Chapter Seven

Dahlia and Cara walked through the woods silently, the only noise being the swoosh of their dresses as they walked down the trail. Every so often Dahlia would glance over to Cara, but look away as Cara's eyes tried to meet hers. Finally, Cara rolled her eyes and stopped short, throwing Dahlia off guard and almost making her trip.

"Is there something you want to talk about?" She asked curtly.

Dahlia gulped. "No, why would you think I wanted to talk?" She asked, trying to sound innocent.

Cara rolled her eyes again. "Normal women don't walk through the woods in silence." Cara told her.

Dahlia snorted. "Normal women don't walk through the woods at all." She paused as Cara glared at her. "How much longer til – "

She was cut off by what sounded like a child's war cry. Six men swung down from ropes and surrounded them. Both Dahlia and Cara moved their hands to their sides, confused when the pain of the Agiel didn't greet them.

They were dressed all in earth tones, and none appeared to be older than eighteen. One of the boys, most likely the one that had made the war cry, drew a sword in what was meant to be a dashing manner.

Realizing that they need to remain calm, Dahlia put a hand on Cara's shoulder, and stepped in front of her. "Is there something I can help you with, kind sir?" Dahlia asked. She could almost feel Cara rolling her eyes.

The boy with the sword looked at them suspiciously, his grey eyes clouded. "Give us all your money, and we may let you live."

Cara snorted at the threat, and the boy looked taken aback and mystified; Dahlia pretended not to notice as she went on. "I'm sorry, but we don't have anything to give. We're only carrying food enough for the two of us."

The boy looked them over again, and seemed to realize that they were two women, that were barely carrying anything in their packs. He looked around at his gang, who were waiting for his lead. "Um . . . " He stuttered, not quiet sure what to do now. "Hand over your packs!"

Cara's laughter could be heard around the clearing.

Dahlia closed her eyes, trying to contain her laughter as well. She turned to Cara, her hand held out. The laughter stopped abruptly. "You don't really expect me to give into the demands of these boys, do you?" She asked, seemingly offended.

"Cara." Dahlia sighed.

"Wait! We're not boys." The boy tried to sound tough but only succeeded in whining.

Cara chuckled. "Spoken like a young child."

"This is not the time or place Cara." Dahlia tried again, but was ignored by both Cara and the boy.

"You think you could do anything to stop me?" The boy demanded. His sword came up to Dahlia's neck, and suddenly Cara's laughter was gone, her face serious; the Mord-Sith glare had made it's way to the surface.

"Jack." One of the other boys whispered to their leader. "I think we should go now." Cara took a step forward and the boys broke away, leaving Jack to his fate.

"Cara." Dahlia said quietly, her hand coming to rest on Cara's shoulder. The boy looked scared out of his mind now, his sword was practically dragging against the ground as he backed up.

Cara's head snapped to Dahlia's face, her expression softening when she saw her. Cara's lips pressed into a thin line and then she turned back to the boy. She growled softly, "Run."

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Denna rolled from the horse, pulling her Agiel out as she did, only to realize that she had no hope of escape. She was completely surrounded, not only by D'Haran soldiers, but also by Mord-Sith. There would be no escape this time.

Denna stood in a fighting stance, ready to defend herself, the soldiers and Mord-Sith surrounding her stood similarly. They stared off, each waiting for the other to make the first move, but Denna knew she couldn't attack a ring of enemies, and they seemed not to want to attack her.

The stand off was broke by a great war horse with a large rider on it's back. Denna knew who it was before his helmet came up. "General Egremont." She tried to laugh away her fear. "How nice to see you."

"Mistress Denna." Egremont spoke in a monotone, "You have been sentenced to death by Lord Nikolas Rahl for crimes against the Mother Confessor, and the D'Haran Empire. You are to be taken to the People's Palace where you will await your punishment."

"Why don't you just kill me now?" Denna asked. All this elaborate sentencing was starting to make her mad.

Egremont's face turned into a grimace. "Because I have been ordered not to. Lord Darken Rahl wishes to deal with you himself." Denna was surprised that Nikolas had agreed to that after what she had done to Kahlan.

There was a long pause as no one moved. "Well I'm not going to go willingly." Denna spat out.

No one moved, and Denna realized that most of the D'Haran army was afraid of her. She looked up to General Egremont and smirked. Maybe she did have a chance to escape after all.

"Get her." Egremont growled.

Denna readied herself for an assault, but her enemies advance slowly, and that threw her off. She hadn't realized how much fear she inspired, especially since she had been with Richard for four years now. For a while it had been just them, but the Nicci had come, and with her the Black Cloaks. Richard had decided she couldn't be a Mord-Sith anymore – to keep their secrecy – he had told her. She thought it was a load of shit.

They tightened the circle until there was only a ring of two feet surrounding her, and then halted. Denna couldn't help but be annoyed. There had to be some one brave enough to attack her. Egremont growled again, obviously not pleased with his soldiers performance.

"Why don't you come get me yourself, Egremont." Denna snarled, tired of their timidity.

Egremont's sword came out, and quickly sliced through the nearest soldier. "Get her, now!" He ordered again.

It didn't take long for them to charge, and it took even less time for her to lose. There was no way to defend her self in a four-foot circle. Lucky for her, the bumbling idiots that Richard called soldier blindly charged down the road, right into a wall of men.

Denna was glad she saw the surprised look on Egremont's face when he was almost run into. The D'Haran's circle was quickly turned into a mass of confused people as Egremont tried to take charge after regaining his composure, but it was too late. Control was lost.

Denna smirked.

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Richard slammed his fist on the table, trying not to react when he realized how much it hurt. Captain Smith had taken a step back, frightened by his outburst, but Greggs stood stone-faced.

"We have to do something!" Richard yelled at them for the fifth time in an hour.

Smith looked frightened, so Greggs stepped in. "General, we've been through this. There is nothing to do." He paused waiting for an outburst, and then continued. "The Rahl army is far too numerous for what's left of our troops to be even half way successful at a rescue mission."

"Captain Greggs," her voice lilted through the air, seemingly from nowhere. "How can you be half way successful at a rescue mission?"

"Dear Spirits!" Richard turned around quickly, "Denna – your alive!" He rushed to her, forgetting that their relationship was supposed to be a secret. A smile flittered across her face, but was gone just as quickly. They embraced for a quick moment.

"Richard," Denna asked quietly, "What happened while I was gone?"

"The attack didn't go exactly as planned." He told her, "Nic – The Basilisk was captured."

"I see." She said quietly. "We'll just have to get him back them."

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Nikolas cleared his throat. "I've heard of them, yes. Why do you ask?"

"I have reason to believe that they are trying to collect the boxes of Orden." The Wizard told him, obviously not aware that they already had at least one box.

"Why are you telling me this?" Nikolas asked. No one was supposed to know that Aydindril had a box of Orden.

Zedd gave him a look. "Don't play dumb with me, boy. You would be a fool not to have a box of Orden. All I ask is that you go on alert, you can never be – "

Nikolas cut him off. "They have our box of Orden, Zeddicus." The Wizard froze. "And our copy of the Book of Counted Shadows. I'm sorry but you're too late."

"Are you telling me that you allowed a band of raggedy rebels to break into one of the most secure fortresses in this world?" The Wizard's voice grew louder with every word, and Nikolas thought he saw sparks fly from his hair.

"I didn't allow Richard Rahl to do anything!" Nikolas screamed, but was stunned to silence by the look on Zedd's face.

"What did you say?"