ill think we just ought to draw weapons and get up there," Cara finally complained. Kahlan leaned in close. "What difference does it make? Where have we to go before morning? When morning comes, we can go up to the blacksmith's place or to the carving areas over there and hopefully find Richard, but we can do nothing tonight." "Maybe he will be at his room, now." "You want to run into Nicci again? You know what she's capable of. The next time we may not be so lucky to escape. We haven't come all this way to battle her-I just want to see Richard. Even if Richard goes back there-and we don't know that he will-we do know he's got to return here in the morning." "I suppose," Cara grouched. The sky was taking on a faint reddish glow by the time they made it to the foot of the marble steps. They could hear moaning and wailing up ahead. Kahlan couldn't see the cause, but people up on the plaza were weeping freely. Oddly enough, some people could be heard to laugh joyfully. A few others cursed, as if they had been robbed of their life savings at the point of a knife. As they slowly made their way up the steps, Kahlan and Cara tried to stay low behind the people surrounding them so as not to draw attention to themselves. The plaza above was lit by dozens of torches, their flickering light giving an indication of the vastness of the crowds. The smell of the burning pitch mixed sourly with the stale sweat of the packed multitude. Through a momentary gap between people in front of her, Kahlan snatched a quick glance ahead. She blinked at what she saw, but it was gone almost as fast as she saw it, screened by the throng. The people ahead wept some, it sounded, with joy. Kahlan began to make out the polite voices of men asking the crowd to keep moving, imploring them to give others a chance. The ragtag collection of people steadily advanced up onto the white marble of the plaza, like beggars at a coronation. The torchlight was finally being replaced by radiant daylight as the sun cleared the horizon. Golden rays washed the face of the palace. The scenes carved in the stone up on the walls were disturbing. If they were any different from the others she had seen in the Old World, it was only in that they were more gruesome, more horrifying, more desolately hopeless, and more plentiful. Kahlan's mind played over the lines of her statue of Spirit. The idea of Richard having to carve such things as she saw up on the walls sickened her. She felt a sense of gloom overcoming her. This was the Order: pain, suffering, death. This was what was in store for the New World at the hands of these monsters. She couldn't take her eyes from the scenes on the walls, from the fate that awaited the people of her homeland-the fate so many blindly embraced. Then, all of a sudden, as the people shuffled around and past, Kahlan beheld the white marble figures rising up before her. The sight took her breath in a gasp. The rays of dawn lit them as if the sun itself had risen just to caress the lustrous forms in all their glory. Cara gripped Kahlan's arm, her fingers digging in painfully as she, too, was taken by the sight. The statue of the man and woman seized Kahlan's imagination with their nobility of spirit. She felt tears run down her cheeks, and then she was weeping openly, like the people around her, at the majesty, the dignity, the beauty, of what stood before her. It was everything the carvings on the walls all around were not. It offered freely everything they denied. LIFE, it said at the base. Kahlan had to gasp through her tears to draw breath. She clutched at Cara's arm, and Cara clutched at hers, the two of them holding on to each other for support as the crowd swept them along in a current of shared emotion. The man in the statue was not Richard, but there was much of Richard in it. The woman was not Kahlan, but there was enough of her form in it that Kahlan felt her face flushing at others seeing it. "Please look and move along so that others may view it too," the men at the sides kept calling. They weren't wearing uniforms; they were as tattered-looking as everyone else. They appeared to be ordinary citizens who had just stepped in to help. The woman who had offered the bread fell to her knees in wailing. Arms respectfully lifted her and helped her to move on. The woman, living in the Old World, had probably never seen a thing of such beauty. As Kahlan shuffled around the statue, unable to take her eyes from it, she reached out to touch it, as did everyone else. As she was carried past, her fingers met the smooth flesh in stone, knowing it was also where Richard's fingers had been. She wept all the harder. As she moved past, Kahlan saw then that the curve of the sundial had words on the back: "Your life is yours alone. Rise up and live it." The words were visible on