Confessor: Chainfire Trilogy Part 3

This was a shield that seemed to respond in a unique way to the application of force. He paused a moment to consider. He would have to achieve what he wanted without applying force that would invoke that reaction. He carefully slipped a thin thread of innocent nothing through the snarl. With his right hand he eased the tangled restriction of power so that the whole thing would begin to loosen.

He knew all too well that it would do no good to simply try to break through the seal, because the containment field was constructed in such a way that force only caused it to lock tighter. Nicci had apparently added multipliers to that quality. If he applied too much force the shield would simply tighten, like pulling the ends of a knotted rope tighter. If that happened, he would never get it undone.

Besides that, Cara was right-Nicci had Subtractive Magic and there was no telling what elements of such sinister power she might have woven into the matrix to prevent the inner seal from being breached. He would not like to force his hand through the keyhole, so to speak, only to discover he had plunged it right into a cauldron of molten lead. Much less risky to untie the knot of magic than try to rip it apart.

Such difficulties only made Zedd all the more determined that he was going to find a way to get through. It was a personal trait of his that had in the distant past made his father surly-especially if it had been a shield that Zedd's father had constructed specifically to keep out his inquisitive son.

Zedd's tongue poked out the left corner of his mouth as he worked at threading his way through the fabric of the shield. He was already farther in than he had expected to get so quickly. He extended the invisible probe of power through the inner workings so that he could control it from inside.

And then, even though he was being careful beyond all reason, the weave of the shield tightened, neatly snapping off the foray of magic. It was as if it had maneuvered him into an ambush.

Zedd stood hunched before the brass-clad doors, surprised that a shield would have been able to react in that way. He was, after all, not yet trying to breach it, but merely to probe its inner workings-having a look in the keyhole, as it were.

He had done the very same thing any number of times before. It always worked. It should have worked. It was the most confounding shield he had ever encountered.

He was still bent over the lever, considering his next move, when the door opened inward.

Zedd turned his head a little, peering up. Nicci, one hand on the inner lever, the other at her side, towered over him.

"Did you ever think of knocking?" she asked.

Zedd straightened, hoping his face wasn't going red but suspecting it had. "Well, actually, I did consider it, but then I discounted the idea. I thought you might have been working late on that book and might be asleep. I didn't want to disturb you."

Her blond hair was tumbled down over the shoulders of her black dress, a dress that hugged every curve of her perfect shape. Even though she looked as if she hadn't slept a wink all night, her blue eyes were as penetrating as those of any sorceress he had ever met. The combination of her alluring beauty, aloof dignity, and keen intellect-to say nothing of the fact that she possessed enough power to turn just about anyone to ash- was both disarming and intimidating.

"If I had been asleep," Nicci said in that calm, silken voice of hers, "then just how was breaking through a containment field that was buffered with a shield conjured from instructions in a three-thousand-year-old book and spiked with Subtractive counterlocks not going to wake me?"

Zedd's level of alarm rose. Such shields were not constructed lightly, nor for a private nap.

He spread his hands. "I only meant to have a peek to check up on you." Her cool gaze was making him start to sweat.

"I spent a very long time at the Palace of the Prophets teaching boy wizards how to behave themselves and school their powers. I know how to make shields that can't be picked. As a Sister of the Dark I've had a great deal of practice at it."

"Really? I'd be quite interested to learn about such arcane shields- from a strictly professional perspective, of course. Such things are rather a . . . hobby of mine."

She still had a hand on the door lever. "What is it you want, Zedd?"

Zedd cleared his throat. "Well, quite honestly, Nicci, I was worried about what might be going on in there with that box."

Nicci finally smiled just the slightest bit. "Ah. Somehow I didn't think you were hoping to catch me cavorting naked."

She stepped back into the library, implying permission to enter.