"These books of prophecy are not kept in vaults."

Verna's brow drew down as she leaned toward the Mord-Sith. "Perhaps they should be."

"Are you saying that I'm wrong in what I believe this prophecy says?"

Verna heaved another sigh. "Right or wrong is impossible to discern in this instance. We can't even begin to intelligently dissect this prophecy because it's incomplete. We have here only the beginning of it and then a number of blank pages."

"So?"

"So, it could be just as you say, that it's about Richard and people will question his judgment and lose faith in him, but maybe the missing text says that the issue will be resolved the next day by some other event of consequence and they will think more of him than they ever had before. Not only can prophecy be forked, meaning that it may be an either-or kind of statement, but the same prophecy could mean opposite things."

"I don't see how it can mean opposite things. And how could something happen in the missing text of this prophecy to change people's minds?"

Verna shrugged as she gazed around the vast, dimly lit library, trying to think of an example. "Well, say that they thought his battle plan was crazy. Maybe the army officers think it ill advised. That could be something that would result in this prophecy, in people losing faith in him. Then, say that, despite the advice of officers, Richard insists and so, despite their doubts and lack of faith, the soldiers follow his plan as ordered and achieve a victory that they never thought they could win. Their faith in Richard as their leader would be restored and they would probably have even more respect for his judgment than they ever did before.

"But if the prophecy were to be acted upon without understanding its true meaning, those actions very well could countermand the rest of the event as it would have taken place naturally and give the illusion that the prophecy had been fulfilled, but in fact the real and truly prophesied events had been bypassed by foolishly invoking a misinterpretation of the actual prophecy."

Berdine, watching Verna the whole time, drew her single brown braid through a loose fist. "I guess that could make sense."

"You see, Berdine, why prophecy is so confusing, even for those of us trained in it? But to make matters worse, without the whole prophecy we dare not even begin to try understand them or to assign any significance to them. The complete text is indispensable if one is to even begin to try to understand prophecy. Without all the text it's as if prophecy has gone blind. That's one reason why this is so disturbing."

"One reason?" Berdine looked up again, still running her braid through her fist. "What is the other reason?"

"It's bad enough to be without the text that was previously there, but the cause behind such an unprecedented event-the text of prophecy vanishing-is troubling in the extreme."

"I thought you just said that we shouldn't jump to conclusions when it comes to prophecy."

Verna cleared her throat, feeling as if one of those bear traps just snapped closed on her leg. "Well, that's true, but it's obvious that something is going on."

Berdine folded her arms as she pondered the problem. "What do you think could be happening?"

Verna shook her head. "I can't begin to imagine. Such a thing, to my knowledge, has never happened before. I have no idea why it's happening now."

"But you think it's trouble that involves Lord Rahl."

Verna gave Berdine a sidelong look. "The simple fact that so much of prophecy involves him makes that conclusion impossible to avoid. Richard is born to trouble. He is at the center of it."

Berdine didn't appear to like that one bit. "That is why he needs us."

"I've never argued that he didn't."

Berdine relaxed, if only a notch, and flicked her braid back over her shoulder. "No, you have not."

"Ann is searching for him. Let's hope she can find him, and soon. We need him to lead us in the coming battle."

As Verna spoke, Berdine idly pulled a book from one of the glass cases and began leafing through it. "Lord Rahl is supposed to be magic against magic, not the steel against steel."

"That is a D'Haran proverb. Prophecy says that he must lead us in the final battle."

"I suppose," Berdine mumbled without looking up as she slowly turned pages.

"With part of Jagang's forces headed south around the mountains, we can only hope that Ann will find him in time and bring him to us."

Berdine was puzzling at the book. "What is it that is buried with the bones?"

"What?"

Berdine was still frowning as she tried to work out something in the book. "This book caught my attention before because it says Fuer Grissa Ost Drauka on the cover. That's High D'Haran. It means.»

"The bringer of death."

Berdine glanced up. "Yes. How did you know?"

"There was a widely known prophecy that the Sisters back at the Palace of the Prophets used to debate. It had, actually, been hotly debated for centuries. The first day I brought Richard to the palace he declared himself to be the bringer of death and thus named himself to be the one in the prophecy. It caused quite a stir among the Sisters, I can tell you. One day, down in the vaults, Warren showed Richard the prophecy and Richard himself solved the riddle of it, although to Richard it wasn't a riddle. He understood it because he had lived portions of the prophecy."

"This book has a lot of blank pages in it."

"No doubt. It sounds like it's about Richard. There are probably a great number of books here that are about him."

Berdine was reading again. "This is in High D'Haran. Like I said, I know High D'Haran. I would have to work at it to be able to translate it more completely, and it would help if there wasn't so much missing text, but this place is apparently talking about Lord Rahl. It says something like, 'what he seeks is buried with the bones, or maybe even 'what he seeks is buried bones'-something like that."

Berdine looked up at Verna. "Any idea what that's about? What it could mean?"

"What he seeks is buried bones?" Verna shook her head with regret. "I have no idea. There are probably countless volumes here that have interesting, or puzzling, or frightening things to say about Richard. As I told you, though, with copy missing, what is there is next to useless."

"I suppose," Berdine said in disappointment. "What about 'central sites'?"

"Central sites?"

"Yes. This books mentions places called 'central sites. " Berdine stared off as she considered something to herself. "Central sites. Kolo mentioned something about central sites."

"Kolo?"

Berdine nodded. "It's a journal written ages ago-during the great war. Lord Rahl found the book at the Wizard's Keep, in the room with the sliph. The man who kept the journal is named Koloblicin. In High D'Haran the name means 'strong advisor. Lord Rahl and I call him Kolo, for short."

"What did this Kolo have to say about these places, these central sites? What are they?"

Berdine turned through the pages of the book she held. "I don't recall. It was nothing I understood at the time so I didn't devote a lot of effort to it. I'd have to go study it again to refresh my memory." She squinted in recollection. "It seemed like there was something buried at the places called central sites. I can't remember if it said what was buried."

The Mord-Sith stood frozen in her same pose as she studied the little book. "I was hoping this might give me a clue."

Verna let out a heavy sigh as she glanced around at the library.

"Berdine, I would love to stay and spend time researching all these books. I would truly like to know what this library and the others here at the palace contain, but there are more pressing matters at hand. We need to get back to the army and my Sisters."