the lips of many who saw them. The crowd kept coming up the steps, forcing the people around the statue to move on. Men at the rear guided people between the columns, out through the rear of the partially built palace, and out of the way so that others could come up to view the statue. "I wish Benjamin could see this," Cara said, her blue eyes brimming with tears. Kahlan was overcome with a burble of laughter. "I was going to say, `I wish Richard could see it."" Cara laughed with her as they were swept away by the river of people. Kamil grabbed Kahlan's hand. She saw him take Cara's, too. "Yeah," he said with authority, "Richard carved it." "Where to?" Kahlan asked him. "Where do you think we can find him?" "I guess we should make our way back up to the blacksmith's place. Hopefully, Richard will show up there. If not, maybe Victor will know where he is." Kamil's words, "Richard carved it," rang joyfully through her mind. CHAPTER 67 Richard climbed through the high window and dropped to the ground, his boots hitting with a thud. He could hardly believe he had slept the whole night under a tarp in the back of a wagon. He could hardly believe that Jori didn't wake him so he could go home when they were close. The man probably didn't think it was his job, and so he wouldn't do it. Richard sighed. Maybe Jori hadn't known he was in the back. Richard brushed himself off. He stood outside the transport company building where he used to work when he had first come to Altur'Rang, and where he had been locked in all night. Of course, he had been asleep, so he didn't know Jori had locked him inside. Richard didn't know where to go-home, or to the Retreat. The sky glowed orange and violet in the bright sunrise. He supposed there was no point in going home; that would only make him late to work. He decided he had better get to work. Work. What work? This was the day of the celebration, the dedication. When Brother Narev saw the statue, Richard was not going to have to worry about work anymore. He knew that if he ran, tried to escape, it would only trigger Nicci's anger, and then Kahlan's life would be forfeit. Richard had spent over a year with Nicci-as long a time as he had spent with Kahlanand Nicci repeatedly had made clear his choices. Kahlan's life was always the price in the balance. Richard had no real choice. At least he would get to see Victor's face when he saw the statue. Richard smiled at that thought. It was the only pleasant prospect the day held. The day was most likely to end in the wet dark hole where he had been before. He missed a step at that thought. He didn't want to go back into that place. It was so small. Richard didn't like being trapped-especially in small places. He didn't like either of those concepts; together, they were terrifying. As fearful as the prospect of such a fate was, he had carved the statue with conscious intent and with forethought, knowing the probability of the eventual price. What he had accomplished was worth that price. Slavery was not life. Nicci had once promised him that if he died, or chose death, that would in itself be her answer, and she would not harm Kahlan. Now, Richard could only put his faith in that promise. The statue existed. That was what mattered. Life existed. People needed to see that. So many people in the Old World needed to see that life existed, and was to be lived. For so early in the morning, there was an unusual amount of activity on the streets of Altur'Rang. Now and again, squads of heavily armed city guards rushed down the streets. There were a lot of people come to the city for the dedication celebration. He supposed that was why there were so many people out on the streets. The guards paid him no attention. He knew they soon would. When he arrived at the Retreat, Richard was shocked by what he saw. The open miles of grounds were covered with people. They crowded in around the palace walls like ants around spilled honey. He couldn't even begin to estimate how many people blanketed the surrounding hills. It was disorienting to see the panoply of color where before he had seen only brown dirt and green winter rye. He had no idea that this many people had wanted to come to the dedication. But then, he had been working day and night for months--how would he hear what people planned? Richard skirted the worst of the throngs and made his way up the road toward the blacksmith's shop. He wanted to get Victor and go down with him to the site to see the statue before the Order came out to begin the dedication. Victor would no doubt be eagerly waiting. The road was crowded with people. They seemed excited, happy, and expectant. It was a far cry from the way most people in the Old World usually appeared or behaved. Maybe a celebration, even one such as this, was better than the rest of