Naked Empire pg. 601-640

Zed was once again being lead to objects, when he noticed one particularly useful not only to the Order, but to him ending destroying all of the objects from the keep along with himself. He activated the spell without the Order knowing, and lied about its purpose. Zed had already accepted his fate of being extinguished by the spell along with the objects, but as predicted the familiar guard with the "captured" child was Chase and Rachael. Both of them are Zed's friends which were much more prominent in the first three books, but their appearance was welcomed to save Zed and Adie. Right when they were about to try and escape, Captain Zimmer with his men surrounding the tent rushed in to free Zed and Adie, and then Rikka also showed up. So with three different groups infiltrating the Order camp, and an the assassin who Kahlen sent attacking there was enough commotion to easily escape. Zed went with Rikka, Chase, and Rachael to retake the Wizard's Keep, while Adie went with most of Zimmer's men to rescue the captives and escape before the spell incinerated part of the Order's camp. All of them escaped successfully and Adie, Zimmer and his men, and the captives made it past the defensives of D'Hara.

Richard made it to the city with Nicholas, but when they arrived at the location of the antidote it had been removed with a note in place say that Nicholas had the antidote, and would exchange it for the Mother Confessor. Richard is in the final stage of the poison and was asleep at this point with the rest of the group seeing the note, so Kahlen goes to exchange herself for the antidote while hoping she can get close enough to release her power and control him. Nicholas plans to take over the Order after he removes Richard as a threat.

Nicholas's plan to take over everything shows that you cannot make deals with monsters. Jagang even though he has a corrupted agenda of his own tried to make a deal with Nicholas, but in the end Nicholas is going to try to consume and take all that he can. Also although I predicted two of the rescuers for Zed, I did not think that both would come, and I definitely did not think that Captain Zimmer was likely to help. I was kind of interesting how many people can to save Zed when he needed the help.

Naked Empire pg 552-600

Zed gave up to the demands of the Imperial Order, so the torture of the D'Haran civilians they had captured would end. Zed decided that since the Wizard's Keep is so large the chance of him encountering something that would help them is low, so he could tell them about the useless items they brought before him to help others. The chance of a valuable item being found is not the greatest problem at the moment because Zed is beginning to lose touch with his senses and may be losing his mind. People are starting to look like people he recognizes randomly, but in that may be the hint at his rescue. One of the guards and children he describe reminds me of Chase who we have not encountered in many books, but it is still possible. I do not know if it is really him because Zed may be losing his mind and I keep coming up with escape plans for him, but it may happen.

The next Chapter is about Nicholas the Slide. He did not lose Richard's trail, and knows exactly what is happening. He has found the poison that was near his building, and destroyed it. Without the antidote or someone who knows the remedy, Richard's chances of survival is low, but Nicholas is still planning to lure Richard to him, so he can eliminate Richard himself.

Richard then is in the next town with the second antidote which also has the leaders of the Owen's people. He convinced them of his ideals, and the leaders end up following the men that have already joined. Owen's people are now dedicated to gaining their freedom, or at least fighting for it.

These chapters face us with seemingly unsolvable problems with the poison and Zed losing his mind. I believe between the two solutions I have came up for Zed one will be true, but Richard's solution is more difficult. He is more definitely going to survive because there are three more books, but the solution is a little more complex. I think Nathan is going to save Richard because he is a prophet, so he could know the poison's ingredients and the antidote. Nathan is already hurrying to Richard and knows of his peril, so this seems the most likely solution. The other solution is Kahlan confesses Nicholas into giving the ingredients of the antidote. The book is leading up to the climax, and the previous books resolved quickly after, so I will look forward to see if my predictions are correct.

Three Minute Fiction

I read two stories "Freedom" and "A Saint and A Criminal". Both were good stories, but had a sadness lurking in the close friends of the main character. In "Freedom", a Russian doctor helps a young, boy in the German concentration camps giving him food at the cost of his own life, but he worked hard and stayed positive till the end. The boy believes that he earned his freedom in the end just like he wanted.
The other story talks about some of the tribulations his brother faced after driving drunk and crashing into a house killing a woman. To his father he is the saint and his brother is the criminal, but he believes his brother is changing back into the brother he always remember. The men feels sorry guilty for trying to hide information from his brother to avoid his anger because of events that have happened when he was in prison.
I liked both stories, but I think I liked the "Freedom" story better. I agree with the young boy that his friend did earn what he was looking for his freedom from work. It may not be the freedom that some would wish for, but in their circumstances it was what he needed. He also sacrificed himself for another along with working hard which make him seem a very noble character.

