Nathan caught up with Zedd and lifted his palms out toward the smoke-filled doorway, adding his gift to the effort. He, too, caused the air to waver, but it also slowed the amount of smoke as the flames withdrew back into the room. At last the smoke coming out the doorway was choked off entirely, confining it to the room inside, leaving the hallway in a dark and pungent haze.
Nathan was a Rahl. His gift wasn’t hampered by the palace’s spell. He stepped in closer, holding the flats of his hands out toward the doorway again. As Richard restrained Lauretta, he watched Nathan gradually circle his palms, sealing off the room, suffocating the fire at its source. After a few tense moments, the fire died out and the prophet spun a web that cooled the remains of Lauretta’s home.
As Nathan entered the room, checking that it was safe, Richard let go of Lauretta, allowing her to follow. Weeping in misery, she rushed into the room behind Nathan.
She lifted her arms in distress. “My prophecies! Dear Creator! My prophecies are ruined!”
Richard could see that she was right. There looked to be some stacks in the farthest reaches that might not have been totally destroyed, but the blackened, wet mess covering the floor was all that was left of most of them.
Lauretta fell to her knees, scooping up handfuls of the useless, wet ash.
“They’re ruined,” she wept.
Richard laid a hand on her shoulder. “You can write more, Lauretta. You can use the library as a place to write more.”
She nodded absently. He wondered if she even heard him.
Out in the hall, people had gathered to see what was happening. Many of them covered their noses against the stench left from the fire.
Richard saw a number of representatives he recognized at the back of the crowd. They looked grim. The fire was obviously confirmation of the prophecy they had all heard that morning.
Murmuring warnings to one another, the crowd parted. Cara marched through as if the people were not there, expecting everyone to get out of her way. There was never any problem with that. People were only too eager to get out of the way of a Mord-Sith, especially when she looked as angry as Cara looked. The last thing in the world that most people wanted was to cause a Mord-Sith to take notice of them.
“Are you all right?” Cara asked as Richard nodded. “I heard that there was trouble.”
“Lauretta’s prophecies caught fire,” he told her.
Among the crowd, Richard spotted Ludwig Dreier, the abbot from Fajin Province. His face was set in a stony expression as he took in all the activity. He finally moved through the onlookers to come in closer.
“Was anyone hurt?” he asked.
“No,” Richard said. “Lauretta’s place was full of papers. It was a fire waiting to happen.”
Ludwig glanced through the doorway. “Especially since it was foretold in prophecy.”
“Says who?”
The abbot shrugged. “The blind woman for one. Several others had the premonition as well.”
Richard glanced past the abbot to the faces in the crowd and saw a number of representatives watching and listening.
“The woman used open flames in her room,” Richard said. “There were papers everywhere. I told her myself that she had to move all the papers or there was going to be a fire.”
“Nonetheless, it was predicted by prophecy.”
“The man is right,” Lauretta said as she stepped out into the hall, looking heartbroken. “I had the prophecy myself. I wrote it down and gave it to Lord Rahl,” she told the abbot as she wiped tears from her cheeks. “I guess that now we all know what it meant.”
The abbot turned his frown to Richard. “You had a dangerous prophecy about fire in the palace brought directly to you and you told none of us? You kept the prophecy to yourself?”
“I had only just told him about it and he raced right here,” Lauretta said before Richard could answer, unwittingly saving him from having to explain himself. “There was no time to warn anyone, or to do anything to stop the fire in time.”
The abbot let out a troubled breath. “Still, Lord Rahl, you would be well advised to take prophecy more seriously. Especially when the prophecy could have bearing on the lives and safety of others. Your duty, after all, is to protect the subjects of the D’Haran Empire. You are the magic against magic that we all depend on for our safety. Prophecy is magic that the Creator has given us and you need to take it seriously.”
“I think that Lord Rahl takes prophecy quite seriously,” Nathan said, glaring down at the man.
“Good,” Ludwig said. “Good. He needs to take it seriously.” Others back in the crowd added nods of agreement.
Cara spun her Agiel up into her fist. She pointed the red weapon at the abbot’s face. “Lord Rahl does not need you to tell him his responsibility or how to carry it out. Lord Rahl protects us all.”
Cara’s deadly tone was a clear warning that the man was overstepping his place.
