Page 85 of Phantom (Sword of Truth 10)

ul to draw it evenly, without putting any twisting pressure on the sheath or strap. He didn't notice anything as it came completely free.

It felt good to have the weapon in her hand. The emotion of it caused her to remember being back at the White Horse Inn when the Sisters had killed the husband and wife who had run the place. She remembered picking up a heavy cleaver to try to stop them from harming the daughter.

She remembered the deep inner satisfaction at having a weapon in her hand because it represented a sense of having the means to control her own life, to help her to survive. A weapon meant not being at the mercy of evil people who respected no law, whether of man or reason, of not being a helpless prey of those who were stronger and would use that strength to dominate others.

Kahlan twirled the knife across her hand, weaving it through her fingers, watching it reflect the flickering light from the torches as it spun. She caught the handle and for a moment stared at the well-honed, polished blade.

It represented salvation. If not for her, at least for Jillian.

Remembering where she was and what she was doing, Kahlan quickly slipped the weapon down inside her boot. She looked over to make sure that Jillian was quiet and staying put. The girl's eyes had gone wide. Kahlan turned back to her task and carefully drew a second knife from a sheath on the other guard's chest strap. The blade was a little thinner, the weapon a little better balanced. Like the first, she pierced the blade through the leather of her boot, near the top, and slid it down into her boot, being careful to position it as she did, so that the blade would be behind the bone of her ankle. She then pushed the point securely into the bottom of the boot. In the makeshift sheath the knife couldn't move around and cut her when she walked.

As silently as possible, walking lightly on the balls of her feet, Kahlan quickly returned to a startled Jillian. The Sisters and their master were involved in an animated conversation about the relevance of star positions, weather, and time of year to the formation and concentration of power needed for specific spells. The Sisters were explaining the meaning of passages and Jagang was asking questions every few minutes, challenging their assumptions at every turn.

Kahlan was a bit surprised to hear how well versed the man was. The Sisters sometimes found that he had learned more than they knew on certain subjects to do with the boxes of Orden. Jagang didn't look like a man who would be the kind to value knowledge from books, but Kahlan was wrong. While she didn't understand most of what they were talking about, it was obvious that Jagang was well read and more than up to the task of conversing intelligently with the Sisters—especially about subjects that they said were found only in the rarest of books.

He wasn't just a brute. He was worse than that. He was a very smart brute.

"All right," Kahlan said in a voice low enough that she was sure the others couldn't hear her. "I want you to listen to me. We may not have much time."

Jillian's eyes were still wide. "How did you do that?"

"I was right, they can't see me."

"And twirling the knife like you did?"

Kahlan shrugged, dismissing a question she couldn't answer to address more important matters. "Look, I need to get you out of here. This may be our only chance."

Jillian looked horrified at the notion. "But if I escape he will kill my grandfather, and probably the others as well. I can't leave."

"That is the power he holds over you. But if you don't get away, the truth is that you all very well may be killed anyway. You need to understand that this could be the only chance you have, or will ever have, for your freedom."

"Are you really sure of that? How can I risk my grandfather's life on what you think might happen?"

Kahlan took a deep breath. She hadn't wanted to have to explain it. "I don't have time to put it to you nicely, to persuade you in gentle ways. I only have time to give you the bare bones of the truth, so that's what I'm going to do, so listen carefully.

"I know what these men are like. I've seen what they do to young women like you and me—seen it with my own eyes. I've seen their naked broken bodies left sprawled where they lay when Imperial Order soldiers are finished using them, or dumped in ditches like refuse.

"If you don't get away, very bad things are going to happen to you, at best. You will spend the rest of your short life as a slave, being used by soldiers for their sick pleasure and amusement in ways you don't want to learn about. You will spend the rest of your life alternating between terror and sobbing. That's at best. You will live, but wish every moment that you were dead. At worst, you are going to be killed when Jagang leaves.

"Either way, it's a fool's wish to think he's going to let you go. No matter what happens, whether you escape or stay, he might let your grandfather and the others go simply because they may not want to take the time and trouble to kill them. Jagang has more important things he's interested in.

