Janet fell to her knees, convulsing in sobs as she covered her mouth with both hands. Verna sank down beside her and hugged her.

"You don't know what Jagang's men do to us," Janet cried. "You don't know, Verna!"

"I understand," Verna whispered. "Hush now. It's all right, now. We'll get you away from here."

Janet shook her head against Verna's shoulder. "I won't leave Amelia here. I'm all she has. I'm a Sister of the Light. The Creator would never forgive me if I abandoned her. If I leave her. I'd be leaving my duty to the Creator. She's my friend. She came back to the Light. She came back to the Creator.

"Jagang sent her to the tents, again. If I'm not here when she comes back, she'll go crazy. No one else will tend to her. The Sisters of the Dark won't go near her. and the Sisters of the Light won't forgive her. I'm her only friend. I'm the only one who forgave her and accepted her back to the Light.

"She'll be a bloody mess when she gets back. You don't know what Jagang's men are like. Except for broken bones, Jagang won't allow us to use the gift to heal one another when we come back from the tents. He says it's part of the lesson, that our souls may belong to the Creator when we die, but in this life, Jagang owns our bodies.

"We can have our broken bones knitted by the gift when we come back. but until then, we have to suffer the agony of that along with everything else. If I'm not here, no one else will heal that much for her, or comfort her." Janet was nearly hysterical. "I won't leave without Amelia." Verna felt dizzy and sick to her stomach. Her heart pounded in terror. Bile rose into her throat.

Verna's voice broke. "How do you endure it?"

Janet held her fists to her heart. "We are Sisters of the Light: we must endure for the Creator."

Verna shared a long look with Warren's troubled eyes. "Do you know where we can find her? Maybe we could go find her and take her with us."

Janet shook her head. "We're passed among the tents. She could be anywhere. The army is spread out for miles and miles in every direction.

"Not long ago, more captured women were sent back here. The screams are everywhere, so you can't simply follow the sounds of screams. Besides, if we went out among the tents, we wouldn't last five minutes before we were dragged into one of them."

"How long?" Verna asked. "How long until Amelia is back?" "Five days, but she won't be able to walk for at least a day after that, maybe two."

Verna held a tight grip on her rage. "There's nothing saying I can't use my gift to cure her once she's back."

Janet looked up. "That's true. Five days, then. Tomorrow night is the full moon. The fourth day after the full moon."

"Are you able to leave this place? In order to meet us? I don't think we can get back in here again."

"Not very far. I can't even imagine how you could have gotten in here." Verna showed the woman a tight smile. "I'm not Prelate for nothing. Warren helped, too. We'll come back, four nights after the full moon."

"Verna, there's one other thing. If Jagang can't enter my dreams, he will know something is wrong."

Verna pressed her hands to her face. "But you've already given the oath. You can't take it back, or it would mean nothing. You have already given your heart to Richard." "Then I'll have to be careful." "Can you do that? Can you get away with it?"

Janet touched her fingers to her lips. "What choice do I have? I'll have to." Verna held out her dacra. "Here. At least you can protect yourself." Janet pushed it away as if it were poison. "If I was caught with that thing, I'd be sent out to the tents for a year."

"Well, at least you can use your gift, now that Jagang can't enter your mind to prevent it."

"It won't do any good here. Jagang has total control over all those with the gift who are here-Sisters and wizards. It would be spitting into a storm to try to use my gift against them."

"I know. That's why we can't try to take the others right now. We'd never make it. The Sisters of the Dark would fight us, and with their use of Subtractive Magic, they would cut us to pieces." Verna pressed her lips together. "Janet, are you sure about this?"

"If I don't help a Sister in dire need, then what good is my oath as a Sister of the Light? One has come back to us from the Keeper; perhaps she can teach us how to bring the others back."

Verna had never thought of that. Warren was making impatient eye signals. She could see the muscles in his jaw flexing.

Janet saw, too. She gripped Verna by the shoulders and kissed her cheeks. She turned and hugged Warren.

"Please, Verna, get out of here before it's too late. I'll be able to endure five days. I know how to bow and scrape for Jagang. He's been busy; maybe I can stay out of his sight for that long."

"All right. Where? We came down the coast to Grafan Harbor, and I don't know the lay of the land."

"The coast? Then you would have passed the watch house, near the docks." "Yes, I saw the place, but it had guards in it."

Janet leaned close. "As you said, there's nothing stopping you from using your gift. The guard changes around sundown. Wait until you see the guard change, and then silence them. That will give you a safe place to wait until nearly dawn. Sometime in the night, I will be there with Amelia." "The watch house, then. Fourth night after the full moon." Janet gave her a quick hug. "Five nights, and we're free. Hurry. Get out of here." Warren snatched Verna's arm and pulled her through the door.

CHAPTER 54

Soon after he awoke, just before dawn, Richard stood outside his bedroom, reading the morning report. For the first time. the number of dead in one night had climbed over one thousand. A thousand tragedies in one night.

Ulic, standing not far away with his massive arms folded, asked the number. A rare event, Ulic asking a question. Richard couldn't speak. He handed the report to his bodyguard. Ulic sighed heavily when he read the number.

The city was in shambles. Trade had been disrupted to the point that food was getting scarce. Firewood, used for both heat and cooking, was hard to come by. Services of every kind were difficult to secure, either because people were afraid to bring their wares into the city, they had abandoned their homes and fled the city, or they were dead.

Only the cures in the streets were in abundance.

Richard paused beside a long tapestry of a city market scene as he was headed for his office. His shadow glided to a silent halt behind him. The thought of going back to translating the book made him nauseous. He was finding nothing new, anyway. He was mired in a long report on an inquiry into the dealings Wizard Ricker had had with a people called the Andolians. It was boring and made little sense to him.

Richard couldn't face the book again this early in the day. Besides, he was worried sick about Raina. In the last week she had only gotten worse. Nothing could be done for her, any more than anything could be done for the thousand people who had died the night before.

Shota had told Kahlan that the Temple of the Winds would send another message, would send a way to get in. The spirit had told her the same thing. Why hadn't it come? Would they all be dead before the winds sent word?

Richard glanced out an east window and saw the first rays of the morning sun coming from between two mountains. With the gathering clouds he had already seen coming in from the west, he knew that they wouldn't be seeing the full moon that night.

He headed for Kahlan's room. He had to see her face. see something that could lift his spirits. Ulic took up station beside Egan at the corner of the hall. Egan had been with Kahlan's guard the night before. Richard was greeted by Nancy, just coming out the door. "Is Kahlan up?"