“Deactivate it?” She looked back over her shoulder at his grim gaze. “Unfortunately, no. He said that it was far too complex to safely dismantle such a thing. He said that he didn’t even know if it was possible to deactivate it.”

Lord Rahl rubbed his chin as he considered. “So it’s here, then?”

She shook her head. “He took the spell with him to the Temple of the Winds so that it could be safely locked away.”

“The Temple of the Winds!” Lord Rahl let out a deep sigh of relief. “That’s the best news I could have heard. And even better, with the team who created it dead, those in the Old World will not likely be making another.”

“It would appear so. Baraccus eliminated the threat, so maybe we don’t stand on the brink of annihilation after all.”

He rested his palm on the hilt of his sword. “Did he say if he was able to terminate the power that had already been unleashed here, in the world of life? Was he able to eliminate those dream walkers that had already been brought into being?”

Magda tapped a finger on a small side table inlaid with silver leaves as she recalled her husband’s exact words.

“Baraccus said, ‘We will have to deal with the ones they’ve already created, but at least they will be minting no new dream walkers and no more will be born into the world. That magic is now safely locked away.’ Then he stared off and under his breath added, ‘For now.’”

Chapter 11

“‘For now’? What did he mean by that?”

Magda shook her head. “I don’t know. That was all he said. He was quiet and distracted after he returned from the Temple of the Winds. I wasn’t even sure that he had intended for me to hear that last part of it.”

What she remembered the most was the way he had held her for a long time, as if she were the most important thing in the world to him. She longed for the feel of his sheltering arms around her again. So why then, if he cared that much for her, and there were so many pivotal issues facing them, had he killed himself? Magda swallowed and tried to put the memory from her mind lest she be overwhelmed by tears.

“As I had hoped, Baraccus once again managed to accomplish the seemingly impossible and eliminated their ability to create more dream walkers.” Lord Rahl regarded her with a determined look. “Unfortunately, that doesn’t do anything about the ones that already exist. They are easily trouble enough to annihilate us. That element of the threat must be countered as well.”