Richard again glanced at Nicci, lying in the low wagon bed right beside him. She had his hand in a death grip. Her whole body trembled. He ached with sympathy for her agony. He knew what it felt like. He had endured the same magic from a collar. His ordeal hadn't lasted as long, though. He didn't know how long she could live through such pain.

Jillian lay on the other side of Nicci, holding her other hand. Bruce lay beyond Jillian, carefully peering out from under the tarp on that side from time to time, sword at the ready in case he had to help them fight their way out of trouble.

Richard wasn't sure how much he could trust the man. Bruce had more than once stepped in to protect Richard at great risk to his own life. Richard knew that not every single man in the Order's camp would choose the Order, if really given the choice. There had to be some, even if only a few, who would rather have nothing to do with the Order. Richard didn't really know Bruce all that well, so he didn't know what experiences the man had lived through that would cause him to take this chance to side with him, but Richard was glad that he had. In a small way it gave him hope that not the whole world had gone mad. There were still some people who valued their own lives and wanted the freedom to live those lives as they saw fit. They were even willing to fight for it.

As the wagon wobbled to a halt, Adie stepped close, laying an elbow casually over the short sidewall beside Richard. She glanced over. "We be here."

Richard nodded, then leaned close to Nicci. "We're here. We're near the ramp."

Her brow was tightly creased in agony. She seemed to be in a faraway world of suffering. With great effort she released some of the pressure on his hand, then squeezed again to let him know that she'd heard him.

Despite how cold it was, she was drenched in sweat. Her eyes were closed most of the time. Occasionally they opened wide as she gasped from a terrible twist of pain.

It was making Richard crazy that he couldn't help her right then and there, that she had to wait, suffering in her isolated world of torment, enduring the dragging eternity it seemed to be taking to get her to Nathan.

"Nicci, can you tell me what we need to do? We're here, but I don't know why. Why did you want us to go to the ramp?"

He gently pulled back hair that was plastered to her beaded brow. Her eyes opened wide with a stitch of overpowering pain.

"Please . . ." she whispered.

Richard leaned closer yet so he could hear her. "What is it?"

He put his ear closer to her mouth.

"Please . . . end it. Kill me."

She shook with a moan as another bout of pain cascaded through her. She started to sob.

Richard, terror rising in his throat, clutched her close. "We're almost there. Hold on. If we can get inside the palace I think Nathan can get that collar off. Just hold on."

"Can't," she wept.

Richard pressed his hand against the side of her face. "I'll help you get it off. I promise. We just need to get inside. I need to know how do we get in."

"Catacombs," she said in a gasp as her back arched.

Catacombs? Richard blinked at the word. Catacombs?

He lifted the flapping canvas tarp a little and peered out again. The ramp stood nearby. Beyond the ramp the black wall of the plateau, only some of the fringe at the bottom visible in the torchlight, soared up into the night.

As he looked at the plateau, it made sense.

Jillian leaned over Nicci. "Could she mean catacombs like at my homeland?" She looked down at Nicci. "Catacombs like in Caska?"

Nicci nodded.

Richard again looked out from under the tarp, searching for anything that looked different, for any sign of where the entrance could be. He went over in his mind everything he could remember about the ancient catacombs in Caska. Deep within those underground rooms was where they'd found the Chainfire book. The maze of ancient tunnels and chambers had run on for miles. Richard had spent nearly the whole night searching through the catacombs and he knew that he'd only seen a fraction of them.

Finding the entrance, though, had been difficult. It had been only a small opening that had led him down into the hidden underground world of the catacombs. Finding such an opening out here in the open, with all these men around, was going to be far more than merely difficult.

He turned back. "Nicci, how did you find catacombs down in the palace?"

She shook her head. "Found us."

"They found you?" Richard peered out again as the realization hit him. "Dear spirits . . ."

It all started to make sense to him. Jagang's men, digging the pits, had uncovered ancient catacombs. They must have used those tunnels to get up into the palace.

"They got up into the palace and captured you? Is that what you mean?"

Nicci nodded.

But if they had gotten up into the palace, then why would they still be working on the ramp? He realized that if the catacombs were anything like the ones in Caska they would need more than those tunnels to get an army up into the People's Palace. It would be like trying to force sand through an hourglass.

It could also be that the ramp was a diversion to buy them time to do just that.

Diversion or not, Jagang might have gotten spies up into the palace through the catacombs. If there was a way in, there was no telling the damage such a breach could cause.

It had to be Sisters who had snuck in. It would have taken Sisters to have captured Nicci. With their powers weakened by the spell of the palace, he knew that it would have taken more than one.

"The crews digging dirt for the ramp discovered catacombs," Richard guessed out loud to Nicci. "Sisters went through the catacombs and found a way to get up into the palace. That's how they captured you."

Though the trembling and pain, Nicci squeezed his hand in confirmation.

Richard leaned close to Nicci. "Does anyone up there know that Jagang has a way in?"

She rocked her head from side to side. "Gathering inside," she managed.

Richard's heart missed a beat. "They're gathering men inside to attack the palace?"

She nodded again.

"Then we'd better get in there and warn them," Bruce said.

"Adie," Richard said to the old woman standing right beside the wagon, "did you hear all that?"

"Yes. The general be right here. He heard as well."

Richard looked out from under the tarp. Off in the distance to the right a little he saw a pit where there were no lines of men and wagons.

Richard pointed out from under the tarp. "Look there, around that pit. There are men standing evenly spaced around the entire area."

"Guards," General Meiffert confirmed.

"That has to be where they found the catacombs-down in that pit. Look at the way they've halted all digging between there and the plateau."

"Why would they do that?" the general asked.

"The catacombs would be ancient. There's no telling what condition they might be in. They don't want to risk caving in any of the tunnels running in under the palace."

"It must be so," Adie said.

"How are we going to get down into the pit?" General Meiffert asked.

"If we had more royal-guard uniforms we might be able to get down in there," Bruce suggested.

"Maybe," Richard said, "but what about Nicci and Jillian?"

Bruce didn't have an answer.

"They certainly couldn't walk in there," General Meiffert agreed, "and a wagon going down into a guarded pit would obviously be cause for suspicion."

"Maybe," Richard said, thinking out loud. "Maybe not."

General Meiffert looked back over his shoulder. "What do you have in mind?"

Richard gently shook Nicci's shoulders. "Are there books down in the catacombs?"

"Yes," she managed.

Richard turned back to the general. "We could tell the guards that, with all the trouble in the camp tonight, the emperor wants to bring a load of important books back to his compound to be sure that they're safe. He sent this Sister along to see to getting the books he's concerned about. You tell them that you need them to organize a contingent of guards to escort the wagon back to the compound."