World. Along the way, they pass between the Barrier, and Richard is drawn to one of the black towers, and is compelled to collect some of the black sand he finds. Later, he is instructed to execute a captive woman as tribute to pass through tribal land, but refuses and chooses to free the woman instead, who promises to take them through the Baku Ban Mana lands. Despite a promise of safe passage, she forces Richard into a battle with thirty Baka Ban Mana blademasters as their oath dictates. Richard slaughters them by tapping in the Sword of Truth's collective knowledge of blade fighting. Killing them all, he is bound to marry the priestess, and Richard gives her his magic whistle of the Bird Man to attack the neighboring tribes' crops and force a peace between them. Arriving at the Palace of the Prophets, Richard threatens to kill anyone who prevents him from leaving, stating he is a prisoner, not a guest or a student. However, Richard is treated lavishly, and given absurd amounts of gold, which are symbols of his status as a novice wizard, designed to make him not see value in personal wealth. Rather, he uses the money to bribe the entire staff of the Palace to his service, even hiring a brothel on retainer to service the guards. He discovers he is a war wizard: one who has the gift of both additive and subtractive magic. Later, he learns from Nathan Rahl, another wizard in the Palace of the Prophets and Richard's ancient ancestor, that he is the first to be born with such power in three thousand years. It is revealed that the Prelate brought Richard to the Palace to flush out the Sisters of the Dark, a secret society within the Sisters of the Light dedicated to the task of unleashing the Keeper into the world of the living. Kahlan embarks on a long trek back to her home of Aydindril along with three mud people. Along the way, they come across a sacked city, Ebinissia, with the inhabitants' corpses filling the streets and the surrounding countryside. Kahlan and the three mud people race to catch up with a band of some five thousand troops that are trailing the enemy which sacked Ebinissia. She is shocked to realize that these soldiers are all teenagers and entirely undertrained and unprepared to attack the seasoned, well