"But you are plunder that has value to him. If nothing else, he will give you to those two guards as a bonus for their service. That's how men such as Jagang draw ruthless brutes like those two into loyal service—by giving them tasty little scraps like you. Do you have any idea what they will do with you—before they cut your throat? Do you?"

Jillian was silent for a moment. She swallowed before speaking. "I know what Jagang meant, before, when he asked if I've ever been with a man—but I pretended I didn't. I know what he meant when he said that he would give me over to his soldiers. I know what he meant when he said they would like getting their hands on a young woman like me. I know what he meant about their desires.

"My family has warned me about the dangers from strangers like these. My mother has explained it. I think that she did not tell me everything, though, so that I wouldn't have nightmares. I think the parts you know would give me nightmares. Before, I only pretended I didn't know what Jagang was talking about so that he wouldn't know how afraid I was of him doing that to me."

Kahlan couldn't help smiling. "That was a very wise thing you did, keeping such knowledge to yourself."

Jillian twisted her mouth, fighting back tears at the grim fate she had just admitted understanding. "You have a plan?"

"Yes. You have long legs, but I still doubt that you can outran them. There's another way, though, a way that uses what you know and they don't. You said that one wrong turn out there and people get lost in the maze of tunnels and rooms. If you get even a small head start you will be able to quickly lose them in all the twists and turns. As complex as this place is, I don't think that even the powers of the Sisters would help them get you, and I don't think that Jagang would waste the time trying."

She still looked dubious. "But I—"

"Jillian, this is a chance for you to escape. Another may never come along. I don't want anything terrible to happen to you. If you stay, it will. I want you to understand that you must take this chance. I want you out of here. This is all I can do for you."

Jillian was overcome with a look of horror. "You mean… you're not going with me?"

Kahlan pressed her lips tight and shook her head. She tapped the metal collar around her neck. "They can stop me with this. It's magic of some sort. They will be able to put me down. But I think that before they do I'll be able to help slow them enough so that you can get away."

"But they will hurt you, or even kill you, for helping me get away."

"They are going to hurt me anyway—Jagang has already promised me the worst he can dream up. He can do no more than he already intends. As for killing me, I don't think they would do that, for now at least. They still need me.

"I'm helping you get away and that's all there is to it. My mind is made up. It's my choice. It's the only thing I can do, the only thing that I have a choice about. If I help you, then it makes my own life, no matter what will become of me, mean more to me. I will at least have done something to fight back. I will at least have this victory over them."

Jillian stared at her. "You're as brave as Lord Rahl."

Kahlan's eyebrows lifted. "Yo

u mean Richard Rahl? You know Richard Rahl?"

Jillian nodded. "He helped me, too."

Kahlan shook her head in wonder. "For living out here in the middle of nowhere, you sure seem to have met a lot of important people. What was he doing here?"

"He came back from the dead."

Kahlan frowned. "What?"

"Well, not exactly the dead, really. At least that's what he told me. But he came up from the well of the dead in the graveyard, just as the tellings said he would. I am the priestess of the bones. I am his servant, a dream-caster. He is my master. There have been many priestesses of the bones before me, but he never came for them. I never knew that it would turn out that he would come back in my lifetime.

"He came to find books, too. He is the one who found this place—I never even knew it was down here. None of my people knew. Even my grandfather never knew this place of bones was here.

"Richard was looking for a book to help him find someone important to him. The book was called Chainfire. Once he discovered this place and brought me down here, I'm the one who found the book for him. He was really excited. I was so happy that I was the one who helped him find what he needed.

"Since coming down here with him, I've spent all my time exploring this place, learning every turn and tunnel and room. I hope Richard will return one day, as he said he might, and then I will be able to show him everything. I very much want to make him proud of me."

Kahlan could see the longing in Jillian's eyes to satisfy the man, to do something he would value, to have him recognize her effort and ability.

Kahlan wanted to ask a thousand questions, but she didn't have the time. She couldn't resist one, though.

"What's he like?"

"Master Rahl saved my life. I've never met anyone else like him." Jillian smiled in a distant way. "He was, well, I don't know…" She sighed, unable to find the words.

"I see," Kahlan said at the dreamy look in the girl's copper-colored eyes.

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