Leech

At first, Richard was sure Rahl would appear at any moment, to throw his triumph in their faces.

But, as the hours passed, Richard had time to consider more than just the danger Kahlan and Cara must be in. Unless they had managed to escape—Richard prayed to the Creator that they were all right.

"Nicci," he said at length. "What did you mean about Rahl wanting my blood?"

"You're a Rahl, aren't you?" Nicci drawled. Richard wished he could see her—he found it strangely unsettling, hearing her through the wall—he kept flashing back to the moment he had recalled her from death, when the other Sisters of the Dark had sent a poisonous spider to kill her, and with her, Kahlan.

"So?" Richard said, confused.

"Richard," Nicci hissed. "Let me spell it out for you in words of one syllable. You are a Rahl. Thus you are the rightful ruler of D'Hara. Darken Rahl would like to return to the position he once held there. If he can discover how to transfer the infamous Rahl bond from you to him, he will succeed."

"And bring D'Hara once more under his tyrannical rule," Zedd agreed.

Richard had a sinking feeling. He didn't like where this was going. His brother no longer served the Keeper, but Richard had no doubt that he wouldn't hesitate to subjugate D'Hara, and all the Midlands, again if he could.

He had to stop that—but how? He didn't think refusing to let Rahl take his blood was going to work.

And most of all, he had to find Kahlan and Cara and escape this place.

Deep in thought, Richard was startled when Zedd said suddenly, "Why are you helping us, Nicci? After what you did to Kahlan—"

"Kahlan?" said Richard, confused. Was Zedd talking about the Maternity Spell? Was now really the time to be quibbling over the past? Could Nicci help them escape and rescue Kahlan and Cara? Would she?

"She Confessed Kahlan with her own power," Zedd explained. "That's why she killed you."

"She killed you?" Nicci asked, and maybe Richard imagined the worry in her voice. "I never ordered that."

"It's not important," Richard shrugged, despite knowing Nicci couldn't see him. "We have to focus on how we're going to get out of here."

Richard wasn't sure how to feel about Nicci at the moment. Why had she Confessed Kahlan? And could they have defeated the Keeper if she hadn't, since Kahlan might never have gone into the Con Dar and killed him and cried a new Stone of Tears? Richard was very aware that, without that precise concatenation of circumstances, the Keeper could well have gotten the Stone and the Land of the Living.

But these were questions for another time. They had to escape. But how?

Richard and the Wizard were still brainstorming plans for escape when the Mord'Sith came for Nicci.

At first, she had pointed out all the flaws in their plans—"We can't magic ourselves out, Wizard, unless you think you can convince one of the Mord'Sith to take off your Rada'Han; and digging your way out with a spoon will take years, Richard. Do you even have a spoon?"

Richard's mild reply: "You know, that pretty mouth can be pretty mean, Nicci. Have any better ideas?"

The Wizard had sent her a swift glance when Richard called her pretty. Nicci had kept her mask of false indifference.

"When Rahl has what he wants from us, he will send us to the Keeper," Nicci had asserted coolly. "Accept it."

She could almost hear Richard setting his jaw mulishly. "Never."

They opened the door of her cell, and two Mord'Sith came and dragged her roughly to her feet. Nicci was passive in their grasp, knowing she was no match for them at the moment.

They dragged her past Richard's cell, and she felt perversely glad that he looked unharmed, those soft dark eyes of his no longer bleeding, but watching her.

"Tell Rahl to let Kahlan and Cara go!" Richard said firmly, but the Mord'Sith took no notice.

They took Nicci to a spacious bath. She waited, outwardly calm, while they stripped her and threw her into the water (if her head had hit the bottom, she would have seen the Keeper that much sooner), and dipped their agiels into the water, making it bubble and churn.

Obviously Rahl didn't have lightning at his fingertips, the way she did, Nicci thought dispassionately, and then the pain consumed her.

When she revived enough to be aware of her surroundings, the Mord'Sith were chaining her to the wall, in a different room. She smelled burning herbs, and made an effort to see what was happening.

Darken Rahl waited impatiently while a long-haired sorceress ground leaves to powder at agiel-point.

At the sight of him, Nicci's anger rose. That he tortured her in absentia made the whole thing that much more insulting.

Now that agiels no longer burned her flesh, Nicci was aware of residual pain but had enough presence of mind to concentrate on what was happening.

Apparently, Rahl did not choose to end her life and steal her power swiftly, with a dacra. Or perhaps he didn't have any upon the premises.

The long-haired sorceress cut a strand of Nicci's hair and bound it together with one of Rahl's, murmured incantations, cut open Nicci's hand and squeezed her blood into the bowl of herbs…All the while, Rahl looked increasingly impatient.

Nicci took copious mental notes, determined to see how this ritual worked, so that she could defeat it.

She still expected Rahl to kill her, but she wasn't letting go of Richard's Han without a fight. He had entrusted to her, and her alone. He might not condone the uses she'd put it to, but he hadn't demanded it back yet.

Nicci vowed not to let Darken Rahl steal her power. Not to let him steal her one true connection with Richard.