He had a sword.
As another guard stepped in, his hands reaching out to disarm her, Nicci slammed her knife into his back. He twisted around, crying out in shock as he reached back over his shoulder at the wound. She stabbed him twice in the chest—rapid, heavy blows. He stumbled and fell, trying to throw his arms around her to hold himself up, but couldn’t and toppled to the ground. For not being an expert in using knives, Nicci appeared to have worked it out.
A fifth man grabbed Jillian, intending to use her as a shield as he came for Kahlan. Kahlan slashed the forearm wrapped around Jillian’s neck, cutting through muscle and tendons down to bone. When he flinched with a cry of pain, Jillian swiftly pulled away from him. As he lunged at Kahlan, she used his forward momentum to impale him on the knife in her other hand. She jerked the blade upward until it hit ribs. His eyes opened wide in surprise. She stepped aside as he fell past her, his insides spilling out when he hit the cold hard ground. In all the confusion she didn’t see the sixth special guard, but she knew there was one.
The mass of men on the slope behind Richard was continually slipping downward, flooding into the bowl of the Ja’La field. Clusters of soldiers, as they fought, swarmed out onto the flat field. Most of the men with bows had already been rolled under by the churning throng. Because many of the men with the torches had long since been plowed down as well by the battle descending on them, it was getting darker. It was becoming difficult to see.
The Ja’La field was being inundated with combatants. Men fought for their lives while others fought to take life. Yet others, drunk after a day of celebrating at Ja’La matches, fought for the sake of fighting. Men grievously injured littered the ground. Everywhere men who had been hurt screamed in pain. No one helped them.
There were soon so many men with their faces covered in red that it was becoming difficult to keep track of Richard. What only a brief time ago made him stand out now served to hide him. Only moments ago he was conspicuous; now he was a phantom among the chaos.
None of the soldiers appeared to be slowing down or holding back. They were enraged and in the mood to kill anyone and everyone. Men swinging axes took off arms, split skulls, and chopped chests open. Men with swords ran others through.
Despite how increasingly difficult it was, Kahlan kept Richard in sight as soldiers attacked him. For many, he was the object of their wrath. He was responsible for the blasphemy against the Imperial Order. He was the one who had dared to think he could defeat the emperor’s team.
He had accomplished the unthinkable. They hated him for it. They hated him for what they saw as his arrogance.
Kahlan supposed that they believed that he should have failed—deliberately if he had to—and then everything would have been fine. Failure was a talisman for such men, a grudge they kept close. It brought out their hatred whenever someone succeeded at something, at anything. Success had to be crushed. These were the brutes of the Order, steeped in the Order’s teachings, being brutes. The beliefs of the Order, after all, needed brutes to enforce the faith.
As Richard steadily crossed the field, coming toward Kahlan, men continually attacked him. He cut them down with summary composure. He was methodical in the way he made his way across the field. Those who tried to stop him died.
“What should we do?” a frightened Jillian asked.
Kahlan glanced around. There was nowhere to escape. The Imperial Order Army was all around them. There was no route out. Kahlan, being invisible to most of them, could escape on her own, but she wasn’t about to leave Jillian and Nicci to fend for themselves among such brutes. Even if she wanted to, though, there was the matter of the collar around her neck.
“We need to stay here,” Nicci said.
Kahlan, knowing that there was no real way for them to get away, still puzzled at the woman. “Why?”
“Because Richard will have a difficult time finding us if we go far from this spot.”
Kahlan didn’t really think there was anything he could do. After all, she and Nicci both had collars around their necks. Jagang might have been hurt, but he was still conscious. If they tried to leave he would stop them with those collars—or worse. She was willing to test it, but not until she saw a worthwhile opportunity.
It was always possible that Richard would be able to finish off Jagang. Then they would have a chance—as long as Sister Ulicia or Armina didn’t show up in the meantime. Jagang was a dream walker. For all Kahlan knew, he might have already used his control of their minds to bring them running to his aid.
