Temple of the Winds by Terry Goodkind

I guess it’s affecting my judgment. Now that things have come together, I’m terrified that it’s going to slip away from me.”
    Cara shrugged, as if to dispel Kahlan’s need for apology. “I know how you feel. Now that Lord Rahl has given us our freedom, we have something to fear losing. Maybe that’s why I’m so jittery, too.” She flicked her hand toward the door. “We could find another place. There have to be other places that won’t touch painful memories for you.”
    “ No. Protecting Richard comes above all else. The pit is the safest place in the palace to keep a prisoner. We have no one else down there, now. It’s escape-proof. I’m fine.”
    Cara lifted an eyebrow. “Escape-proof? You escaped.”
    The memories repressed, Kahlan smiled. With the back of her hand, she gave Cara’s stomach a dismissive slap.
    “ Marlin is no Mother Confessor.” She glanced back up the hall at Marlin. “But there’s something about him—something I can’t put my finger on. Something strange. He frightens me, and he shouldn’t, not with you controlling his gift.”
    “ You are right, you shouldn’t be concerned. I have complete control of him. No pet has ever slipped from my control. Ever.”
    Cara lifted the key ring from Kahlan’s hand and unlocked the door. With a tug, it drew open on rusty, squeaking hinges. Dank stench wafted up from the darkness below. The smell clenched Kahlan’s stomach muscles with the memories it carried. Cara took a nervous step back.
    “ There aren’t any … rats, down there, are there?”
    “ Rats?” Kahlan glanced to the dark maw. “No. There’s no way for them to get in. No rats. You’ll see.”
    Kahlan turned her attention to the soldiers back up the hall, waiting with Marlin, and gestured toward the long ladder resting on its side against the wall opposite the door. Once they had the ladder through the door and it had thudded down in place, Cara snapped her fingers and motioned Marlin forward. He scurried to her without hesitation, anxious to avoid doing anything to displease her.
    “ Take that torch and get down there,” Cara told him.
    Marlin pulled the torch from its rust-encrusted bracket and started down the ladder. With a frown of puzzlement, Cara followed him down into the gloom when Kahlan motioned her to the ladder.
    Kahlan turned to the guards. “Sergeant Collins, you and your men wait up here, please.”
    “ Are you sure, Mother Confessor?” the sergeant asked.
    “ Are you eager to be down there, in a small space, with an ill-tempered Mord-Sith, sergeant?”
    He hooked a thumb behind his weapons belt as he glanced to the opening into the pit. “We’ll wait up here, as you command.”
    Kahlan started backing down the ladder. “We’ll be fine.”
    The smooth stone blocks of the walls were so precisely dry-fit that there wasn’t so much as a fingernail hold to be had. Looking back over her shoulder, she could see Marlin holding the torch, and Cara, waiting for her nearly twenty feet below. She carefully put a foot in each rung, mindful not to step on the hem of her dress lest she fall.
    “ Why are we down here with him?” Cara asked, as Kahlan stepped off the last rung.
    Kahlan wiped her hands together, brushing off the grit from the ladder rungs. She took the torch from Marlin and went to the wall before them. She stretched up on her toes and pushed the torch into one of the brackets on the wall. “Because on the way down here I thought of some more questions to ask him before we leave him here.”
    Cara glared at Marlin and pointed to the floor. “Spit.” She waited. “Now, stand on it.”
    Marlin moved onto the spot, careful to get both feet on it. Cara eyed the empty room, checking the shadows in the corners. Kahlan wondered if she was making sure the place really was free of rats.
    “ Marlin,” Kahlan said. He licked his lips, waiting for her question. “When was the last time you received orders from Jagang?”
    “ Like I told you