Battle

Richard pressed her up against a tent wall as Order soldiers walked past, trying to cover their faces as much as possible. She clutched his black armoured shirt, nervous about their escape. When he was certain it was clear, he took her hand and headed for the first exit they could find.

They rounded the dirty alleyways and ducked under weaponry cabinets. They picked up the pace when they reached a clearing, but tried not to go too fast in fear that people may question them. Richard had taken note of where the artillery was, and watched as the men moved, careful to see their positioning. He looked overhead at the archers to see if there were any gaps in which they could make a run for it. He gripped Kahlan's hand tightly as they hid behind a wagon. Her heart was pounding in her ears as he looked over at her. He gave her a signal and she understood.

With fluidity, they bolted for the front gate, hiding behind the pillars surrounding the encampment when the archers glanced their way. Kahlan, panting, looked to Richard to await his command. He held his finger up, letting her know to wait. She pressed herself up further against the pillar as they heard soldiers walk past. Richard gripped her hand tighter when a slight noise escaped her throat. He eased up a bit when he saw that they didn't notice. With care, Richard pushed her with him through the gates. They hid amongst the trees and bolted for it, escaping into the night. Again Richard couldn't believe how easy it had been.

Panting, he put his hand out to stop Kahlan from running anymore once they had reached a clearing and he was sure they were far enough away. He gripped her by her shoulders so she'd look up at him.

"Are you all right? Did he hurt you? Are you injured at all?" he looked her up and down. Kahlan forced a weak smile as she continued to try and catch her breath.

"Fine," she panted, "let's get out of here, please? Where are Zedd and Cara?"

Richard nodded and grabbed her hand again. He pulled her along with him and headed in the direction of their encampment, "this way."

"So we attack now?" Cara asked, sitting in the tent with the General, Richard, Kahlan and Zedd. Zedd was buysing himself with trying to get the Rada'Han off of Kahlan's neck as the other's spoke. She was wearing a cloak over her outfit as she didn't have the time to change before they decided they were going to attack right away. They thought it best to do it as soon as possible. Attack, destroy their weaponry and head out again. They would come back later with troops from the Midlands once Kahlan had ordered it.

Richard looked to the General, "The artillery is located here," he pointed to a makeshift map he had made of the camp, "there are archers up and down the gates, but they don't have great eyesight. I was able to get through twice. They also have heavy guards on the north side as that's where Jagang's tent is. We want to attack there as well." He drew a line across the paper, "this is how we should spread out our men…we'll get more coverage that way." The general nodded in agreement. Richard looked to Cara, "our focus is not to win. It's to destroy their weaponry. In and out, that's all I'm looking for," he grasped his sword and looked around the room. "Zedd, how much longer?" he didn't want Kahlan to go into battle with them, but knew he had no choice…well, she wasn't going to give him a choice.

Zedd muttered something to himself as he gripped the steel around her neck. Her eyes were going wide at what he was doing. Within minutes the steel ring around her neck shattered. Kahlan gripped her neck and smiled as she felt the comforting presence of her power again. "Done," Zedd turned to Richard as he wiped the shattered steel from his hands. Richard nodded and turned to the General.

"Gather the men," he turned to Cara, "now we attack."

They battled for two hours, slicing, hacking, cutting, burning anything and everything they saw. They stole weapons and destroyed the others. Over a hundred D'Haran men were killed, but they had gained weapons, killed some of the Order's men as well, they had sent a very clear message to Jagang – that he would not be left to idle any longer.

Richard was contempt for now. He and Kahlan would wed and they would attack again with the full support of both D'Hara and the Midlands. For now, they would head to Aydindril so Kahlan could take the reigns and announce the wedding to her people. Richard was also anxious to get there to see the prophecies in the Keep. He wanted to know if there was anything in there about Jagang and if there was any vital information he could use. He was so thankful that he had decided to get the book of Umana. All of this might have been avoided had he been able to get past the barriers sooner. Now that he had the book, he could only fathom what horrors he could avoid. He was anxious to get back as soon as possible.

