"Rachel…?" he whispered.

Her smile widened into a beaming grin.

Zedd looked up at the face of the big man standing guard behind her.

"Dear spirits…" Zedd whispered.

It was the boundary warden.

"I hear you've gotten yourself into a bit of trouble," Chase said.

For an instant, Zedd thought that for sure he must be seeing things.

Then he realized why Rachel looked so familiar, yet different; she was more than two and a half years older than the last time he'd seen her. Her blond hair, once chopped short, was now long. She had to be nearly a foot taller.

Chase hooked his thumbs behind the broad leather belt. "Adie, as levelheaded as you are, I imagine it had to be Zedd who got you into this fix."

Zedd looked over his shoulder. Adie wore a beautiful, tearful smile. He couldn't remember the last time he had seen her smile.

"He be nothing but trouble," she told the boundary warden.

It had been two and a half years since he'd seen Chase. The boundary warden was an old friend. He was the one who had taken them to meet Adie back then so she could show Richard the way through the boundary before Darken Rahl had brought it down. Chase was older than Richard, but one of his dearest and most trusted friends.

"An older boundary warden, Friedrich, came looking for me," Chase explained. "He said that 'Lord Rahl' had sent him to the Keep to warn you about some trouble. He said that Richard had told him about me, and since you were gone and the Keep had been captured, he came to Westland looking for me. Boundary wardens can always count on one another.

"Rachel and I decided to come pull your scrawny hide out of the fire."

Zedd glanced at the sunlight coming through the tent's narrow opening.

"You have to get out of here. Before the sun sets-or you'll be killed.

Hurry, get out of here while you can."

Chase lifted an eyebrow. "I've come all this way and I don't intend to leave without you."

"But you don't understand-"

A knife poked through the side of the tent and ran a slit down through the canvas. One of the elite guards pushed his way in through the slit. Zedd stared in astonishment. The man looked familiar, but he didn't look right.

"No!" Zedd called to Chase as the big man went for the axe hanging at his hip.

"Stay where you are," the man who came in through the slit in the side of the tent said to Chase. "There's a man right outside who will put a sword through you if you move."

Zedd's jaw dropped. "Captain Zimmer?"

"Of course. I've come to get you out of here."

"But, but, you have black hair."

The captain flashed one of his infectious smiles. "Soot. Not a good idea to have blond hair in the middle of Jagang's camp. I've come to rescue you."

Zedd was incredulous. "But you all have to get out of here. Hurry, before the sun sets. Get out!"

"Do you have any more men?" Chase asked the captain.

"A handful. Who are you?"

"An old friend," Zedd told him. "Now, look here-"

At that, cries and shouts came from outside. Captain Zimmer rushed to the tent's opening. A man poked his head in.

"It's not us," he said in answer to the captain's unspoken question.

In the distance, Zedd could hear the shouts of "Assassin!"

Captain Zimmer rushed behind Zedd and worked a key in the manacles.

They broke open. Zedd's arms were suddenly free. The captain hurried to undo Adie's as she stood and turned her back to him.

"Sounds like our chance," Rachel said. "Let's use the commotion to get you out of here."

"The brains of the group," Chase said with a grin.

The first thing Zedd did when his arms were free was fall to his knees and hug the girl. He couldn't bring forth words, but they weren't needed. To feel her spindly arms around his neck was better than any words.

"I've missed you, Zedd," she whispered in his ear.

Outside the tent, mayhem had broken out. Orders were being shouted, men were running, and in the distance the clash of steel rang out.

The Sister burst back into the tent. She saw Zedd free and immediately released a bolt of power through his collar. The shock sent him sprawling.

Just then, a second, young, blond Sister in a drab brown wool dress charged in behind Sister Tahirah. Sister Tahirah spun around. The second Sister smacked her so hard it nearly knocked the woman from her feet.

Without pause, Sister Tahirah unleashed a bolt of her power that lit the inside of the tent with a blinding flash. Instead of it blasting the second Sister back through the tent's doorway, as Zedd had expected, Sister Tahirah cried out and crumpled to the ground.

"Got you!" the second Sister growled as she planted a boot on Sister Tahirah's neck, keeping her on the ground.

Zedd blinked in astonishment. "Rikka?"

Rikka was already turning, her Agiel in her fist. She held it toward Chase.

"Rikka?" Captain Zimmer asked from the other side of the tent, sounding startled, not just to see who it was, but perhaps to see the Mord-Sith with her blond hair undone from its single braid and flying free.

"Zimmer?" She frowned at his black hair. "What are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here? What are you doing here!" He gestured to her dress. "What are you wearing?"

Rikka grinned that wicked grin she had. "The dress of a Sister."

"Sister?" Zedd asked. "What Sister?"

Rikka shrugged. "One who didn't want to give up her dress. She lost her head over the whole affair." With her finger and thumb Rikka pulled her lower lip out. "See? I borrowed her ring, too. I spread the split and hung it here, so I'd look like a real Sister."

Rikka pulled Sister Tahirah up by her hair and shoved her toward Adie.

"Get that thing off her neck."

"I will do no such-"

Rikka drove her Agiel up under the Sister's chin. Blood gushed out over her lower lip. The Sister started choking on it as she gasped in agony.

"I said, get that thing off Adie's neck. And don't you ever question me again."

Sister Tahirah scrambled to Adie to do as the Mord-Sith had commanded.

Chase planted his fists on his hips as he glared down at Zedd, still on the ground. "So what are we going to do now-draw straws to see who gets to rescue you?"

"Bags! Isn't anyone listening? You people have to get out of here!"

Rachel shook a finger at Zedd. "Now, Zedd, you know you're not supposed to say bad words in front of children."

Sputtering in frustration, Zedd gaped up at Chase.

"I know," the boundary warden said with a sigh. "She's been a trial for me, too."

"The sun's about to set!" Zedd roared.

"It would be better if we could delay until it did," Captain Zimmer said. "It would be easier to get out of camp in the dark."

A humming noise filled the tent, making the very air vibrate, and then there was a sudden metallic pop. Adie cried out with relief as the collar fell away.

"Isn't anyone listening?" Zedd scrambled to his feet and shook his fists. "I've ignited a sunset spell!"

"A what?" Chase asked.

"A sunset spell. It's a protective device from the Keep. It's a shield of sorts. When it recognizes that other shields are being violated and protected items are being taken, it insinuates itself among the stolen goods. When a thief opens it to see what it is, it activates the spell. At the first sunset the spell ignites and destroys everything that has been plundered."

Sister Tahirah shook her fist at him. "You fool!"

Rikka seized his arm. "Then let's get going."

Chase grabbed Zedd's other arm and pulled him back. "Now, hold on."

Zedd yanked both arms free and pointed out through the slit in the side of the tent at the setting sun. "We've got mere moments until this place is a fireball."

"How big a fireball?" Captain Zimmer asked.

Zedd threw up his hands. "It will kill thousands. It won't destroy the camp by any means, but this whole area is going to be leveled."