must be for something worth more than those lives that will be lost without our help. Helping this one man must count for something. Would you expect less? Would you not want the same? In return for us saving this man so dear to you—”
“He’s dear to you, too! To the Imperial Order! To your cause! To your emperor!”
Sister Perdita waited to see if Jennsen would now be silent. When Jennsen’s angry gaze faltered, and finally sank, the Sister continued.
“No one individual is important except for what value he can contribute to others. Only you can provide that value for him. For us saving this man so dear to you, I must have in return your unqualified commitment to stopping Richard Rahl, once and for all. Your material commitment to killing him.”
“Sister Perdita, you have no conception of how much I wish to kill Richard Rahl.” Jennsen’s hands fisted at her sides. “He ordered the murder of my mother. She died in my arms. His rule resulted in Emperor Jagang nearly being killed. Richard is responsible for hurting Sebastian! For suffering beyond any imagining! For murders beyond estimate! I want Richard Rahl dead!”
“Then let us free the voice.”
Jennsen stepped back in shock. “What?”
“Grushdeva.”