Confessor by Terry Goodkind Page B

of these men.
    Over the winter, when Nicci had captured Richard and taken him down to the Old World, Kahlan, in his place, had led the D’Haran forces. She was the one responsible for keeping Jagang from having the victory back then that he might otherwise have had. She had been responsible for whittling down the ranks of Order soldiers, even if the endless supplies from the Old World had included reinforcements that more than replenished all the men lost. Kahlanhad not only delayed the invaders, but earned their undying hatred for all the pain she had inflicted upon them. Were it not for Kahlan the Order probably would have caught the D’Haran army and slaughtered them. She had kept them one step ahead of Jagang and just out of his reach.
    Trying to look composed, Richard leaned back against the wagon and folded his arms as he waited. Before long he caught sight of an entourage off to the left making their way through the encampment. They were moving down the line of teams in the distance, pausing at regular intervals along the way to take a closer look.
    Judging by the types of soldiers Richard could see making up the group, it could be none other than the emperor that they escorted. Richard recognized the royal guard from the day before when he had rolled through the camp and right past Jagang. That was when he had briefly seen Kahlan. The emperor’s guards were intimidating in their mail and leather and with their well-made weapons, but it was the size of the men and their bulging, rain-slicked muscles that was truly daunting.
    These were men who even struck fear into the hearts of the regular brutes of the Order. Those regular troops all fell back well clear of the royal guard. Richard didn’t imagine that such men were at all tolerant of anything they believed might potentially be a threat to the emperor.
    Johnrock stepped forward to join the other men waiting in a line for the emperor to review them.
    It was when Richard saw Jagang’s shaved head off in the center of the ranks of muscled guards that the sudden realization hit him.
    Jagang would recognize him.
    Jagang, as a dream walker, had been in the minds of various people and he had seen Richard through their eyes.
    Richard could hardly believe how careless he had been not to even consider that when he played the emperor’steam in order to get close enough to Kahlan, Jagang would be there, and Jagang would recognize him. Distracted by the thought of actually getting to Kahlan, he hadn’t taken such a prospect into consideration.
    Richard noticed something else, then—a Sister.
    It looked like Sister Ulicia, but if it was, she had aged a great deal since he’d last seen her. She was farther away, back at the tail end of all the guards following Jagang, but Richard could still see the sagging creases in her face. The last time he had seen her she’d been an attractive woman, although Richard had difficulty separating a person’s looks from their personality and Sister Ulicia was one sinister woman. No matter how superficially attractive a person was, a cruel personality tainted Richard’s image of them. Corrupt character colored his appraisal of a person to such an extent that he could not see them as attractive separate from their vicious nature.
    That was also one of the reasons Kahlan was so beautiful to him—she was not simply stunningly attractive, but exemplary in every way. Her intelligence and insight were matched by her passion for life. It was as if her captivating looks perfectly reflected everything else about her.
    Sister Ulicia, despite how physically attractive she once had been, now appeared to reflect only the rot at her core.
    Richard realized then that not only would Jagang and Sister Ulicia recognize him, but there would be other Sisters in the camp who also knew him.
    He suddenly felt very vulnerable. Any of those Sisters could happen by at any time. He had nowhere to hide.
    When he got close enough, Jagang would not fail to see that