Confessor: Chainfire Trilogy Part 3

Jagang was looking impatient again. He rolled a hand.

Both women rushed forward at the command. Sister Armina held up the book Jennsen remembered seeing brought up from the secret underground room in the graveyard.

"The Book of Counted Shadows," she said.

Jagang looked to each woman's eyes, then held both hands out to the side. A slave immediately stepped forward with a towel and started cleaning the emperor's hands. When Jagang tilted his head toward the table, other slaves stepped in to start clearing platters and bowls away. After they had cleared space on the table a young woman, dressed in an outfit that revealed far more than it concealed, rushed in to wipe the wooden tabletop.

As Jagang was still having his hands cleaned, Sister Armina set the book down before the emperor. He slapped the slave's hands away and turned to the book. He leaned over as he opened the cover and began inspecting the text inside.

"Well," he finally asked as he turned pages, "what do you think? Is it the true copy or a false one?"

"It's not a copy, Excellency."

He looked up with a frown that seemed like it might turn lethal. "What do you mean it's not a copy?"

"It's the original, Excellency."

Jagang blinked, unsure that he'd heard her right. He leaned back in his chair to stare up at the woman.

"The original?"

Sister Ulicia stepped close. She leaned across the table and turned the pages back to the beginning.

"Look at this, here, Excellency." She tapped a place to show him. "This is the maker's mark. It's his seal containing a spell to signify that this is original."

"So what? Maybe the seal is false."

Sister Ulicia was shaking her head. "No, Excellency. That's just not the way it works. When a prophet writes down prophecies in a book he puts this kind of mark in the front of his writings to signify that it's the original, that it's his work, in his own hand, and not a copy.

"You have many books of prophecy, Excellency, but with a couple of exceptions, they are all copies of the original. Most have no seal at all. Sometimes the man who copies the original makes his own mark so that his work can be identified and to make sure it is recognized as a copy. Such a seal to signify a copy is never like this. This is a unique sort of mark that is never put in a copy, only in the original.

"This is a maker's mark left in the form of a spell. It's how originals are identified. This is the original Book of Counted Shadows" She closed the book and showed him the spine. "See? 'Shadows,' not 'Shadow.' It has the maker's mark. It was found hidden behind barriers and shields. This is the original."

"What about the others?"

"None have a seal like this. Not one of the three even has a mark of the man who made the copy. In fact, none have any kind of mark at all. They are simply copies. This is the original."

Jagang, leaning a hand on the table, tapped the side of his thumb as he considered.

"I still don't see why it couldn't be a false copy. If they made a false copy and wanted to make it look real they could have put a fraudulent mark in the book to fool people."

"Technically, it's possible, but there are a number of things that point to it not being a fraud. There are also a variety of tests we can do to verify the authenticity of the maker's mark. That, after all, is why he leaves a mark in a spell-form: so that it can be tested. We've done a few tests, and the results have shown that it is genuine, but there are some more complex verification webs we could still use to test it."

Sister Armina waved a hand at the book. "There is also the matter of what it says in the beginning, Excellency, the part about being verified by a Confessor."

Sister Ulicia tsked impatiently. This was apparently an argument they'd already had. She shot Sister Armina a murderous scowl before once again turning her attention to the emperor.

"The book says that a Confessor is in essence used to verify the copy, Excellency, not the original. For that reason we can't reliably trust her to identify the original-that isn't what she is meant to do. The maker's mark does that, and we can do further tests on the mark. I'm confident those tests will confirm what we already know to be true."

Jagang tapped a finger on the table as he considered her words. "Where was this found?"

"In Bandakar, Excellency," Sister Ulicia said.

"You mean it was behind those barriers of magic for all this time?"

"Yes, Excellency," Sister ulicia said with obvious excitement. "That alone is evidence that this is the original manuscript."

"Why?"

"Because, if the original could be identified by the mark, where would you hide it?"

"Behind barriers of magic," he answered, thoughtfully.

"Excellency, this is the original of The Book of Counted Shadows. I'm sure of it."

He peered up at her with his black eyes. "Are you willing to stake your life on that being true?"

"Yes, Excellency," Sister Ulicia answered without hesitation.