their dreary days. A half mile from Victor's place, a wild-looking Brother Neal leaped into the road and thrust an arm in Richard's direction. "There he is! Grab him!" Guards combing throughout the surrounding crowds drew weapons at Neal's command. As they swept in around him, Richard's first instinct was to fight. In an instant, he had assessed the enemy and calculated his attack. He had only to grab one sword from a clumsy guard and he would have them all. In his own mind, the grisly deed was already done. He had only to bring it to reality. The guards came at him in a dead run. People scattered out of the way, some screaming in fright. There was the matter of Neal, though. Neal was a wizard. But Richard could deal with that threat, too-need powered his ability. Need, and anger. He certainly had enough anger for the task. That part of him that the Sword of Truth used, that rage of dark violence, already thundered through him. Except that Nicci had told him that if he used his magic, Kahlan would die. Would she know? Sooner or later, she would. Richard stood submissively still as the guards roughly seized him by his arms to subdue him. Others snatched his shirt from behind. What did it really matter? If he resisted, it would only hurt Kahlan. If they executed him, Nicci would let Kahlan live her life. But he didn't want to go back into that dark hole. Neal raced up, shaking a finger in Richard's face. "What is the meaning of this, Cypher! What did you think you were going to accomplish!" "May I ask what are you talking about, Brother Neal?" Neal's face was crimson. "The statue!" "What, you don't like it?" With all his might, Neal slammed his fist into Richard's middle. The guards holding him laughed. Richard had seen it coming and had tightened his muscles, but it still drove the wind from him. He finally managed to draw his breath. Neal found that he enjoyed administering punishment, and did it again. "Oh, you're going to pay for your blasphemy, Cypher. You're going to pay the price, this time. You'll confess to it all, before we're done. But first, you'll watch your wicked perversion destroyed." Neal, his face twisted with superior, selfrighteous indignation, gestured to the burly guards. "Let's get him down there. And don't be shy about making way through the crowd." By midmorning, Kahlan's hopes of the blacksmith showing up had all but vanished. "I'm sorry," Kamil said, looking glum as he watched her pace. "I don't know why Victor isn't here. I thought he would be, I really did." Kahlan finally halted and gave the worried lad a pat on the shoulder. "I know you did, Kamil. With the celebration today, and with what's going on down there with the statue, this is hardly a normal day around here, I'm sure." "Look," Cara said. Kahlan saw she was peering down toward the palace. "Guards with spears are moving the crowd off the plaza." Kahlan squinted off down at the hill. "Your eyes are better than mine. I can't tell." She cast a frustrated glare at the closed blacksmith's shop. "But it's doing us no good waiting up here. Let's see if we can make it down there and get a better look." Kahlan put a restraining hand on Cara's arm. "But let's not start a war with this crowd?" Cara's mouth twisted in exasperation. Kahlan turned to the young man kicking a toe at the dirt, looking shamed by his failed plan to help them find Richard. "Kamil, will you do something for me?" "Sure. What?" "Will you wait up here, in case Richard comes here, or even the blacksmith? If the blacksmith comes to his shop, he might know something." Kamil stretched his neck and gazed down at the palace. "Well, all right. If Richard does come here, I wouldn't want him to miss you. What shall I tell him, if I see him. Kahlan smiled. That I love him, she thought, but said instead, "Tell him I'm here, with Cara, and we've gone down there looking for him. If he does show up, I don't want to miss him. Have him wait here-we'll come back." Kahlan thought they could make it down to the plaza to have a look, but everyone else seemed to have the same idea. It took forever just to make it down the hill to the grounds. The closer they got, the tighter the people were jammed together. Kahlan's progress ground to a halt. It was a struggle just to keep contact with Cara. Everyone in the crowd seemed intent on squeezing forward toward the plaza. More people crushed in all the time. Kahlan soon realized that she and Cara were trapped in the press of people. The conversation on everyone's lips was about only one thing: the statue. --]---- It was late in the day by the time Nicci had worked herself partway toward the plaza. Every inch gained had been a struggle. She was close enough to see the people up around the statue, but she could get no closer. Try as she might, she could not make any more