Naked Empire pg. 527-551

Richard has arrived at the first town with the one of the antidotes that he needs. Anson and he do some reconnaissance to plan their attack, and to get Richard to first antidote immediately due to his obvious pains. During their trip to the village, Richard retrieves the elixir and notices some important details for their attack. All of the Order's troops are sleeping in two housing units, and the Order's guards and defenses are diminished due to the peacefulness of the villagers. Richard exploits these facts by attacking at night, and setting the two building on fire instead of directly assaulting the Order's men. They were successful and took the city. The Bandakar helped him take the city back, and told the villages of the new ideas which Richard spoke about. A few in the village originally questioned the necessity of violence, but many immediately saw the benefits in being free from their oppressors, and took their college's message to heart.
The actions of the Bandakar are starting to show the change that is taking place in their minds. First they believed the never trust their senses, and that nothing could be evil, but now they are learning that their actions allowed evil to thrive when it entered their lives. They are starting to value themselves and their lives more because of their rising confidence in their ability to see the truth, expose it, and act on it. The major lessons they have learned is their virtues do not make them better than other people. Everyone has the same right to a life, but their actions can cost them their right. They have seen their hypocrisy in condemning violence, but using poison to try and force Richard to fight for them, and they have learned that victory is something to be earned not given.

Naked Empire 493-526

The engrave on the statue said "Fear any breach of this seal for beyond are those who cannot see evil." The wizard who had locked away Owen's people did not do so for the reasons that originally appeared to us as fear of the spread of the trait of the ungifted, but fear of the spread of their ideals. All who believed the same as them were locked into these land to prevent the idealogical belief that evil does not exist and that we do not truly see the world with our senses. What the wizard saw was how evil could manipulate those that turn a blind eye to it. In keeping their beliefs that would have allowed evil to run unchecked to avoid a direct confrontation. Richard made one last try to explain to them the flaw in their belief, and then gave them the choice to come with him to help retake their land or remain in their hiding. A young man named Anson spoke out that he would follow Richard, and gave a shocking statement on his desire for the end of the Order. End the end all of the men would follow. At the end of the chapter the Wizard's eighth rule appeared "Talga Vassternich."
Back in D'Hara Verna and the General Meiffert  received a letter from Jagang telling them he had captured Zed and Adie. Unable to do anything they replied with a message insulting his ability to complete such a feat. Although they agree an attempt to rescue them would be suicide, I think Rikka will attempt to save them regardless.
Owen's people have clouded judgement viewing defending yourself, but I dislike the fact that they wanted to force Richard to accomplish what they needed to do themselves. Working for something indicates the value it holds for you. If you believe that you can ignore it and allow others to accomplish it for you then I think that shows lack of value in the object. I also hope that Rikka will succeed in my predicted task for her because I dislike the fact of Zed at risk of dying.

Favorite Book

My favorite book is actually a series of books which I am currently reading called The Sword of Truth series. It is not necessarily the story that involves me as the characters and lessons it tries to portray. In almost every book there is a main theme that they go ahead and tell you through "Wizard's Rule", but there are also may minor themes that I have appreciated. The characters in the book are also very easy to associate with. The story like many of books is good, but the association with the character is a the themes portrayed separates these book for me. Richard is observant, calculated, and keen mind is sometimes something to envy, and Zed also intelligent has a very amiable personality. There is some romance, but most of it is disregardable, and can be skimmed through in order get back to the actual story. I just think is it a wonderful series of books and gains more value when you consider the meaning of some of the events, especially in the later books.

The Wizard's First Rule begins the series.

Naked Empire pg. 424-492

Tom is arriving back at the Richard's camp with Owen's people. Richard goes out to meet these people, and then explains to them who and what they are. That they are the ungifted descendants of Alric Rahl, and how they were banished from the world to protect the survival of magic. He then ended the banishment and proclaimed that they could now once again become members of D'Hara as long as they followed the laws set in place. Then he forced them to vote to give him the antidote of the poison before he would decide to help them, or to use the poison to force him to help them, so that he could learn whether he could trust them. They told him where the antidote was, but would not agree to him him fight off the Order. In Richard's frustration he realized that the engraving on the statue was mistranslated by him, and meant something different.
The doctrine of Owen's people prevents them from protect themselves against others crimes. They are unable to see the evil that is present making them vulnerable to any evil which is present. We cannot forces ourselves to ignore something because we wish it was not present, but we must give it enough attention that we can find the solution to it.