title: Blood of the Fold (Sword of Truth, Book 3)
author:  Terry Goodkind 
description: After unwittingly destroying the magical wards that had sealed off the Old World from the New for 3000 years, the war wizard Richard Cypher discovers that he has inadvertently created a gate through which the evil Keeper, Emperor Jagang, and his minions can enter the land. Separated from his beloved, the former Mother Confessor Kahlan Amnell, who is in hiding to avoid being executed by the people she once served, Richard must now accept the power of his father, Darken Rahl, and use all of his magical abilities to defeat Jagang, to save Kahlan and to close the gate. As in the two previous novels of The Sword of Truth fantasy cycle (Stone of Tears, etc.), Goodkind builds an intricate plot teeming with violence, treachery and intrigue. Newcomers to the series may find it a challenge to get up to speed, but once they do, they?as well as Goodkind's large, loyal readership?will delight in a complex epic fantasy that crackles with vigor and magical derring-do. Author tour. <br />Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
zlib_text: NAKED EMPIRE - Terry Goodkind 
   
   
  CHAPTER1 
   
   
   You knew they were there, didn't you?" Kahlan 
  asked in a hushed tone as she leaned closer. 
     Against the darkening sky, she could just make 
  out the shapes of three black-tipped races taking 
  to wing, beginning their nightly hunt. That was why 
  he'd stopped. That was what he'd been watching as 
  the rest of them waited in uneasy silence. 
     "Yes," Richard said. He gestured over his 
  shoulder without turning to look. "There are two 
  more, back there." 
     Kahlan briefly scanned the dark jumble of rock, 
  but she didn't see any others. 
     Lightly grasping the silver pommel with two 
  fingers, Richard lifted his sword a few inches, 
  checking that it was clear in its scabbard. A last 
  fleeting glimmer of amber light played across his 
  golden cape as he let the sword drop back in place. 
  In the gathering gloom of dusk, his familiar tall, 
  powerful contour seemed as if it were no more than 
  an apparition made of shadows. 
     Just then, two 