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"It doesn't say that the boxes will be destroyed if a false key is used because at the time this was written there were no false keys yet, so that problem hadn't been taken into consideration when this material was all created."
Zedd frowned in thought. "Are you sure of this?"
"No," Nicci admitted. "It's complex and I've only just started to translate it. I sca
Nicci ran her fingers back into her hair with one hand. She stood before the table with the open book on it, with her other hand on a hip.
"Do you see what I mean, though?" She gestured down at the book. "If Richard had corrupted the true key, making Darken Rahl pick the wrong box, this seems to indicate that the boxes would have been destroyed along with Darken Rahl. That seems to support the idea that Richard memorized a false key."
"Maybe. You said you weren't sure of that, yet." Zedd rubbed the back of his neck as he paced. "Let's not make the error of jumping to conclusions."
Nicci nodded.
"You say there was something else you were going on?" Zedd asked.
Nicci nodded and then quoted the central prophecy, the one Nathan had told them. " 'In the year of the cicadas, when the champion of sacrifice and suffering, under the ba
"Do you see?" Nicci asked. "The 'champion of sacrifice and suffering under the ba
As if to confirm what she had said, a fit of lightning flickered through the windows, accompanied by thunder rumbling the Keep beneath their feet.
Zedd frowned. "I'm not following your reasoning."
"Why did A
"Don't you see? That was too easy. Richard was born to fight this battle, now, with Jagang and with what the Sisters of the Dark have done by putting the boxes of Orden in play. This, now, is an extension of the same final battle begun with Darken Rahl.
"I think the prophecies may hint that Richard learned the wrong key: 'Be cautioned, for all true forks and their derivatives are tangled in this mantic root. All true forks — true keys? — are on the prophetic root of this final battle. It says that the other forks are false. Maybe other forks contain the false keys.
"Couldn't it be said that the battle against Darken Rahl was a false fork? A
"That terrible shadow is the power of Orden unleashed by the Sisters of the Dark. They want to darken the world of life. A
Zedd paced, his face creased in thought. He halted, finally, and turned to her. "Maybe, Nicci. Maybe. You've spent a great deal more time studying prophecy than I have. Maybe you have something.
"But then, maybe you don't. Prophecy, as Nathan has explained, is not subject to study the way you have just explained. Prophecy is a means of communication between prophets. It can't necessarily be studied, analyzed, or understood by those without the gift for prophecy.
"Just like A
Nicci nodded, conceding his point. "I hope you're right, Zedd — I really do. This is not an argument I want to win. I'm only bringing it up because I think we need to consider the implications."
He nodded. "There is something else to consider. Richard doesn't take to prophecy. He is a creature of free will, and prophecy has a way of having to open up to accommodate him. In this case, with Darken Rahl, maybe Darken Rahl was a false fork, but had he won there are prophetic roots to cover that eventuality as well. Proponents of prophecy would have pointed to them to confirm that Darken Rahl was the true root. We would now find ourselves on one of those other branches, and this one would be false. You can find a prophecy to support just about any belief."
"I don't know," Nicci said as she ran her fingers back through her hair, "perhaps you're right."
She was so tired. She needed to get some sleep; maybe then she could think more clearly. Maybe her worry was causing her to race down false trails.
"There is no way we can say at this point if the copies of The Book of Counted Shadows, the one I found and the one Richard knows, are true keys or false."
"So, what are we going to do?" she asked.
Zedd halted his pacing and faced her. "We're going to get Richard back, and he is going to find a way to stop this threat."
Nicci smiled. He had a way of making her feel better in the darkest of times — just the way Richard did.
"But I'll tell you one thing," Zedd said. "Before that time comes, we had better find out if the key he memorized is the true or the false key."
Nicci closed the cover on The Book of Life and picked it up, holding it in the crook of her arm. "I need to learn this whole book, cover to cover. I need to find out if there is a way to do what Richard asked of me — take the boxes back out of play, or somehow a
"Failing that, I had better know it inside and out so that I can hopefully be useful to Richard in finding an answer to it all."
Zedd appraised her eyes. "That's going to be a great deal of work. It's going to take a lot of time — a book that complex could take months to fully understand. I only hope we have that much time. I have to say, though, that I agree with you. I guess that you had better get started right away."
Nicci slipped the book back into a pocket in her dress. "I guess that I had better. There may be books here that would help. If there are any I can think of, or that are mentioned, I'll let you know. From what I've seen so far, there are technical matters I may need help with. If I get stuck, I could use the help of the First Wizard."
Zedd smiled. "You have it, my dear."
She shook a finger at him. "But if you come up with a way to find Richard, you had better tell me before you finish having the thought."
Zedd's smile widened. "Agreed."
"What if we don't find Lord Rahl?" Cara asked.
The other two stared at her. Thunder rumbled through the distant valley. Rain pattered steadily against the windows.
"Well get him back," Nicci insisted, refusing to consider the unthinkable.
"Nothing is ever easy," Zedd muttered.