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By Root 1045 0

all that kept him upright. It was as if she had compressed the pain of an entire training session into that one touch. He couldn’t move, breathe, or even cry out. He was beyond being in pain; the shock took everything from him, and in its place left an all-consuming agony of fire and ice. She took away the Agiel. He didn’t know where he was, who he was, who was holding him, only that this was more pain than he had ever known before, and that there was a man in front of him, dressed in a white robe.

Blue eyes looked down at him. “You have seen the Book of Counted Shadows before?”

“Yes,” he heard himself say.

“Where is it now?”

Richard hesitated. He didn’t know how to answer; he didn’t know what the voice wanted. The pain exploded in his head again. When it stopped, he felt tears running down his cheeks.

“Where is it now?” the voice repeated.

“Please, don’t hurt me anymore,” he cried. “I don’t understand the question.”

“What is there not to understand? Simply tell me where the book is now.”

“The book, or the knowledge of the book?” Richard asked fearfully.

The blue eyes frowned. “The book.”

“I burned it in a fire. Years ago.”

Richard thought the eyes were going to tear him apart. “And where is the knowledge?”

Richard hesitated too long. When he was aware again, Denna yanked his head up to look into the blue eyes again. Richard had never felt so alone, so helpless, so afraid.

“Where is the knowledge that was in the book?”

“In my head. Before I burned the book, I learned the words, the knowledge.”

The man stood staring, unmoving. Richard cried softly.

“Recite the words of the book.”

Richard desperately didn’t want the Agiel in the back of his head again. He shook with the fear of it. “Verification of the truth of the words of the Book of Counted Shadows, if spoken by another, rather than read by the one who commands the boxes, can only be insured by the use of a Confessor.…”

Confessor.

Kahlan.

The name Kahlan went through Richard’s mind like a bolt of lightning. The power roared to life, blasting away the fog with the burning, white-hot glare of his memories. The door to the locked room in his mind was flung open. It all came back to him, brought back by the power as it rose in him. Richard was one with the power, at the thought of Darken Rahl having Kahlan; hurting her.

Darken Rahl turned to the other men. The one with the black stripe came forward.

“You see, my friend? The fates work for me. She is already on her way here with the Old One. Find her. See to it she is brought to me. Take two quads, but I want her alive, do you understand?” The man gave a nod. “You and your men will have the protection of my spell. The Old One is with her, but he will have no weapon against an underworld spell, if he is even alive by then.” Rahl’s voice became harder. “And Demmin, I don’t care what your men do to her, but she had better be alive when she gets here, and able to use her power.”

A little of the color left the man’s face. “I understand. It will be done as you wish, Lord Rahl.” He bowed deep.

He turned and left after meeting Richard’s eyes and giving a knowing smile.

Darken Rahl returned his blue eyes to Richard. “Continue.”

Richard had gone as far as he was going to go. He remembered everything.

It was time to die.

“I will not. There is nothing you can do to make me tell you. I welcome the pain. I welcome death.”

Before the Agiel could come, Rahl’s eyes snapped up to Denna. Richard felt her fist loosen on his hair. One of the guards marched forward, grabbed her by the throat with his big hand, squeezing, until Richard could hear her struggling to breathe.

Rahl glared at her. “You told me he was broken.”

“He was, Master Rahl.” She struggled to speak as she was being choked. “I swear.”

“I am very disappointed in you, Denna.”

As the man lifted her feet off the ground, Richard could hear her sounds of pain. Again, the power turned white-hot in him. Denna was being hurt. Before anyone knew what was happening, he was on his feet, the power of the magic raging through him.

Richard threw one arm around the