Phantom: Chainfire Trilogy Part 2

"You know how when you work forever at translating someone's writing, you come to be able to see their mood, see their meaning, see their train of thought even if they didn't write it down? Well"—she pulled her brown braid over her shoulder, twiddling with the end of it — "I could tell by the way he said it that he was afraid to even write down the name of a book so secret, so important, that it was never to be copied. It was like he was walking on eggshells even mentioning it in his journal."

Richard thought that she certainly had a good point.

Berdine came to a halt before a tall iron door that was painted black. "Here's where I found the books that mention the cental sites being with the bones — whatever that means."

"The place I found was in catacombs," Richard said.

Berdine frowned as she considered. "That might explain that much of it."

"Nathan told me," Nicci said in a low voice, looking between Richard and Berdine, "that he believes that there were catacombs beneath the Palace of the Prophets, and that the palace itself was built there in part to conceal what was buried."

The soldiers slowed to a halt, collecting in a knot a short distance back up the hall. Richard noticed Berdine watching them.

"Why don't you wait out here with your men?" Berdine called back to General Trimack. "I have to go in the library and show Lord Rahl some books. I think maybe you should guard the hall and make sure that no one is sneaking about."

The general nodded and started ordering his men to take up stations throughout the passages. Berdine pulled a key out of the top of her outfit.

"In here I found a book that gave me nightmares."

She looked back at Richard and then unlocked the door.

Nicci leaned close to Richard's ear. "This place is shielded." Her tone was tight with suspicion.

"But she's not gifted," Richard whispered back. "She can't get through shields. If it's shielded, then how is she able to get in?"

Berdine, hearing them, waggled the key after she pulled it back out of the lock. "I have the key. I knew where Darken Rahl kept it hidden."

Nicci lifted an eyebrow as she looked back at Richard. "The key just shut down the shields to the door. I've never seen such a thing before."

"It must have been designed to give access to trusted aides or scholars who weren't gifted," Richard guessed. He turned back to Berdine as she worked at opening the lever on the heavy door.

"By the way, did you learn anything else about Baraccus?"

"Not much," she said, looking back over her shoulder. "Except that Magda Seams, the woman who became the first Confessor, had once been married to him."

Richard could only stare at her. "How does she know these things?" he muttered to himself.

"What?" Berdine asked.

"Nothing," he said, dismissing it with a wave before flicking the hand at the door. "So what is it that you found in here?"

"Something that connected with what Kolo said."

"You mean about this book that wasn't supposed to be copied."

Berdine merely gave Richard a sly smile as she tucked the key down into a pocket inside the top of her outfit, then pushed open the black door.

CHAPTER 29

Inside, three tall windows that made up most of the far wall lit the room with the gloomy late-afternoon light. Rain pattered against the glass and ran down in snaking rivulets. The walls of the small room were lined with bookshelves made of golden oak. There was only enough space in the center of the room for one simple oak table that was in turn only large enough for the four wooden chairs, one on each side. In the center of the table sat an unusual four-lobed lamp, offering each empty chair its own light from a silvered reflector.

With a sweep of her arm, Nicci sent a spark of her gift into the four wicks. The flames swelled, lending golden warmth to the small room. Richard noticed that, despite the way the palace spell diminished the power of any but a Rahl, she seemed to have had no trouble lighting the lamps.

Berdine went to the shelves to the right of the door. "Near the part of Kolo's journal where he mentioned the book that wasn't supposed to be copied, I think he might have been implying that the men who didn't trust Baraccus were the ones who made the copies. I think that's who he meant, anyway, but I'm not sure; he refers to them as 'the half-wits from Yanklee's Yarns. "

Nicci spun around to Berdine. "Yanklee's Yarns!"

Richard looked from Nicci's astounded expression to Berdine's. "What's Yanklee's Yarns?" he asked.

"A book," Berdine said.

Richard turned a questioning look on Nicci.

Nicci huffed in exasperation. "It's more than just a book, Richard. Yanklee's Yarns is a book of prophecy. A very, very peculiar book of prophecy. It predates the great war by seven centuries. The vaults at the Palace of the Prophets had an early copy of it. It was a curiosity that every Sister studied in the course of her education about prophecy."

Richard peered around at the books lining the shelves. "What was so peculiar about it?"