It became a race to see which blade would first bite flesh.

Losing that race would be irrevocable.

With his gaze riveted on the man's eyes, Richard at last saw his sword, flying at frightening speed, entering his line of sight. Seeing that blade again filled him with exhilaration.

Driven by thundering rage, the blade caught the side of the man's head level with his dark eyes, exactly where Richard intended it.

In that instant, the crystal-clear moment in time that had been stretched to the breaking point shattered in sound and fury. The world went red in Richard's vision as the man's head came apart around the blade crashing through his skull. The hammer-hard sound of it thundered through the stables.

Bone fragmented. Crimson droplets sprayed up and away. The entire top of the skull lifted as the blade crashed through living tissue. In a long trail across the wall, bone, tissue, and blood traced the route of the sword's sweep.

In that instant of shattering violence, the man's life was gone. Richard's remorseless rage shielded him from feeling the pain of any pity.

The force of the sword's impact caused the arm with the knife to fall away from the girl even before the swing of Richard's sword was complete. The man's body, like nothing more than boneless meat, began collapsing.

The man had decided to kill the girl, but after he had made that choice, he had not had enough time to make his blade do his bidding.

Richard had.

He felt his heart finish the beat it had begun when he had leaped into the narrow window of time.

The man's body gathered speed as it descended until it hit the ground heavily, lifting a small cloud of dust. The top portion of his head, most of his scalp still attached, landed with a heavy thud just outside the open stable doors, bouncing and tumbling away into the night, leaving a trail of gore to trace its crooked route.

Richard heard people gasp in shock. Others screamed.

The little girl, shrieking in terror, scrambled away into her mother's outstretched arms.

As he held the blade cocked, ready for any other threat, Richard met the gaze of the wide eyes of the second man, still standing in place, held fast by Victor's guards. The man made no attempt to escape or to fight.

Victor charged in through a gap in the bystanders, his heavy mace raised and ready. From somewhere Cara had appeared behind Richard, her Agiel in her fist.

Richard spotted Nicci for the first time. She raced across the passageway, her arms held up.

"No!" she screamed. "Stop!"

Victor straightened in surprise. Nicci seized his raised wrist as if she believed he was about to slaughter the other prisoner.

"Stand down, blacksmith!"

Startled, Victor paused and let his arm drop.

Nicci turned a furious glare on Richard. "You too, carpenter! You will do as I say and stand down. Do you hear me!" she screamed in fury.

Richard blinked. Carpenter?

Through the haze of the sword's anger storming through him, Richard realized that Nicci had to be up to something. He didn't know her intent, but by calling both Victor and him by a trade rather than by their real names she was sending them a signal that was too obvious to miss. She was making an emphatic bid for them to catch on to her effort and to follow her lead.

Probably because people often did call him "blacksmith," Victor didn't seem to get the hint. He started to open his mouth to say something. Nicci smacked him across the face.

"Silence! I will hear none of your excuses."

Shocked, Victor took a step back. The shock quickly curdled into a dark scowl but he didn't say anything.

Seeing that Victor got the message to keep quiet, Nicci turned her ire on Richard. She shook her finger at him. "You will have to answer for this, carpenter."

Richard didn't have any idea what she was up to, but when their eyes met he gave her a slight nod. He feared to do anything else lest he spoil whatever it was she was doing.

Nicci appeared to be worked up into a fit. "What's the matter with you?" she yelled at him. "Where would you ever get the unacceptable idea that you can act of your own accord in such a manner?"

Richard didn't know what she wanted him to say so he offered only a humble shrug, as if he were too ashamed to speak up for himself.

"He was saving my child!" cried Jamila. "That man was going to cut her throat."

Nicci wheeled indignantly to the woman. "How dare you show such little regard for our fellow man! How dare you judge what is in another man's heart! That is the Creator's exclusive right, not yours. Are you a witch woman who can see the future? If not, then you can't say what he would have done. Do you think he should be murdered for what you think he might do? Even if he would have acted, none of us alone has the authority to judge the right or wrong of whatever he did."

Nicci turned again to Richard. "What would you expect the poor man to do? The two of them are dragged in here by a mob, without any charges, trial, or even being allowed to explain themselves. You treat a man like an animal and then are surprised when he acts out of confusion and fear?

"How do you expect Jagang the Just to ever decide to give our people another chance to do what is right and proper when we act like this? The man had a right to fear for his life when among such a mindless rabble as he saw all around him.

"As the mayor's wife, I will not allow such behavior! Do you hear me! The mayor will not like to hear how shamefully some of our fellow citizens have acted tonight. In the mayor's absence, I will see that our ways are upheld. Now, put away your sword."

Beginning to understand what she was doing, Richard made no attempt to answer and instead sheathed his sword, as instructed.

As he took his hand from the hilt, the weapon's rage extinguished. Richard's knees nearly buckled. No matter the justification, the need, the number of times he righteously used the sword, killing remained a hideous deed.

Not wanting to spoil Nicci's act, Richard duly hung his head.

She turned a fierce look on the crowd. They all took a step back. "We are a peaceful people. Have you all forgotten our duty to our fellow man? To the Creator's ways? How can we ever expect the emperor to someday accept us back into the fold of the Imperial Order if we behave like subhuman animals?"

The crowd stood mute. Richard certainly hoped that they, too, grasped that Nicci had a purpose and they should not spoil what she was trying to accomplish.

"As the mayor's wife, I will not allow senseless violence to poison our people and our future."

A younger woman in the crowd put her hands on her hips and took a step forward. "But they were.»

"We must at all times keep in mind our duty to our fellow man," Nicci said in a threatening tone, cutting her off, "not our selfish desires."

With a surreptitious glance to Victor, he understood her meaning and pulled the woman back to make sure she kept her mouth shut.

Nicci glanced around at the guards. "It is our responsibility to guide our fellow man, not to butcher him. One man has been murdered this night. The people's authorities will have to hear this case and decide what will become of this carpenter. Some of you will have to see to it that he is confined until then.

"In the meantime, as the mayor's wife, I will not allow this other man to meet a similar unjust fate. I know my husband would want to set matters right but I also know that he would not want it to have to wait until tomorrow just for him to say as much. He would want it rectified immediately, so you will take this other citizen outside of the city and release him. Let him go on his way in peace. We will cause him no harm. The carpenter, as I said, will have to be held until he can be brought before the proper authorities to answer for his heinous deed."