Death's Mistress

CHAPTER 41

Simon, Victoria, and the other intense scholars led the visitors to the fortress archive up the sheer cliff. As they toiled up the narrow path that zigzagged along the rock wall, Nicci could see the size of the towering buildings constructed inside the cave alcove, and she grew more impressed with the ancient library. The great stone façades of the Cliffwall buildings towered higher than she had at first guessed.

“This is imposing,” she said, trying to imagine how such a mammoth city could have been built in such an isolated place. “Maybe the Palace of the Prophets was only five times larger.”

Thistle scampered ahead up the precarious path, never missing a step or a handhold. Impatient, she stopped partway and turned. “Come on, Nicci. Don’t you want to see the library?”

As Nathan climbed the rock face, he admired the huge buildings, the tower faces, the windows and arches, and the imposing primary doors, twice as high as a man. “Look at the massive stone blocks in those walls. The only way such a fortress could have been erected—especially in this isolated canyon—is through magic.”

“Powerful magic,” Nicci agreed. “In a time before so much magic was purged from the Old World.”

The wizard paused on the steep cliff path, resting a hand against the smooth rock at his left. He nodded. “Indeed, it must have been quite an undertaking.”

After clambering to the overhang of the great alcove, Thistle waited for them in front of the imposing stone buildings. “Sweet Sea Mother,” Bannon whispered. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

The matronly Victoria looked at him, a troubled expression crossing her apple-cheeked face. “Your Sea Mother had nothing to do with it, young man. She is far away and did not aid in the effort. This was accomplished through human labor, and it cost the lives and energy of many gifted wizards.”

Simon turned to look at the buildings with clear reverence. “The most powerful wizards in the world came here in secret back at the time of the ancient wizard wars. It took them years to construct and hide this place, under the greatest cloak of secrecy, but their gamble paid off. Emperor Sulachan and his purging armies never discovered the wealth of knowledge those wizards placed here. The camouflage shroud remained in place for centuries, hiding Cliffwall completely from any prying eyes. Only the villagers here in the canyons even remembered it existed.”

“Until fifty years ago,” Victoria said, with obvious pride in her voice. “And now the preserved knowledge is available to all again.”

Nicci turned to look across the canyon as afternoon shadows closed in. Some of the shepherds slept in tents near their flocks in the canyon-floor pastures. In the numerous alcoves studding the opposite cliffs, she saw other dwellings lit by cook fires and lamps, but the imposing Cliffwall complex shone brighter as the gifted scholars used magic to illuminate the library archive.

“And we are studying, and practicing, as quickly as we can.” Simon sounded enthusiastic.

The farthest structure at the right side of the alcove caught Nicci’s eye. A large tower was damaged, melted as if the stone had become candle wax. The slickrock overhang had folded in, reminding her of a drooping eyelid. The windows were sealed over like an ice sculpture that had thawed, slumped, then frozen in a fresh cold snap.

Before Nicci could ask about the damage, though, scholars opened the towering doors and Simon led them through the main stone gate into the front tower. “This is only the outer fortress, but there’s much more to Cliffwall than what you see here. An entire complex of tunnels runs through the heart of the plateau all the way to the cliffs on the other side.”

Inside the main library building, the ceilings were high and vaulted, the thick walls made of quarried stone. Their footsteps echoed along the blue-tiled floor of the entry portico, and bright lights glowed from perpetual lamps evenly spaced along the walls, burning with magic. The stone halls were lined with wooden shelves crowded with mismatched volumes, an odd assortment of leather spines or rolled scrolls, even hardened clay tablets with indented symbols that Nicci didn’t recognize.

Nathan hungrily ran his gaze along the shelves. “I can’t wait to start reading.”

Simon chuckled. “These? Just minor overflow volumes that scholars took out because they looked interesting. The main vaults of knowledge are deeper inside the mesa—and much more extensive. All manner of knowledge is preserved here.”

Three lovely young acolytes came up to join Victoria, sweet-faced and eager, none of them older than twenty. The matronly woman nodded at them with a gentle smile. “Thank you for joining us, my dears. We can use your help and attention.” She introduced them to the visitors. “These are my most dedicated acolytes Audrey, Laurel, and Sage.”

