Except that he had been able to see her.

Kahlan's thoughts came rushing back in. The thought of that man having Nicci and Jillian made Kahlan feel dizzy and sick. She flicked her hand in a quick gesture.

"We have to help Nicci and Jillian. Commander Karg has them."

Richard didn't hesitate. His gray eyes turned toward where Nicci had vanished. "Hurry. Stay close."

Within a dozen steps they were back in the thick of battle. This time, though, it was not the regular soldiers that Richard had to fight-it was the royal guard. It didn't seem to matter. He moved through them, cutting men down to clear a path for her when he had to, avoiding them when possible.

As a man thrust his sword, Richard stepped back, out of the way, and severed the man's arm, catching the sword before it hit the ground. He tossed the sword to Kahlan. She caught it and immediately had to use it to stop a man going for Richard.

It felt good to have a sword in her hands. It felt good to be able to defend herself. The two of them cut their way onward through the royal guards.

Commander Karg glanced back and saw Richard coming. He let go of Nicci as he turned to his point man, grinning, ready to do battle. The guards all around saw that the commander wanted to handle this himself, so they turned back to their own problems.

"Well, Ruben, it seems-"

Richard swung, decapitating the snake without ceremony. He wasn't interested in anything but what needed to be done. He was a man who didn't need to teach the enemy a lesson. He was only interested in eliminating them.

A guard who had seen what happened started for Richard. Nicci swiftly reached around and pulled her knife across his throat. The man's face registered complete surprise as he clutched at the gaping wound, dropping first to one knee before falling face-first to the ground.

In an instant, they were in the middle of a furious battle. With so many experienced men coming after them, Richard could no longer hold back. He cut into the royal guard with a vengeance.

Worried that there were too many for him, Kahlan couldn't let him do it alone. She now had the advantage of being invisible. She could move among the men attacking Richard and do her own damage. Men expecting to fight Richard fell to her blade coming from nowhere. Between the two of them, they were slaughtering the guard.

Nicci, too, immediately went on the attack. The three of them now had a single purpose-to fight their way out of the midst of the royal guards.

"We need to get to the ramp!" Nicci shouted at Richard.

He pulled his sword out of a man falling past him and frowned at Nicci. "The ramp? Are you sure?"

"Yes!"

Richard didn't argue. He changed the direction of the fight, covering Jillian as he battled his way through the endless mass of big men, making sure that none of them could get at her.

As they stabbed and hacked their way through, Kahlan knew that she had to stay clear of Richard so that he would have the room he needed. Most of the men were going after him. None could see Kahlan, so she pulled Jillian well back out of Richard's way so that the guards couldn't snatch her to use as a shield to get at Richard. Kahlan was better able to protect her than Nicci. Kahlan tried to shield Jillian while she also covered Nicci's back as she went after men who weren't paying attention.

As one of the men behind lifted a sword on Jillian, someone ran him though from behind.

As the dying man fell away, Kahlan found herself staring into the smiling face of a man with the strangest golden eyes.

"I'm here to help you, pretty lady."

Even in the near darkness, the man's sword gleamed.

He was dressed like an Order soldier, but he wasn't one of them. As Jil-lian backed against Kahlan when another man stabbed at her with a sword, the man with the golden eyes spun and with a backhanded swing caught the attacker along the side of the head. When the gleaming sword hit, the guard's head exploded in bits of bone and brain.

Kahlan blinked in astonishment.

Richard saw what was happening and rushed up. The stranger, suddenly looking enraged, thrust that gleaming sword right at Richard.

Richard then did the strangest thing: he just stood there.

Kahlan knew for certain that this time Richard was going to be run through, but the blade, which only an instant before had shattered a man's head, this time did the most bewildering thing. Just before it impaled Richard, it veered off to the side of him, as if he'd been been protected by an invisible shield of some sort.

The man, even more enraged, thrust again, but again the sword simply turned aside, slipping right by Richard. The stranger looked not only surprised, but worried. The worry turned to a look of cold rage.

"It's mine!"

Kahlan couldn't imagine what the man was talking about. Before she had a chance to wonder at it, she saw Nicci collapse, holding her throat.

A new clot of royal guards charged in with such speed and numbers that Richard was forced to turn and engage them or be killed. A new battle was suddenly in full force. Men yelling battle cries rushed in, swords swinging. Richard fought furiously, but he was forced to fall back. As the wave of men poured in, the space between Richard and Kahlan began to widen.

Kahlan started to attack the men swarming in around Richard, but the stranger grabbed her upper arm, pulling her back away. "We have to go. Now. He can handle those men. He's giving us a chance to get away. We have to take it."

"I'm not leaving him to-"

Kahlan suddenly gasped in a breath as the pain came on with full force. The sword fell from her grip. Her hands went to her throat, clawing at the collar. She screamed even though she tried not to. The searing pain was so sharp, so violent, that it was impossible not to scream.

She dropped to her knees, just as Nicci had done. Tears of agony streamed from her eyes.

"Come on!" the stranger yelled. "We have to get away-hurry!"

Kahlan was incapable of doing anything to get away. It was all she could do to pull a breath through the ripping agony.

Through vision blurred by tears, she could see the horror, the rage, on Richard's face as he tried in vain to get to her.

Yet more of the elite royal guard poured in, intent on taking out the point man who had humiliated the emperor and started the riot. Even as his sword killed with every thrust and men fell dying all around him, more and more men charged in and Richard was driven back.

Kahlan fell face-first onto the hard ground. The pain seared down the nerves of her back and then her legs, making them twitch. She had no control over her muscles.

The stranger grabbed Kahlan's arm. "Come on! We have to get away now!"

When she was unable to respond, he started dragging her.