Holding Jillian close, Kahlan glanced around. Nicci protected the girl from the other side. In every direction men were in a frenzy of killing.
Kahlan nodded. “For the moment we’re safer here, protected by Jagang’s guards. The way things are going, though, that may not last long.”
All around men fought on. Jagang was on his knees, in the center of his guards, clutching his chest. Some of the guards had knelt down beside him to support him in case they had to get him on his feet and fight their way out. Other men shouted urgent orders to get a Sister. Other royal guards savagely slashed at the soldiers who came within range, trying to keep the mob back. The ground all around the emperor’s observation area was becoming slick with blood and gore.
Kahlan stood transfixed, watching Richard.
Men from every side rushed in, trying to kill him. He moved among them as if he really were a phantom. In much the same way he had evaded blockers, he ducked aside when blades swung at him, sidestepped thrusts when he had to, slipping between men when they tried to wall him in. When he thrust his sword it was swift and sure and men died. He was a picture of economy of motion, never doing more than was necessary as he fought his way across the Ja’La field. All around tens of thousands of men fought in a noisy, tumultuous battle.
“I think we need to try to start moving.”
“We can’t,” Nicci said. “If Richard can’t find us, we’re lost.”
Kahlan gestured around at the chaos. “What do you think he’s going to be able to do?”
“By now,” Nicci said, “I would think that you would have learned not to underestimate him.”
“Nicci’s right,” Jilian said. “I’ve even seen him come back from the world of the dead.”
Chapter 36
Kahlan could only wonder at Jillian’s claim. She now knew that the man could indeed start a war, but she didn’t really believe that he could go to the underworld and come back. Watching the perilous turmoil unfolding all around them, though, she knew that this was not the time or place to discuss it.
She scanned the confusion of runaway violence, searching for a way out. If Jagang died, or even if he were only to pass out, she might be able to use such an opportunity to get Jillian, Nicci, and herself away from there. She wondered if it mattered if Jagang, being a dream walker, was unconscious or not. She worried that even in an unconscious state he might still be able to control them through their collars.
If Jagang did die or lose consciousness, and wasn’t able to stop Nicci and Kahlan through their collars, there was still the matter of the vast army all around them. Kahlan was invisible to virtually all of the men around them, but Jillian and Nicci certainly weren’t. Getting a woman who looked like Nicci and the tempting target of a girl like Jillian through all these men would not be easy. Nicci certainly put a lot of faith in Richard, though.
“Do you really think Richard can get us out of here?” she asked Nicci.
Nicci nodded. “With my help. I think I know a way.”
Kahlan didn’t think that Nicci was the kind of woman who would put her faith in a hope and a prayer. During her ordeal with Jagang she had never tried to latch on to delusions or false hope for salvation. If she said she knew a way, then Kahlan was inclined to think that there was something to it.
Off through a gap in the battle, Kahlan spotted Richard. He thrust the sword forward, running a man through before the soldier could complete the swing of his own sword. Richard, covered in the bloodre
d symbols, immediately pulled the sword back out of the man and on the backswing smashed the pommel into the face of the man coming at him from behind.
“This may be our only chance, then,” Kahlan said.
Nicci stretched her neck to check on Richard’s progress before again glancing to the confusion swirling around the injured emperor. “I don’t think we’ll get a better one. I think it’s now or never. With these collars, though . . .”
“If Jagang is distracted enough he might not use our collars to stop us.”
Nicci shot Kahlan a look that suggested how foolish the thought was. “Now, listen to me,” she said. “If anything goes wrong, I’ll do what I can to see to it that you, Jillian, and Richard have a chance to get away.” Nicci held up a cautionary finger. “If it comes to that, you take that chance—you hear me? If it comes to that, don’t you dare waste the opportunity I gain you. Do you understand?”
Kahlan didn’t like that Nicci was thinking of sacrificing her life to give them a chance to get away. She also wondered why Nicci would think it more important that Kahlan live than her.
