The First Confessor by Terry Goodkind Page B

vanished. “Perhaps for the exact reason that brings you to stand before us—to have you put on a show to frighten people into going along with his scheme to seize power and become the leader of all of the New World.”
    He stood as motionless as a rock, challenging her to deny it.
    “That is not what is happening.” Magda wished her own voice didn’t sound so inadequate and defensive.
    “Because your husband had convinced you that Alric Rahl was to be trusted?”
    Magda blinked. She didn’t want to agree with the man, but she had to say something. She pulled herself up straighter.
    “My husband told me of the very real danger from the dream walkers. As a war wizard he knew all too well exactly what they are capable of. Like everyone else, I have for years admired Baraccus’s knowledge and wisdom. He was, after all, named First Wizard because of the respect in which he was held. As First Wizard, he had a great deal of trust in Alric Rahl. They were both fighting on the same side in this war. They both have fought from the beginning to keep all our people from being slaughtered.”
    Lothain smiled just a bit, as if he had caught her in a slip of the tongue. “It would appear by your own admission that your husband carefully shaped your thinking in a great many areas.” He stroked a finger across the stubble on his chin as he took a few slow strides toward her. “Are you saying, then, that your husband was all along a secret party to Alric Rahl’s plot to rule the New World? Perhaps that was the reason for your husband’s secret dealings and covert midnight meetings with strangers?”
    Magda’s hands fisted at her sides. This time she had no trouble bringing power to her voice.
    “My husband has from the beginning fought this long war for no reason other than to protect us all.”
    “This long war that we are losing.”
    “Your accusations are as insulting as they are groundless.”
    Lothain bowed his head. “Your loyalty to your husband is admirable, Lady Searus. But it is to be expected.”
    “This is all quite beside the point,” Elder Cadell said. “Motives aside, we have been through all of this before quite exhaustively and in the end we made our decision to decline Lord Rahl’s offer.”
    Magda closed the distance to the elder sitting at the imposing center of the council’s desk. “But things have changed. There is no time to waste. The dream walkers are here, now, in the Keep.”
    “No one is doubting that you may in fact believe that,” Prosecutor Lothain said from behind her. “However, even though there may be those who are inclined to trust your sincerity in what you believe, it is the truth of that belief that is in question. Dream walkers will no doubt pose a threat at some point in the future but when they do I would expect that they will come after important targets.”
    Magda rounded on the prosecutor and held out her bloodstained arms. “They came after me!”
    Lothain smiled dismissively. “At such a great distance from down in the Old World, how would a dream walker know of you, or find you, and more to the point, why would they bother with you? But Alric Rahl was in the Keep, right there in the room with you, and he had motive enough to want to make you believe it was a dream walker who was attacking you.”
    “That’s absurd,” she said. “The dream walkers are real and a threat.”
    “Of course they are,” Elder Cadell said. “But in any event, we have decided on our own solution to protect our people.”
    “Your own solution?” Magda’s brow twitched into a frown as she rounded on the elder. “Surely you don’t mean the towers?”
    Councilman Weston, to the side of the elder, leaned forward, his hand clenching into a fist on the desk. “We don’t need to hear your skepticism of a matter that is the council’s concern and not a topic meant for public discussion.”
    Magda knew that, for obvious reasons, they would of course want to keep the true nature of the