Chainfire: Chainfire Trilogy Part 1

He turned to Nicci. "They need Kahlan. She's the last living Confessor. They put the boxes of Orden in play. They need the book I have memorized. The first thing it says is 'Verification of the truth of the words of the Book of Counted Shadows, if spoken by another, rather than read by the one who commands the boxes, can only be insured by the use of a Confessor. — »

The ceiling finished closing. In the distance, Richard could hear Jillian call, "Good-bye, Richard. Safe journey."

"Richard, this is crazy. It's just.»

"Now is not the time to argue with me."

She knew by his tone of voice that he meant it.

He climbed up on the wall and hoisted both women up.

"Here, wait," Nicci said as she opened the pack. "You had better keep this safe." She stuffed Chainfire down inside and tied the flap down tight.

"Any idea what Chainfire is about?" he asked.

Her blue eyes gazed into his. "From what I was able to tell from the tiny bit I saw in the beginning, it's a theoretical formula for conjuring things that have the potential to unravel existence."

"Unravel existence?" Cara asked. "What does that mean?"

"I'm not exactly sure. But it seems to be a discussion of a theory of a specific magic that if ever initiated could potentially destroy the world of life."

"Why in the world would they need that?" Richard asked. "They have the magic of Orden, now."

Nicci didn't answer. She didn't believe his theory; it involved Kahlan.

"Sliph, now, please. Take us to the People's Palace."

The silver arm swept them up. "Come, we will travel."

Just before they plunged into the silvery froth, Nicci and Cara each seized one of his hands.

CHAPTER 63

Nicci had hardly gotten her bearings, hardly recognized that they were in a marble room, hardly let the sliph out of her lungs and pulled in a desperate gasp of air, when Richard was already pulling her up over the wall by the hand.

Despite everything, she was still able, in some dim part of her mind, to thrill at holding his hand, for whatever reason.

She had thought that while in the sliph traveling to the People's Palace, that she would be able to give thought to Richard's strange new twist of finding a bit of a vine and leaping to the conclusion that the boxes of Orden were in play-all in an attempt to prove that Kahlan was real.

The room they were in was shielded. Richard pulled her and Cara through the powerful shield. They ran up a marble hall and out a double silver door with a lake embossed into the metal.

"I know this place," Cara said. "I know where we are."

"Good," Richard said, "then you lead the way. And hurry."

There were times when Nicci almost wished that she had gone along with Zedd, Ann, and Nathan's plan to purge him of his memory of Kahlan.

Except for one thing. She had tried the theory on one of Jagang's men back in Caska. She had tried to use Subtractive Magic to eliminate the man's memory of the emperor. It sounded simple enough. She had done just as the three had wanted Nicci to do to Richard.

There had only been one problem.

It had killed the man. Killed him in a most horrifying fashion.

When she thought about how she had almost done that to Richard, how for a time she had let them talk her into it and had been committed to doing it, she had gotten so weak and dizzy that she had to sit down on the ground next to the dead soldier. Cara had thought Nicci had been about to pass out. The idea of what she had almost done left her shaking for an hour.

"Here," Cara said as she led them up stairs that emptied into a broad corridor with parts of the roof glassed.

The light flooding in was reddish, so it was either almost sunset or just after dawn, Nicci didn't know which. It was a disorienting feeling not to know if it was day or night.

The halls were filled with people. Many of them stopped to stare at the three people running along the corridor. Guards also noticed and came running, hands to weapons, until they saw Cara in her red leather outfit. Many of the people recognized Richard and dropped to a knee, bowing as he ran past. He didn't slow to acknowledge them.

They went up a dizzying array of passages, over bridges, along balconies, between columns, and through rooms. Intermittently they ran up stairs. Occasionally Cara took them through service halls, undoubtedly as shortcuts.

Nicci took note of how magnificent the palace was, how remarkably beautiful. The patterned stone floors were laid with rare precision. There were grand statues-none as remarkable as the statue Richard had carved, but grand nonetheless. She saw a tapestry that was larger than any she had seen in her life. It depicted a sprawling battle and must have had several hundred horses in it.

"This way," Cara said, pointing down a hall as she rushed toward it.