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Her eyes wide, A
"Indeed. I haven't had a chance to even begin to look at them all yet. I finally decided that I'd better send Tom off to find you. I wanted you to see what I've discovered. That, and there is a lot of reading to do. I've been pulling out one book at a time, checking through it, and placing it in one of the piles on these tables."
A
"At first glance, none of these books look to be damaged by water. How can this place underground be so dry? It would seem that water would seep in through the joints in the stone and make everything down here wet and moldy. I can hardly believe that the books appear to be in such good condition."
"Appear being the operative word," Nathan said under his breath.
She turned back to scowl at him. "What do you mean?"
He waved a hand irritably. "In a moment. In a moment. The interesting thing is, the ceiling and walls are sheathed in lead to help keep out the water. The place also has a shield of magic around it for even more protection. The entrance, too, was shielded."
"But the Bandakar people have no magic and their land was sealed off. There was no one with magic to shield against."
"That seal to their banished land finally failed, though," Nathan reminded her.
"Yes, that's right, it did." A
Nathan shrugged. "How isn't so important for now, although I am concerned about it."
He flipped a hand, as if setting aside the issue. "For the moment, that it did is what's meaningful. Whoever put these books here wanted them hidden and protected-and they went to a great deal of trouble to insure that it ley remained that way. The ungifted people here wouldn't be hindered by shields, the weight of the stone monument would be an obstacle in and of itself, but they would have no reason to want to move it in the first place unless they had a good reason to believe something was under it. What would cause them to suspect such a thing? The fact that this place has remained undisturbed for thousands of years proves that they never realized that this place was down here. I believe that the shields were placed to ward any invaders who might eventually make it into Bandakar, like Jagang's men did."
"That makes sense, I suppose," she murmured as she considered it. "Not really expecting that the seal to Bandakar would ever be breached, the shields were a simple act of precaution."
"Or prophecy," Nathan added.
A
"It's also possible that these books were simply placed here as a way of safekeeping such valuable works-in case anything happened to others of their kind."
"You really think they would go to this much trouble to do such a thing?" she asked.
"Well, all the books at the Palace of the Prophets were lost, now, weren't they? Books of prophecy are always at risk. Some have been destroyed, some have fallen into enemy hands, and some have simply disappeared. Places like this provide a backup for those other works-especially if prophecy foretells the need of such a contingency."
"I guess you could be right. I have heard about rare finds of prophecy that had been secreted away to preserve them, or to keep i
Nathan handed her a book. Its ancient red leather cover was laded nearly to brown. Even so, there was something familiar-looking about it, about the faded gilded ribs on the spine. She lifted the cover and the first blank page.
"My, my, my," A
The book had been one of her favorite volumes on forked prophecy. Because it was a pivotal volume that held valuable information about Richard, she had studied it and referred to it so often over the centuries as she waited for him to be born that she practically knew it by memory. She had been heartbroken that it had to be destroyed along with all the rest of the books in the vaults at the Palace of the Prophets. There was still a great deal of information in it about the possibilities of what was yet to come.
Nathan plucked another volume from a stack and waggled it before her as he arched an eyebrow. "Precession and Binary Inversions."
"No!" She snatched it from his hands. "It can't be."
None of the accounts could ever say for sure that the elusive volume had in fact ever really existed. A
She looked up at the tall prophet. "Is this real? Many accounts deny that it ever really existed."
"Missing, according to some. A mere myth, according to others. I read a little of it and by the branches of prophecy it fills in, it can only be genuine-or a brilliant fake. I'd have to study it further to tell which, but from what I've seen, so far, I tend to believe it's genuine. Besides, what purpose would there be in hiding a fake? Fakes are generally created in order to exchange them for gold."
That was true enough. "And here it was all the time. Buried beneath the bones."
"Along with what I suspect may be a great many other volumes that are just as valuable."
A
"Perhaps," He said. When she shot him a puzzled frown, he lifted a hefty tome off the top of another stack. "You won't even believe what this is. Here. Open it and read the title yourself."
A
"Selleron's Seventh Task!" She gapped at the prophet. "But I thought there was only one copy and it was destroyed."
One side of Nathan's mouth cocked with a quirky smile. He held up another book "Twelve Words Left for Reason. I found Destiny's Twin as well." He waggled a finger at a pile. "It's in there somewhere."
A
Nathan nodded, confirming her guess. The smile ghosted away.
"A
Puzzled by the grim expression that had settled on his face, she placed the book in a clear spot and began carefully turning pages. The writing was a little faded, but no more so than any book its age. For as old as it was, it was still in good condition and quite legible.