The three women wore white shifts, sashed tight around their waists with a fabric belt, and each girl was strikingly beautiful in her own way. Audrey had high cheekbones, full lips, and rich, dark hair, almost a blue-black. Laurel had strawberry-blond hair that hung loose, except for a decorative braid on the side; her eyes were green, her lips were thin, and her white teeth glinted in a ready smile. Sage’s deep reddish-brown hair was thick and shining, and her breasts were the most generous of the three.

Nicci and Nathan gave them a polite acknowledgment, but Bannon made a deep bow, his face flushed with embarrassment when the girls fawned over him, paying more attention to the young man than to the others.

Victoria clucked at them. “These strangers must be tired and hungry, so let us eat while we hear more of their story. Go, prepare extra plates. Everyone will be gathering for the midday meal.” The older woman smiled. “We have roast antelope and fresh corn, along with honeyed fruits and pine nuts for dessert.”

Nicci was startled to realize how hungy she was. “That would be appreciated.”

The wizard grinned. “And far better than munching on roasted lizards.” When Thistle shot him an annoyed glare, he raised a conciliatory hand. “Not that we didn’t appreciate the food, child. I just meant I was up for a bit of variety.”

The dining hall held long plank tables covered with flaxen cloths. Men and women of all ages had gathered for the midday meal. Some were engaged in low conversation, exchanging new revelations they had found in forgotten scrolls. Many seemed too preoccupied even to notice the strangers; they wolfed down their meat and vegetables, then went back to their books without waiting for dessert.

After they took seats on the long benches, Simon served himself a hunk of savory meat, then passed the platter to Nicci and Nathan. As he filled his plate, Nathan said, “Please tell us more about Cliffwall, how it was constructed, and what it was for.”

Simon accepted his tale-spinning duties as part of his role as scholar-archivist. “Three thousand years ago, at the beginning of the great war, wizards were hunted and killed in the Old World, and all magic was considered suspect. Emperor Sulachan sent teams to scour the land and destroy any magic he could not acquire for himself. He and his predecessors wanted no one else to have the powerful knowledge that had been assembled over generations.

“But the wizards did not surrender so easily, and they spread word from city to city, archive to archive. The emperor’s armies were far superior in number, and the wizards knew that when they eventually lost, their vital knowledge would be destroyed. So the greatest gifted scholars gathered all books of magic and prophecy and slipped them out of known libraries, hiding any volumes that could not be copied in time.”

Thistle sat propped up on the bench, paying little attention to the conversation. She used her fingers to take a second helping of antelope meat and corn. It was obvious she hadn’t eaten a meal like this in some time, perhaps in her entire life.

Simon shifted his gaze from Nathan to Nicci. “The renegade wizards found this place in the maze of canyons up on the plateau, where no one could ever track them down. For years as Sulachan continued his conquests, the desperate wizards smuggled contraband books, scrolls, tablets, and magical artifacts to the new hiding place. They built Cliffwall to hold that knowledge, and many of them gave their lives to protect it, dying under horrible torture without revealing the location of this canyon.

“When every last book and lexicon had been stored inside the warren of chambers and shelves, the wizards knew they couldn’t rely even on the isolation of these canyons to keep this knowledge safe. They needed something more powerful.”

“More permanent,” Victoria added.

Simon’s eyes gleamed. “And so, the wizards conjured an impenetrable shield, an undetectable camouflage shroud that walled off the cave grotto. This entire cliffside was hidden. No one could see anything but a smooth, natural cliff face.”

Victoria didn’t seem to like how he was telling the story. “The shroud was more than a hiding spell, but also a physical barrier. No one could find or enter it. Cliffwall was meant to be sealed away—permanently, until those who would eradicate magic were themselves eradicated.”

Nicci glanced at Nathan. “Like Baraccus hid the Temple of the Winds, whisking away the most vital magical lore by sending the whole temple to the underworld, where no one could have access to it.”

