"If you don't get away, very bad things are going to happen to you, at best. You will spend the rest of your short life as a slave, being used by soldiers for their sick pleasure and amusement in ways you don't want to learn about. You will spend the rest of your life alternating between terror and sobbing. That's at best. You will live, but wish every moment that you were dead. At worst, you are going to be killed when Jagang leaves.

"Either way, it's a fool's wish to think he's going to let you go. No matter what happens, whether you escape or stay, he might let your grandfather and the others go simply because they may not want to take the time and trouble to kill them. Jagang has more important things he's interested in.

"But you are plunder that has value to him. If nothing else, he will give you to those two guards as a bonus for their service. That's how men such as Jagang draw ruthless brutes like those two into loyal service — by giving them tasty little scraps like you. Do you have any idea what they will do with you — before they cut your throat? Do you?"

Jillian was silent for a moment. She swallowed before speaking. "I know what Jagang meant, before, when he asked if I've ever been with a man — but I pretended I didn't. I know what he meant when he said that he would give me over to his soldiers. I know what he meant when he said they would like getting their hands on a young woman like me. I know what he meant about their desires.

"My family has warned me about the dangers from strangers like these. My mother has explained it. I think that she did not tell me everything, though, so that I wouldn't have nightmares. I think the parts you know would give me nightmares. Before, I only pretended I didn't know what Jagang was talking about so that he wouldn't know how afraid I was of him doing that to me."

Kahlan couldn't help smiling. "That was a very wise thing you did, keeping such knowledge to yourself."

Jillian twisted her mouth, fighting back tears at the grim fate she had just admitted understanding. "You have a plan?"

"Yes. You have long legs, but I still doubt that you can outran them. There's another way, though, a way that uses what you know and they don't. You said that one wrong turn out there and people get lost in the maze of tunnels and rooms. If you get even a small head start you will be able to quickly lose them in all the twists and turns. As complex as this place is, I don't think that even the powers of the Sisters would help them get you, and I don't think that Jagang would waste the time trying."

She still looked dubious. "But I — "

"Jillian, this is a chance for you to escape. Another may never come along. I don't want anything terrible to happen to you. If you stay, it will. I want you to understand that you must take this chance. I want you out of here. This is all I can do for you."

Jillian was overcome with a look of horror. "You mean… you're not going with me?"

Kahlan pressed her lips tight and shook her head. She tapped the metal collar around her neck. "They can stop me with this. It's magic of some sort. They will be able to put me down. But I think that before they do I'll be able to help slow them enough so that you can get away."

"But they will hurt you, or even kill you, for helping me get away."

"They are going to hurt me anyway — Jagang has already promised me the worst he can dream up. He can do no more than he already intends. As for killing me, I don't think they would do that, for now at least. They still need me.

"I'm helping you get away and that's all there is to it. My mind is made up. It's my choice. It's the only thing I can do, the only thing that I have a choice about. If I help you, then it makes my own life, no matter what will become of me, mean more to me. I will at least have done something to fight back. I will at least have this victory over them."

Jillian stared at her. "You're as brave as Lord Rahl."

Kahlan's eyebrows lifted. "You mean Richard Rahl? You know Richard Rahl?"

Jillian nodded. "He helped me, too."

Kahlan shook her head in wonder. "For living out here in the middle of nowhere, you sure seem to have met a lot of important people. What was he doing here?"

"He came back from the dead."

Kahlan frowned. "What?"

"Well, not exactly the dead, really. At least that's what he told me. But he came up from the well of the dead in the graveyard, just as the tellings said he would. I am the priestess of the bones. I am his servant, a dream-caster. He is my master. There have been many priestesses of the bones before me, but he never came for them. I never knew that it would turn out that he would come back in my lifetime.

"He came to find books, too. He is the one who found this place — I never even knew it was down here. None of my people knew. Even my grandfather never knew this place of bones was here.

"Richard was looking for a book to help him find someone important to him. The book was called Chainfire. Once he discovered this place and brought me down here, I'm the one who found the book for him. He was really excited. I was so happy that I was the one who helped him find what he needed.

"Since coming down here with him, I've spent all my time exploring this place, learning every turn and tunnel and room. I hope Richard will return one day, as he said he might, and then I will be able to show him everything. I very much want to make him proud of me."

Kahlan could see the longing in Jillian's eyes to satisfy the man, to do something he would value, to have him recognize her effort and ability.

Kahlan wanted to ask a thousand questions, but she didn't have the time. She couldn't resist one, though.

"What's he like?"

"Master Rahl saved my life. I've never met anyone else like him." Jillian smiled in a distant way. "He was, well, I don't know…" She sighed, unable to find the words.

"I see," Kahlan said at the dreamy look in the girl's copper-colored eyes.

"He saved my life from soldiers sent by Jagang, before. They were looking for these books. I was so afraid the man who had me was going to cut my throat, but Richard killed him. Then, he held me in his arms and quieted my tears." She looked up from gazing into her memories. "And he saved my grandfather, too. Well, not exactly him, but the woman with him."

"Woman?"

Jillian nodded. "Nicci. She said that she was a sorceress. She was so beautiful. I couldn't stop staring at her. I'd never before seen a woman that beautiful. She was like a good spirit standing there before me, with hair like sunlight, and eyes like the sky itself."

Kahlan sighed. Why wouldn't a man like that have a beautiful woman with him. After hearing it, she didn't know why she hadn't ever considered such a likelihood before now.

Kahlan didn't know why, but she felt as if something, some hope she had never dared define, or maybe an unfathomable longing she still clung to for something profoundly valuable hidden beneath the black shroud that had been drawn over her past… had just slipped away from her.

She had to look away from Jillian's gaze lest she lose control at the thought of the forlorn situation she found herself trapped in. She used the excuse of looking over her shoulder, checking to make sure that the emperor and his Sisters were still busy, as she wiped an unexpected, solitary tear from her cheek.

The Sisters looked more involved than ever in a discussion of the technicalities in the book. Jagang was demanding to know how they could be sure that certain parts were correct.

When Kahlan looked back, Jillian was staring at her. "But she wasn't as beautiful as you."

Kahlan smiled. "Diplomacy must be a requirement of being a priestess of the bones."

"No," Jillian said, looking suddenly worried that Kahlan might not believe she was telling the truth. "Really. There's something about you."