Zedd clasped his hand. "There is no contradiction to understand. Contradictions don't exist."

"Yes, but I know.»

"Wizard's Ninth Rule: A contradiction cannot exist in reality. Not in part, nor in whole. To believe in a contradiction is to abdicate your belief in the existence of the world around you and the nature of the things in it, to instead embrace any random impulse that strikes your fancy-to imagine something is real simply because you wish it were.

"A thing is what it is, it is itself. There can be no contradictions."

"But Zedd, I have to believe.»

"Ah, you believe. You mean that the reality of this coffin and the Mother Confessor's long buried body has shown you something you did not expect and don't want to accept and so you wish to instead take refuge in the blind fog of faith. Is that what you mean to say?"

"Well, in this case.»

"Faith is a device of self-delusion, a sleight of hand done with words and emotions founded on any irrational notion that can be dreamed up. Faith is the attempt to coerce truth to surrender to whim. In simple terms, it is trying to breathe life into a lie by trying to outshine reality with the beauty of wishes. Faith is the refuge of fools, the ignorant, and the deluded, not of thinking, rational men.

"In reality, contradictions cannot exist. To believe in them you must abandon the most important thing you possess: your rational mind. The wager for such a bargain is your life. In such an exchange, you always lose what you have at stake."

Richard ran his fingers back into his wet hair. "But Zedd, something is wrong here. I don't know what, but I know it is. You have to help me."

"I just did. I've allowed you to show us the proof that you yourself named. Here it is, in this coffin. I admit that it isn't as desirable as what you wish were true, but the reality of it can't be evaded. This is what you seek. This is Kahlan Amnell, the Mother Confessor, just as it says on the gravestone."

Zedd arched an eyebrow as he leaned a little toward his grandson. "Unless you can show that this is some kind of trickery, that someone for some reason buried this here as part of an elaborate hoax just to make it look like you're wrong and everyone else is right. That would seem a pretty thin contention, if you ask me. I am afraid that from the clear evidence right here this is the reality-the proof you sought-and there is no contradiction."

Richard stared down at the long dead body before him.

"Something is wrong. This can't be true. It just can't be."

The muscles in Zedd's jaw flexed. "Richard, I've allowed you this gruesome indulgence when by all rights I shouldn't have, now tell me why you don't have the sword. Where is the Sword of Truth?"

Rain patted softly on the canopy of leaves above as Richard's grandfather waited. Richard stared into the coffin.

"I gave the sword to Shota in exchange for information I needed."

Zedd's eyes went wide. "You did what!"

"I had to," Richard said without looking up at his grandfather.

"You had to? You had to!"

"Yes," Richard answered in a meek voice.

"In exchange for what information?"

Richard put his elbows on the edge of the coffin as his face sank into his hands. "In exchange for what might help me find the truth of what's going on. I need answers. I need to know how to find Kahlan."

In fury Zedd thrust his finger toward the coffin. "There is Kahlan Amnell! Right where the gravestone has always said she is buried. And what oh-so-valuable bit of information did Shota give you after she tricked you out of the sword?"

Richard made no effort to contend the characterization of being tricked out of the sword.

"Chainfire," he said. "She told me the word Chainfire, but she didn't know what it meant. She told me that I must find the place of the bones in the Deep Nothing."

"The Deep Nothing," Zedd mocked. He gazed up at the black sky as he took a breath. "I don't suppose Shota was able to tell you what this Deep Nothing is."

Richard shook his head but didn't look up. "She also said to beware the viper with four heads."

Zedd let out another angry breath. "Don't tell me, neither she nor you have any idea what that means, either."

Again, Richard shook his head without looking up at his grandfather.

"Is that it? That's the great prize of valuable information you got in exchange for the Sword of Truth?"

Richard hesitated. "There was one other thing." He spoke so softly that he could hardly be heard over the gentle whisper of rain. "Shota said that what I seek — is long buried."

Zedd's smoldering rage threatened to explode. "There," he said, thrusting out a finger to point, "there is what you seek: Kahlan Amnell, the Mother Confessor, long buried."

Richard, head down, said nothing.

"For this you traded the Sword of Truth. A weapon of incalculable value. A weapon that can bring down not only the wicked but the good as well. A weapon handed down from the wizards of the ancient times, meant to be entrusted to only a select few. A weapon I entrusted to you.

"And you gave it to a witch woman.

"Do you have any idea at all what I had to go through to recover the Sword of Truth from Shota the last time she got her hands on it?"

Richard shook his head as he stared at the ground beside the coffin, looking like he dared not test his voice.

Nicci knew that Richard had a number of things to say in his own defense, had a number of things having to do with his reasoning behind his beliefs and actions, but he said none of them even when offered the chance. As his grandfather raged at him, he knelt in silence, hanging his head, beside the open coffin holding the end of his fantasy.

"I trusted you with something of great value. I thought such a dangerous object was safe in your hands. Richard, you've let me down-you have let everyone down-so that you could chase a dream. Well, here it is, bones long buried. I hope you think the trade fair, but I certainly don't."

Cara stood nearby, holding the lantern, her hair plastered to her head by the slow but steady rain. She looked like she wanted to defend Richard, but couldn't think of anything to say. Nicci, likewise, feared to say anything. She knew that at that moment anything they said would only make matters worse. Only the soft hiss of the rain against the leaves filled the otherwise silent, foggy night.

"Zedd," Richard said haltingly, "I'm sorry."

"Sorry won't get it back from Shota's clutches. Sorry won't save those people who Samuel will have beneath that sword. I love you like a son, Richard, and I always will, but I've never before been this disappointed in you. I would never have believed that you would do anything this unthinking and reckless."

Richard nodded, unwilling to justify his actions.

Nicci's heart was breaking for him.

"I will leave you to bury the Mother Confessor while I go try to think of a way to get the sword away from a witch woman who was a lot smarter than my grandson. You should realize that you may very well be responsible for what comes of this."

Richard nodded.

"Good. I'm glad you can at least understand that much of it." He turned to Cara and Nicci, the look in his eyes every bit as intimidating as the look of a Rahl. "I want you two to come back to the Keep with me. I want to know all about this beast business. Everything about it."

"I must stay and watch over Lord Rahl," Cara said.

"No," Zedd told her, "you will come with me and tell me in detail everything that happened with the witch woman. I want to know every word out of Shota's mouth."

Cara looked torn. "Zedd, I can't.»

"Go with him, Cara," Richard told her in quiet command. "Do as he asks. Please."

Nicci recognized how helpless Richard felt at defending his actions in the presence of his grandfather, regardless of how certain he might have been that he did what he thought was necessary. She understood because she had always been just as helpless in the presence of her mother when her mother told her, as she often did, that she had acted wrongly. Nicci had never been able to defend herself against what her mother thought she should have done. Her mother was always able to effortlessly make Nicci's choices seem petty and selfish. No matter how old she was, she was still a child before those who raised her. Even when she had been at the Palace of the Prophets for years, her mother could still make her feel ten years old and foolish.