In The Omen Machine, #1 New York Times-bestselling author Terry
Goodkind returns to the lives of Richard Rahl and Kahlan Amnell--in a
compelling tale of a new and sinister threat to their world.
Hannis Arc, working on the tapestry of lines linking constellations of
elements that constituted the language of Creation recorded on the
ancient Cerulean scroll spread out among the clutter on his desk, was
not surprised to see the seven etherial forms billow into the room like
acrid smoke driven on a breath of bitter breeze. Like an otherworldly
collection of spectral shapes seemingly carried on random eddies of air,
they wandered in a loose clutch among the still and silent mounted bears
and beasts rising up on their stands, the small forest of stone
pedestals holding massive books of recorded prophecy, and the evenly
spaced display cases of oddities, their glass reflecting the firelight
from the massive hearth at the side of the room.
Since the seven rarely used doors, the shutters on the windows down on
the ground level several stories below stood open as a fearless show of
invitation. Though they frequently chose to use windows, they didn't
actually need the windows any more than they needed the doors. They
could seep through any opening, any crack, like vapor rising in the
early morning from the stretches of stagnant water that lay in dark
swaths through the peat barrens.
The open shutters were meant to be a declaration for all to see,
including the seven, that Hannis Arc feared nothing.
