When a Sister of the Dark captures Richard, he makes a desperate sacrifice to ensure that his beloved Kahlan remains free. Taken deep into the Old World and forced to labor for the tyrannical evil he's sworn to defeat, he is determined to remain defiant even in the heart of darkness. Kahlan, left behind and unwilling to abandon the cause of the Midlands, violates prophecy and breaks her last pledge to Richard. Finally she will come face to face with the architect of the terror sweeping her land - the mad dreamwalker, Emperor Jagang. While Kahlan faces Jagang's vast horde, Richard discovers the truth of the Imperial Order's rule. forced to endure his ordeal without magic, without the Sword of Truth, without his love, he stands against the despair and soul-numbing regime of the Old World, his hope kept alive only by the knowledge of the rightness of his cause.