Chainfire: Chainfire Trilogy Part 1

Grim determination was etched on her lace as her blue eyes watched him. "Something strange is happening with the books of prophecy. You've been fretting over those books for days, now. You haven't eaten or slop! But worse by far is that the prophecies that are vanishing are about lord Rahl."

It was an observation, not a question. He'd thought that his turmoil had been all internal. She had been quietly paying more attention than he'd, given her credit for. Or maybe he had just been too distracted to notice her paying attention. In either case, it was not a good sign that he had been so preoccupied that he hadn't even been aware of her marking how absorbed and unsettled he'd been.

"Near as I can tell, you are right in that a great many of those vanished prophecies are about Richard, but I don't think they all are. From what I have been able to determine, however, they all have to do with prophecy pertaining to a time after he was born. That doesn't mean that they are all about him, though. The blank places in the books are extensive. Since I can't remember what those blank places said, there obviously is no way to tell what they were about, making it impossible to know the subject individual of the missing prophecies."

"But from what you can piece together they mostly have something to do with Lord Rahl."

This, too, had not been a question, but a statement of observation, or, at least, reasoned speculation. This was a Mord-Sith asking questions that revolved around the issue of the safety of her Lord Rahl. Zedd could see that she was in no mood for any evasive explanations.

"I would have to agree that Richard, if not central, is at least deeply connected with the trouble in the books of prophecy."

Rikka rose up from the bench. "Then this is no time for you to go all secretive on me. This is important. Lord Rahl is vital to all of us. This is not only about the safety of your grandson, but about the future of all of our lives."

"And I'm seeing to.»

"It is not only important to you; he is important to all of us. If you alone discover something significant and anything happens to you, then we could all be left at a dead end. This is more important than you keeping your secrets."

Zedd put his hands on his hips and turned away for a moment, considering. He finally turned back to her.

"Rikka, there are things down there that no one knows about. There are good reasons for that."

"I'm not going to steal any treasure and if you fear me seeing some 'secret of the ages, then I will be willing to swear on my life to keep it secret unless it is necessary for me to reveal it to Lord Rahl."

"It's more than that. Many of the things in the lower reaches of the Keep are incredibly dangerous to anyone who goes near them."

"There are things of incredible danger outside the Keep as well. We no longer have the luxury of secrets."

Zedd watched her eyes. She had a point. If anything happened to him, the information, too, was as good as dead. He had always planned on someday letting Richard know about this, but there had never been any time and, until the problem with the books of prophecy had cropped up, it hadn't seemed critical. Still, this was not Richard who would see these things.

"What do you think, wizard? That I will go to town and gossip about what I've seen? Who is left to tell? The Order has overrun most of the New World and everyone has fled Aydindril for D'Hara. D'Hara hangs by a thread. Our future hangs by a thread."

"There are reasons that some knowledge is kept hidden."

"There are also reasons that wise men sometimes must share what they know. Life is what matters. If knowledge will help preserve and advance life, then that knowledge should not be hidden-especially when it may be lost right when it could be that it's needed most."

Zedd pressed his lips tight as he considered her words. He had discovered this secret when he had been a boy. His whole life he'd never told another person about it. No one had instructed him to keep it a secret-nor could they, no one but he knew about it. Still, he knew that there had to be a reason that this was not something that was meant to be widely known. This had been kept secret for a reason.

He just didn't know what that reason was.

"Zedd, for Lord Rahl's sake, for the sake of our cause, let me come with you."

He appraised her determination for a moment. "You can never reveal this to anyone."

"Except for Lord Rahl, I will never reveal it to another. Mord-Sith often go to their graves without revealing the things they know."

Zedd nodded. "All right. It goes to your grave with you, unless some thing happens to me. If so, then you must tell Richard what I show you this night. You must swear to me that you will never tell anyone else about this, though, not even your sister Mord-Sith."

Without hesitation Rikka held her hand out to him. "I swear."

Zedd clasped her hand and in so doing struck the agreement, accepting her word.