His gaze finally left Cara and returned to Richard. “Your sword can’t protect you from prophecy, Lord Rahl. It can’t protect any of us from the future. Prophecy is what protects us. That is why the Creator gave mankind the gift of prophecy.”
Richard’s glare caused the abbot’s gaze to falter and drift to the ground. “That’s enough.”
Ludwig took a hesitant step back as he dipped his head in a deferential bow. “As you command, Lord Rahl.”
Once safely withdrawn, he turned and left, several of the other representatives falling in with him and following behind.
“Let me kill him,” Cara said as she scowled at the man’s back.
“Let me do it,” Berdine said. “I could use the practice.”
Richard watched the departing abbot. “If only it were that simple.”
“Oh, I think it would be pretty simple,” Berdine said.
Richard shook his head as he saw the knot of people disappear down the hall. “Killing people isn’t the way to have peace.”
Cara looked like she agreed with Berdine, but she dropped the subject and went on to other business. “Benjamin would like to see you. I told him that I’d find you and bring you to the Garden of Life.”
CHAPTER 40
As Richard passed between phalanxes of guards and through the doors into the Garden of Life, with Zedd, Nathan, and Cara close behind, he noticed that scaffolding had already been erected. A number of men clambered along lengths of plank at the top. Some of the men were cutting off twisted metal, while others were beginning the work of laying in new framework so they could replace the glass and close in the roof.
The sun was up, filling the room with light. Soldiers of the First File patrolled the room, keeping an eye on the men up above near the source of light and also watching the opening into the darkness below.
Richard found it unsettling to have people in the Garden of Life. He had come to feel of it as a private refuge. He supposed that his ancestors had for thousands of years felt much the same way about the garden sanctuary, a place where the occasional release of some of the most dangerous magic in existence made the garden a frightening place to be, yet a place that most of the time offered the peace of quiet seclusion.
Benjamin, talking with an officer of the guard, spotted Richard and rushed his way. The workers on the scaffolding kept working, but they couldn’t help watching out of the corner of an eye.
“Lord Rahl, are you all right?” Benjamin asked. “I heard there was a fire. The Mother Confessor is worried, too.”
“I’m fine.” Richard aimed a thumb over his shoulder toward his grandfather and the prophet. “Zedd and Nathan were there, thankfully. They were able to put it out.”
“That’s a relief.”
Richard glanced around. “Where is Kahlan?”
Benjamin flicked a hand toward the ragged hole in the floor. “She and Nicci are down there, with the machine.”
As Richard started toward the ladder, Cara joined Benjamin. “I told Lord Rahl that you wanted to see him.”
Benjamin fell in beside Richard. “Yes, that’s right. I have the information you wanted, Lord Rahl.”
Richard paused at the ladder leading down into the gaping hole. “You mean about how far the machine goes down in the ground?”
Benjamin nodded. “First of all, you were right. That funny kink in the library several floors below us is because of that thing down in the hole. The library wall has to have that odd notch in order to go around the machine. It’s behind the wall.”
Behind the wall where the book
Richard held the ladder and let Zedd and Nathan go down first. Richard went next, with Cara and then her husband following. At the bottom of the ladder they had to climb over some of the larger rubble as they went around the walkway to the spiral stairs. In single file they all descended into the tomb of the machine.
The hushed room below was lit by the eerie light of the proximity spheres. Kahlan smiled when she saw him, looking relieved to see that he was all right. Nicci, her arms folded, deep in thought as she studied the silent metal box, only glanced up briefly. Richard was glad to see that she was there, watching out for Kahlan.
“It looks quiet,” Richard said.
“Dead quiet,” Kahlan said.
“It hasn’t made a sound or given off that strange light you spoke of,” Nicci said, emerging from her thoughts. “It appears to be as still and silent as it probably was for thousands of years.”
Zedd skimmed his bony fingers along the top of the machine, almost as if fearing any greater contact, but unable to resist touching it. “That’s what Nathan and I found as well. Not a peep out of it.”
Richard wasn’t actually all that unhappy to hear it. He would not be unhappy if the thing went back to sleep for another few thousand years.
“How’s your hand?” he asked Kahlan.
