Chainfire

Richard Rahl rules the D'Haran Empire and is fighting Emperor Jagang's Imperial Order when an arrow wound nearly ends him. Nicci heals it with Subtractive Magic, and the healing sets off consequences nobody anticipated.

Richard wakes to find his wife, Kahlan, gone. Worse, no one remembers her. Sisters of the Dark who survived have cast a spell named Chainfire, and it has wiped her from every mind except his. Only the protection of the Sword of Truth keeps her alive in his memory.

He sets out to learn how the spell works, with Nicci, Cara and a Dream Caster named Jillian beside him. Each step depends on a magic few of them understand.

Zedd, Nathan and Ann are the people Richard would normally trust most, and they have no idea who he is talking about. He has to persuade them that the woman he is hunting exists at all.

This is epic fantasy, the ninth book in the Sword of Truth series and the first of the Chainfire Trilogy. The war with Jagang continues in the background while Richard pursues a search that no one else believes in.