Chainfire: Chainfire Trilogy Part 1

"And don't forget," Nicci added, "the Brothers of the Fellowship of Order who escaped will be among those working to help to reestablish the Order's authority. Such gifted men are no ordinary foe. We've hardly begun to root them out."

"All true enough, but you can't work iron to your will until you get it good and hot." Victor tightened a defiant fist before them. "At least we've begun to do what must be done."

Nicci conceded that much with a nod and a small smile to soften the dark picture she had helped paint. She knew that Victor was right, that the task had to begin somewhere and at some point. He had already helped ring the hammer of freedom for a people who had all but given up hope. She just didn't want him to lose sight of the reality of the difficulty that lay ahead.

Nicci would have been relieved to hear Richard dealing logically with the important matters at hand, but she knew better. When Richard locked on to something vital to him, he might address peripheral issues when necessary but it would be a grave mistake to think that it diminished in the least his focus on his objective. In fact, he had delivered his warnings to Victor in swift summary-a mere matter to be gotten out of the way. She could see in his eyes that he was preoccupied with matters of far more importance to him.

Richard finally turned his riveting gray eyes on Nicci.

"You weren't with Victor and his men?"

In a sudden flash of comprehension, Nicci realized why the matter of the soldiers and their supply convoy was important to him: It was a mere element of a greater equation. He was trying to unravel how and if the convoy figured into the illusion he still clung to. It was that calculation he was working to resolve.

"No," Nicci said. "We'd had no word and didn't know what had happened to you. In my absence, Victor left to begin searching for you. Not long after, I returned to Altur'Rang. I found out where Victor had gone and set out to join him. I was still some distance behind at the end of my second day of travel, so the third day I started out before dawn, hoping to catch up with him. I'd been traveling for almost two hours when I arrived nearby and heard the battle. I reached the fighting right at the end."

Richard nodded thoughtfully. "I woke and Kahlan was gone. Since we were close to Altur'Rang, my first thought was that if I could find you, then maybe you could help me find Kahlan. That's when I heard the soldiers coming through the woods."

Richard gestured up a rise. "I heard them coming through those trees, there. I had darkness on my side. They hadn't seen me yet, so I was able to surprise them."

"Why didn't you hide?" Victor asked.

"More were coming down from that way, and others were coming in from that direction. I didn't know how many there were, but the way they were fanned out suggested to me that they were searching the woods. That made hiding risky. As long as there was any possibility that Kahlan might be close and maybe hurt, I couldn't run. If I hid and waited until the soldiers had a chance to find me then I would lose the element of surprise. Worse yet, dawn was approaching. Darkness and surprise worked to my advantage. With Kahlan missing I didn't have a moment to lose. If they had her, I had to stop them."

No one commented.

Richard turned to Cara, next. "And where were you?"

Cara blinked in surprise. She had to think a moment before she could answer. "I–I'm not exactly sure."

Richard frowned. "You're not sure? What do you remember?"

"I was on watch. I was checking some distance out from our camp. I guess something must have aroused my concern and so I was making sure the area was clear. I caught a whiff of smoke and was starting to investigate that when I heard battle cries."

"So you rushed back?"

Cara idly pulled her braid forward over her shoulder. She looked to be having difficulty remembering clearly. "No.» She frowned in recollection. "No, I knew what was happening-that you were being attacked —because I heard the clash of steel and men dying. I had only just realized that it was Victor and his men camped off in that direction, that it was the smoke from their campfire I smelled. I knew that I was much closer to them than you, so I thought that the smartest thing to do would be to rouse them and bring their help with me."

"That makes sense," Richard said. He wearily wiped beads of rain from his face.

"That's right," Victor said. "Cara was right there close when I heard the clash of steel as well. I remember because I was lying awake in the quiet."

Richard's brow drew together. He looked up. "You were awake?"

"Yes. The howl of a wolf woke me."

CHAPTER 5

With sudden intensity Richard leaned in a little toward the blacksmith. "You heard wolves howl?"

"No," Victor said as he frowned in recollection, "there was just one."