Chapter 5 Fear

As Richard sat alone, his heart clenching at the words of her letter, Kahlan was pulling up the reins of her horse to halt with the rest of the D'Haran squad.

"We'll camp here tonight" stated General Tranzin gruffly, "get the witch off her horse and bring her to me" Kahlan shuddered at his words and dismounted on her own. As her feet landed on the cold winter ground, two D'Harans each grabbed one of her arms roughly and forced her to march forward. Kahlan studied the General as she approached him, trying to gauge the situation. He was huge and stood two heads taller than her. He was all muscle and had long stringy blonde hair that was sticking to his face in places. She noticed him leering at her and she wished she had tied her cloak tighter so he couldn't stare at her breasts.

"My, my, if it isn't the Mother Confessor herself. I am honored to have you as our special guest tonight" he taunted. The men who were within earshot burst into laughter as the General came to stand an inch in front of her. He reached out and took a lock of hair in his fingers and brought it to his lips. "You are intoxicating." He said as he kissed her hair. He dropped the lock and grabbed the back of her neck and brought his lips to hers in a painful kiss. She tried to struggle but to no avail. The D'Harans who were holding her had her gripped so tightly that her arms were starting to feel numb. When he slipped his tongue into her mouth, she bit him as hard as she could.

"WENCH!" he screamed as blood poured from his mouth. He backhanded her hard across the face and then grabbed her face. "One move like that again witch, and you'll have all of us between your legs before the night is out."

Kahlan felt the blood drain from her face as he pushed her hair away from her neck. She heard the sound of metal clanging followed by a cold weight around her neck. When she heard the click she panicked. It was a Rada Han. Kahlan tried to focus with all her might not to pass out even as the blood pounded loud in her head. She forced her confessor's face into place and prayed to the spirits for protection.

Through her fear she spoke with confidence "Lord Rahl would have you all killed if you violated his future wife. You know how he is with his women. Not even Nass gets the privilege to share what is his." She spit on the general before stating between clenched teeth "you will regret the day you were born if you touch me."

Tranzin leveled his gaze at her and she noticed the fear behind his eyes. When he spoke his voice wavered slightly and she, a confessor, noticed but she doubted anyone else heard it. "I will do as I please with you, confessor" he spat "Rahl isn't here and it would be worth it to ruin you. Rahl may kill us, but that will not change me being the first, even before the Seeker". He grinned. "A pity he isn't here to watch" that erupted laughter from all of the men as they watched to see what would happen. "I'll be waiting for you tonight." He grinned slyly. "Take her over and tie her to up. We can't allow our guest of honor to escape, can we?" With that he turned and left.

Kahlan felt tears gathering in the corner of her eyes as they roughly bound her to a pine tree. She sat on the pine needles and tried to shift so they wouldn't prick open the skin of her legs. One of the younger D'Harans had come over with a cup of soup and held it to her lips to drink. The soup was stale and hot, burning her throat as it dripped down.

Kahlan tried to think, but fear had paralyzed her mind. She thought of Richard and almost let out a sob as the D'Haran took away the hot cup from her lips as she finished. "Don't worry Mother Confessor. You'll enjoy your night with the General. All the women do." He grinned as he got up from his seat and went back into camp. She rested her head against the tree and her eyes closed against her will as exhaustion overtook her.

She awoke with a start as she felt rough hands grab her legs and force them apart Her skirts were already bunched up to her waist as he crawled up to her. It wasn't Tranzin, but the young D'Haran who had fed her earlier. He lowered his head to kiss her as his hand moved up her thigh. He tasted of ale and sweat and it almost made her gag. She broke away from him and screamed when she felt him push his fingers inside of her.

At once someone grabbed him and threw him off stabbing him. The other D'Haran's were ignited with the fight and began thrusting their swords at each other. Loud yells and tents crashing to the ground in disarray added to the chaos. The men were all drunk and seemed to have forgotten her for the moment. When the General came out of his tent, he yelled over the commotion to stop. No one seemed to listen and he began to throw things at them to try and stop the fight.

Kahlan watched anxiously as men struggled with each other. Four men were already dead and the ones who weren't fighting had passed out drunk already. In the darkness, Kahlan continued to watch the men. Three of them were ingaged in a brutal beating with Tranzin, over what, she didn't know. One of them suddenly fell over the cooking pot and the soup splashed over doucing the only fire that was left.

In the pitch black, she couldn't see what was happening but she could hear the punches and the grunts as the men continued to pummel each other. When the fight began to wane, Kahlan could hear the men groaning in pain. Then it was over and the darkness was suddenly eerily quiet. Kahlan strained to listen for any sounds, but none came. She stayed awake and looked up through the trees glimpsing a clutch of stars. She thought of Richard and his gentleness with her. She missed him and their long talks at night. How she wished he were here with her this night. A smile crossed her lips at what she imagined would have happened to the D'Haran who had tried to ravish her if Richard had been here. The man along with the rest of them would be dead tonight. Kahlan leaned her head back against the trees and thought of Richard and prayed thanks to the spirits that she was safe, if only for tonight.