Confessor: Chainfire Trilogy Part 3

Nicci leveled a look at him. "Exactly."

Richard sighed with grasping just how far behind Jagang's true motives they truly were. "No wonder he hasn't been worried about opening the boxes before now. He needed to get here, first. Taking the People's Palace has been part of his larger goal all along. He's known all this time what he needed to do."

"Seems that way," she admitted.

Berdine stepped through the melted opening into the tomb. "Lord Rahl, there you are."

Richard turned. "What is it?"

"I found this book," she said, holding it up as she strode across the room, as if waving the book would explain everything. "It's in High D'Haran. When I translated some if it and realized what it was, Verna told me to get it to you right away."

Nicci took the book from Berdine when the Mord-Sith held it out to her. She opened the cover and started scanning the text.

"So, what is the book about?" Richard asked Berdine.

"It's about Jillian's people. Her ancestors from Caska, anyway."

"The dreamcasters . . ." Nicci whispered to herself as she followed along in the book.

Richard frowned. "What?"

"Nicci's right," Berdine said. "It's about how the people in Caska were able to cast dreams. Verna said to tell you that."

"All right, thanks."

"Well, I need to get back. There are some other books Verna needs to have translated. And don't forget," she said over her shoulder as she started away, "sometime I need to tell you the things I found out for you before-about Baraccus."

Richard nodded to the Mord-Sith's quick smile.

Nicci tucked the book under her arm. "Thanks, Berdine. As soon as we're finished here, we'll look into it."

Richard watched Berdine leaving for a moment, then gestured to the inscriptions on the walls. "This all looks rather disturbing. Do you know the exact nature of the spells outlined here? A number of the elements look vaguely familiar."

"They should," Nicci answered cryptically. She pointed out one of the inscriptions on the far wall. "See there? It's instructions from a father to a son on the process of going to the underworld and returning."

"You mean, Panis Rahl wanted to pass these spells down to Darken Rahl, so they were chiseled in the walls of his tomb?"

"No," Nicci said, shaking her head. "I believe that these spells have been passed down through the House of Rahl for countless generations- from each father to his gifted offspring who would become the next Lord Rahl. From each father to his son. They are, in a way, your birthright."

Richard felt rather overwhelmed with the thought of it. "How old do you think they are? And why pass down spells on going to the underworld?"

"From the composition of these spells, my guess is that they have existed from the time Orden itself was created." Nicci looked over out of the corner of her eye. "I believe that to use the power of Orden, these spells may be necessary."

Richard rounded on her. "What?"

"Well, from what I read in the books that explained Orden, like The Book of Life, and some of the books on Ordenic theory, I've come to believe that the purpose of such a requirement has to do with the problem of how Subtractive Magic was used in the ignition of a Chainfire event."

"You mean the problem with memories being eliminated?"

Nicci nodded. "Why can't the rest of us remember Kahlan? Why can't she remember who she was? Why can't we use our gift to heal people who have forgotten Kahlan, or heal Kahlan? Why can't our gift restore those memories?"

Richard recognized Nicci, the instructor, asking her student to provide the answer on his own. Richard was more than familiar with the technique. Zedd had used it on Richard his whole life.

"Because those memories are gone. There is nothing to restore."

"And how were they taken?" Nicci asked, lifting a questioning eyebrow.

Richard thought it was obvious. "Through Subtractive Magic."

Nicci only stared at him, as if waiting for more.

Understanding dawned on him.

"Dear spirits," he said in a whisper. "Subtractive Magic is the magic of the underworld." He stepped closer to her. "Are you saying that in order to use the power of Orden, going to the underworld is necessary because those things that were taken with Subtractive Magic are only able to be recovered there?"

"If memories are to be rebuilt, there must be a kernel to grow them from. The memory you have of her is your memory, not Kahlan's missing memory, not Zedd's, not Cara's-not anyone else's. The substance of their missing memory is what is gone from this world. It no longer exists. Not here, anyway."

Richard couldn't even blink. "And that core of the memory taken from the minds of the victims of Chainfire was taken away by Subtractive Magic. So if it still exists at all, it only exists in the underworld."

Nicci gestured around at the High D'Haran words cut into the granite walls and on the casket. "The Book of Life, which Darken Rahl had to have read to have put the boxes of Orden in play, says that part of the process of invoking Orden is going to the underworld."