headway. Just like her, everyone else wanted to get closer, too. They were pressed up against her, pinning her arms. It was at times a frightening, helpless feeling. She managed to pull one arm free so she could help herself maintain her balance. It came to her that to fall in such circumstances could be fatal. If only she had her power. Her own arrogance had driven her to trading it away. What she had gotten in return, though, was life. But it had cost Richard and Kahlan their freedom. Nicci couldn't simply withdraw her power from the link, in order to have use of her gift again, or Kahlan would die. Nicci didn't want her life at the cost of another's-that was what she had come to understand was true evil. Nicci had searched for Richard. She hadn't found him. She hadn't been able to find the blacksmith, Mr. Cascella, or Ishaq, either. As soon as she could find Richard, she could tell him that she had been wrong, and then they could leave Altur'Rang. She wanted so much to see his face when she told him she was taking him back to Kahlan and that she was going to reverse the spell. Of all people, they were the last who should have to suffer for what Nicci had learned. The only place left that she could think to look for him was at the statue. He might be there. Try as she might, though, she couldn't get any closer. Now, she realized that she probably couldn't even extract herself from the crush of hundreds of thousands of people around her. There had to be well over a half million people in the huge throng around the palace. And then, Nicci saw Brother Narev and his disciples appear up on the plaza, all in their dark brown robes, Brother Narev in his creased cap, the rest with their faces hidden in deeply cowled hoods. Crowding the rear of the plaza were a few hundred officials of the Order who had traveled in to attend the palace dedication-important men, all. If only she had her power, she could have killed them where they stood. It was then that she caught a fleeting glimpse of Richard behind the. officials, with guards surrounding him. The whole central area around the plaza was thick with the surly guards. Brother Narev stepped out to the edge of the plaza, all angles under dark robes. Beneath his creased cap, beneath his hooded brow, his dark gaze swept the assembly. The people were in a noisy, emotional state. Brother Narev did not look pleased, but then, Brother Narev never looked pleased. Pleasure, he would say, was wicked. He raised his anus, commanding silence. When the crowd quieted, he began in that terrible grating voice of his, a voice that had haunted her from that day in her house when she was little, that voice that she had allowed to rule her mind, that voice that, along with her mother's, had done her thinking for her. "Fellow citizens of the Order. We have a special event planned for you today. Today, we bring you the spectacle of temptation . . . and more." His arm glided back toward the statue. His long thin fingers opened. His voice rumbled with revulsion. "Evil, itself." The crowd murmured uneasily. Brother Narev smiled, the thin slash of his mouth pleating back his hollow cheeks as he grinned like death's own skull. His eyes were as dark as his robes. The setting sun was fleeing the scene, taking clarity, leaving behind the tremors of flickering light from the dozens of torches to cast their flickering orange light across the massive columns towering behind the plaza, and the weak light of the moon to wash the faces of the grim officials. The air, so cloying with the heavy scents of the crowd, had turned chill. "Fellow citizens of the Order," Brother Narev said in a voice that Nicci thought might crack the stone walls, "today you will see what happens to evil, when confronted by the virtue of the Order." He hooked a skeletal finger, signaling behind the heads of the officials. Guards muscled Richard forward. Nicci cried out, but her voice was lost in the clamor of tens of thousands of other voices. Brother Neal swaggered forward, then, lugging with him a sledgehammer. Nicci checked to the sides and saw that there were several thousand armed guards at hand. More screened the plaza off from the people. Brother Narev had taken no chances. Neal, with a polite smile and a deferential bow, handed the sledgehammer to Brother Narev. Brother Narev lifted the sledgehammer above his head as if it were a sword held high in triumph. "Evil, wherever it is found, must be destroyed." He aimed the weaving head of the sledgehammer toward the statue. "This is a thing of evil, created by an extremist who hates his fellow man, to victimize the weak. He contributes nothing to the advancement of his fellow man, nothing to the succor of his fellow man, nothing to the education or support of his fellow man. He offers only lewd and profane images