
Shota reappears as Rachel's mother and sends her to deliver a message with Gratch to the Mud People. Along the way, she is given a piece of chalk by Shota, disguised as Rachel's mother, and uses this to transfer the spell to Violet.

Rachel is lured to Tamarang by Violet, who has drawn a spell around her that sets 'ghostie gobblies' to destroy her. Richard and Nicci, with Adie's help, enters the Palace through the catacombs, where Cara and Nathan help them wipe out the Order forces hiding there. His team defeats Jagang's team in the tournament final, but Jagang refuses to accept his team's loss and invalidates the win twice, leading to a riot in the camp, during which Richard and Nicci escape, while Kahlan is 'rescued' by Samuel. Richard, after realizing that Jagang and the Sisters with him would recognize him during team inspections and throughout the tournament, disguises himself by covering the faces and bodies of his teammates and himself with intimidating symbols and parts of spell-forms. The Sisters of the Dark discover what they believe to be the original Book of Counted Shadows in Bandakar.

Three Sisters of the Dark enter, killing Ann and capturing Nicci, while soldiers are sent into the catacombs to prepare an attack. While excavating dirt for the ramp in the Azrith Plains, Jagang's diggers stumbled upon the catacombs under the People's Palace, which provide a secret entryway.

In an attempt to breach the People's Palace, Jagang orders a massive ramp built to reach the plateau, bypassing the natural defenses of the Palace. Zedd, Rikka, and Tom then head to Tamarang to remove the spell blocking Richard's gift. Zedd discovers the Keep's warning that the Wizard's Keep is dying due to the contamination of the chimes, and places a spell to protect it from future damage. That night, the witch woman Six enters the Keep and steals the third box of Orden from Nicci and Zedd. Rachel is discovered missing from the Keep. Sister Ulicia is also visited by this figure, and is told that the time to open the Boxes has been reset to one year from the first day of winter-the day that Nicci set the Boxes into motion under Richard's name. During Richard's imprisonment, he is warned by a cloaked specter that he is now a player of the Boxes of Orden. Kahlan is also Jagang's prisoner, surrounded by special guards who can see her. Richard Rahl has been captured by an Imperial Order commander, who spared his life (under the guise of Ruben Rybnik) to be the point man for the commander's Ja'La dh Jin team. ( January 2013) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) Please help improve it by removing unnecessary details and making it more concise. This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed.
