"What I have seen I have no way of telling you. I do not know how to tell you that you might understand how many men we have seen. How many horses. How many wagons. How many weapons.

"This army stretches from horizon to horizon for days as they pass. They are beyond count. I could no more tell you how many blades of grass are on these plains. I have no word that can express such a vast number."

"I think you just have," Richard murmured. "They didn't attack your people, then?"

"No. They did not come through our homeland. Our fear for ourselves is but for the future, when these men decide to swallow us. Men like this will not forever leave us to ourselves. Men like these take everything; there is never enough for them.

"Our men will all die. Our children will all be murdered. Our women will all be taken. We have no hope against this foe.

"You are the Caharin, so you must be told these things. That is the old law.

"As spirit woman to the Baka Tau Mana, I am ashamed that I must show you my fear and tell you our people are frightened we will all perish in the teeth of this beast. I wish I could tell you we look with bravery to the jaws of death, but we do not. We look with trembling hearts.

"You are Caharin, you would not know. You have no fear."

"Du Chaillu," Richard said with a startled guffaw, "I'm often afraid."

"You? Never." Her gaze withdrew to the blanket. "You are just saying so that I might not be shamed. You have faced the thirty without fear and defeated them. Only the Caharin could do such a thing. The Caharin is fearless."

Richard lifted her chin. "I faced the thirty, but not without fear. I was terrified, as I am right now of the chimes, and the war facing us. Admitting your fear is not a weakness, Du Chaillu."

She smiled at his kindness. "Thank you, Caharin."

"The Imperial Order didn't try to attack you, then?"

"For now, we are safe. I came to warn you, because they come into the New World. They passed us by. They come for you, first."

Richard nodded. They were headed north, into the Midlands.

General Reibisch's army of nearly a hundred thousand men was marching east to guard the southern reaches of the Midlands. The general had asked Richard's permission not to return to Aydindril, his plan being to watch the southern passes into the Midlands, and especially the back routes into D'Hara. It made sense to Richard.

Fortune now put the man and his D'Haran army in Jagang's path.

Reibisch's force might not be large enough to take on the Imperial Order, but D'Harans were fierce fighters and would be well placed to guard the passes north. Once they knew where Jagang's forces were going, more men could be sent to join Reibisch's army.

Jagang had gifted wizards and Sisters in his army. General Reibisch had a number of the Sisters of the Light with him, too. Sister Verna-Prelate Verna, now-had given Richard her word that the Sisters would fight against the Order and the magic they used. Magic was now failing, hut so would the magic of those aiding Jagang, except, perhaps, the Sisters of the Dark and the wizards with them who knew how to conjure Subtractive Magic.

General Reibisch, as well as Richard and the other generals back in Aydindril and D'Hara, had been counting on the Sisters to use their abilities to keep track of Jagang's army when it advanced into the New World, and with that knowledge, aid the D'Haran forces in selecting an advantageous place to take a stand. Now, magic was failing, leaving them blind.

Luckily, Du Chaillu and the Baka Tau Mana had kept the Order from surprising them.

"This is a great help, Du Chaillu." Richard smiled at her. "It is important news you bring. Now we know what Jagang is doing. They didn't try to come through your land, then? They simply passed you by?"

"They would have had to go out of their way to attack us now. Because of their numbers, the edges of their army came near but, like a porcupine in the belly of a dog, our blade masters made it painful for them to brush against us.

"We captured some of the leaders of these dogs on two legs. They told us that for now their army was not interested in our small homeland and people, and they were content to pass us by. They hunt bigger game. But they will one day return, and wipe the Baka Tau Mana from the land."

"They told you their plans?"

"Everyone will talk, if asked properly." She smiled. "The chimes are not the only ones to use fire. We-"

Richard held up his hand. "I get the idea."

"They told us their army was going to a place that could provide them with supplies."

Richard idly stroked his lower lip as he considered that important bit of news.

"That makes sense. They've been gathering their forces in the Old World for some time. They can't stay put forever, not an army like that. An army has to be fed. An army that size would need to move, and would need supplies. A lot of supplies. The New World would offer them a tempting meal along with their conquests."

He looked up at Kahlan, standing behind his left shoulder. "Where would they likely go to find supplies?"

"There are any number of places," Kahlan said. "They could pillage from each place as they invade, getting what they need as they strike deeper into the Midlands. As long as they pick their route with that in mind, they could feed the army as they go, like a bat scooping up bugs.

"Or, they might strike at a place with larger stocks. Lifany, for example, could net them a lot of grain, Sanderia has vast sheep herds and would get them meat. If they picked targets with enough food, they could supply their army for a long time to come, allowing them the freedom to pick their targets at will, for strategic reasons alone. We would have a difficult time of it.

"If I were them, that would be my plan. Without their urgent need for food, we would be at their mercy as far as picking a place to stand against them."

"We could use General Reibisch," Richard said, thinking aloud. "Maybe he could block the Order, or at least slow them, while we evacuate people and supplies before Jagang can get to them."

"That would be a huge task, moving so many supplies. If Reibisch surprises Jagang's troops," Kahlan said, also thinking aloud, "engages him to stall their advance, and we could move enough other forces in from the sides…”

Du Chaillu was shaking her head. "When we were banished from our homeland by the law-givers," she said, "we were made to live in the wet place. When it rained to the north for many days, great floods came. The river overflowed its banks and spread wide.

"In its rush, churning with mud and big uprooted trees, it swept everything before it. We could not stand against the weight and fury of so much water-no one could. You think you can, until you see it coming. You find higher ground, or die.

"This army is like that. You cannot imagine how big it is."

Seeing the burden of dread in her eyes and hearing the weight of her words made gooseflesh rise on Richard's arms. Though she couldn't express the number, it was unimportant. He understood the concept as if she were somehow pouring her image and impressions of the Imperial Order directly into his mind.

"Dru Chaillu, thank you for bringing us this information. You may have saved a great many lives with your words. At least, now, we won't be caught unawares-as we might well have been. Thank you."

"General Reibisch is already headed east, so we have that much in our favor," Kahlan said. "We must now get word to him."

Richard nodded. "We can take a roundabout way to Aydindril so we can meet up with him and decide what to do next. Also, we can get horses from him. That would save us time in the long run. I only wish he wasn't so far away. Time is vital."

After the battle in which the D'Haran army had defeated Jagang's huge expeditionary force, Reibisch had turned his army and was racing east. The D'Harans were returning to guard the routes north from the Old World, where Jagang had gathered his forces in preparation for marching into the Midlands or possibly D'Hara.