CHAPTER 23

Through the haze of the sword's anger storming through him, Richard realized that Nicci had to be up to something. He didn't know her intent, but by calling both Victor and him by a trade rather than by their real names she was sending them a signal that was too obvious to miss. She was making an emphatic bid for them to catch on to her effort and to follow her lead.

Probably because people often did call him «blacksmith,» Victor didn't seem to get the hint. He started to open his mouth to say something. Nicci smacked him across the face.

«Silence! I will hear none of your excuses.»

Shocked, Victor took a step back. The shock quickly curdled into a dark scowl but he didn't say anything.

Seeing that Victor got the message to keep quiet, Nicci turned her ire on Richard. She shook her finger at him. «You will have to answer for this, carpenter.»

Richard didn't have any idea what she was up to, but when their eyes met he gave her a slight nod. He feared to do anything else lest he spoil whatever it was she was doing.

Nicci appeared to be worked up into a fit. «What's the matter with you?» she yelled at him. «Where would you ever get the unacceptable idea that you can act of your own accord in such a manner?»

Richard didn't know what she wanted him to say so he offered only a humble shrug, as if he were too ashamed to speak up for himself.

«He was saving my child!» cried Jamila. «That man was going to cut her throat.»

Nicci wheeled indignantly to the woman. «How dare you show such little regard for our fellow man! How dare you judge what is in another man's heart! That is the Creator's exclusive right, not yours. Are you a witch woman who can see the future? If not, then you can't say what he would have done. Do you think he should be murdered for what you think he might do? Even if he would have acted, none of us alone has the authority to judge the right or wrong of whatever he did.»

Nicci turned again to Richard. «What would you expect the poor man to do? The two of them are dragged in here by a mob, without any charges, trial, or even being allowed to explain themselves. You treat a man like an animal and then are surprised when he acts out of confusion and fear?

«How do you expect Jagang the Just to ever decide to give our people another chance to do what is right and proper when we act like this? The man had a right to fear for his life when among such a mindless rabble as he saw all around him.

«As the mayor's wife, I will not allow such behavior! Do you hear me! The mayor will not like to hear how shamefully some of our fellow citizens have acted tonight. In the mayor's absence, I will see that our ways are upheld. Now, put away your sword.»

Beginning to understand what she was doing, Richard made no attempt to answer and instead sheathed his sword, as instructed.

As he took his hand from the hilt, the weapon's rage extinguished. Richard's knees nearly buckled. No matter the justification, the need, the number of times he righteously used the sword, killing remained a hideous deed.

Not wanting to spoil Nicci's act, Richard duly hung his head.

She turned a fierce look on the crowd. They all took a step back. «We are a peaceful people. Have you all forgotten our duty to our fellow man? To the Creator's ways? How can we ever expect the emperor to someday accept us back into the fold of the Imperial Order if we behave like subhuman animals?»

The crowd stood mute. Richard certainly hoped that they, too, grasped that Nicci had a purpose and they should not spoil what she was trying to accomplish.

«As the mayor's wife, I will not allow senseless violence to poison our people and our future.»

A younger woman in the crowd put her hands on her hips and took a step forward. «But they were.»

«We must at all times keep in mind our duty to our fellow man,» Nicci said in a threatening tone, cutting her off, «not our selfish desires.»

With a surreptitious glance to Victor, he understood her meaning and pulled the woman back to make sure she kept her mouth shut.

Nicci glanced around at the guards. «It is our responsibility to guide our fellow man, not to butcher him. One man has been murdered this night. The people's authorities will have to hear this case and decide what will become of this carpenter. Some of you will have to see to it that he is confined until then.

«In the meantime, as the mayor's wife, I will not allow this other man to meet a similar unjust fate. I know my husband would want to set matters right but I also know that he would not want it to have to wait until tomorrow just for him to say as much. He would want it rectified immediately, so you will take this other citizen outside of the city and release him. Let him go on his way in peace. We will cause him no harm. The carpenter, as I said, will have to be held until he can be brought before the proper authorities to answer for his heinous deed.»

Victor bowed. «Very wise, madam. I'm sure your husband, the mayor, would be pleased that you intervened on his behalf.»

Nicci glared at the top of his head for a moment while he was bowed before her. She then turned to stand before the second captive spy. She bowed to him.

Richard noticed that somewhere along the line the cord of Nicci's bodice had come unlaced. It wasn't lost on the man, either. Her deep bow provided him a good long look at her cleavage. Once she straightened, it was a moment before he finally looked up into her eyes.

