Confessor: Chainfire Trilogy Part 3

She had to be a Sister of the Dark, he decided. He supposed that it didn't really matter.

"I bet you're not too happy to see my face again," she said in a tone of smug satisfaction.

She probably thought she had been important, thought the whole world would know her haughty scowl, her condescending attitude, her sharp tongue. Some people thought they could gain prominence, prestige, and renown through pompous arrogance. They mistook fear for respect. Richard really didn't remember the woman, though, and saw no point in humoring her.

"Can't say that I really remember you. Should I, for some reason?"

"Liar! Everybody at the palace knew me!"

"That's nice," Richard said, trying to stall so that he could recover some of his strength.

"On your feet!"

Richard did his best to try to comply. It wasn't easy. His limbs didn't work as well as he would have liked.

Once he was up onto his hands and knees she kicked him in the ribs. Richard winced at the blow. Fortunately, she didn't have the weight or power to make the kick damaging, merely painful. It was her gift that was dangerous.

"Now!" she screamed.

Richard staggered to his feet. His arms and leg were beginning to shake off the searing pain. His head wasn't.

The men all around were still down, but some of them looked like the} were beginning to regain consciousness. Bruce rolled over, groaning as he clutched his head.

The Sister's gaze flicked across at a rise in the noise of the battle in the darkness beyond. Richard used the opportunity to take a quick glance, surveying the weapons on the ground. If she turned her back on him he had to take the chance. Once Jagang had him strapped down in the torture tents Richard knew that he would never see the light of day again.

As much as that fate terrified him, a part of him couldn't help feeling lighthearted knowing that Kahlan had gotten away. He swallowed back his anguish at the tears he had seen in her eyes as she had made good her escape. It reminded him of how much she loved him, but she no longer remembered that.

"You don't know how long I've waited for something like this, something that could gain me the emperor's favor. At last the Creator has answered my prayers and delivered you into my grasp."

"So," Richard said, "your Creator is in the habit of delivering victims to you in answer to prayers? He is so giddy at the flattery of your grimy hands pressed together in supplication to him that he is only too eager to help you fill the torture tents?"

She watched him with a slow, cunning smile. "Your flippant tongue will shortly be cut out so humble servants of the Creator will not have to hear you spout your blasphemy."

"A few people have told me that my flippant tongue is one of my shortcomings, so you will only be doing me a service by removing it."

Her cunning smile curdled with bile. She turned to the side, gesturing expansively out at the camp. "You think that you-"

Richard slammed a kick to the side of her face with all the force he could muster. The powerful blow completely caught her off guard, lifting her feet clear of the ground as it smashed into her. Teeth and blood flew off into the darkness. She landed on her side with a hard thud. The stunning impact of his boot looked to have shattered her jaw.

Richard dove for a sword. He knew that he dared not underestimate such a woman. Until she was dead, she could kill him-or make him wish that he was dead. His fingers seized the hilt of a sword. He spun around to plunge it into her.

The air exploded with light. Richard landed on his back so hard that it drove the air from his lungs.

She was up, blood streaming from the bottom of her face in long strings that whipped around as she lifted both hands. Richard could hardly believe that she was able to stand. She looked like the freshly dead come back to life. He knew that she couldn't last for long, but she could very well last long enough to kill him.

The shock of the blow had obviously done horrific damage, yet that sudden shock in the heat of battle also kept her from feeling the pain right then. While for all he knew she might shortly begin to feel it and collapse screaming in agony, at the moment she wasn't feeling it and a moment was all she was going to need.

Murder filled her eyes.

Richard tried to scramble to his feet to finish her, but it felt like a bull had lain down on his chest. The air was being squeezed out of him.

She took a step toward him, then paused, looking confused. Her eyes went out of focus. She abruptly clutched her chest.

Richard blinked in surprise as he watched her stumble forward another step and topple face-first, slamming hard onto the ground without even trying to break her fall. He stared for an instant, not sure if it was a trick of some kind. She didn't move. The weight had lifted from his chest.

Not wanting to waste the opportunity, he grabbed the sword he'd dropped.