Confessor: Chainfire Trilogy Part 3

The cover over the door abruptly lifted to the side. Jagang shoved Nicci through the opening. She stumbled and fell at Kahlan's feet. The woman's eyes briefly turned up, but she pretended not to see Kahlan right there in front of her. It was a deception that had not changed since Jagang had captured her.

Kahlan could see the rage in Nicci's eyes. She could see the pain, too. She could also see the desperate despair.

Kahlan wanted to hold her, comfort her, and tell her that it would be all right. But she couldn't do such a thing. And, she certainly.couldn't tell her that it would be all right.

"What have you found out?" Jagang asked the two Sisters as he stepped up behind them.

Sister Ulicia tapped one of the books. He leaned over her shoulder, peering down at where she pointed.

"Right here, Excellency. They are all three different in this place right here."

"Which one is correct?"

Both sisters shrank back a little.

"Excellency," Sister Ulicia said in a hesitant voice, "it is still too early to tell."

"We must have the other copies if we are to know for sure," Sister Armina blurted out.

Jagang turned his gaze on her for a moment and then, uncharacteristically, merely grunted indifferently. He glanced around, checking that Kahlan was still in the chair where he'd told her to stay. He saw, too, that Jillian was on the floor and guards were watching over all of them.

"Keep studying the books," Jagang told the two Sisters. "I'm going to the Ja'La games. Watch the girl."

He shoved Nicci out ahead of him and then snapped his fingers at Kahlan, indicating that he expected her to come along as well, and that he expected her to stay close to him. Kahlan snatched up her cloak and followed after him. She was at least glad that Jillian would not have to be anywhere near the mobs of soldiers, or Jagang. Of course, Jagang could exert his control through the Sisters and thus harm Jillian in any way he wished, anywhere he wished, any time he wished.

After throwing her cloak around her shoulders, Kahlan gave the worried Jillian a hand gesture to urge her to stay put. The girl's copper-colored eyes stared up at Kahlan as she returned a nod. She was afraid to be left alone. Kahlan sympathized, but she could offer no real protection even if Jillian was with her.

Outside the tent a few hundred well-armed guards quickly assembled into ranks, ready to escort the emperor. Such big men, with chain-mail armor and gleaming weapons, were an intimidating presence. Half a dozen of Kahlan's special guards, looking somewhat less intimidating but no less brutish, formed up around her. Jagang's meaty hand gripped Nicci's slender white arm, steering her through the spaces that opened in overlapping walls of the men.

Most of those men took a good long look at Nicci. She might have been Jagang's woman, but they still wanted a look. They were careful, though, to make sure that the emperor didn't see them leering. Those looks left Kahlan relieved that most of these men couldn't see her.

Although it was overcast, the clouds didn't look thick enough to threaten rain. It hadn't rained in quite a while and the ground had turned to dusty hardpan. In the flat, gray light the army camp looked all the darker, all that much grimier. Smoke from cook fires hung in the air, masking the stench to a degree.

As they marched through endless, noisy clusters of men and equipment, Jagang asked one of his more trusted personal guards about the Ja'La games. The man filled the emperor in on the various matches that had taken place since the last report, giving Jagang a rundown on each of the teams as he asked about them.

"Karg's team?" Jagang asked. "Have they been doing well?"

The guard nodded. "Undefeated so far. Their margin of victory yesterday wasn't as great as it has been, though."

Jagang's steely smile was as cold and the sky. "I hope they win toda\ Of all the teams come to challenge me, I hope my team gets to crush that team."

The guard gestured off to the left. "They're playing today-over that way. This is the final game for them. With the way the matches have gone so far, if they win today then they alone will advance to the head of all the teams and you will have your wish, Excellency. If not, then there will have to be elimination games. But your team will play them if they are the winner of this match."

As they walked, with Jagang conversing with his guard, Nicci cast a brief glance back over her shoulder at Kahlan. Kahlan knew that she was thinking about the man Kahlan had told her about. Kahlan felt a flutter of anxiety.

As they took a course through the jumble of the camp in the direction the guard indicated, pushing their way through tightly packed throngs of men as they got ever closer to the Ja'La field, Kahlan could hear soldiers in the distance cheering and shouting encouragement to their favored team. Even this far back, with no chance to see the action, men waited for word on the score to be relayed back to them.