Faith of the Fallen

The square room was so tiny she could have stretched her arms and touched the walls to each side at the same time. The ceiling brushed the top of her head. She was overwhelmed by the terrifying closeness of it. She wanted out.

She feared the body crumpled at her feet was dead.

"Richard?"

She heard a little groan. His arms were behind his back, locked in some kind of wooden binders. She feared he might drown.

Tears stung her eyes. She sank to her knees. The slimy water that had sloshed into her boots now soaked up through her dress.

"Richard?"

She pulled at his shoulder to turn him over. He cried out and shrank away from her hand.

When she saw him, she covered her mouth with both hands to stifle her scream. She felt the tears flooding down her face as she gasped to get her breath.

"Oh, Richard."

Nicci stood and tore off a strip of her shift from under her dress.

Kneeling once more, she used the cloth to gently wipe the blood from his face.

"Richard, can you hear me? It's Nicci."

He nodded. "Nicci."

One eye was swollen shut. His hair was matted with mud and slime from the water he lay in. His clothes were torn open. In the harsh light from the small lamp, she could see puffy red wounds crisscrossing his flesh.

He saw her staring at his wounds. "I'm afraid you'll never be able to patch this shirt."

She offered a feeble smile at his grim humor. Her fingers trembled as she wiped his face. She didn't know why she would react this way. She had seen worse than this.

Richard pulled his head back away from her ministrations.

"Am I hurting you?"

"Yes."

"Sorry. I have some water."

He nodded eagerly. Nicci poured water into his mouth from the waterskin. He drank greedily.

While he caught his breath, she said, "Kamil came up with the money for the fee to get me in to see you."

Richard only smiled.

"Kamil wants you out of here."

"I want me out of here." He didn't sound like himself. His voice was hoarse and almost gone.

"Richard, the Protector-"

"Who?"

"The official in charge of this, this prison. He told me that there is a way to get you out. He said you must plead guilty to a civil infraction, and pay a fine."

Richard was nodding. "I figured as much. He asked if I had money. I told him I did."

"You do? You've saved money?"

He nodded. "I have money."

Nicci's fingers desperately gathered his collar into her fist.

"Richard, I can't pay the fine to get you out for two more days. Can you hold on? Please, can you hold on until then?"

He smiled in the dim lamplight. "I'm not going anywhere."

Nicci remembered then, and pulled the bread out of the sack. "I brought food. Bread, and some roasted chicken."

"Chicken. Bread won't sustain me long. They don't feed me."

She tore at the chicken with her fingers. She held a piece up to his mouth for him. She couldn't stand to see Richard helpless. It angered her.

It made her sick.

"Eat, Richard," she urged when his head sank forward. He shook his head, as if to banish sleep. "Here, have some more."

She watched him chew. "Can you sleep in this water?"

"They don't let you sleep. They-"

She pushed a long chunk of chicken in his mouth. She knew too many of the details of the Order's methods. She didn't want to know which technique they had chosen for him.

"I'll get you out, Richard. Don't give up. I'll get you out."

He shrugged as if to say it didn't matter.

"Why? Covetous of your prisoner? Jealous to see others abuse me in your place? Fear they might destroy me before you can?"

Richard, that's not-"

"I am just a man. Only the greater good matters. That I'm i

How many times had she lectured him with that same moral doctrine? How contemptuous, how venomous, how treacherous it sounded from his lips.

She hated herself at that moment. He somehow put the lie to everything the Order stood for, to everything she had devoted her life to. He somehow made doing good seem. . evil. That was why he was so dangerous. That he even existed threatened everything for which they stood.

She was so close. So close to knowing what she needed to understand.

The very fact that there were tears ru

If she could just reach that little bit more, then she could finally do what was best. It would be better for him. What kind of life could he ever have? How much suffering could he endure? She hated that she was condemned to serving the Creator in such a way.

"Look around, Nicci. You wanted to show me the better way of the Order.

Look around. Isn't it glorious?"

She hated to see) one of his beautiful eyes swollen shut.

"Richard, I need the money you saved. If I'm to get you out of here, I'll need it all. The official told me it had to be all of what you had."

A hoarse whisper was all he had left. "It's in our room."

"Our room? Where? Tell me where."

He shook his head. "You could never get it out. You have to know the trick to open it. Go to Ishaq."

"Ishaq? At the transport company? Why?"

"It was his parlor, once. There's a hidden compartment in the floor.

Tell him why you need the money. He will open it for you."

She held more chicken up to his mouth. "All right. I'll go to Ishaq."

She hesitated while she watched him chew. "I'm sorry that you have to give up what you've managed to save. I know how hard you work. It's not right for them to take it."

He shrugged again. "Just money. I'd rather live."

Nicci smiled and wiped the tears from her cheeks. That was the best thing she could have hoped to hear.

The door opened. "Pull your skirt down, woman. Time's up."

As he dragged her out by her arm, she stuffed the last of the chicken in Richard's mouth.

"Civil infraction!" she called to him. "Don't forget!"

He had to confess to a civil infraction that could be paid with a fine.

Then they would release him. Any other crime was death.

"I won't forget."

She reached back toward him as she was pulled from the tiny cell. "I'll be back for you, Richard! I swear!"

CHAPTER 56

Nicci paced as Ishaq bent over the trapdoor in the corner of the room.

He had been at it a long time. He had pushed the wardrobe aside to get at the secret place in the floor. Occasionally he muttered under his breath, cursing himself for having made it so difficult to get into.

"At last!" Ishaq scrambled to his feet.

Nicci hoped that the meager money Richard could have managed to save would be enough to satisfy Protector Muksin. In her head, she was going through a list of people who had offered money to help Richard.

Ishaq scurried close. "Here it is."

He hurriedly placed the leather purse in her hand. The weight shocked her. The purse filled her palm. It didn't make sense. She realized Richard must have put some metal items in with his savings-that would account for the weight. She pulled open the top and dumped the contents in her palm.

Nicci gasped. There were close to two dozen gold marks. There wasn't any silver. It was all gold.

"Dear Creator…" she whispered, her eyes wide. "Where would Richard get all this money?"

It was more money than most wealthy men saw in their lifetime. She looked up into Ishaq's eyes.