28 A conduit or a harbinger

In the morning, Aurora went to Kahlan's room to talk to her. She knocked and entered without being asked to enter. "You should learn to wait for a response Aurora" Kahlan said. "I need to talk to you about Diana" Aurora said completely ignoring Kahlan's comment. "What about her?". "We can't trust her for now. We need to stop telling her our plans" Aurora said. Kahlan looked at her unbelievably, "wow, we can't trust her?, but we can trust you huh? Why?" Kahlan asked.

"Listen, I know you don't like me, I don't like you either okay, but we need to keep our personal differences aside to save Diana, and yes you have to trust me, I mean what other choice do you have?" Aurora said boldly. "Why can't we trust her?, does this have anything to do with her refusal to Torren's cure?" Kahlan asked.

"It does, but that's not enough proof. She has been acting differently, her constant pass out, and just last night, I saw her leave the castle"

"What, a queen can't leave her castle anymore?"

"Not in the middle of the night. She left in the middle of the night with a book. I don't know what book but I felt it's a magical book that probably belongs to Torren".

"Listen I can't make sense of any of these okay, I can't even imagine why you're saying all this. Lady Diana will never betray us, I think she's only scared of losing her husband. We've not seen any signs from Qarinah and I think we should be glad and not suspect of all people lady Diana. Aurora please" Kahlan said.

"I know something in you trusts me but you can't accept it because you don't like me Kahlan but you might just be putting your friend's life at risk". "Shut up Aurora" Kahlan said and left her room for Diana. She walked into Diana's room and saw Louisa sitting on the bed.

"Where's lady Diana?"

"I've not seen her this morning. I was hoping you'd know"

"I need to talk to you in private Louisa" Kahlan said and left my room with Louisa. She narrated everything Aurora had told her to Louisa. "Diana can never betray us. Aurora may be wrong or right but I'm hoping she's wrong.

After talking to Louisa, Kahlan went back to Diana's room but the door was locked. I was summoned.

I was in that weird evil cave when Liah appeared. "What is going on there?" I bowed in reverence to her before I began to speak "King Luther wants to heal Torren and teach Louisa to master her powers". "Impossible, Luther, Luther can never help Torren. He always wants to take away what belongs to him, he should be looking for a way to take what Torren loves most not help him, and Torren loves..." She stared at me "Did you ever visit Luther?" She asked and I nodded. She smiled "okay. What else do I have to know about Torren and your attempts to heal him"

"He has an amulet on his neck. I don't know who gave it Louisa but it's a powerful amulet".

'Get it, bring it to me and send your strongest knights to the temple of Elvara, I'll be needing them there". As she told me that I bowed and disappeared. I appeared in my room to here a knock on my door, I opened the door to see Kahlan standing right there. "Yes Kahlan, come in" I made way for her and she walked in.

"You've never locked yourself in my lady. Are you alright?, I've been out there for long" she said. "I'm sorry Kahlan. I just had to be left alone to think. I needed space you know" I said. Kahlan sat close to me on my bed. "What are you worried about? You know you can talk to me Diana" Kahlan tried to comfort me. "Diana? It's lady Diana to you Kahlan. You're my handmaid and you should accord me respect as your queen", Kahlan apologized though she was surprised at my outburst. "I need to see my husband" I said and left. I went to Torren and took away the amulet on his neck and delivered it to empress Liah.

Kahlan rushed into Aurora's room without knocking. "It's true, I saw her take away the amulet and then vanished before my eyes" Kahlan said while breathing heavily. "Relax Kahlan. What amulet and who vanished" Aurora asked concerned. "Diana, lady Diana. I know she's really been acting weird and all that but I was blinded by my rage at you and I couldn't see through her changes. Aurora, I never thought a day would come when I'll say this but..... I think you're right. Diana is selling us out to whoever she's working for. But why?".

"Have you found out what book she took away?" Aurora asked. "No. But who's she working for, could it be Qarinah?" Kahlan asked Aurora like she would know. Well she did "I'm not sure Kahlan, but Diana met with Liah today. I cast a tracking spell on her and she was at the cave of darkness with Liah" Aurora responded. "Who's Liah? And what does she want with Diana?" Kahlan seemed confused. "Liah is an empress. A vampire born of a human. She's as powerful as any human vampire will ever be. And she's a dark sorceress. I believe she's working with Diana to achieve her evil aim" she turned towards Kahlan "I don't think Qarinah's interest lies in conquering Darca. I think she has a bigger interest. You need to find out what book is missing, in that way, I'll be able to trace her mission" Kahlan who was getting scared hurried off to find out what book Diana had taken to Liah.

Later on she hurried back to Aurora. "The book of light and shadows. It's gone, lord Torren never lets anyone touch it. He once said it embodies great powers, powers beyond human comprehension, what does that mean Aurora?"

"The chalcedony orb, The book of light and shadows. And then a magical amulet that only an immortal can posses. Qarinah is on the process of becoming immortal, she wants to become the keeper of black magic. I believe she wants to use Darca to form her coven, that is why she desires the powers Darca holds. This is more dangerous than I thought it would be, but there are still signs I have to look out for to be sure" she said without a trace of smile on her face. "What does that make Diana? A conduit?" Louisa asked. We hadn't realized she was there until she spoke up.

"No. A harbinger. A harbinger of evil, we must keep lord Torren out of sight. Without his powers Liah and Qarinah cannot use Darca, and without Darca, they can never get all the powers they need to unleash evil"

"I can exorcize her with magic right? Let me save her" Louisa said. "No. The spell to use is very powerful and the process is dark. You have not learned to control your magic. If you exorcize her, it'll only turn you evil and we'll have a greater enemy to face". "Well you can do it. I mean you've mastered the use of magic right?" Kahlan said to Aurora. "I'm almost as bad as a demon, I can't exorcize one but there's another way to save her. I need time to figure it out. But you both. You can't let Diana find out that we know about this. We'll play along with her but first, we must send Torren and Louisa to Luther. We need them safe and they're not safe here" Aurora explained.

"Why can't Qarinah or Liah just walk into this castle and do whatever they have to do. Why must they use Diana?" Kahlan lamented. "I'm here Kahlan. Liah can't stand me, so she must use someone close to Torren to get to him. We must get him out before she figures out that they'll be needing his blood".

"Can I trust you?" Kahlan asked. "Do you have a better choice?" Aurora replied.

Kahlan was sitting in the garden thinking about the new challenge they had to face when sir Owen came to her. "You look pale, are you okay?" He asked sitting close to her. "Hey. I'm good. Are you okay?" Kahlan answered. "Yes. Listen Kahlan, I have to tell you this, promise me no one will find out about it" Kahlan nods and he continues "we're on a secret quest to the Temple of Elvara. Lady Diana doesn't want us telling people about it. She believes we can get a cure for Lord Torren there"

"Who are you going with?" Kahlan asked nervously.

"Leone, Magnus and 2 other strongest knights in Darca. We have a great war to fight before we get the cure, please don't let her know I told you about it" he said holding her hands.

She nodded "Come back alive Owen. Please" she said with tears in her eyes. "Don't touch anything in the temple. That temple could be very dangerous. Owen nods and bids his farewell before going to meet up with the other knights.