«I hope that you will accept our apology for your inhumane treatment. It is not the way we were taught to respect all people as our brothers and equals.»

The man made a face, as if to say he might be able to forgive his mistreatment. «I can understand why you people are so touchy, what with your insurrection against the Imperial Order, and all.»

«Insurrection?» Nicci waved a hand dismissively. «Nonsense. It was little more than a misunderstanding. Some of the workers»-she gestured toward Richard without looking."like these ignorant, selfish men, here, wanted more say for themselves and higher wages. It was nothing more than that. As my husband has often told me, it was misconstrued and blown all out of proportion. Selfish men caused an unfortunate panic that got out of control. It was much like this terrible tragedy here tonight-a misunderstanding resulting in needless harm to one of the Creator's innocent children.»

The man regarded her with a long, unreadable look before he spoke. «And all of Altur'Rang feels this way?»

Nicci sighed. «Well, along with the vast majority of the people of Altur'Rang, my husband, the mayor, certainly does. He's been working to bring to task the hotheads and troublemakers. Along with representatives of the people he has worked to make these few reactionary types see what a mistake they made and what great harm they do us all. They acted without considering the greater good. My husband has brought the leaders of the trouble before the people's council and they have decreed the proper punishment. Most have repented. At the same time, he works to reform and reeducate the less intelligent of the lot.»

The man tipped his head to her in a slight bow. «Please tell your husband that he is a wise man and has a wise wife who knows that her place is properly in service to the greater good.»

Nicci nodded in return. «Yes, exactly, the greater good. My husband has often said that, despite our own personal wishes or feelings, we must always consider the greater good above all else; that despite any personal sacrifice we must think only of the betterment of all people and not cling to the sinful ways of individual wishes and greed. No one has a right to place themselves above the well-being of others.»

Nicci's words seemed to have struck a cord with the man; such notions were the fundamental teachings and beliefs of the Imperial Order. She knew precisely how to strum those cords.

«How true,» he said as he watched her, taking another long look down the gaping neckline of her dress. «I guess I'd better be on my way.»

«And where are you headed?» Nicci asked. Her hand came up to modestly contain the sagging front of her dress.

He looked back up to her face. «Oh, we were just traveling through, heading farther to the south to where we have family. We were hoping to take up some work, there. I didn't know this fellow all that well. We've simply been traveling together for the last few days.»

«Well,» Nicci said, «considering what happened here tonight, I'm sure that my husband would suggest that for your own safety you continue with your journey and, considering the few reactionary types still about, it would be best if you were to do so at once. There has already been one tragedy tonight; we would not like to chance another.»

The man passed a murderous glare across the assembled crowd. His gaze settled on Richard, but Richard kept his eyes turned to the ground.

«Yes, of course, madam. Please thank the mayor for trying to bring the filthy troublemakers back to the ways of the Creator.»

Nicci flicked her hand toward a few of the guards. «You men, show this citizen safely out of the city. Take enough men to ensure that there will be no trouble. And I need not remind you of how displeased the mayor and the people's council would be should they discover that any harm whatsoever came to this man. He is to be allowed to go on his way.»

The men bowed and mumbled that they would see to it. By the way they acted, Richard could tell that they knew how to fall back into the role of what life had been like under the Imperial Order. All the people in the stable watched in silence as the men disappeared into the night with their charge. Long after they were gone, everyone stood still in tense silence, watching the empty doorway, fearful to speak until the man was far enough away, lest he hear anything.

«Well,» Nicci said at last with a sigh, «I hope that he makes it back to his fellow soldiers. If he does, then we have gone a long way toward spreading a little confusion before the battle.»

«Oh, he will,» Victor said. «He will be eager to report such news as you have given him tonight. Hopefully, they will be so confident that we can give them a real surprise.»

«Let's hope so,» Nicci said.

Some of the people still remaining in the stable broke into chatter, pleased with Nicci's apparent stratagem of confusing the enemy. Some bid a good night and went on their way. Some stood around the corpse, staring.

Nicci offered Victor a brief smile. «Sorry to have to strike you.»

Victor shrugged. «Well, it was to a good purpose.»

When Nicci turned to Richard, she looked uneasy, as if she feared a lecture or a reprimand.

«I want the troops coming this way to think they will have no trouble crushing us,» she explained. «Overconfidence leads to mistakes.»

«There was more to it,» Richard said.

