Stone 31

**Chapter 31**

Back to Richard and Verna. Richard is watching the horses graze on invisible grass, and muses on how they're falling victim to the illusions. They're leading the horses, for fear that a random illusion might startle the horses and they would carry Richard and Verna to their doom (though I'm not sure Richard – an unskilled horseman – and Verna – a Nun – would be able to wrangle a couple of terror-stricken 1,500-pound animals from the ground either).

Verna tells Richard *“Whatever you see, ignore it. Whatever it is, it isn't real. You just ignore it.”* We learn that the spells show things that the viewer either fears or desires. On the other hand, *“some of the magic we will see is not visions, but real,”* which directly contradicts what Verna said a paragraph ago. \~/ So...I guess they're going to ignore the real stuff as well.

Richard asks what Verna saw when she came through last time, and we learn that she saw her lover, Jedidiah. Uh-oh! I sense hijinks! Verna angsts that Jed will have found another lover since she's been gone for so long. Richard tries to comfort her, but he's not very good at it.

They press on. There's lightning, which Verna says is *“Real enough to kill us.”* But I thought nothing they could see was real? Stupid book. Anyway, Verna can't find the way through, and she speculates that it's because she how has the magic of Nuns #2 and #3; since she is stronger now, the spells are seeking her out. Sounds like pretty lousy planning to me. Anyway, Verna tells Richard that he'll have to find their way through. Richard argues that he has no idea how, but Verna bullies him into it.

Richard starts forward, then sees Chase charging toward him from the Midlands side of the valley, screaming *“Don't go in there! Zedd needs you! The veil is torn!”* Rachel is with Chase, and *“[Richard's] eyes were lured to an amber stone hanging by a gold chain around her neck.”* What an odd turn of phrase. Anyway, Richard decides they're illusions and continues on into the Valley of the Lost and Found.

Suddenly, Verna isn't there anymore. Richard tries to find her, but lightning crashes all around him and random fireballs materialize in the air, and he eventually escapes into one of the Forbidden Towers of Doom. The inner walls of the tower are covered with black grit from Wizard's Life Fire. Richard tastes the *carbonized human remains!* (seriously, what is the deal with this casual semi-cannibalism?), which is bitter. This means the wizard who exploded himself in here didn't do so willingly, which is...significant somehow, I guess. Anyway, the floor of the tower is covered with white sand, like the “sorcerer's sand” Darken Rahl used.

Richard paces, and suddenly Kahlan appears, dressed as a Dominatrix. This, apparently, is Richard's worst fear. He tells her to knock it off, so she reverts to the Teflon wedding dress. Not-Kahlan says she has come to kill him, but Richard throws down the Sword of the Homicidal Hobo, saying he refuses to harm her, even though he knows that she is an illusion.

I'm sure it will comfort Kahlan greatly to learn that the man she loves more than life itself allowed himself to be killed rather than harm what he **knew** was an illusion that happened to look like her – and one he knew specifically had assumed her form in order to cause him pain. Yeah. That's True Love, that is. \~/

Not-Kahlan contradicts herself, saying that what she has to show Richard will cause him more pain than death. She inform him that *“This must be, or the Keeper will escape. Stopping it will aid him, and he will have us all. Speak if you must these words, but not of this vision.”* She then recites Nathan's prophecy, which I shall reproduce here for your reading convenience:

*“Of all there were, but a single one born of the magic to bring forth truth will remain alive when the shadow's threat is lifted. Therefore comes the greater darkness of the dead. For there to be a chance at life's bond, the one in white must be offered to her people, to bring their joy and good cheer.”*

Not-Kahlan then bows forward and her head topples off. Richard responds with a hearty *“Noooo!”* as he reminds himself it's just an illusion. Then, Verna storms into the tower and starts berating Richard for being an idiot. Richard tries to reason with her but she's right pissed at him, accusing him of behaving like a child and entering the towers despite her specific orders. She pins him to the wall by his collar, then goes all Darth Vader on his ass and starts choking him with magic. Richard warns her to stop, she gets even madder, and so Richard starts focusing on the Sword of the Homicidal Hobo. He breaks her telekinetic stranglehold with Sue powers the sword's magic, then snatches up the sword and hacks Verna's head off at the shoulders. The phrase “bringer of death” is used several times.

Hm. I guess we could have kept calling her Nun #1 after all.

Then we get this: *“Like a distant memory, his insides ached with the pain of what he had done. It had all happened so fast, before he had time to think. He had used the sword's magic to take a life, and the magic would want its due.”*

Correct me if I'm wrong, but this directly contradicts what we learned in *Wizard's First Rule,* which was that the Sword of Truth inflicts horrible pain on its wielder *the first time he uses it to take a life.* Richard has killed with the sword several times since then, and never once did itinflict pain on him afterward. Still, I guess I should stop expecting consistency. \~/

Richard then notices Verna's little book, *“in which she was always writing.”* He flips through it and it's mostly blank except for two pages near the back. The first is a letter from Verna, stating that *“These directives are beyond reason, if not absurd...I demand to know on whose authority they were given.*” The next page is apparently a response, telling Verna to shut her yap and do as she's told, and it is signed “The Prelate.”

Not-Kahlan reappears to taunt Richard some more, followed by Darken Rahl. Richard, paragon of serenity that he is, banzai charges through Rahl and ends up outside the tower. There's lightning, which Richard blocks with his sword. He then collects the horses (who are apparently still grazing on invisible grass and totally ignoring the screaming battle that just took place, to say nothing of the sentient lightning and random fireballs \~/) and stomps away from the tower.

Drinks: 4

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