Temple Of The Winds

Everything seems to go just fine - Richard and Kahlan consolidate their position as the rulers of the new D'Haran empire, nations are willingly complying with their conditions, the Old World armies are keeping their atrocities at a reasonable low - your typical idyllic intro soon to go wrong :-).

And go wrong it does - emperor Jagang manages to lay his hands on a forked prophecy, one that forces its subject to choose one of only two possible paths when invoked. This particular prophecy predicts Richard having to choose between letting all his subjects die, or getting betrayed by Kahlan and passing to the Underworld himself. Needless to say, the prophecy is invoked and (grinning his teeth so as it does not look all that unrealistic), Richard decides to sacrifice himself to save everybody else.

Lots of blood and tears in the process, lots of sudden twists, and in the end the prophecy turns out to mean not exactly what Jagang expected. By the way, if this does not make sense, read the synopses of previous books in the series ...