Jagang, Emperor of the Imperial Order, has invoked a bound fork prophecy binding Richard and Kahlan to a fate of pain, betrayal, and a path to the Underworld.

At Jagang's behest a Sister of the Dark gains access into the fabled Temple of the Winds and has unleashed a plague that sweeps across the lands like a firestorm consuming lives at an alarming rate.

Richard's half-brother Drefan, a self-proclaimed high priest of a sect of healers, does, however, succeed in curing Cara with acupressure.

A Sister of the Dark, who was also following Nathan, ends up getting caught in a snare Zedd intended for the Prophet Rahl.

He then builds a relationship with the woman and uses her to obtain items from Jagang that were given under a tentative deal struck between Nathan (acting as Lord Rahl at the time) and the Emperor.

He is then visited by the spirit of Kahlan's mother, who gently tries to explain the crushing loneliness of a Confessor's life, and Richard is eventually moved to return to the real world.

The spirit of Darken Rahl appears and sets conditions for his release: he must give up the knowledge of the Temple of the Winds, and is infected with the plague.

Upon her arrival, she finds Nathan, Sister Verna, and Warren in a compromised situation, and she immediately spring into action to aid them.