Chapter Twenty-Five

The door easily swung open, and right as it shut, Kahlan could see the light from the next patrol come around the corner. "Mother Confessor." Meiffert's voice was scolding, yet he was whispering. "If we had been caught, they surely would have killed us. I would not want to face Lord Rahl in the Under-"

"Benjamin. Will you please shut up?" Kahlan couldn't believe how this man could still talk, especially with a partner like Cara.

The Captain looked stunned for a second, and then nodded his head, resigning himself to Kahlan being in danger. "If I had captured an enemy, I would put him in the most secure location I could find." He said.

"Where do you think that would be?"

"Close to the center of town, but in some place that wouldn't be obvious. Who ever had captured Lord Rahl knew he wouldn't be traveling alone, but they knew that he wouldn't be heavily guarded. I think we have a spy inside the palace." Meiffert said. Kahlan didn't miss his discrete look over to her when he said spy.

"I'd say that they have him in a small house near the center of the village, probably near one of their barracks." She looked over to him.

"Yes, that's most likely correct. Once we get to the center of town it should be easy to find them." He had frowned as he spoke.

"Why do you say that?"

"Mother Confessor, if they haven't killed them yet, they're probably torturing him for information. I think it would take a lot to break Lord Rahl, but – "

"He'll be fine. He once told me he was broken by Denna. I'm sure that anything these guerrillas can do is nothing compared to an Agiel." He gave her a skeptical look.

"Cara always told me that Lord Rahl had never been touched by an Agiel. Anyways, even if what your saying is true. They have an Agiel, Cara's."

"I hadn't even thought of that. We have to hurry. I wish Cara had come back after discovering Richard was captured." Kahlan wasn't sure, but she thought she heard Meiffert whisper, 'so do I.'

He carefully opened the door, and looked both ways before running to the other side of the street. Kahlan followed. They made their way down the street, avoiding everyone they saw. The village was mostly dark, and it wasn't very hard.

They made it to the center of the village quickly. They could hear the screams. They were mostly male, but a few times there was a female yelp. Kahlan saw Meiffert flinch every time there was a yelp. It wasn't hard to follow the screams, but the town center was lit better than the rest of the town, and there were more men on the lookout for intruders.

The house was normal looking on the outside, except for a few bloodstains on the outside walls. Kahlan looked to Meiffert, and pointed to an empty looking house. He nodded, and they ran for it.

"Alright. I think our best bet is to fight our way across the square. I don't see any other options. What do you think?" Kahlan asked him after they were inside the house.

"I still think this too dangerous for you to be involved." She glared at him.

"However, I think we might be able to make our way to the house through the empty village, if we are willing to let Lord Rahl and . . . Cara suffer a little bit longer." Meiffert didn't seem to like that plan very much.

"If we attack right now, we'll distract them and they won't get hurt anymore." Kahlan said. She didn't want either of them to be tortured for longer than necessary.

"I know." He sighed. "But we have less of a chance of surviving if we do that. If we die, they will just suffer longer. As much as I don't want to, I think our best chance is to sneak over to the house through the empty city."

"Captain I don't want to leave him – "

"Mother Confessor, do you think it is easy for me to let Cara be tortured? I'm a soldier of D' Hara, do you think I'm not kicking myself for letting, Lord Rahl be captured? You don't think I'm afraid what Lord Rahl would do to me if he knew I was letting you put yourself in danger, or Cara? Right now, I have to try and keep you out of danger as much as possible, and I need to rescue Lord Rahl and Cara. The only way that I know how to do that is to go around."

"Captain I – "

"No. We are going to go around and if you try to run off, I'll – I'll . . . knock you out or something." Kahlan could see how determined he looked, and how exasperated he was with her.

"All right. All right. We'll go around." Kahlan opened the door, and he walked through. "Benjamin." He turned around before waling out the door. "I'm sorry."

He nodded his head. "So am I, Mother Confessor. So am I."

They made their way through the black town listening to the screams of Richard and Cara the whole way.