Kahlan had sternly ordered me to stay back, to hide under the relative safety of the overturned wagon. I hadn't thought she needed to do that. I didn't want to run out into the middle of a battle. It wasn't as though I were a great warrior who would save the day, like them.
But when Zedd went down and Nicci's sword drove toward my brother's head, I didn't think of those things. I just saw my grandfather on the ground, perhaps dead, and my brother - the only family I had left - about to follow.
"Richard!" I screamed, dashing forward without thought. The sounds of war surrounded and deafened me. Clang of sword on sword, slishck of sword in flesh, screams of dying men and horses.
Chaos closed in about me, but I scrambled through, not thinking of the danger, not really thinking at all. No one would stop the battle for one half-grown girl. On the other hand, no one would go out of his way to kill me either. I quite obviously didn't belong here.
Duck a stray arrow. Ignore the pain when a soldier tramples my foot. Dodge a flying sword.
Dodge a flying sword?
All this time, my eyes had been fastened to my brother. With Kahlan and Zedd by his side, he fought the sorceress Nicci in a circle of open space - probably kept clear by the sorceress herself.
Even though I hadn't taken my eyes off him for a moment, I'd been moving too fast to really process anything going on in that circle.
And then a sword came flying at my head. As it flew past, the sun glinted off the word truth on its hilt.
Richard's sword.
He was defenseless.
I didn't look to see if she'd already killed him, although I thought dazedly that she must have. Again, my body moved on its own and I reached for the weapon as it shot through the air.
Caught it by the blade.
I was so focused on getting the sword back to my brother that I didn't notice the sharp metal biting into my palm or the blood already running down my forearm. I raced forward, ducking and diving through the madness.
Stumbled into the open circle.
Kahlan leaped in front of the weaponless Richard and tossed him one of her knives. Four slow seconds had passed since I first screamed my brother's name.
Now they both fought the sorceress. Zedd was a pile of sooty rags and spindly limbs on the edge of my vision.
Nicci fought with a pleased smile playing over her red lips. Her double-ended blade spun between Richard and Kahlan until it blurred, but she didn't even break a sweat.
My brother and the woman he loved hacked back at her with intense concentration. Neither were at their best. Kahlan was used to having a dagger in each hand, and Richard usually fought with his sword.
His sword. In my hand.
Just then Nicci's gauntleted forearm struck Kahlan upside the head, and she crumpled to the ground. Richard howled and dove at Nicci just as I yelled his name and threw the Sword of Truth.
It sliced through the air, glittering like a cruel gem.
I had meant for Richard to catch it, knowing that he fought better with it in his hands. My aim was off, though, and the sword hit Nicci in her right upper arm instead. Her sword arm.
She must not have been expecting a threat from someone as small and unskilled as me, because she bled and stopped smiling for the first time.
Richard had learned his lesson after looking for Zedd, so he didn't glance back to see who'd thrown the sword. He just snatched his weapon off the ground and flew at Nicci with renewed strength.
I stood frozen in place, my heart beating out of my chest. All the killing and hysteria around me blurred - narrowed down to my brother and the sorceress.
The end was quick and unexpected.
In a sudden movement, Richard grabbed Nicci's arm where the sword had wounded her. She cried out, and her blade faltered on its way to meet his.
He stabbed the Sword of Truth through her heart.
A rapid shockwave spread out from Nicci's body. It was both silent thunder and blinding light. When it ended and I could see again, I was the only one left standing in that circle of cleared ground. Richard had collapsed.
While Richard and Nicci fought, my fear had frozen me in place. Now I rushed forward.
My knees buckled beneath me when I reached Richard's side. I laid my trembling fingers on his chest, and it moved lightly with his breath.
"You're alive," my breath caught in my throat, "Oh, thank the spirits, you're alive!"
He was pale and as still as a dead man, but he was breathing and I felt his heartbeat under my hands. I desperately scoured his body for a wound, but found none. Then why was he lying here, not moving?
It must've been Nicci's light and thunder.
Magic.
Grandfather.
I leaped to my feet. How could I have forgotten?
My head twisted from side to side, the wind slapping my hair across my face, and I found Grandfather. Instantly, I hurried over the hot sand and knelt next to him.
He lay on his back, black everywhere with soot and scorch marks. His clothes had been almost completely burned away. I bit my lip.
"What do I do?" I whimpered.
I wanted to wake him up, but I didn't know how to without touching him. His skin was black and red from the burns. He was so swollen that his wrinkles had vanished.
I blinked away the tears blurring my eyes. "Grandfather?" I whispered. He lay still - as still as Richard.
"Grandfather, please."
I couldn't stop the tears now. He must be dead. No one could look like that and be alive.
But this wasn't the time for tears. I had to help Richard somehow, and I didn't know what to do.
Kahlan.
She had only been knocked unconscious, and she was the Mother Confessor. Kahlan would know what to do.
I dashed over to her.
One of her eyes was swollen shut, and an enormous purple bruise streaked the left side of her face. Her long, dark hair splayed out over the ground, mingling with the sand. I clung to her arm and shook her.
"Kahlan!" a panicked sob hitched in my throat, "Kahlan! Richard needs your help!"
A low groan left her lips, and her head lolled to one side. She didn't wake up.
What now?
I looked around desperately. Somehow, the circle of ground that had been clear for the fight was still open. It was as though there were some line that the soldiers couldn't cross.
Richard's warriors just stood around and watched. Nicci's army must've withered away after she died.
"Somebody help me!" I screamed. "They're not dead!"
The soldiers just shook their heads. One tried to step forward, but his foot froze in midair until he drew it back.
Nicci was dead. How was it possible that they still couldn't cross?
Well, it was obviously magic that stopped them, whatever the source. I'd only made it through because magic didn't affect me.
"Mord'Sith repel magic," I murmured. "Cara could get through."
Where was Cara?