to prey on the susceptible and feebleminded among us." The crowd was silent in their bewildered disappointment. From what Nicci could tell as she had walked among them throughout the day, they had come to believe that this statue was some new offering by the Order to the people-some grand thing for them to see at the emperor's palace, some bright shining hope. They were confused and stunned by what they were hearing. Brother Narev lifted the sledgehammer. "Before this criminal's corpse is hung from a pole for his crimes against the Order, he is to see his vile work destroyed to the cheers of virtuous people!" As the sun's last ray fled below the horizon, Brother Narev lifted the heavy sledgehammer high in the flickering light of smoking torches. The sledgehammer wobbled momentarily at the apex of its arc before descending in a heavy swing. The crowd sent up a collective gasp as the steel head rang out when it struck the male statue's leg. A few small chips fell away. It had done surprisingly little damage. In the absolute silence, Richard laughed derisively at Brother Narev's impotent swing. Even from the distance, Nicci could see Brother Narev's face turning crimson as Richard stood watching and chuckling. The crowd murmured, hardly able to believe any man would laugh at a brother of the Order-at Brother Narev himself. Brother Narev could hardly believe it. The dozens of guards who had their spears leveled at Richard could hardly believe it. In the tense silence, Richard's laugh echoed off the semicircle of stone walls and soaring columns behind them. Death's grin returned. Brother Narev lifted the sledgehammer by the head, its weight awkward in his bony hand, and held the handle out to Richard. "You will destroy your depraved work yourself." The words "or you will die on the spot" were not spoken, but everyone heard them implied. Richard accepted the handle of the sledgehammer. He could have looked no more noble doing so if he had been taking a jewel-encrusted sword. Richard's raptor gaze left Brother Narev and swept out over the crowd as he took several strides toward the steps. Brother Narev lifted a finger, signaling the guards to hold their spears. By the smirk on the faces of Brothers Narev and Neal, they didn't think the crowd would care to hear anything a sinner had to say. "You are ruled," Richard said in a voice that rang out over the multitude, "by mean little men." The people gasped as one. To speak against a brother was treason, most likely, and heresy for sure. "My crime?" Richard asked aloud. "I have given you something beautiful to see, daring to hold the conviction that you have a right to see it if you wish. Worse . . . I have said that your lives are your own to live." A rolling murmur swept out through the multitude. Richard's voice rose in power, demanding in its clarity to be heard above the whispering. "Evil is not one large entity, but a collection of countless, small depravities brought up from the muck by petty men. Living under the Order, you have traded the enrichment of vision for a gray fog of mediocrity-the fertile inspiration of striving and growth, for mindless stagnation and slow decay-the brave new ground of the attempt, for the timid quagmire of apathy." With gazes riveted and lips still, the crowd listened. Richard gestured out over their heads with his sledgehammer, wielded with the effortless grace of a royal sword. "You have traded freedom not even for a bowl of soup, but worse, for the spoken empty feelings of others who say that you deserve to have a full bowl of soup provided by someone else. "Happiness, joy, accomplishment, achievement . . . are not finite commodities, to be divided up. Is a child's laughter to be divided up and allotted? No! Simply make more laughter!" Laughter, pleased laughter, rippled through the crowd. Brother Narev's scowl grew. "We've heard enough of your extremist rambling! Destroy your profane statue. Now." Richard cocked his head. "Oh? The collective assembly of the Order, and of brothers, fears to hear what one insignificant man could say? You fear mere words that much, Brother Narev?" Dark eyes stole a quick glance at the crowd as they leaned forward, eager to hear his answer. "We fear no words. Virtue is on our side, and will prevail. Speak your blasphemy, so all may understand why moral people will side against you." Richard smiled out at the people, but he spoke with brutal honesty. "Every person's life is theirs by right. An individual's life can and must belong only to himself, not to any society or community, or he is then but a slave. No one can deny another person their right to their life, nor seize by force what is produced by someone else, because that is stealing their means to sustain their life. It is treason against mankind to hold a knife to a man's