“And that is how so much knowledge was preserved in a time of great turmoil,” Simon finished. “Without Cliffwall and the camouflage shroud, everything would have been lost in Sulachan’s purges. Instead, it remained intact here for thousands of years.”

“Not everything,” Victoria said in a crisp voice. “We had our alternative.”

Reluctantly conceding, Simon let the matronly woman pick up the story while he chose an ear of roasted corn from a platter. He began to eat noisily.

“The physical documents were sealed in the archives,” Victoria explained, “but the ancient wizards had a second plan to guarantee that the knowledge wouldn’t be lost. They insured that someone would always remember. Someone special.” She had a twinkle in her grandmotherly eyes.

“Among the people who lived quietly here in the canyons, serving as the guardians of Cliffwall, the wizards chose a few who were gifted with special memory abilities, perfect retention. Memmers, magically enhanced with a perfect-recall spell, who could memorize and retain all the words of countless documents.”

“For what purpose?” Nathan asked.

“Why, to remember, of course,” Victoria said. “Before the camouflage shroud was imposed and sealed everything away, the memmers studied the works in the archive, committing every word to memory.” A rich undertone of pride suffused her voice. “We are the walking manifestation of the archives. For all the years when the archive was sealed, we remembered. Only we retained the knowledge.”

Nicci was reminded of how Richard had memorized the entire Book of Counted Shadows, line by line, page by page, back when he was just a woods guide in Westland. George Cipher had made him learn the entire book, backward and forward, burning every page after Richard had learned it, so that the evil Darken Rahl could not have access to what it contained. Even though that book had ultimately been a flawed copy, Richard had used that knowledge to defeat both Darken Rahl and Emperor Jagang.

But The Book of Counted Shadows was just one book. Each of these memmers had committed hundreds of volumes to memory. Nicci could not comprehend the incredible scope of the memmers’ task.

Victoria tapped her fingers on the tabletop. “I am one of the memmers, as are all my acolytes.” On cue, Audrey, Laurel, and Sage came into the dining hall carrying bowls of honeyed fruit. The three young women made a point of offering the dessert first to an embarrassed Bannon; then they spread the plates and bowls around so that all could partake of the fruits.

Nathan chose a glistening peach slice, which he savored, then licked the honey from his fingers. He looked at Victoria, his forehead furrowed. “You each committed thousands upon thousands of volumes to your memory? I find that amazing—though somewhat hard to believe, I’m afraid.”

Victoria’s expression puckered. “No, one person could not hold all that knowledge, even with memory-enhancement spells and our gift. So the wizards divided the task among our ancestors. Each of the original memmers took specific volumes to study. All told, with enough memmers, our predecessors preserved most of the archive, but the books are scattered among many different minds, and those memmers taught the next generation and the next, dispersing all the books further, depending on how many memmer acolytes were available.” She tapped the side of her head. “Nevertheless, the knowledge is there.”

Nicci had no interest in the sweet fruit and passed the bowl to Thistle, who began to paw through the dessert with her fingers. “So you have taught and recited all these volumes for thousands of years? Losing nothing? Without a mistake?”

Simon said, “An expert memmer drills and practices with several acolytes, teaching them line after line, so that their students remember every word of every spell. In this way, the memmers kept the knowledge alive for centuries, even though the books themselves were locked away behind the permanent barrier. The camouflage shroud kept us all safe.”

He paused to drink from a goblet of spring water, then wiped his mouth. He heaved a sigh. “Unfortunately, every wizard who was powerful enough to remove the shroud also died in the ancient wars, and no one could access the knowledge hidden here. It was lost forever, the impenetrable camouflage sealed in place. No one could break through the shroud.”

Victoria interrupted him. “Until I figured out how to dissolve it, thus opening the archives again for study. Fifty years ago.” She chose three fat strawberries and ate them quickly, then wiped her fingers and lips on a cloth napkin. “I was just a young woman at the time, barely seventeen.”

