Terry Goodkind - Phantom

The following individuals have been invaluable in helping to bring Phantom to life.

Brian Anderson

Jeff Bolton

R. Dean Bryan

Dr. Joanne Leovy

Mark Masters

Desire and Dr. Roland Miyada

Keith Parkinson

Phil and Debra Pizzolato

Tom and Karen Whelan

Ron Wilson

Each of these people has been there for me when I needed them most.
Each is a person of unique ability who played a key role in making this book happen. Each of them brings joy to my life by just being themselves.

In loving memory of Keith Parkinson.

Those who have come here to hate should
leave now, for in their hatred they only
betray themselves.

translated from The Book of Life

Kahlan stood quietly in the shadows, watching, as evil knocked softly on the door. Huddled under the small overhang, off to the side, she hoped that no one would answer that knock. As much as she would like to spend the night in out of the rain, she didnt want trouble to visit innocent people. She knew, though, that she had no say in the matter.

The light of a single lantern flickered weakly through the slender windows to either side of the door, reflecting a pale, shimmering glow off the wet floor of the portico. The sign overhead, hung by two iron rings, grated and squealed each time it swung back and forth in the wind-borne rain. Kahlan was able to make out the spectral white shape of a horse painted on the dark, wet sign. The light from the windows wasnt enough to enable her to read the name, but because the other three women with her had talked of little else for days, Kahlan knew that the name would be the White Horse Inn.

By the smell of manure and wet hay, she judged that one of the dark buildings nearby had to be a stable. In the sporadic displays of distant lightning, she could just make out the hulking shoulders of dark structures standing like ghosts beyond the billowing sheets of rain. Despite the steady roar of the deluge and the rumble of thunder, it appeared that the village was sound asleep. Kahlan could think of no better place to be on such a dark and wretched night than bundled up under bed covers, safe and warm.

A horse in the nearby stable whinnied when Sister Ulicia knocked a second time, louder, more insistently, evidently intending herself to be heard over the riot of rain, yet not so loud as to sound hostile. Sister Ulicia, a woman given to reckless impulse, seemed to be taking a deliberately restrained approach. Kahlan didnt know why, but imagined that it had to do with the reason they were there. It also might have been nothing more than the random nature of her moods. Like lightning, the womans smoldering bad temper was not only dangerous but unpredictable. Kahlan couldnt always tell exactly when Sister Ulicia would lash out, and just because she so far hadnt didnt mean that she wouldnt. Neither of the other two Sisters was in any better mood or any less inclined toward losing their temper. Kahlan supposed that soon enough the three of them would be happy and quietly celebrating the reunion.

Lightning flashed close enough that the blinding but halting incandescence briefly revealed a whole street of buildings crowded close around the muddy, rutted road. Thunder boomed through the mountainous countryside and shook the ground beneath their feet.

Kahlan wished that there was somethinglike the way lightning revealed things otherwise hidden in the obscurity of nightthat could help illuminate the hidden memories of her past and bring to light what was concealed by the murky mystery of who she was. She had a fierce longing to be free of the Sisters, a burning desire to live her own lifeto know what her life really was. That much she knew about herself. She knew, too, that her convictions had to be founded in experience. It was obvious to her that there had to be something therepeople and eventsthat had helped make her the woman she was, but try as she might to recall them, they were lost to her.

That terrible day she stole the boxes for the Sisters, she had promised herself that someday she would find the truth of who she was, and she would be free.

When Sister Ulicia knocked a third time, a muffled voice came from inside.

I heard you! It was a mans voice. His bare feet thumped down wooden stairs. Ill be right there! A moment, please!

His annoyance at having been awakened in the middle of the night was layered over with forced deference to potential customers.

Sister Ulicia turned a sullen look on Kahlan. You know that we have business here. She lifted a cautionary finger before Kahlans face. Dont you even think of giving us any trouble, or youll get what you got the last time.

Kahlan swallowed at the reminder. Yes, Sister Ulicia.

Tovi had better have gotten us a room, Sister Cecilia complained. Im in no mood to be told the place is full.

There will be room, Sister Armina said with soothing assurance, cutting off Sister Cecilias habit of always assuming the worst.

Sister Armina wasnt older, like Sister Cecilia, but nearly as young and attractive as Sister Ulicia. To Kahlan, though, their looks were insignificant in light of their inner nature. To Kahlan, they were vipers.

One way or another, Sister Ulicia added under her breath as she glared at the door, there will be room.

Lightning arced through the greenish, roiling clouds, releasing an earsplitting boom of thunder.

The door opened a crack. The shadowed face of a man peered out at them as he worked to button up his trousers under his nightshirt. He moved his head a little to each side so that he could take in the strangers. Judging them to be less than dangerous, he pulled open the door and with a sweeping gesture ushered them inside.

Come on in, then, he said. All of you.

Who is it? A woman called out as she descended the stairs to the rear. She carried a lantern in one hand and held the hem of her nightdress up with the other so that she wouldnt trip on it as she hurried down the steps.

Four women traveling in the middle of a rainy night, the man told her, his gruff tone alluding to what he thought of such a practice.

Kahlan froze in midstride. Hed said four women.

He had seen all four of them and had remembered as much long enough to say so. As far as she could recall, such a thing had never happened before. No one but her masters, the four Sistersthe three with her and the one they had come to meetever remembered seeing her.