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.