*
Though he was anxious to study Cliffwall’s wondrous books and scrolls, Nathan slept for many hours that first night. He felt safe, warm, and comfortable for the first time in a long while.
After waking refreshed, he hurried to the dining hall, where he scrounged a few scraps of breakfast, since most of the scholars had eaten much earlier and hurried to work. His borrowed scholar’s robe was comfortable, though a bit drab and not at all fashionable. He supposed it would do until his more acceptable clothes came back from the washing and mending teams. For now, he would scour the library in hopes of finding how to stop the Lifedrinker’s voracious, out-of-control spell that sucked away all life.
In the first of the library chambers, he considered a wall of fat leather-bound volumes. So many of them! Scrolls lay unfurled on tables as intent scholars discussed the possible meanings of obscure lines; other readers hunched over open tomes, writing notes with chalk on flat slates.
When he looked at the dizzying number of shelved books in front of him and the other walls with an equal number of shelves—and knowing there were numerous rooms identical to this—the scope of Cliffwall’s knowledge felt as intimidating as it was exhilarating.
In the Palace of the Prophets, books had been Nathan’s quiet companions for a thousand years, his source of information about the outside world. Recently, Richard Rahl had also granted him access to all of the books in the People’s Palace of D’Hara, but most of those works had dealt with prophecy, and so were no longer relevant. Now the world’s future might depend on what he read here.
And there was so much more than the witch woman’s cryptic line in his life book.
Being surrounded by these works made him feel as if he had come home again—even if it was a huge home and a cluttered mess. “Dear spirits, how can I find any information here, except by accident?” He paced in front of the shelves, pondering, while acolyte archivists rolled scrolls or replaced volumes in their proper spots.
Victoria approached him, accompanied by her three lovely acolytes. “My memmers and I are here to be of assistance, Wizard Nathan. Simon’s catalog system is confusing to most, and he is the only one who knows where the volumes are. But I have committed many of these works to memory, and my lovely acolytes each hold more than a hundred volumes in their own minds. I can also bring you Gloria, Franklin, Peretta, and ten more well-trained memmers. You could sit back while we recite our knowledge to you.”
Nathan found it amazing that these young women—or any of the memmers—were able to commit thousands of pages of dense and precise magical lore to memory, even if they did not organize or, perhaps, understand the words they could recite.
Audrey, Laurel, and Sage looked at him with such intensity that he felt a warm flush come to his cheeks. He gave Victoria a polite, gentlemanly smile. “I am impressed with your skill, madam, and I would certainly welcome the company of such beautiful ladies, but I’m afraid they would distract me. I’ve spent years reading books with my own eyes, and that’s the way I should search for the information.”
Victoria’s grandmotherly face wrinkled with disappointment. “Generations of memmers have well-respected skills. We possess the information you need. If you tell us what you are searching for, we can quote the relevant passages for you, if we remember.” She waved a hand dismissively. “These books are just the static preservation of words. We would bring those words alive for you. We could tell you everything we know.”
The woman’s determination made him uncomfortable, and he wanted to get to work in his own way. “It doesn’t seem pragmatic, I’m afraid. I can’t study so much magical lore if it is locked inside your heads, and I don’t have the time to listen to your people speak aloud one book at a time.” He traced his fingers along curious symbols on the spine of one black volume. “Some of these tomes are written in languages I don’t recognize, but I am fluent in numerous others. I can read quite quickly.”
“But not all the books are available to you,” Victoria said. “You saw the archive tower that melted in the … accident. All those books were wiped out.”
“Your memmers can recall the volumes that were lost there?” Nathan asked.
The three young acolytes nodded. Victoria lifted her chin with a measure of pride. “Many of them. We don’t exactly know what was lost. For the most part, they were works of prophecy, but many were miscategorized.”
Nathan let out a sigh of relief. “Prophecy? Well, then, with the star shift, prophecy is gone and any such volumes would contain little of practical value. Prophecy is of no use to us—and certainly of little interest in our quest to stop the Lifedrinker.”
But he did not so easily dismiss the prediction Red had made. And the Sorceress must save the world.
Victoria could not hide her indignation at his attitude. “If that is what you truly wish, we will leave you to your studies, then. My memmers are always here to assist. We can recall many things that Simon and his scholars have not yet bothered to read.”
Nathan gave the woman his sweetest smile. “I thank you. Everyone at Cliffwall has been so generous. If the knowledge is locked away here, we will find it, and we will use it to defeat the Lifedrinker.” He fought back a flush of embarrassment, as he realized that his own unfortunate lack of magic would make him of little use in the actual battle against the evil wizard. “Nicci is a powerful sorceress. Do not underestimate her. She used to be called Death’s Mistress, and she struck fear across the land.”
Victoria’s expression turned sour, unimpressed. She seemed a competitive sort. “Death’s Mistress? We have no need of further death. Let us hope she can bring life back to our fertile valley.”
The woman departed with her acolytes, leaving him alone to face the disorganized books, scrolls, and tomes before him. He didn’t know where to begin his search for the original spell that had created the Lifedrinker, or where to find an appropriate counterspell.
But he had other priorities as well. If Nathan could restore his own magic, he could fight beside Nicci against the Lifedrinker. Somewhere in the library must be information about how and why he had lost his gift, or perhaps an accurate map showing how to find Kol Adair. Everything was connected.
He walked along the shelves from one side of the great chamber to the other, running his finger across the spines of the leather-bound volumes. He didn’t know where to start.
So he carried a volume at random over to a table and took a seat next to an intense young scholar who didn’t even look up from her reading. Nathan opened the book and scanned the handwritten symbols on the page, not certain what he was searching for, but sure he would uncover useful information, nevertheless.