Nicci cast a quick glance at the people still in the stables and then eased closer to him so that others couldn't hear. «You said that I could come and join up with you once the troops coming to crush the people of Altur'Rang are destroyed.»

«And?»

Her blue eyes turned as hard as iron. «And I intend to see to it.»

Richard considered her for a time, finally deciding to let her do what she could to help the people of Altur'Rang and not interfere with how she planned to accomplish it. Besides, he was more than a little worried about what her plan might be. Right then, he didn't really want to know what she was up to; he already had enough to worry about.

Richard took the loose ends of the cords lacing her bodice, drew them tight, and retied them.

She stood with her hands at her side, watching his eyes the whole time he did it. «Thank you,» she said when he finished. «I guess that must have come undone in all the excitement.»

Richard ignored her lie and checked to the side to see Jamila there, behind some of the other people. The woman, her cheek swollen and red, was kneeling, hugging the frightened little girl.

Richard stepped closer. «How is she?»

Jamila looked up at him. «Safe. Thank you, Lord Rahl. You saved her precious life. Thank you.»

As the little girl sobbed and clutched her mother, she eyed Richard with a look of terror, as if she feared he might slay her next. She had witnessed something terrible at Richard's hand.

«I'm relieved that she's safe and unharmed,» he said to Jamila.

Richard smiled at the girl, but received only a hateful glare in return.

Nicci clasped his arm in empathy, but said nothing.

The people still left in the stable finally spoke up to congratulate him on saving the child. They all seemed to have guessed that Nicci's words to the man were a ruse of some sort. Many spoke up, then, to tell her that they thought her deception was clever.

«That should throw them off,» one of the men said.

Richard knew that she had more planned than to simply «throw them off.» He was concerned about what she intended to do.

He watched briefly as some of the men dragged away the dead spy. At Ishaq's direction, others began quickly cleaning up the gore. The smell of blood made horses nervous and the sooner they were rid of it the better.

The rest of the people bid Richard a safe journey and then departed for their homes. It wasn't long before they had all gone. The men cleaning up the remains finished and left. Only Nicci, Cara, Ishaq, and Victor remained behind. The stables became a quiet and empty place.

CHAPTER 24

Richard carefully surveyed the shadows before going to see to the horses that Ishaq had collected for him. The stables felt too quiet. He remembered the hush in the room in the inn before the thing came crashing through the wall. It was hard not to find the sudden quiet menacing. He wished he had a way to know if the beast was near, or if it was about to pounce. He wished he knew how to fight such a thing. His fingers touched the pommel of his sword. If nothing else, at least he had his sword and its attendant power.

He remembered all too well the inhuman promises of suffering and torment left lurking within Cara for him to find. It made him nauseated and light-headed just recalling the wordless whisper of those covenants. He had to pause and put a hand on the rail to steady himself for a moment.

As he glanced over to see Cara, he still felt the wordless joy of her being alive and well. It lifted his heart just to see her looking back at him. He felt a profound connection to her as a result of the experience of healing her. He felt as if he knew the woman beneath the armor of Mord-Sith a little better.

Now he needed to help Kahlan, to see her alive and well.

Two of the horses were already saddled and waiting, with the supplies loaded on the others. Ishaq had always been as good as his word. Richard ran his hand along the flanks of the bigger bay mare as he entered her stall, feeling her muscles and letting her know he was behind her so she wouldn't be spooked. One ear swiveled toward him.

With all that had happened, to say nothing of the scent of blood in the air, the horses were all jumpy. The mare tossed her head and stomped nervously at having a stranger near. Before he went about hooking his bow to the saddle, he first stroked the mare's neck and spoke softly to her. He reached up and gently caressed her ear. He was pleased that she settled down after a little assurance.

When he stepped back out from the stall, Nicci was watching him, waiting for him. She looked lost and lonely.

«You will be careful?» she asked.

«Don't worry,» Cara said as she walked past carrying some of her things. On her way into the stall holding the smaller of the two saddled mares she said, «I will be giving him a very long lecture on the foolishness of his unthinking actions tonight.»

«What unthinking actions?» Victor asked.

Cara laid an arm over the shoulder of her horse, idly running her fingers through its mane as she turned back to the blacksmith.

«We have a saying in D'Hara. We are the steel against steel so that the Lord Rahl can be the magic against magic. What it means is that it's foolish for the Lord Rahl to needlessly risk his life in things like battles with blades. We can do that. But we cannot battle the magic. He alone is the one who must do that. To do so, he must be alive. Our job is keeping the Lord Rahl safe from weapons of steel so that he can protect us against magic. That is the Lord Rahl's duty. That is his part of the bond.»