throat and dictate how he must live his life. No society can be more important than the individuals who compose it, or else you ascribe supreme importance, not to man, but to any notion that strikes the fancy of that society, at a never-ending cost of lives. Reason and reality are the only means to just laws; mindless wishes, if given sovereignty, become deadly masters. "Surrendering reason to faith in these men sanctions their use of force to enslave you-to murder you. You have the power to decide how you will live your life. These mean little men up here are but cockroaches, if you say they are. They have no power to control you but that which you grant them!" Richard pointed with the sledgehammer back at the statue. "This is life. Your life. To live as you choose." He swept the head of the sledgehammer in an arc, pointing out the carvings up on the walls. "This is what the Order offers you: death." "We've heard enough of your blasphemy!" Brother Narev shrieked. "Destroy your evil creation now, or die!" The spears rose. Richard calmly swept a fearless glance around at the guards, then stepped to his statue. Nicci's heart was pounding against her ribs. She didn't want it destroyed. It was too good to destroy. This couldn't be happening. They couldn't take this away. Richard rested the sledgehammer across his shoulder. He lifted his other hand up to the statue as he addressed the crowd one last time. "This is what the Order is taking from you-your humanity, your individuality, your freedom to live your own life." Richard briefly touched the sledgehammer to his forehead. With a mighty swing, the steel head arced around. Nicci could hear the air whistle. The entire statue seemed to shudder as the sledgehammer struck the base with a thunderous boom. In a moment of brittle silence, she heard the faintest sound, the ripping popping crackling whisper of the stone itself. Then, the entire statue crashed down in a roar of fragments and billowing white dust. The officials at the back of the plaza cheered. The guards hooted and hollered as they waved their weapons in the air. They were the only ones. The crowd was dead silent as dust rolled out across the plaza. All their hope, embodied in the statue, had just been destroyed. Nicci stared in a daze. Her throat constricted with the agony of it. Her eyes watered. They all watched, as if having just witnessed a tragic, pointless death. The guards moved toward Richard with their spears leveled, prodding him back to other guards waiting with heavy shackles. Down closer to the steps, a clear voice rang out from the stunned crowd. "No! We'll not stand for it!" In the gathering darkness, Nicci saw the man who had yelled. He was up close to the front, furiously trying to fight his way through the press of people to get to the plaza. - It was the blacksmith, Mr. Cascella. "We'll not stand for it!" he roared. "I'll not let you enslave me any longer! Do you hear? I'm a free man! A free man!" The entire mass of people before the palace erupted in a deafening roar. And then, as one, they lunged forward. Fists in the air, voices raised in cries of rage, the mass of humanity avalanched toward the plaza. Ranks of heavily armed men marched down the steps to meet the advance. They vanished beneath the onslaught. Nicci screamed with all her might, trying to get Richard's attention, but her voice was lost in the hurricane. CHAPTER 68 Richard didn't know what stunned him more: to see his statue in rubble, or to see the crowd charging up the steps after Victor had declared himself a free man. The mob rolled without pause over armed guards descending the steps to meet them. A number of people fell wounded or killed. The bodies were trampled beneath the surge of people. Those in front couldn't stop if they wanted to-the weight of tens of thousands behind them propelled them onward. But they didn't want to stop. The roar was deafening. The brothers panicked. The officials in the rear panicked. The few thousand armed guards panicked. In that instant, the nature of the world transformed from the omnipotent power of the Order assembled on the plaza, to every man for himself. Richard wanted Brother Narev. He saw, instead, armed men rushing in at him. Richard swung and buried the head of the sledgehammer in the chest of a man who came at him with sword raised high. As the man flew past, the handle of the sledgehammer sticking from the crater in his chest, Richard snatched the sword from his fist, and then, blade in hand, he unleashed himself. A small group of guards saw fit to protect the brothers. Richard charged into them, cutting with every stroke. Every slash or thrust took a man down. But guards were not what Richard was mainly interested in. If he was to lose everything, he wanted Narev's head in the bargain. As he fought his