After making camp with the men and feeling confident that Jagang's army wouldn't be able to locate them what with Zedd covering their trails, Richard headed for his and Kahlan's tent. She was already inside, standing by the fire pit naked, focusing on her stomach. He put a hand to her shoulders and she jumped at his touch.

"Relax," he was shocked at how she jumped, though he shouldn't have been. With all she had been through, he could only imagine how terrified she must have been. She turned and looked at him, tears on her beautiful face. He looked down at her belly button and saw she was trying to take out the wretched piercing.

"I want it out," she cried. He cupped her hand in his face and wiped some of the tears away with his thumb. Gently, he pulled her hands away from the piercing and knelt in front of her to see it. Carefully, he unclasped it from her navel and took it out. There was a tiny hole left in its place, but it would heal over. He kissed her bare stomach and threw the stone in the fire.

He stood up again and looked down at her, "Kahlan," he lifted her chin so she'd look into his eyes. She wrapped her arms around herself and cried harder. She turned her chin away so he wouldn't look into her eyes.

"Don't," she cried, "you…you don't know…what I've done," she walked over and sat on their makeshift bed, putting her head in her hands and crying even harder. He looked confused, not understanding what she was getting at.

"What do you mean? What have you done?" he asked, coming up in front of her. She looked so small, so vulnerable sitting on the bed in front of him, naked and crying. He just wanted to envelop her in his arms and thank the good spirits she was safe once again.

"Jagang, he…" she crossed her legs and looked at her hands as tears fell freely from her face, "spirits, what have I done?" she cried harder. With a bolt of realization, Richard understood. He knew exactly what she was getting at. Jagang had raped her, just as he had feared. He could see the cuts on her breasts, see the yellow and purple bruises on her stomach and ribs cage. Rage ignited in him. His eyes turned wicked and he grabbed for his sword. He was about to turn and walk out the tent to go and kill Jagang when Kahlan put her hand to his.

"Don't," she looked up at him, "don't be foolish, Richard. You'll only get yourself killed!" she pleaded. Richard un-pried her fingers from his hand.

"I'm going to kill the bastard," he said through gritted teeth, anger evident in his beautiful brown eyes. Kahlan nodded and wiped tears from her eyes

"I know…but not now, ok? Please, Richard…I need you right now. You can't just walk back in there after all that's been done. You'll be killed in second," she grabbed at his arm again, "please…Richard I'm begging you," she looked up at him. Her red eyes were filled with tears. He shut his eyes and tried to calm the fury inside of him. How dare that bastard touch her…he was going to pay, Richard vowed. He would die a slow and very agonizing death. He took a breath and dropped his hand from his sword. She smiled a small smile and wrapped her arms around his middle. Richard laced his arms around her as well and held her to him as she cried. Carefully, he scooped her up in his arms and sat on the bed, with her on his lap. He ran a comforting hand down her hair as she gripped his muscular neck, just happy to be with him again. He pulled blankets around her and laid back on the bed, positioning her next to him in his warm embrace. She pushed her face into his chest and inhaled his scent.

He bit his lip as tears threatened to flow from his cheeks from the battle searing inside of him; again, he had let harm come to her. First it was their child and now it was this. He was angry with himself for everything. He couldn't even fathom how she still loved him after all that she had been through. He felt his muscles tighten as his anger increased. Taking a breath, he swallowed past the anger and hurt and tried to focus on Kahlan. He rubbed her naked back and pulled the covers up higher. He could feel she was falling asleep and was thankful for that. He hated seeing her cry. It broke his heart, especially knowing that he could have stopped it. Again he tried focusing on something else. His hand touched the sword still attached to him on his right side as he laid in bed. Eventually. he fell asleep, his last thoughts of killing Jagang.