Murmuring broke out in the crowd. Many of the people were shocked and angered by the story. A number were frightened that this man was not only coming for them but was under orders to make examples of them.

Nicci didn't look at all surprised by the report of such brutality. Alter lengthy consideration, she finally shook her head.

"I don't know this Brother of the Order, but there are a number of them that I don't know."

Ishaq's dark eyes shifted between Richard and Nicci. "What are we going to do? Troops and a wizard. This is not good. But you have ideas, yes?"

Some in the crowd voiced their agreement with Ishaq, wanting to know what Richard thought. He didn't really see what there was to discuss.

"You've all fought for and won your freedom," Richard said. "I would suggest that you don't give it up."

A number of men nodded. They knew all too well what it was like to live under the heel of the Order. They had learned, too, what it meant to be free to live their own lives. Nonetheless, fear seemed to be stealing into the mood of the crowd.

"But now you're here to lead us, Lord Rahl," one of the men said. "You've faced worse than this, I'm sure. With your help we can fight off these soldiers."

In the gathering gloom Richard appraised the expectant faces watching him.

"I'm afraid that I can't stay. I have something of critical importance I must do. I will have to leave in the morning at first light."

Shocked silence greeted him.

"But the soldiers are only a few days away," one of the men finally said. "Surely, Lord Rahl, you can wait that long."

"If I could, I would stand here with you against these soldiers, just as I've stood with you before, but right now I can't afford to delay that long. I must carry the fight elsewhere. It's the same fight, so I will be with you in spirit."

The man looked stunned. "But it's just a few days.»

"Don't you see that it's much more than that? If I stay, and we defeat those men who are coming to kill you, then, eventually, more will come. You have to be able to stand on your own. You can't depend on me to stay here indefinitely and help you uphold your freedom every time Jagang sends soldiers to take back Altur'Rang. The world is full of places like Altur'Rang, all facing the same ordeal. Sooner or later you'll have to accept the responsibility of standing on your own. Now is as good a time as any."

"So you're deserting us when we need you most?" A voice farther back called out.

The crowd didn't speak up to agree with the sentiment, but it was clear that more than one person had the same thought. Cara inched forward. Before she could step in front of him, Richard surreptitiously lifted his hand, touching her leg in warning for her to stay where she was.

"Now, look here," Victor growled, "Richard isn't deserting anything, and I'll hear none of that kind of talk." Men backed away at the measured menace in his voice. Victor's glare alone was enough to turn men twice his size pale. "He has already done more for us than anyone ever before. He showed us that we can each run our own lives for ourselves and that's what changed everything. You've all lived here your whole life under the Order. Richard showed us what we're really made of, showed us that we're proud men and we can handle ourselves with courage. We're the ones who took responsibility for our own lives and gained our own freedom. He didn't come here and give us anything. We earned it."

Most of the men standing on the steps and spread out across the lawns fell silent. Some, feeling shamed, stole looks around at the others. A number of the men finally spoke up that they agreed with Victor.

As the men fell to debating among themselves what it was they ought to do, Nicci seized Richard's arm from behind and drew him back to where she could speak in confidence. "Richard, this fight here is more important."

"I can't stay."

Her blue eyes flashed with bottled fury. "This is where you should be, leading these men. You're the Lord Rahl. They're counting on you."

"I am not responsible for their lives. They already made their choice as to how they will live when they started the revolt. They did that on their own and they won that battle. We all are fighting for what we believe in. We all are fighting for the same thing-the right to live the life we want for ourselves. I'm doing what I believe I must."

"You're running away from the fight to chase phantoms."

The sting of her words hung in the air, unanswered. Richard instead stepped away from the sorceress and addressed the men.

"The Old World and the New World are at war." The crowd slowly fell silent as people craned their necks in order to see Richard and hear his words, "The troops on their way here are battle tested men from that war.

As they've rampaged across the land, they've used their swords, axes, and flails against both the armed and the unarmed people to the north, the people of the New World. Those troops are experienced at overrunning cities and slaughtering the inhabitants. When they get here, they will torture, rape, and murder the people of this city, just as they've done to the people in cities to the north — unless you stop them first.

"But even if you do stop them, that will not be the end of it. The Order will send more soldiers. If you defeat them, they will eventually send even more the next time."

"Richard, what are you saying?" Ishaq asked into the still evening air. "Are you saying that it is hopeless-that we should give up?"

"No. I'm saying that you need to face the true dimension of what it means to fight the Imperial Order-the true nature of the task. If you wish to be free, then you need to do more than stand here in this place and defend your city.

"No war was ever won defensively.

"If you are to be truly free, then you must fight to put a stop to those who seek to extinguish freedom. If you are to be truly free, then you must be part of the cause to rid the world of the Imperial Order. The D'Haran Empire, the land I rule, is all that now stands against the Order." Richard slowly shook his head. "But alone, they have no chance to win. Once the D'Haran Empire falls, Emperor Jagang will be freed up from the effort of that war and he will then bring his full force to bear on any pockets of resistance to the Order's beliefs.

"At the head of his list will be Altur'Rang. This is his home city. He will not allow the black mark of freedom to stand against his devout beliefs. He will turn loose on you his most vicious fighters-the sons of the Old World. You will be isolated and gutted by Jagang's army of your fellow countrymen. You will die to a man, your male children will be murdered, and your wives and sisters and daughters will be used as rewards for the brutes who enforce the Order's authority."

The crowd stood in rapt silence. They were now in the grip of fear. This was not the brave and boastful talk they had expected to hear on the eve of battle.

Victor cleared his throat. "You are trying to tell us something, Richard?"

Richard nodded as he gazed out over the mule throng watching him from below the landing where ho stood. "Yes. I'm trying to tell you that you must do more than stand and defend yourselves when these men come. You can't win that kind of war. You must strike out at the Imperial Order and help bring them down."

Ishaq lifted a hand. "Bring them down? In what way?"

"As you all well know, life under the Order offers nothing but decay and ruin. There is little work, little food, little to look forward to — except the promise of glory in some afterworld life-but only in exchange for your selfless service in this one. The priests of the Fellowship of Order have nothing to offer you but misery, so they proclaim suffering a virtue and in exchange generously grant you extravagant, eternal rewards in some other world. Rewards that cannot be examined beforehand, rewards in a world that is unknowable, except, they claim, to them. Not one of you would be gullible enough to trade a dog for such hollow promises, and yet legions have been swindled into eagerly offering up their own lives, the only life they will ever have, in the unfair exchange.