way through the chaos of people crushing into the plaza, he couldn't find Brother Narev anywhere. Victor appeared out of the melee gripping a brother by the hair. Other men had joined Victor-and each had a hand on the brother. The burly blacksmith wore a scowl that would bend iron. The brother's eyes were rolling around as if he'd been hit on the head, and couldn't gather his senses. "Richard!" Victor called out. The men, some still grasping the brother's brown robes, rushed in around Richard. They stood in a sweep around him, ten or fifteen deep. "What should we do with him?" one man asked. Richard glanced around at all the people. He saw men he knew from the site. Priska was among them, and Ishaq, too. "Why ask me? It's your revolt." He met the eyes of the men with challenge. "What do you think you should do with him?" "You tell us, Richard," one of the carvers said. Richard shook his head. "No. You tell me what you intend to do with him. But you should know, this man is a wizard. When he comes around, he's going to start killing people. This is a matter of life and death, and he knows it. Do you? This is about your lives. It is for you to decide what to do, not me." "We want you with us this time, Richard," Priska called out. "But if you still won't join us, then we're having our lives back, having this revolt, without you. That's the way it's going to be!" The men all shook their fists as they yelled their agreement. Victor hugged the groggy brother to his chest and wrenched his head until his neck broke. The limp body slipped to the floor. "And that's what we intend to do with him," Victor said. Richard held out his hand as he smiled. "Always glad to meet a free man." They clasped forearms. Richard looked into Victor's eyes. "I'm Richard Rahl." Victor blinked; then his belly laugh rolled out. With his free hand, he clapped Richard on the side of his shoulder. "Sure you are. We all are! You had me going for a second, there, Richard. You really did." The press of the crowd drove them back to the columns. Richard reached down and snatched the dead brother's robes, pulling the body along with him. The mass of towering stone walls and marble columns afforded some protection from the raging river of people. The ground shuddered. A blast from the inside blew a hole out through the wall. The darkness ignited with light. Stone fragments whistled through the air. Dozens of bloodied people were thrown back. "What was that!" Victor called out through the din of screaming, yelling, and the roar of the explosion. Ignoring the danger, the crowd continued to advance on the men who had enslaved them. Throngs swarmed over the spot where the statue had stood, scooping up shards of marble. They kissed their fingers and, as they swept past, planted those kisses on the words on the back of the fallen bronze ring. They were choosing life. Hordes of people had captured a number of the brothers and officials, and were beating them to death with chunks of white marble from the rubble of the statue. "Brother Narev is a sorcerer," Richard said. "Victor, you have to organize some of these men-get control of this mob. Narev can use powerful magic. I commend people's desire to be free, but we're going to have a great many killed and injured if we don't get this under control." "I understand," Victor said as he fought to keep from being swept away. A number of men who had been crowded around Richard, protecting him, heard what he said and nodded their agreement. The commands to organize started to spread through the crowd. These people wanted to succeed. They were willing to work toward their goal, and saw reason in the orders beginning to be called out. Many of these men were used to handling large groups of workers. They knew the business of organizing men. Richard started pulling off the dead brother's robes. "You men have to keep these people out of the palace. Narev is in there. Anyone who goes in could easily be killed. You have to keep people out. It will be a death trap in there with the brothers." "I understand," Victor said. "We'll keep them back," men called to Richard. Richard threw the dead brother's brown robes up over his head. Victor snatched him by the arm. "What are you doing?" Richard popped his head up through the neck opening. "I'm going in there. In the darkness, Narev will think I'm a brother, and I'll be able to get close to him." He poked his confiscated sword through the robes to hide the blade. He covered the hilt with his wrist. "Keep people out Narev commands dangerous magic. I have to stop him." "You watch yourself," Victor said. The men who had assumed command began fanning out, urging people to follow their orders. Some people did, and as they did, yet more followed. With all the officials who they'd captured now dead, the mob was slowly