Rachel nodded. "I fixed it."

Richard stared down at her. "You fixed it?"

Chase gave Richard a look. "Like I said, there are some things we need to talk about, but now is not the time. As I hear it told, you're in a big hurry. You only have until the new moon."

With a feeling of sinking dread, Richard glanced at the sliver of a moon. "I can't get back to the People's Palace by the new moon. It's too far away."

"You aren't going to the Peoples' Palace," Chase reminded him. "You're going to Tamarang."

Richard grasped Chase by the arm. "Take me to the horses. I'm running out of time."

Chase nodded. "So my mother told me."

CHAPTER 55

Zedd winced in pain. He heard someone calling his name again. The voice sounded like it was drifting into him from some distant world. He didn't want to answer the call, didn't want to open his eyes, didn't want to be fully conscious and have to feel the full brunt of awareness.

"Zedd," the voice called again.

A big hand shook him, gently rocking his body back and forth. Zedd forced his eyes open just a little, squinting with the full dread of consciousness. Rikka and Tom, hunched over him, were both looking down with intent worry. Zedd saw that the side of Tom's blond hair was matted with blood.

"Zedd, are you all right?"

It was Rikka's voice, he realized. He blinked, trying to tell if every bone in his body was broken or if it only felt that way. Fear lurking in the shadows of his mind whispered that this might be the end of everything.

His middle hurt. That was where Six's spell had caught him.

He felt like a fool. Having taken the measure of her before, he had been prepared. He had been sure that he could counter the woman's ability- and he would have been able to, except that she had caught him off guard with a form of constructed spell, a little surprise that she'd had drawn in the caves, patiently waiting for his arrival should he ever enter her domain. Even though it was the type of thing he'd never known a witch woman to do, he should have considered that possibility. He should have been ready for a trick.

She was a witch woman, not a sorceress or wizard, and she knew that, while she had considerable talents of her own, she was vulnerable to certain things Zedd could do. He had revealed some of those things back at the Wizard's Keep by preventing her from killing him and the others when she tried. She had learned from that experience and found a way to construct a counter-something that was simply out of character for a witch woman. It was quite brilliant, actually, but right then he wasn't exactly in the mood to marvel at her accomplishment.

"Zedd," Rikka said, "are you all right?"

"I think so," he managed. "You?"

Rikka grunted with a note of displeasure. "They were certainly ready for us. Whatever she did kept me from being able to stop her."

"Well, don't feel bad, she did the same to me."

"With you unconscious all those soldiers were more than I could handle," Tom added. "Sorry, Zedd, but I let you down when you needed me the most. I should have been the steel against steel for you."

Zedd squinted up at the man. "Don't be silly. Steel has its limits. It was I who shouldn't have allowed us to be taken in such a way. I should have known better and been prepared for it."

"I guess we all failed," Rikka said.

"Worse, we failed Richard. We didn't even make it into the cave to help him. We need to get into the cave to break that spell keeping him from his gift."

"Not much hope of that, now," Rikka said.

"We'll see about that," Zedd grumbled. "At least it appears we're safe for the moment."

"Unless Six returns to finish us."

Zedd peered up at the man. "You're a comfort."

With the help of both of them pulling on his arms, Zedd sat up. "Where are we, anyway?" he asked as he looked around in the dim light.

"Some sort of prison room," Tom said. "The walls are entirely stone, except for the door. The hallway outside is filled with guards."

It wasn't especially large. A lantern burned on a small table. There was a single chair. Other than that the room was barren.

"The ceiling is beams and planks," Zedd observed. "I wonder if I could breach them with my power, enough for us to sneak out of here."

With their help he staggered to his feet. Rikka steadied him as he lifted an arm to use his gift to probe the ceiling.

"Bags," he muttered. "When she used that constructed spell she also put some kind of barrier around this room. It keeps me from breaching it with my gift. We're sealed in."

"Something else," Tom said. "The guards are mostly Imperial Order soldiers. It appears that Six is working on the same side as Jagang."

Zedd scratched his scalp. "Great, that's all we need."

"At least she didn't kill us," Tom offered.

"Yet," Rikka added.

Zedd squinted as he looked up at the ceiling. He pointed. "What's that?"

"What?" Tom said, looking up.

"That there. At the edge of the ceiling, up against the wall. There is something wedged between that last beam and the top of the wall."

Tom pulled the chair over and used it to reach the dark bundle hidden in the shadow of the beam. He tugged on it until it suddenly fell to the floor. Some of the things inside tumbled out.

"Dear spirits," Zedd said, "that's Richard's pack."

He recognized some of the things that had fallen out. He bent to right the pack, inspecting the clothes briefly before stuffing them back inside the pack.

When he lifted the black shirt trimmed in gold and returned it to the pack, he spotted a book lying on the floor. He picked it up, squinting in the dim light of the lantern.

"What sort of book is it?" Rikka asked.

Tom leaned closer to see. "What does it say?"

Zedd could hardly believe what he was seeing. "The title says Secrets of a War Wizard's Power."

Rikka let out a low whistle.

"My sentiment as well," Zedd muttered as he inspected the front and back covers. "Where in the world would Richard have gotten such a thing? This could be invaluable."

"What does it say about his powers?" Rikka asked, as if eager for gossip.

Zedd opened the cover and turned over a page, then another. He blinked in surprise.

"Dear spirits . . ." he murmured in astonishment.

Nicci looked up when she saw a shadow fill the doorway. It was Cara.

"How are you doing?" the Mord-Sith asked in a quiet voice that seemed to get lost in the somber room.

Nicci's gaze wandered off to stare into space. She couldn't really see the relevance of the question. She supposed that Cara was just trying to find something to say, something that reflected her genuine concern. It struck Nicci as tragic that a Mord-Sith would come to finally possess such simple, decent qualities when it was too late to matter.

"I don't know anymore, Cara."

"Have you figured out what went wrong?"

Nicci looked up from the padded leather chair she was in. "What went wrong? Isn't it pretty obvious?"

Cara stepped closer and idly stroked a finger along the other side of the mahogany table. In the dimly lit library her red leather stood out like a splash of blood.

"But Lord Rahl will find a way back."

It sounded to Nicci like a plea rather than a statement.

"Cara, if Richard was coming back he would have been back ten days ago," Nicci said in a dejected voice, unable to summon a lie. Cara deserved more than to have the truth obscured with the deceit of false hope.

"Well, maybe it took longer than the two of you thought it would take."

Nicci wished it were that simple. She shook her head. "He should have been back by the next morning. Since he never returned that means he didn't survive what he-"