Chainfire: Chainfire Trilogy Part 1

Ann blinked as she thought back. "No, it didn't. I remember it well." She offered the prophet a warm smile. "But don't you see? If you can quote this one, no more or no less, and you learned it from our copy, then that means that whoever made the copy simply pulled the text together rather than include the meaningless blank places left by the original prophet. The prophet probably left blank places as a provision in case he had any further visions about the prophecies and he needed to add to what he had already written. Apparently, he never had that need, so the blanks remain."

"I know that there were more pages in our copy."

'I'm not following you, then."

This time it was Nathan who threw up his hands. "Ann, don't you see? Here, look at the book." He turned it toward her. "Look at this next-lo-last branch of prophecy. It's one page and then six blank pages. Do you remember any branch of prophecy in our copy of The Glendhill book of Deviation Theory that was only one page? No. None were this short. They were too complex. You know that there is more to this prophecy, I know there is more to the prophecy, but my mind is as blank as these pages. What was there is not only missing from the book, but it's missing from my mind as well. Unless you can quote me the rest of the prophecy that you know should be there, then it's missing from your mind as well."

"Nathan, that's just not-I mean, I don't see how.» Ann sputtered in confusion.

"Here," he said as he snatched a book from behind him. "Collected Origins. You must remember this."

Ann reverently lifted the book from his hands. "Oh, Nathan, of course I remember it. How could one forget such a short but beautiful book."

Collected Origins was an exceedingly rare prophecy in that it was written entirely in story form. Ann loved the story. She had a soft spot for romance, although she never admitted it to anyone. Since this tale of romance was actually a prophecy, that made it an official requirement that she be familiar with it.

She smiled as she lifted open the cover of the small book.

The pages were blank.

All of them.

"Tell me," Nathan said in that quietly commanding, deep Rahl voice, "what is Collected Origins about?"

Ann opened her mouth, but no words would come forth.

"Tell me, then," Nathan went on in that quietly powerful voice of his that seemed as if it could crack stone, "a single line of this beloved volume. Tell me who it is about. Tell me how it started, how it ended, or anything in the middle."

Her mind was stark naked blank.

As she stared up into Nathan's cutting gaze, he leaned a little closer. "Tell me one single thing you remember from this book."

"Nathan," she finally managed to whisper, her own eyes wide, "you often used to keep this book in your rooms. You know it better than I do. What do you remember about Collected Origins?"

"Not — one — thing."

CHAPTER 12

Ann swallowed. "Nathan, how can we both not remember a book we love as much as we do this one? And why is it that the specific parts we both don't remember correspond to the blank spots?"

"Now, that is a very good question."

An idea suddenly hit her. She gasped in a breath. "A spell. It has to be that these books were spelled."

Nathan made a face. "What?"

"Many books are spelled to protect the information. I've not encountered it with a book of prophecy but it's common enough in books of instruction on magic. This place was designed with the intent of concealment. Perhaps that's what is happening with the information protected here."

Such a spell would be activated when anyone but the right person with the required power opened it. Spells of that nature were sometimes even keyed to specific individuals. The usual method of protection if the wrong person saw the book was to erase from their memory everything they'd seen in it. They would see it and at the same time forget it. The effect in one's mind was to blank out the text.

Nathan didn't answer, but his scowl softened as he considered her idea. She could tell by his expression that he doubted her theory was the answer hut he apparently didn't want to argue the point just then, probably because he had something more important that he wanted to go on to.

Sure enough, he tapped a finger on top of a small stack of books standing all by themselves. "These books," he said with a weighty undertone, "are predominantly about Richard. I've never seen most of them before. I find that alarming, that such books would be hidden away in a place like this. Most have extensive stretches of blank pages."

For that many books of prophecy, especially about Richard, not to have been in the Palace of the Prophets was indeed alarming. For five centuries she had scoured the world for copies of any book she could find that contained anything at all about Richard.

Ann scratched an eyebrow as she considered the implications. "Were you able to learn anything?"