Simon looked at the scholars up and down the plank tables, many of whom were buried in books, focusing on the words while they ate. “Yes, and that changed everything. After guarding the hidden archive for millennia, the canyon dwellers suddenly had access to the vast treasure trove of information. But what were they to do about it? They were simple villagers with quiet untroubled ways. They had known little of the outside world for all this time. And even the memmers—they could recite the words they had memorized, but they didn’t necessarily understand what they were saying. Some tomes were in languages no one could understand.”

“We understood enough.” Victoria picked up the story with an edge in her voice. “But we did recognize we needed help. The canyon dwellers occasionally traded with the towns in the great valley, although we were considered primitive and strange. The wizard wars were long over, and as far as we could tell, the Old World was at peace.

“So, when the camouflage shroud came down, we decided to bring in experts from outside. The best and most studious scholars from the valley, those who showed an aptitude for the gift. We were cautious. We invited only the exceptional ones, and then we guided them here through the maze of canyons, up from the valley and into the plateau.”

“All told, this archive now supports a hundred dedicated scholars,” Simon interrupted her. “I was one of those who came here long afterward, a gifted scholar—gifted in both senses of the word—summoned when I was young and eager, so that I could devote my life to relearning all the lost knowledge. I was quite skilled at reading and interpreting, and I learned many languages. I was so talented, in fact, that I rose to prominence here.” His smile of wonder turned into a troubled frown. “I came twenty years ago, just after the Lifedrinker escaped.”

Victoria’s mood darkened, too. “For years now we have had no more new scholars. The towns in the valley are gone, swallowed by the growing Scar.” Her voice became bleak. “We are all that remains. The Lifedrinker’s devastation has not reached us yet, but it is only a matter of time, a few years at most.”

Simon nodded somberly. “Our main work in the archive is simply to understand what we have. So much knowledge, but in such disarray! Even after half a century, two-thirds of the books remain to be organized and cataloged.”

“All of my memmers recall separate pieces,” Victoria said. “We have tried to exchange information so that we can at least refer one another. It is a vast puzzle.”

Simon’s voice took on a sarcastic edge. “Yes, and what the memmers say they remember cannot always be verified with printed documentation.” He picked up a honeyed orange slice and sucked on it. “Thankfully, we can study all of the scrolls and tomes, and specialized memmers are no longer necessary. Entire teams of scholars have been reading tome after tome, studying and translating in order to relearn all that knowledge … and make use of it. We will become great wizards someday, but it takes time. We are all self-taught, and some of us have a greater gift than others. We are searching to find a spell powerful enough to fight the Lifedrinker.” He swallowed hard and looked away. “If we dared to do so.”

“Self-taught wizards?” Nicci was skeptical. “The Sisters of the Light spent years training gifted young men to use their Han, to understand their gift, and now you are attempting to train yourselves? Using old and possibly mistranslated books?”

Nathan’s brows drew together in a show of his own concern. “I’m afraid I also have to worry that the memmers must have garbled some lines, misremembered certain words from generation to generation. Such trivial errors might not amount to anything of significance in a legend or a story, but in a powerful spell the consequences could be dire.”

While Victoria took quick offense, and Simon mumbled excuses, Nicci suddenly recalled the damaged, half-melted tower in the Cliffwall alcove, and she drew her own conclusions. “You have already made mistakes, haven’t you? Dangerous ones.”

Simon and Victoria both looked embarrassed. The scholar-archivist admitted, “There was a certain … mishap. One of our ambitious students had an accident, an experiment went wrong, and the main library vault holding our prophecy books was forever damaged. We lost much.” He swallowed hard. “We don’t go there anymore. The walls are collapsed and hardened over.”

“The memmers still recall some of those volumes that were lost,” Victoria said. “We will do our best to reproduce them.”

Nathan exchanged an expression of concern with Nicci, then spoke to the scholars. “I suggest you exercise a great deal of caution. Some things are too dangerous to be dabbled with. Your one ‘accident’ destroyed a building or two. What if another error causes even greater harm?”

Simon looked away as he stood up from the table. “I’m afraid you are correct. Another one of our scholars already made such a grave mistake and turned himself into the Lifedrinker. Now the whole world may have to bear the consequences.”