Once they were in the defenders' territory and at the first scoring line, long before they reached the regular scoring zone, the column of men burst apart, crashing into the blockers converging on them. For an instant, it opened a pocket of safety for Richard.

He heaved the broc from that rear line. It was a long way to the goal. As the broc arced through the night air, illuminated by torches, the crowd leaned forward as one, all holding their breath, all eyes watching.

With a thunk, the broc landed solidly in the net, scoring two points.

The crowd exploded with a thunderous roar that made the air tremble and the ground shudder.

Richard's team was now ahead by one point. The emperor's team had no more turns of the hourglass; there was no way for them to win. Even though there was time left on the play for Richard's team, they didn't need it. The game was as good as won, even though it wasn't yet over and the sand in the hourglass continued to drizzle down.

Emperor Jagang stood stone-faced. His guards, looking grim, put their weight into holding back the excited crowds to each side as the cheering went on unabated.

Jagang finally thrust an arm up high. The wild celebration began to die out as attention turned to see what the emperor would do. Jagang signaled for the referee.

Kahlan shared a brief look with Nicci. They couldn't hear as the men conferred, heads together.

The referee, looking a little pale, gave the emperor a nod and then ran out to the center of the field, holding up a hand to indicate a ruling.

"The challenger went out of bounds as he ran along the sideline," the referee called into the still night air. "The points don't count. His excellency's team still leads by one. Play must resume until time runs out."

If the crowd had gone wild when Richard had scored, they now went berserk. The entire army watching the game was in turmoil.

Richard, though, didn't look at all moved by the ruling. In fact, he was already down at his end along with his men, as if he had expected it. His men, looking all business, didn't seem discouraged, either.

As the referee tossed them the broc, they were ready. In Ja'La, play couldn't be interrupted. Jagang's team, however, had been celebrating their sudden turn of fortune and weren't yet formed up to defend their goals. Richard's team, having little time left, didn't waste any and charged away immediately.

As they raced up the field they went to their left this time, to the opposite side of the field from where Kahlan stood watching. Again, they formed into the same tight column, the hand of each man resting on the shoulder of the man in front of him. They were running the same play, but reversing it.

The other difference was that this time they kept well away from the sideline-far enough away that anyone, especially the crowd on that side of the field, could see that they were nowhere near the side boundary.

Jagang's team saw what was coming but hadn't yet organized a defense to stop the formation bearing down on them. They realized the jeopardy and raced to block the advancing team.

When Richard's team plowed through the loose net of blockers and reached the same scoring line as the play before, to the rear of the regular scoring zone, the men again scattered to create a pocket to protect their point man. In that instant, clear of defenders, Richard heaved the broc.

It sailed over the outstretched arms of Jagang's team and thunked into the net for two points.

The crowd erupted in wild cheering.

The horn blew, hardly heard over the thunderous roar.

The game was over. Richard's team had won the championship- several times over.

Jagang, his face red with rage, took a long step back, reached out, seized Nicci's upper arm, and then yanked her forward to his side.

He thrust his other arm into the air to halt the proceedings. The referee and his assistants stood frozen, watching Jagang. The cheering faltered and the dismayed crowd slowly fell to silence.

"Their point man stepped over the boundary line!" Jagang roared into the cold night air. "He ran out of bounds!"

When he had run the play before last, since he had been so close, Kahlan had been able to see that he was not over the boundary line. In fact, people standing right along the boundary line had been reaching out, trying to touch him, and he'd been out of reach. This time, even if Richard really had run out of bounds, there was no way Jagang could have seen it all the way across the field.

"The play was dead!" Jagang yelled. "No points scored! Game over! The royal team wins the championship!"

The hillsides of men stared in disbelief.

"Jagang the Just has spoken!" Nicci shouted out to the crowd, mocking Jagang's decree.

Richard had just forced Jagang the Just to demonstrate to all that under the Order justice was a meaningless slogan. And Nicci had twisted the knife for him.

Jagang backhanded her hard enough to send her sprawling at Kahlan's feet.

The supporters of the emperor's team went crazy with jubilation. Men jumped up and down as they shouted and cheered, as if they themselves had actually accomplished something.

The supporters of Richard's team went crazy with rage.

Kahlan, holding her breath, gripped the knife tightly in her fist, checking the position of her guards as Jillian bent to help the woman bleeding on the ground at their feet.

Supporters of Jagang's team shouted taunts at men who shouted back that their team were cheats and had lost. Men started shoving one another. Fists started flying. Men everywhere sided with one group or the other as weapons were drawn.

In an instant the entire camp was in riot.

The hillsides of men seemed to break, then suddenly begin to avalanche down toward the Ja'La field. In the frantic melee it seemed the entire army was unexpectedly caught up in pitched battle.

Kahlan wouldn't have believed it was possible, but Nicci was right.

Richard had just started a war.

CHAPTER 35

Jagang's royal guard strained, putting their backs into the struggle to hold back the mob to each side. An enraged emperor watched as a fierce battle broke out all around him. He made no move to retreat to safety. If anything, he looked like he wanted nothing more than to join the battle. His guards did their best to keep that battle as far away from him as possible.

Kahlan spotted Richard on the far side of the field. In the torchlight his red paint stood out like a warning that the underworld itself was about to open up and swallow them all. Behind him and the men of his team the entire hillside was in full riot. The drunken rampage, unleashed hatred, and hunger for blood ran unchecked.

Kahlan began to worry that the red paint Richard wore would mark him as a target of all the supporters of the emperor's team. All those spectators knew very well who he was and what he had just done. He was the object of both adoration and hatred. She feared that what had started as a way to hide him would end up being the thing that made him easy to spot by those who wanted to kill him.

Taking appraisal of her half-dozen special guards in attendance and seeing that at the moment they were more worried about protecting the life of the emperor than watching her, Kahlan quickly squatted down beside Jillian. Strings of blood lay across Nicci's face. A line of welts from Jagang's rings ran at an angle up the side of her cheek. She was dazed but seemed to be awakening.

"Nicci," Kahlan whispered urgently as she gently lifted the woman's shoulders and head, "are you badly hurt?"

Nicci's blue eyes blinked, trying to make out Kahlan's face. "What?"

"Are you hurt bad?" With a finger, Kahlan lifted a few strands of blond hair back from Nicci's eyes. "Is anything broken?"