“If you promise that you won’t even consider doing such a thing unless there’s absolutely no other way. I’d rather find a way to get us all out of this.”
“It’s the only life I have,” Nicci said. “I want to keep it, if that’s what you’re wondering.”
Kahlan smiled at that and put a hand on Jillian’s shoulder. “Stay close, but don’t get in the way if I have to use a knife. And don’t be afraid to use yours if you have to.”
Jillian nodded as Kahlan ushered her in the direction of the Ja’La field where she’d last seen Richard. Nicci stayed close behind Jillian.
Before Kahlan had taken a dozen steps, Commander Karg, atop a huge warhorse, broke through the wall of combat behind them. The big horse snorted its displeasure at the men in its way.
The commander, leading a large force of royal guards, looked around in appraisal of the situation. Like the men guarding Jagang, these were elite combat soldiers. They were all big, powerfully built, and armed to the teeth—and there looked to be thousands of them. The violence they brought to bear was extraordinary to witness. They poured through the soldiers on a wave of blood.
Not far off in the distance behind the royal guards Kahlan saw gouts of flame rise up into the night sky. The harsh red glow lit the straining faces of men fighting for their lives. Who the men were fighting seemed to have lost its importance. The soldiers seemed to have gone mad in a world gone mad. It was every man for himself, except for the royal guard, who did have a very clear idea of who they were fighting—anyone but them.
“Sisters are coming,” Nicci said as she watched the flames and smoke boiling up into the black sky. “We don’t have much time before it’s too late. Try to stay out of sight and out of the way of the guard.”
Kahlan nodded as she eased her way along with Jillian in a direction away from the main force fighting their way in. Nicci had a plan to get them away. Richard would be searching for them, so Kahlan didn’t want to get too far away from where he had last seen them.
Her aim was to skirt the main confrontation between the regular soldiers and the royal guard while moving toward where she’d last seen Richard, hoping that as they moved off to the side she didn’t get too far away from Richard’s approach. At the same time she wanted to stay out of the new confrontation. The elite guard would be a very different foe from the regular soldiers.
Commander Karg leaped down off the horse among the original royal guard contingent. “Where’s Jagang?” he called out to the wall of guards protecting the injured emperor.
“He’s been shot with an arrow,” one of the guard officers said as he signaled his men to open a path for the commander.
Kahlan saw Jagang, then, still on his knees, being supported by a big man squatting down to each side of him. He was pale, but conscious. He was having difficulty breathing, occasionally coughing, leaving little dark spots of blood on his chin and down the front of him. One hand clutched the arrow jutting from the right side of his chest.
“An arrow!” Karg yelled. “How in the name of Creation did that happen?”
The officer seized Karg by his chain mail and yanked him close. “Your man shot him!”
Commander Karg glared as he lifted the officer’s chin with the point of a knife. “Get your hands off me.”
The man released the commander, but returned the glare in kind.
“Now, what are you talking about it being my man?” Karg asked.
“It was your point man. He shot the emperor with an arrow.”
Karg’s expression darkened. “Then I’ll kill him myself.”
“If we don’t kill him first.”
“Fine. You do it, then. I don’t really care who kills him—as long as he’s dead that’s all that matters. The man is dangerous. I don’t want him running around loose to do any more damage. Just bring me his head so that I know that it’s finished.”
“Consider it done,” the officer said.
Karg ignored the man’s boast as he started pushing other men out of his way. “Get the emperor on his feet!” he yelled at the wall of men around Jagang. “We’re getting him back to his compound. There are Sisters there who can help him. We can’t do anything here.”
No one argued. Guards helped Jagang to his feet. Two men, one to each side, put shoulders under his arms, supporting him.
“Karg,” Jagang said in a weak voice.
The commander stepped close. “Yes, Excellency?”
A grin spread on Jagang’s face. “Glad to see you. I guess you earned her for a while.”
Commander Karg shared in a brief, sly smile with the emperor before turning and yelling at the guards. “Let’s go!”
