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Nicci clasped her hands behind her back. “The Creator had nothing to do with it, actually. I guess that while I was forced to spend my life serving everyone who decided they wanted the blood and sweat of my abilities, the Creator was busy. I guess he couldn’t be bothered while I was being used by pious men telling me how it was my duty to serve and to submit and to grovel to them and to kill those who opposed the Creator’s ways.
“I guess that all the times those champions of the Creator were raping me, the Creator didn’t catch on to the irony.
“No more. Richard helped show me the value of my life to myself. And it is no longer ‘Sister’ Nicci—either of the Light or the Dark. Nor is it Death’s Mistress, or the Slave Queen. It is just Nicci, now, if you please…and even if you don’t.”
Ann’s expression flashed between incredulity and indignation as her face went red. “But once you are a Sister you are always a Sister. You have done a wonderful thing and renounced the Keeper, so you are again a Sister of the Light. You can’t simply decide on your own to forsake your duty to the Creator’s—”
“If He has any objections, then let Him speak up right now!” As the echo of Nicci’s heated words faded away, the room fell silent but for the splash of water in the fountain. She made a show of looking around, as if if she thought that maybe the Creator might be hiding behind a pillar ready to pop out and make His wishes known.
“No?” She again clasped her hands. She put back on the defiant smile. “Well then, since He has no objections, Nicci it is, I guess.”
“I’ll not have—”
“Ann, enough,” Nathan said in a deep, commanding voice. “We have important business and this isn’t it. We didn’t travel all this way simply for a dead prelate to lecture a reformed Sister of the Dark.”
Nicci was somewhat surprised to hear the voice of reason coming from the prophet. She allowed that perhaps she had put too much stock into idle gossip.
Ann’s mouth twisted in resignation as she fingered a stray lock of hair into the loose bun at the back of her head. “I suppose you’re right. I’m afraid that I’m a little out of sorts, my dear, what with all the trouble going on. Please forgive my rash presumption, will you, Nicci?”
Nicci bowed her head. “Happily, Prelate.”
Ann smiled, more genuinely, Nicci thought. “And it’s just Ann, now. Verna is Prelate, now. I’m dead, remember?”
Nicci smiled. “So you are, Ann. Wise choice, Verna. Sister Cecilia always said that there was no hope of converting that one to the Keeper.”
“Someday when we have the luxury of time, I would appreciate hearing more about Sister Cecilia in addition to Richard’s former teachers.” She sighed at the thought. “I never knew for sure that you and all five of the others were Sisters of the Dark.”
Nicci nodded. “I’d be happy to tell you what I know about them—the ones still alive, anyway. Liliana and Merissa are dead.”
“Tom, how is my sister?” Richard asked as soon as there was a brief break in the conversation. Nicci recognized that he had listened long enough and was signaling that he wanted to move on to more important matters.
“She is well, Lord Rahl,” the big blond-headed man near the door said.
“Good. Nathan, what’s going on?” Richard anxiously asked, getting right to the point. “What trouble are you here about?”
“Well…among other things, prophecy trouble.”
Richard visibly relaxed. “Oh. Well, that’s not something I can help you with.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Nathan said, cryptically.
Zedd stepped off the gold and red carpet and down into the room. “Let me guess. You’re here about the blank places in the books of prophecy.”
Nicci had to run Zedd’s words through her mind a second time before she was sure she’d heard him right.
Nathan nodded. “You’ve just sat down in the middle of the muck.”
“What do you mean you’re here about blank places in the books of prophecy?” Richard looked suddenly suspicious. “What blank places?”
“Extensive sections of prophecy—that is, prophecy written down in the books of prophecy—have simply vanished off the pages of a number of the books we’ve so far inspected.” Nathan’s brow bunched in an expression of apprehension. “We’ve checked with Verna and she confirmed that the books of prophecy at the People’s Palace in D’Hara are suffering the same inexplicable problem. Therein lies the heart of our worry. We came, in part, to see if the works of prophecy here at the Keep are still intact.”
“I’m afraid not,” Zedd said. “The books here have been similarly corrupted.”
Nathan swiped a hand across his tired face. “Dear spirits,” he murmured. “We had been holding out hope that whatever is causing such havoc among the prophecies had not affected the books here as well.”
“You mean that entire sections of prophecy are missing?” Richard asked, stepping down into the heart of the room.
“That’s right,” Nathan confirmed.
“Would there happen to be a pattern to the missing prophecy?” Richard asked, suddenly focusing on a line of reasoning that Nicci knew would end up being somehow related to his own search. Ordinarily she would have been frustrated or even annoyed that he could think of nothing else but his fixation with the missing woman, but this time she was heartened to see that the familiar Richard was back.
“Why yes, there is a pattern. They are all prophecies having to do with events beginning roughly around the time of your birth.”
Richard stared, dumbfounded. “What are the missing prophecies about—specifically? I mean, are they related to specific events, or are they nonspecific and instead share only a time period?”
Nathan stroked his chin as he considered the question. “That’s the thing that makes this so strange. Many of the prophecies that are missing we know we should be able to recall, but they are suddenly and completely just as blank in our minds as they are on the page. We can’t remember a single word of them. We don’t recall what they were about, and since they’re gone from the books as well I can’t tell you if they were event related or time related—or something else. We realize that they are missing, but that’s about all.”
Richard’s eyes turned to Nicci, as if to ask if she caught the correlation. She thought he could see that she did. His voice remained casual, but Nicci knew how intent was the interest behind his words.
“Pretty odd that something you’ve known all your lives can just vanish right out of your memory, wouldn’t you say?”
“I certainly would,” Nathan said. “Any thoughts on the subject, Zedd?”
Zedd, who had been silently and intently watching Richard, nodded. “Well, I know what’s causing it, if that will help you out.”
He smiled innocently. Nicci noticed that Rikka, standing in the shadows back behind the red pillars, smiled as well. Nathan, at first stunned, became animated with curiosity.
Richard gently tugged Zedd’s robes at his shoulder. “You know?”
“You do?” Nathan asked, urging Richard back out of the way as he stepped closer. Ann rushed forward with him. “What is it? What’s happening? Tell us.”
“A prophecy worm, I’m afraid.”
Nathan and Ann blinked, their faces blank of any comprehension.
“A what?” Nathan finally ventured, somewhat cautiously, if not suspiciously.
“The text vanishing is caused by a prophecy worm. Once a fork of prophecy is infected with this scourge, it worms its way entirely through that branch, consuming it as it goes. Since it consumes the actual prophecy itself, that means that over time all manifestations of it, such as the written prophecy or any memory of it, are destroyed. It’s quite virulent.” Zedd regarded their rapt stares with another polite smile. “If you want, I can show you the reference work.”
“I should say so,” Nathan said.
“Zedd this is important,” Richard said. “Why haven’t you said something?”
Zedd g