being brought to task, and not a moment too soon. The crushing weight of people flooding up onto the plaza was a danger to everyone. Passing people wept as they picked up pieces of marble from the statue, holding the tokens of freedom and beauty to their breast as they moved on to allow others to do the same. These were people who had been offered life, and had taken it. They had proven themselves. Victor saw what everyone was doing. "Richard . . . I'm so sorry-" A fiery blast exploded through the plaza, cutting down well over a hundred people. Bodies were ripped apart in the violence of it. A huge stone column toppled, crushing people who couldn't get out of the way because of the press of the throng. "Later!" Richard yelled over the pandemonium. "I've got to stop Narev! Keep these people out-they'll only die in there!" Victor nodded before he rushed off with the other men he knew to try to gain control of the situation. Richard put the tumult and confusion behind him, and stepped through a gaping doorway between the columns . . . into the darkness. --]---- There were miles of unfinished corridors, some clogged with bodies. In the first crush, as the people swept up onto the plaza, they had chased brothers and officials into the labyrinth of the palace. Many of those people had been unfortunate enough to find Brother Narev. The stench of burned flesh filled Richard's nostrils as he moved silently through the darkness. Richard had been a woods guide long before he became the Seeker, long before he became Lord Rahl. Darkness was his element. In his mind, he gathered that cloak of darkness around himself. Within the massive stone walls, under the heavy beams, partial wooden floors, and slate roofs overhead, the riot of the crowd was a distant, echoing rumble. Through the gaping openings of undressed doorways stood rooms without roofs or floors above, allowing in a flood of moonlight. It all created a tangled mesh of shadows and faint light that suggested every form of danger. Richard came across an older woman lying bleeding in the hall, whimpering in agony. He bent to one knee, putting a hand gently to her shoulder as he kept his eyes on the dark hall ahead and its sockets of blackness to each side. He could feel the woman trembling beneath his fingers. "Where are you hurt?" he whispered. He pushed the hood of the robe back so that in the moonlight coming between the unfinished beams above she could see his face. "I'm Richard." A smile of recognition overcame her. "Leg," she said. She pulled her dress up. In faint light, he saw a dark wound just above the knee. With his sword, he sliced off the hem of her dress to use as a bandage to close the wound. "I want to live. I wanted to help." She took the strip of cloth and pushed his hands away. "Thank you for cutting me the cloth. I can do it, now." She clutched his robe, pulling him closer. "You've showed us life with your statue. Thank you." Richard smiled as he squeezed her shoulder. "I was trying to get that cockroach. Will you do it?" Richard kissed his finger and pressed the kiss to her forehead. "I will. Bandage up your leg and lie still until we have the situation under control; then we'll send people in to help." Richard started moving again. From the distance came screams of rage, and pain. Guards who had escaped into the maze of the unfinished palace were battling people who had gone in after them. Richard spotted a brother trembling behind a corner. It wasn't Narev-there was a hood, not a cap. Playing the part of a brother, Richard pulled his hood up again and strode to the man. The brother looked relieved to see a comrade. "Who are you?" he whispered toward Richard, lifting his hand to use his magic to light a small flame above his palm. "Justice," Richard said to the wide eyes as he drove his sword through the man's heart. Richard pulled his sword free and concealed it once more under his robes. Nicci would no doubt take her revenge. There seemed nothing he could do about it. Nicci had often enough made Richard's choices clear. He was bound and determined to at least lay waste to the Order. If only there were a way to get Nicci to see reason, to get her to help him. At times, the look in her blue eyes seemed so tantalizingly close to comprehension. He knew Nicci had feelings for him. He wished he could use those feelings to get her to see reason, to help him, to cast off her chains, but he didn't know how. Richard stepped back into the blackness of a room as he heard guards running his way. As they turned into the hallway, Richard again drew his sword. When they were close, he burst out of the doorway and took off the first guard's head. The second swung his sword, missed, and lifted it for another strike. Richard ran his sword through the man's belly. The wounded guard pulled back