Jillian clutched Kahlan tightly on one side, Nicci on the other as they continued to slip away to the side, trying not to be seen. The guards helping Jagang started moving him out. The men Commander Karg had brought with him hacked and slashed their way back through the battle.
Kahlan dreaded the thought of being back in Jagang’s tent. As she kept an eye on the guards, she looked back over her shoulder, searching, but she didn’t see Richard.
Drunken, angry soldiers fought on all around the three of them as Kahlan watched the emperor’s guards start to organize a forward wedge to clear a path to get them back away from the Ja’La field and toward the emperor’s compound.
Almost all of the torches had long since gone dark in the fighting. The guards had brought some of their own, but they weren’t close. As dark as it was with the heavy overcast, Kahlan couldn’t even see the Ja’La field anymore. Even the plateau rising up above the Azrith Plain seemed to have vanished in the blackness. She had to use the distant ramp, lit by torchlight, to get her bearings.
With a thud that shook the ground, fire boiled up as Sisters apparently used their power to blast their way through the vast army in order to get to Jagang’s rescue. There had been hundreds of thousands of men at the Ja’La match. It didn’t seem like any were fleeing. Now the guards protecting the emperor needed to escape that mob.
Kahlan, Jillian, and Nicci, too, needed to escape through the mob, but they didn’t have thousands of heavily armed guards to help them. They relied, instead, on trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. Hunching to look harmless, they avoided looking directly at the men around them. They kept the hoods of their cloaks up and their heads down as they slowly slipped through pockets of relative calm amid the chaos. It was slow going. They still hadn’t managed to get clear of the guards engaged in hand-to-hand fighting with the mob. Somehow, they had to make it through that line of guards, and then through the army beyond.
Commander Karg, a wicked grin on his snake-face, abruptly appeared out of the darkness and seized Nicci by the upper arm. “There you are.” He pulled the hood of her cloak back to get a good look at her. “You’re coming with me.” He gestured to one of his men. “Take the girl along, too. Since we’re going to have a par
ty, we might as well make it a proper affair with a young lady for my men.”
Jillian screamed as the man ripped her out of Kahlan’s grip and pulled her along as he followed after Commander Karg and Nicci. When Jillian tried to stab the man, he wrenched the blade from her hand. The men couldn’t see Kahlan, or they would have grabbed her as well.
Kahlan stepped in close behind the man holding Jillian. She started to lift her knife, but a powerful hand grabbed her wrist. It was one of her special guards—the sixth man, whom she’d lost track of. He towered behind her. Kahlan knew him. He was one of the smarter men. He wasn’t as careless as the others. He still had all his weapons.
As Nicci and a screaming Jillian were being dragged farther and farther away from Kahlan, the man twisted her arm behind her back until her fingers went numb. She cried out in pain. His expression was grim and indifferent to her torment as he stripped the knife out of her hand. She kicked back at his shins, trying to make him let go of her. Rather than let up, the man twisted her arm all the more until the pain made it impossible for her to struggle. He muscled her in the direction the emperor was going.
Nicci looked back at Kahlan as Commander Karg dragged her through the confusion of men. Kahlan could see only glimpses of blond hair between the churning bodies.
The hand holding her let go of her wrist. Instead it grabbed her upper arm. That hand abruptly pulled her back through the battling men, back into the darkness. Kahlan turned, ready to fight what the brute obviously intended.
Richard was standing right there instead.
The world seemed to stop.
His gray eyes were staring into her soul.
Up close like this, the strange bloodred designs painted on his face were terrifying. But the smile on his face made him look like the gentlest, kindest man in all the world.
He seemed to be unable to do anything but smile as he stared into her eyes. It took Kahlan a moment to remember how to breathe.
She finally glanced down and saw the special guard who had been holding her wrist. He was on the ground; his head was twisted around at an unnatural angle. He didn’t look to be breathing. With bodies sprawled everywhere, no one paid any attention to one more. After all, he was just a regular soldier, like all the men battling each other.
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