Victor gestured toward Richard's sword. «I'd say he seems to do all right with a blade.»

Cara arched an eyebrow. «Sometimes he is lucky. Need I remind you that he almost died from getting himself shot with a simple arrow? Without a Mord-Sith, he would be helpless,» she added for good measure.

Richard silently rolled his eyes when Victor cast a worried look his way. Ishaq, too, seemed concerned as he peered at Richard as if he were a stranger he was seeing for the first time. Both men had known him for nearly a year as simply Richard, a man who loaded wagons for Ishaq's transport company and hauling iron to Victor's blacksmith shop. They had thought that he was married to Nicci. They didn't know that he had really been Nicci's captive at the time.

Discovering that he was in fact the Lord Rahl, the nearly mythical freedom fighter from far to the north, was still somewhat disorienting for both men. They tended to view him as one of their own who had risen up to fight tyranny with them. That was how they knew him. Whenever the Lord Rahl issue came up, they got nervous, as if they suddenly didn't know how they should behave around him.

As Cara went about loading the rest of her things into saddlebags, Nicci laid a hand on Ishaq's shoulder.

«If you don't mind, I need to see Richard alone for a moment before he leaves.»

Ishaq nodded. «Victor and I will be outside. We have matters to discuss.»

As the two men made for the door, Nicci cast Cara a brief glance. Cara gave her horse a quick pat on the side and then followed the two men out of the stable, pulling the big door closed behind herself. Richard was amazed, and just a little concerned, to see Cara leave without an argument.

Nicci stood before him in the soft lamplight twining her fingers together and looking rather uneasy, he thought.

«Richard, I'm worried about you. I should be with you.»

«You've started something tonight that I think you will have to be the one to finish.»

She sighed. «You're right about that.»

Richard wondered just what it was she had started, what it was she had in mind, but he was in a hurry to leave. While he was concerned for Nicci's safety, he was vastly more worried about Kahlan. He wanted to get going.

«But I still.»

«When you're done helping these people end the immediate threat from the soldiers who are on their way here, you can catch up with me,» Richard told her. «With this wizard, Kronos, leading them, the people here are certainly going to need your help.»

«I know.» She was nodding, having already been over all of this ground already. «Believe me, I intend to eliminate the threat descending upon Altur'Rang. I don't intend to allow it to waste a lot of my time and then I can leave to catch up with you.»

A wave of cold dread washed through him as he suddenly grasped the core of her plan. He wanted to tell her to forget what she was thinking, but he made himself keep silent. He had important and perilous work of his own that he needed to get to. He wouldn't want her telling him that he couldn't do what he had planned.

Besides, she was a sorceress who knew very well what she was doing. She had been a Sister of the Dark-one of six such women who had managed to become his teachers at the Palace of the Prophets. When one of them had tried to kill him to steal his gift, Richard had killed her instead. That had been the beginning of the battle that had brought down the palace. Jagang eventually captured the rest, including Sister Ulicia, their leader. In order to save Kahlan's life, Richard had once allowed five of them to swear a bond to him so that they could escape the dream walker's hold on them. Nicci hadn't been with them at the time. Another later died in the sliph, leaving only those four Sisters of the Dark, besides Nicci, not in Jagang's clutches.

Nicci was certainly a formidable threat to any who opposed her. He just hoped she wasn't taking a foolish chance just to be able to more quickly get back to protect him.

Richard hooked his thumbs behind his belt, not quite knowing what it was she wanted. «You will be welcomed to join me whenever you can manage it. I told you that.»

«I know.»

«A piece of advice.» He waited until her gaze turned up to his. «No matter how powerful you think you are, something as simple as an arrow can still kill you.»

A brief smile visited her face. «That advice goes both ways, wizard.»

A thought occurred to him. «How will you find me?»

She reached up and gripped his shirt at the collar as she leaned against him. «That's why I wanted to be alone with you. I will need to touch you with magic so that I can find you.»

Richard's suspicion flared. «What kind of magic?»

«I guess you could say that it's a little like your bond to the D'Haran people which allows them to find you. Now is not the time to go into an explanation of it.»

Richard began to worry about why she would need to be alone with him to do such a thing. Still gripping his shirt, she pressed against him, her eyes sliding half closed.

«Just stay still,» she whispered.

She looked rather hesitant and reluctant about whatever it was she had planned. She looked and sounded as if she were slipping into a trance.

