Thistle sat propped up on the bench, paying little attention to the conversation. She used her fingers to take a second helping of antelope meat and corn. It was obvious she hadn’t eaten a meal like this in some time, perhaps in her entire life.
Simon shifted his gaze from Nathan to Nicci. “The renegade wizards found this place in the maze of canyons up on the plateau, where no one could ever track them down. For years as Sulachan continued his conquests, the desperate wizards smuggled contraband books, scrolls, tablets, and magical artifacts to the new hiding place. They built Cliffwall to hold that knowledge, and many of them gave their lives to protect it, dying under horrible torture without revealing the location of this canyon.
“When every last book and lexicon had been stored inside the warren of chambers and shelves, the wizards knew they couldn’t rely even on the isolation of these canyons to keep this knowledge safe. They needed something more powerful.”
“More permanent,” Victoria added.
Simon’s eyes gleamed. “And so, the wizards conjured an impenetrable shield, an undetectable camouflage shroud that walled off the cave grotto. This entire cliffside was hidden. No one could see anything but a smooth, natural cliff face.”
Victoria didn’t seem to like how he was telling the story. “The shroud was more than a hiding spell, but also a physical barrier. No one could find or enter it. Cliffwall was meant to be sealed away—permanently, until those who would eradicate magic were themselves eradicated.”
Nicci glanced at Nathan. “Like Baraccus hid the Temple of the Winds, whisking away the most vital magical lore by sending the whole temple to the underworld, where no one could have access to it.”
“And that is how so much knowledge was preserved in a time of great turmoil,” Simon finished. “Without Cliffwall and the camouflage shroud, everything would have been lost in Sulachan’s purges. Instead, it remained intact here for thousands of years.”
“Not everything,” Victoria said in a crisp voice. “We had our alternative.”
Reluctantly conceding, Simon let the matronly woman pick up the story while he chose an ear of roasted corn from a platter. He began to eat noisily.
“The physical documents were sealed in the archives,” Victoria explained, “but the ancient wizards had a second plan to guarantee that the knowledge wouldn’t be lost. They insured that someone would always remember. Someone special.” She had a twinkle in her grandmotherly eyes.
“Among the people who lived quietly here in the canyons, serving as the guardians of Cliffwall, the wizards chose a few who were gifted with special memory abilities, perfect retention. Memmers, magically enhanced with a perfect-recall spell, who could memorize and retain all the words of countless documents.”
“For what purpose?” Nathan asked.
“Why, to remember, of course,” Victoria said. “Before the camouflage shroud was imposed and sealed everything away, the memmers studied the works in the archive, committing every word to memory.” A rich undertone of pride suffused her voice. “We are the walking manifestation of the archives. For all the years when the archive was sealed, we remembered. Only we retained the knowledge.”
Nicci was reminded of how Richard had memorized the entire Book of Counted Shadows, line by line, page by page, back when he was just a woods guide in Westland. George Cipher had made him learn the entire book, backward and forward, burning every page after Richard had learned it, so that the evil Darken Rahl could not have access to what it contained. Even though that book had ultimately been a flawed copy, Richard had used that knowledge to defeat both Darken Rahl and Emperor Jagang.
But The Book of Counted Shadows was just one book. Each of these memmers had committed hundreds of volumes to memory. Nicci could not comprehend the incredible scope of the memmers’ task.
Victoria tapped her fingers on the tabletop. “I am one of the memmers, as are all my acolytes.” On cue, Audrey, Laurel, and Sage came into the dining hall carrying bowls of honeyed fruit. The three young women made a point of offering the dessert first to an embarrassed Bannon; then they spread the plates and bowls around so that all could partake of the fruits.
Nathan chose a glistening peach slice, which he savored, then licked the honey from his fingers. He looked at Victoria, his forehead furrowed. “You each committed thousands upon thousands of volumes to your memory? I find that amazing—though somewhat hard to believe, I’m afraid.”
Victoria’s expression puckered. “No, one person could not hold all that knowledge, even with memory-enhancement spells and our gift. So the wizards divided the task among our ancestors. Each of the original memmers took specific volumes to study. All told, with enough memmers, our predecessors preserved most of the archive, but the books are scattered among many different minds, and those memmers taught the next generation and the next, dispersing all the books further, depending on how many memmer acolytes were available.” She tapped the side of her head. “Nevertheless, the knowledge is there.”
Nicci had no interest in the sweet fruit and passed the bowl to Thistle, who began to paw through the dessert with her fingers. “So you have taught and recited all these volumes for thousands of years? Losing nothing? Without a mistake?”
Simon said, “An expert memmer drills and practices with several acolytes, teaching them line after line, so that their students remember every word of every spell. In this way, the memmers kept the knowledge alive for centuries, even though the books themselves were locked away behind the permanent barrier. The camouflage shroud kept us all safe.”
He paused to drink from a goblet of spring water, then wiped his mouth. He heaved a sigh. “Unfortunately, every wizard who was powerful enough to remove the shroud also died in the ancient wars, and no one could access the knowledge hidden here. It was lost forever, the impenetrable camouflage sealed in place. No one could break through the shroud.”
Victoria interrupted him. “Until I figured out how to dissolve it, thus opening the archives again for study. Fifty years ago.” She chose three fat strawberries and ate them quickly, then wiped her fingers and lips on a cloth napkin. “I was just a young woman at the time, barely seventeen.”