Free Confessor by Terry Goodkind Page B

concerned her most was an issue at the center of Ordenic theory having to do with the connections between Orden and the subject of the Chainfire event—Kahlan. Nicci needed to better understand the nature of requirements for connections based on primary foundations. She needed to fully grasp how those foundations were established. She was troubled by the constraints on predetermined protocols—their need of a sterile field in order to re-create memory. She also needed to learn more about the precise conditions in which the forces needed to be applied.
    At the center of it all, though, was that cautionary requirement of a sterile field. She needed to understand the precise nature of the sterile field Orden required and, more importantly, why Ordenic protocols needed it.
    “I have all the shields up,” Zedd told her. “The entrances to the Keep are sealed. If anyone had entered without permission alarms would be going off all over the place. We’d all be plugging our ears until we found the cause.”
    “There are gifted people who know about such things,” Nicci reminded him.
    Zedd didn’t need to consider for long. “You have a point. Considering all that’s going on, and all we don’t yet know, we can’t be too careful. It wouldn’t be a bad idea for you to keep an eye on the box.”
    Nicci nodded as she followed them out of the doorway. “Let me know as soon as all is clear.”
    The towering hall outside, while not more than a dozen feet wide, rose nearly out of sight high overhead. The passageway formed a long, narrow rift deep within the mountain down in the lower part of the Keep. To the left side rose a natural rock wall that had been chiseled right out of the granite of the mountain itself. Even thousands of years later, the marks left by cutting tools could still be seen.
    The wall on the side with the rooms was made up of tightly fit, enormous stone blocks. They formed the wall opposing the chiseled granite, rising up together sixty or more feet. That seemingly endless split through the mountain constituted part of the boundary of the containment field. The rooms within the containment area were all lined up along the very outer edge of the Keep that rose up out of the mountain itself.
    Nicci followed the others only a short way through the seemingly endless hall, watching them until they reached the first intersection.
    “This is no time to get sloppy or lenient,” she called after them. “Too much is at risk.”
    Zedd accepted her warning with a nod. “We’ll be back after I look into it.”
    Cara cast Nicci a look back over her shoulder. “Don’tworry, I’ll be there and I’m not in the mood to be lenient. In fact, I’m not going to be in a good mood again until I see Lord Rahl alive and safe.”
    “You have good moods?” Zedd asked as they hurried away.
    Cara scowled at him. “I’m frequently cheerful and pleasant. Are you suggesting that I’m not?”
    Zedd held up his hands in surrender. “No, no. Cheerful describes you perfectly.”
    “Good, then.”
    “In fact, cheerful would come even before bloodthirsty in my book.”
    “Come to think of it, I think I like bloodthirsty even better.”
    Nicci couldn’t share the spirit of their banter. She wasn’t good at making people laugh. She frequently found herself perplexed by the way Zedd and others could ease tension with such exchanges.
    Nicci knew all too well the nature of the people who were trying to kill them. She had once been one of those people of the Order. She had been as merciless as she had been deadly.
    She had never once seen Emperor Jagang being jovial or lighthearted. He was hardly a man given to repartee. She had spent a great deal of time with him, and he was never anything but consistently lethal. His cause was deadly serious to him and he was fanatically dedicated to it. Knowing the kind of people coming for them, people like she herself had once been, and understanding their heartless nature, Nicci didn’t feel