What only a moment before had been a frantic battle was suddenly dying down. Imperial Order soldiers still alive were shown no mercy as they were finished off by the First File.

Cara shoved over a man she had just killed. He toppled backward and landed with a numb thud. General Meiffert was close by. She looked more angry at him than at the man she had just killed.

"What do you think you're doing yelling at me-telling me what to do?"

"My job. You were in the way of what Lord Rahl was attempting to do. I needed you out of the way."

Cara glanced back. "Well, I don't care-"

"I don't have time for debate." His anger looked the match of hers. "As long as I'm in charge, you will do as you're told. That's the way it has to be."

She turned her scowl to the corridor where men still moved as they burned alive. Arms become torches waved slowly, uselessly, in the inferno.

Richard had known that there had been too many soldiers filling the corridors to fight them all. He had been trying to get the general, Bruce, Jillian, and Adie out of the way so that Nathan could bring wizard's fire to bear. The general had realized Richard's intention. Cara had been in the way. Being a general in charge, he couldn't allow anyone to question his authority-especially not in the midst of a battle.

Once Cara realized the truth of it, she abandoned the dispute and immediately turned to join Richard as he scrambled across the blood-slick floor to Nicci, who was lying on her back against the wall.

"Nicci?" Richard gently slipped a hand behind her neck. "Hold on. Nathan is here."

Her eyes were rolled up in her head. She was convulsing in pain. Richard could only imagine that Jagang was trying to kill her, but the spell around the palace was impeding that effort. It was putting her through a slow and agonizing death.

He turned. "Nathan! We need you!"

Past the fallen forms of dead Imperial Order soldiers, Richard saw Nathan kneeling beside someone. Richard had a terrible feeling that he knew who it was. Nathan looked up, staring sadly, helplessly at Richard.

"Nicci-hold on. Help is coming. I promise I'll get that collar off you. Hold on." He seized Cara's arm and pulled her close. "Stay with her. I don't want her to think she's alone. I don't want her to give up."

Cara nodded, her blue eyes looking liquid. "Lord Rahl, I'm really glad to see you."

He laid a hand on her shoulder as he stood. "I know. Let me tell you, I'm pretty glad to see you, too."

Richard raced over the top of dead Order soldiers rather than taking the time to find a clear path. It felt surreal to see so many corpses, dismembered limbs and heads, so much blood, defiling the sacred white marble corridors of the palace.

As he swiftly made his way across the tangle of dead, his fears were confirmed when he saw that Nathan was kneeling beside Adie. The old sorceress was hardly breathing.

Richard bent down beside the prophet. "Nathan, you have to help her."

General Meiffert and Jillian knelt on the other side of the old woman. Jillian took up Adie's hand and held it to her breast.

Nathan stared with tired, watery eyes. "I'm sorry, Richard, but this may be beyond my ability."

Richard swallowed back the lump in his throat as he looked down at Adie. She gazed up at him with her completely white eyes, looking very much at peace despite what had to be terrible pain.

"Adie, we made it. Your plan worked. You did it. You got us through."

"I be pleased, Richard." She smiled just a little. "But now you must help Nicci."

"Worry about yourself for now."

She clutched his arm, pulling him a little closer. "You must help her. My part be done. She be your only chance, now, to save all we hold dear in this world."

"But-"

"Help Nicci. She be your only hope now. Promise me you will help her."

Richard nodded as he felt a tear run down his cheek. "I promise."

Her smile widened, pushing back the fine wrinkles of her cheeks.

Richard couldn't help smiling at realizing what she had just done. Zedd had once told him about how sorceresses never tell all they know and in that way lull you into agreeing to things you might not otherwise accept.

"I don't need a sorceress's trick to keep my promise to help Nicci. Nathan will get the collar off her neck."

As she smiled at him, Richard felt her hand tighten just a little. "I not be so sure, Richard. She need help only you can give."

Richard didn't know what he could do that Nathan couldn't. Even if he knew how to use his gift, Richard had long ago lost his connection to it. When Adie's eyes slipped closed and Jillian started to cry with worry, General Meiffert put an arm around her shoulders.

"Lord Rahl!" Cara called.

Both Richard and Nathan looked back at the Mord-Sith hunched over Nicci.

"Hurry!"

"Hold on," Nathan whispered to Adie.

He touched a finger to her forehead. Adie sighed, her muscles slackening.

"That will comfort her for the moment," Nathan said in a confidential tone to Richard. "Maybe with the help of some Sisters I can do something more for her."

Richard nodded, then seized Nathan under the arm and helped pull the man to his feet. On their way to Nicci's side they rushed past tangled figures of the dead. Most of the slain were Imperial Order soldiers, but there were also men of the First File scattered throughout the corridor.

Nicci, if it was possible, looked worse. She shook from the unseen power trying to crush the life out of her.

"You have to get the collar off her," Richard told Nathan. "Jagang has been using the Rada'Han to control her. Now I think he's trying to kill her with it."

Nathan, nodding as he lifted Nicci's eyelid, swiftly evaluated her condition. He reached out, then, and placed both hands on the smooth metal collar around her neck. He closed his eyes for a moment, his brow drawing down with the effort of using unseen powers. The air all around seemed to hum with a soft vibration. After a moment the discordant sensation died away.

"I'm sorry, Richard," he said in a quiet voice as he finally straightened.

"What do you mean, you're sorry? It's still locked on her. You have to get this thing off before it kills her."

Nathan glanced around at all the dead, his azure eyes looking a little wetter than they had a moment before. His sorrowful gaze finally returned to Richard.

"I'm sorry, my boy, but there's nothing I can do."

"Yes there is," Cara said. "You can get the collar off her!"

"I would if I could"-with a dejected look he shook his head-"but I can't. It's held on with both sides of her gift. I have only Additive."

Richard couldn't accept it. "The palace amplifies your ability. You're a Rahl. Your power is greater in this place. You have more power here. Use it!"

"My Additive side is strengthened here ... but I have no Subtractive ability to amplify. Without the Subtractive side to counter the lock, I can do nothing."

"You can try!"

Nathan rested a hand on Richard's shoulder. "I already tried. My ability is not enough. I'm sorry, my boy. I'm afraid that I can do nothing."

"But if you don't, she'll die."

Looking into Richard's eyes, Nathan slowly nodded. "I know."

General Meiffert appeared behind Nathan. "Lord Rahl."

Both Nathan and Richard looked up.

He hesitated for an instant, looking between them both. "We have to do something before they can send more men through those tunnels. There's no telling how many soldiers are still down there in the other halls and rooms, waiting to come up and renew the attack. We must act now."

"Purge the tunnels," Richard said, his own voice sounding hollow to him.

"What?" Nathan asked.

"Clear the corridors first-make sure there are no more Order soldiers up here. Then use wizard's fire. Send it down through the catacombs. The catacombs are places of the dead. Purge them of the living."