Richard could have sworn that the lamps had been brighter, before. Now the stable was dimly lit in a mellow orange glow. The hay smelled sweeter. The air felt warmer.

Richard thought that perhaps he shouldn't be allowing her to do whatever it was that she intended to do. In the end, though, he decided that he trusted her.

Nicci's left hand released its grip on his shirt and slipped up and over his shoulder to the back of his neck. Her fingers glided around his neck. Her hand fisted, holding his hair at the back of his head to keep him still.

Richard's level of alarm rose. He suddenly wasn't so sure that he wanted her to touch him with her power. He'd felt her magic several times before and it wasn't something he was exactly eager to experience again.

He wanted to back away, but, somehow, he didn't.

Nicci leaned in even more and gently kissed his cheek.

It was more than a kiss.

The world around him dissolved. The stables, the humid air, the sweet aroma of hay, all seemed to cease to exist. The only thing that existed was his connection to Nicci, as if she were all that held him from evaporating as well.

He was swept into a rising realm of breathless pleasure with all of life itself. It was an overpowering, disorienting, magnificent sensation. Everything, from the feel of the connection to her, the warmth and life of her, to all the beauty of the world, felt as if it flooded through him, filling him until it saturated his mind, making him dizzy with the staggering exhilaration of it.

Every kind of pleasure he had ever known swept through him with overwhelming force, amplified beyond anything he had ever experienced, engulfing him in bliss so intense that the satisfaction of it brought a gasp and tears.

When Nicci broke the kiss on his cheek the world inside the stables swirled back in around him, and yet it seemed more intense than it had before, the sights and smells more vibrant than he remembered. It was quiet but for the hiss of a nearby lamp and the soft neigh of one of the horses. Richard's hands trembled with the lingering sensation of her kiss.

He didn't know if what Nicci had done had lasted for a second or an hour. It was magic completely unlike any Richard had ever felt before. It left him so breathless that he had to remind himself to breath again.

He blinked at her. «What — what did you do?»

The slightest smile blossomed in the curve of her lips and in her blindingly blue eyes. «I touched you with a small trace of my magic so that I can find you. I recognize my power. I will be able to follow it to you. Fear not, the effect will last long enough for me to be able to find you.»

«I think you did more, Nicci.»

Her smile ghosted away. Her brow tightened with her concern. It took her a moment to find the words. At last she peered at him with an intensity that told him that it was important to her that he understand.

«Always before, Richard, I have hurt you with magic-when I took you away; when I held you prisoner; even when I healed you. It was always hurtful or painful. Forgive me, but I wanted, just once, to give you a touch of magic that would not leave you being hurt by me, or hating me.»

Her gaze sank away from his. «I wanted you to have a better memory of me than of those times before when I touched you with the pain of magic. I wanted, just once, to give you a small trace of something pleasant, instead.»

He could not begin to imagine what any more than a «small trace» would have been like.

He lifted her chin, making her look up into his eyes. «I don't hate you, Nicci. You know that. And I know that the times when you healed me you were giving me my life. That was what counted.»

Finally, he was the one who had to look away from her blue eyes. It occurred to him that Nicci was probably the most beautiful woman he had ever met.

Other than Kahlan.

«Thank you, though,» he managed, still feeling the lingering affects of the sensation.

She gently clutched his arm. «You did a good thing, tonight, Richard. I thought some pleasant magic would give you back some of your strength.»

«I've seen a lot of people suffer and die. I couldn't stand the thought of the little girl dying, too.»

«I meant in saving Cara's life.»

«Oh. Well, I couldn't stand the thought of the big girl dying, either.»

Nicci smiled at that.

He gestured to the horses. «I need to get going.»

She nodded and he moved off to collect the horses and check their gear. Nicci went to open the stable door. After she did, Cara came back in to get her horse.

Dawn was still a couple of hours off. Richard realized that he was terribly tired, especially after the emotional strain of having used his sword, but he did feel better after what Nicci had just done. He knew, though, that they wouldn't be getting much sleep for a quite a while. They had a very long way to travel and he fully intended to do it as swiftly as possible. By taking fresh horses with them they would be able to ride hard, change mounts, and then continue to ride just as hard in order to make good time. He intended to ride more than hard.

Nicci held his horse's bit as he stuffed his boot into the stirrup and swung up into the saddle. The horse flicked her tail and danced about, eager to be out of the stable even if it was still night. Richard patted her shoulder to settle her down; she would have plenty of time to show him her spirit.