The Omen Machine. Terry Goodkind

folded her arms and stared at him as if he were the one who was crazy. “I was there. I was down in the market helping to get people organized and hurrying them along to move into the passages in the plateau and out of what is shaping up to be a monstrous storm. They need to move into shelter. Those tents aren’t going to protect them.”

      “That’s true enough.”

      Nicci sighed as she shook her head. “So, I was down there in the market when the first one hit.”

      The creases in Richard’s brow deepened. “What do you mean, when the first one hit? First what?”

      “Richard, aren’t you listening? I was there when the first child hit the ground.”

      Richard’s jaw dropped. “What?”

      “It was a girl, not ten years old. She came down on a log wagon, on one of the upright stake poles. That pole was bigger than my leg. She came down face-first, shrieking all the way. It went right through her chest. People were screaming and running around in confusion and panic.”

      Richard blinked, trying to makes sense of what he was hearing. “What girl are you talking about?”

      Nicci looked at all the faces watching her. “The girl that the woman threw off the palace wall, over the edge of the plateau, after she had her vision.”

      Richard turned to Benjamin. “I thought you said you found the children.”

      “I did. We found both of them.”

      “Both?” Nicci’s brow drew tight. “There were four of them. All four of her children hit within seconds of one another. The first, the girl, was the oldest. When the woman threw them off the top of the plateau they all landed right there near me. Like I said, I was there. It was a horrifying scene.”

      Kahlan seized a fistful of Nicci’s dress at her shoulder. “She killed four more?”

      Nicci didn’t try to remove Kahlan’s hand. “Four more? What are you talking about? She killed her four children.”

      Kahlan pulled Nicci closer. “She had two children.”

      “Kahlan, she had four.”

      Kahlan’s hand slipped from Nicci’s dress. “Are you sure?”

      Nicci shrugged. “Yes. She told me so herself when I questioned her. She even told me their names. If you don’t believe me you can ask her yourself. I have her locked up in a cell down in the dungeon.”

      Zedd leaned in closer. “Locked up…?”

      “Wait a minute,” Richard said. “You’re telling me that this woman killed her four children by throwing them off the side of the plateau? And you locked her up?”

      “Of course. Haven’t you been listening to anything I’ve said?” Nicci frowned around at everyone. “I thought you said that you knew all about it. Her husband found out what had happened and was going to kill her. He was screaming for her blood. I was afraid that the guards who grabbed the woman were going to let him have her. I sympathize with his feelings, but I couldn’t allow it for now. I had her locked up, instead, because I thought you or Kahlan would want to question her.”

      Richard was incredulous. “Why did she do it? What did she say?”

      Nicci appraised them all as if they had collectively gone mad. “She said that she had a vision and couldn’t stand the thought of her children having to face the terror to come, so she killed them swiftly instead. You said that you knew about it.”

      “We knew about the other one,” Richard said.

      “Other one?” Nicci looked from face to face, finally settling on Richard. “What other one?”

      “The one who cut her two children’s throats and then came to the reception and tried to kill Kahlan.”

      Nicci’s concerned gaze darted to Kahlan. “Are you all right?”

      “I’m fine. I took her with my power and had her confess. She told us what she had done and what she intended to do.”

      Nicci pressed her fingers to her forehead. “Wait, you’re saying that there was a second woman who also had a vision and killed her children?”

      Kahlan and Richard both nodded.

      “That would help explain why people are so unnerved and want to know what prophecy has to say about it,” Richard said.

      “What’s going on?” Nicci asked.

      “I don’t know, yet.” Richard rested the palm of his left hand on his sword. “We saw a sick boy down in the market this morning who said that there is darkness in the palace, and then a blind woman who said that the roof is going to fall in.”

      Nicci reflexively glanced up. “The roof?”

      Richard nodded. “Yes, and some other things that make just as little sense.”

      Nicci’s troubled blue eyes turned to Richard. “When I asked the woman what her vision had been, she said that she couldn’t let her children live to face what will happen after the roof falls in.”