"It's missing every word?" Nicci asked suspiciously. "Let me see it."

Berdine handed the little book over to Nicci. "It's completely blank, I'm telling you. See for yourself. It's useless."

Nicci opened the ancient, worn leather cover and scanned the first page. Her finger followed along as if she were reading. She flipped the page and studied the next, then did the same thing yet again.

"Dear spirits," she whispered as she appeared to read.

"What is it?" Richard asked.

Berdine stretched up on her tiptoes and peeked over the top of the book. "It can't be anything. See — it's blank."

"No, it's not," Nicci murmured as she read. "This is a book of magic." She looked up. "It only appears blank to those without the gift. And, in the case of this particular work, even they must possess the gift in sufficient strength to be able to read this. This is a profoundly important volume."

Berdine wrinkled her nose. "What?"

"Books of magic are dangerous, some exceedingly dangerous. Some, such as this one, are beyond even that." Nicci waggled the book at the Mord-Sith. "This one is far more than profoundly dangerous.

"As a form of protection such books are usually shielded in some way. If they are considered dangerous enough, then they are protected with spells that make the text vanish from a person's mind so quickly that they don't recall seeing it. It makes them think the pages are blank. A person without the gift simply can't hold the words of a book of magic in their mind. You actually do see the words in this book, but you forget seeing them so fast that you aren't cognizant that there was anything on the pages — the words vanish from your mind before you actually perceive them.

"That particular spell is, in part, the basis for the concept of the Chainfire spell. The wizards in ancient times — who often used such spells to protect dangerous books they wrote — began to wonder if such a thing could be done with a person, in effect making them vanish, just as the words in some books of magic can seem to vanish."

Nicci gestured vaguely as her attention drifted back to the book. "Of course, when a soul is involved it complicates the whole matter beyond words."

Richard had long ago learned that he had been able to memorize The Book of Counted Shadows only because he was gifted. Zedd had told him that if he hadn't had the gift, he wouldn't have been able to hold the words in his mind long enough to have remembered a single one.

"So, what is this book about?" he asked.

Nicci finally pulled her gaze away from the pages and looked up. "This is a book of magic instruction."

"I know, you said that already," he said, patiently. "Instruction for what?"

Nicci checked the page again, and swallowed as she again gazed into his eyes. "I think this is the original instruction book for putting the boxes of Orden in play."

Richard felt goose bumps, yet again, tingle up his arms and legs.

He gently lifted the book from Nicci's hands. Sure enough, it was not blank at all. Every page was packed with small written words, diagrams, charts, and formulas.

"This is in High D'Haran." He looked up at Nicci. "You mean to say you can read High D'Haran?"

"Of course."

Richard shared a look with Berdine.

He could see immediately that the book was profoundly complex. He had learned High D'Haran, but this book was something only on the brink of his understanding.

"This is far more technical than the High D'Haran I'm used to reading," he said as he scanned the pages.

Nicci leaned close and pointed to a place on the page he was staring at. "This here is all reference material to formulas needed in incantations. You have to know the formulas and spells to really understand it."

Richard looked up into her blue eyes. "And do you?"

She twisted her mouth as she frowned at the page. "I don't know. I'd have to study it at length to know if I can be of any help in translating it."

Berdine again stretched up on her tiptoes and peered into the book, as if checking to see if maybe the words might now appear to her. "Why can't you tell right away? I mean, either you can read and understand it, or you can't."

Nicci raked the fingers of one hand back through her blond hair as she took a deep breath. "It's not that simple with books of magic. It's kind of like doing complex mathematical equations. You may know the numbers and at first think you know what it's about, that you can work the equation, but if you then discover unknown symbols buried in the equation — symbols that refer to things unfamiliar to you — then the entire equation is pretty much unworkable. Just knowing some of the numbers isn't enough. You have to know what every element means, or at least how to find the value or quantity it represents.

"This is much the same, although I'm simplifying it so that you can understand my point. In this there are not just symbols, but obsolete references to spells, making it all the more difficult to understand. Being in High D'Haran makes it worse yet because over time High D'Haran words and their meaning have changed. Added to that, this text is an ancient, argot form."

Richard gripped her arm, drawing her attention. "Nicci, this is important; do you think you can manage to do it?"

She looked hesitantly at the book. "It will take some time before I can translate enough to be able to tell you if I have a chance of being successful."

Richard took the book out of her hands, closed it, and handed it back to her. "Then you'd better take it with you. When we have more time you can study it and sec if you can figure it out."

She frowned suspiciously. "Why? What are you thinking?"

"Nicci, don't you see? This could be our answer. If you can translate it, understand it, then what's in here might provide us with a way to counter, reverse, or dismantle what Sister Ulicia did. With this, maybe we can take the boxes of Orden back out of play."

Nicci gently rubbed her thumb over the cover of the little book. "That sounds like it makes sense, Richard, but knowing how to do something doesn't mean that you can undo it."

"Kind of like trying to get yourself unpregnant?" Cara asked.

Nicci smiled. "Something like that."

Cara's unexpected analogy threw Richard's mind back to Kahlan, and when she had been pregnant. A gang of men had caught her alone and beaten her nearly to death. She lost her and Richard's child. Her pregnancy ended before he'd even known about it.

The memory of seeing Kahlan so grievously hurt nearly buckled his knees. He had to force the ghastly thoughts back into the blackness from where they'd come.

Nicci's brow twitched with a frown, apparently at seeing the anguish in his face. He ignored her unspoken worry for him.

"I don't need to remind you how important this is," he said.

She held him in her gaze for a long moment, as if wanting to tell him that it was impossible, but desperately not wanting to say no to him. She finally pressed her lips tight and nodded.

"I'll do my best, Richard."

Her expression suddenly brightened. She flipped to the end of the book and hurriedly turned back the last page. She stood absorbed for a moment as she scrutinized the final page.

"This is interesting," she murmured.:

"What?" Richard asked.

Nicci looked up from the middle of what she was reading. "Well, at the end of some books of magic, as a precaution against unauthorized use, they will occasionally have some final step that's essential but not included. If so, then, even if the boxes are already in play, we might be able to interrupt the series of specific actions required. Do you see what I mean? Sometimes, if the book is dangerous enough, it won't be complete in and of itself, but will require something else to complete it."

"Something else? Like what?"