Confessor: Chainfire Trilogy Part 3

She believed, however, that even being a false copy it very likely still contained all, or most all, of the elements necessary to open and use the correct box of Orden. To make the version Richard had memorized a false copy would have required only a single sequence of necessary elements being out of order, but that didn't mean that the elements themselves weren't valid and therefore important and necessary.

To that end, Richard had recited the entire book for her. They had made note of every element from the book. If he learned how to create or draw each of those elements, then when they got their hands on the true copy of The Book of Counted Shadows, he would simply have to use those components that were actually necessary by rearranging them in the proper order as revealed by the true copy of the book.

For this reason, Nicci now knew what she needed to teach him. And Richard was farther along this path than she would have thought because he already understood many of the key elements involved. He already knew a vast array of the basic parts used in the spell-forms. He had, in fact, drawn them on his whole team and himself. The dance with death had already taught him the basics of those designs, making them by now seem almost intuitive to him.

Richard had discovered that drawing the spell-forms was in fact a natural extension of not just the symbols employed in the depiction of the dance with death, but how he fought with a blade, and how he carved statues. At their base, all of those seemingly different things had basic parts in common. All of them shared movement and flow.

For Richard it was astonishing to discover how it all fit together into a larger picture. As he drew the spell-forms Nicci was teaching him it didn't feel awkward or difficult. It felt natural. He already knew the forms. He recognized in those forms not only the dance with death, but movements with a blade, both from fighting and from carving statues.

Nicci, too, was unique as a teacher because she understood not only how much Richard knew about his varied abilities, but how he used his ability. She grasped, unlike anyone else, how he saw the use of magic. She recognized how different it was from the conventional wisdom and wasn't in the least bit stymied by the way he viewed such things. If anything, it energized her.

She also comprehended his concept of the the creative aspects of magic itself and so she didn't try to correct what he did, but instead guided him to accomplishing what was needed. She didn't just pile on things to memorize; she instead built on what he already knew and the way he saw things. Because she intuitively sensed what he already grasped on his own, in his own way, she didn't waste time dwelling on lessons covering what he already understood, and instead helped him add things he needed, at the place he needed them, when he needed them.

Nicci strolled to the table. "How are you doing?"

Richard yawned. "I don't know anymore. It's all running together in my head."

Nicci nodded absently as she read something in the book she was holding.

"What you think is running together may mean that your interior mind is simply beginning to make associations and connections-organizing what you are adding to your knowledge."

Richard sighed. "Could be."

Nicci closed the book and tossed it on the table to the side. "There are some useful things in here. You should take a look."

"I don't think I can see straight to read any more right now."

"Good," she said. She gestured to the pen resting in a holder to the side. "Draw, then. You need to be able to draw those elements from the book you just finished. If the real Book of Counted Shadows has similar elements, you will be ahead of the game."

Richard wanted to argue with her, to tell her that he was too tired, but then he thought about Kahlan. Weariness became irrelevant in that light. Besides, he had agreed that Nicci was going to teach him and he would not only do as she instructed but put his every effort into it.

She was a sorceress with invaluable knowledge, experience, and ability that Zedd had said amazed him. Even Verna had taken him aside and advised him to listen carefully to Nicci, that she was in many areas smarter than any of them. Richard knew that this was his only true opportunity to learn what he needed. He was not about to waste that opportunity.

He pulled a piece of paper close and then dunked the pen in the ink. He leaned close and started drawing spell-forms from a book laid open nearby.

One big problem they had not yet solved was the issue of sorcerer's sand. According to The Book of Counted Shadows that he'd memorized, the spell-forms needed to open the correct box of Orden had to be drawn in sorcerer's sand. Nicci had told him that even though the book he'd memorized was a false copy, the issue of needing to draw the spell-forms in sorcerer's sand when the time came was true. Whatever spells turned out to be the ones necessary simply wouldn't work without it.