He brought his sobbing to a halt in order to speak as he had been commanded. Tears, though, continued to stream down his filthy cheeks. "We stayed together for a focused attack, so we could be sure that we captured Lord Rahl and, and… you, Mother Confessor. When trying to capture a good-size group we split up, with half holding back to look for anyone who might try to slip away, but I told the men that I wanted the both of you, and you were said to be together, so this was our chance. I didn't want to run the risk that you would have any hope of fighting us off, so I ordered all the men to the attack, having some cut the throats of the saddle horses, first, to prevent any possibility of escape."
His face brightened. "I never suspected that we might fail."
"Who sent you?" Kahlan asked.
The man shuffled forward on his knees, his hand tentatively coming up to touch her leg. Kahlan remained motionless, but by her icy glare let him know that touching her would displease her greatly. The hand backed away.
"Nicholas," he said.
Kahlan's brow twitched. She had been expecting him to say Jagang had sent him.
She was wary of the possibility that the dream walker might be watching through this man's eyes. Jagang had in the past sent assassins after he had slipped into their thoughts. With Jagang in a person's mind, he dominated and directed them, and even Cara could not control them. Nor, for that matter, could Kahlan.
"You're lying to me. Jagang sent you."
The man fell to pitiful weeping. "No, Mistress! I've never had any dealings with His Excellency. The army is vast and far-flung. I take my orders from those in my section. I don't think that the ones they take orders from, or their commanders, or even theirs, are worthy of His Excellency's attention. His Excellency is far to the north, bringing the word of the Order's salvation to a lawless and savage people; he would not even be aware of us.
"We are but a lowly squad of men with the muscle to snatch people the Order wants, either for questioning or to silence them. We are all from this part of the empire and so we were called upon because we were here. I am not worthy of the attention of His Excellency."
"But Jagang has visited you-in your dreams. He has visited your mind."
"Mistress?" The man looked terrified to have to question her rather than answer her question. "I don't understand."
Kahlan stared. "Jagang has come into your mind. He has spoken to you."
He looked sincerely puzzled as he shook his head. "No, Mistress. I have never met His Excellency. I have never dreamed about him-I don't know anything about him, except that Altur'Rang has the honor of being the place where he was born.
"Would you like me to kill him for you, Mistress? Please, if it is your wish, allow me to kill him for you?"
The man didn't know how preposterous such a notion was; in his desire to please her, though, if she commanded it he would be only too happy to make the attempt. Kahlan turned her back on the man as Richard watched him.
She leaned toward Richard a bit as she spoke quietly, so the man wouldn't hear. "I don't know if those visited by the dream walker must always be aware of it, but I think they would be. The ones I've seen before were mindful of Jagang's presence in their mind."
"Couldn't the dream walker slip into a person's mind without their being aware of it just so he could watch us?"
"I suppose it's possible," she said. "But think of all the millions of people in the Old World-he can't know whose mind to enter so he can watch.
Dream walker or not, he is only one man."
"Are you gifted?" Richard asked the man.
"No."
"Well," Richard whispered, "Nicci told me that Jagang rarely bothers with the ungifted. She said that it was difficult for him to take the mind of the ungifted, so he simply uses the gifted he controls and has them control the ungifted for him. He has all the Sisters he's captured that he has to worry about. He has to maintain his control over them and direct their actions-including what we started to read in Nicci's letter-about how he's guiding the Sisters in altering people into weapons. Besides that he heads the army and plans strategy. He has a lot of things to manage, so he usually confines himself to the minds of the gifted."
"But not always. If he has to, if he needs to, if he wants to, he can enter the minds of the ungifted. If we were smart," Kahlan whispered, "we would kill this man now."
As they spoke, Richard's glare never left the man. She knew he would not hesitate to agree unless he thought the man might still be of use.
"I have but to command it," Kahlan reminded him, "and he will drop dead."
Richard took in her eyes for a moment, then turned back to the man and frowned. "You said someone named Nicholas sent you. Who is this Nicholas?"
"Nicholas is a fearsome wizard in the service of the Order."
"You saw him. He gave you these orders?"
"No. We are too lowly for one such as he to bother with us. He sent orders that were passed down."
