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"Coer of her left hand, the crabbed claw of the hand of death

I approached the throne "It’s very beautiful, my lady," I said respectfully "May I ask what it is?"

She placed it into hed Okay, she didn’t really sigh She regarded h, or like the immensely patient and divine equivalent of an expression like a sigh, if you knohat I mean Maybe not Maybe you had to be there "To return the incorporeal dead to rest, you must fix their shadoith a hammer and an iron nail To cast an incorporeal shadow, a spirit lantern is required"

The frost giant Mikill chuckled faintly into his icy beard I resisted the urge to shoot hie in days of yore, but I was a child of the twenty-first century, and it’s not like this job came with an instruction manual Maybe that should beof files into the database A handbook for agents of the underworld

Anyway

"Ahdo I need a special hammer and nails?" I asked "Can I buy them at the local hardware store? Because if the nails have to be pure iron, I’m pretty sure I’d have to order the"

Hel looked at the dwarves, who huddled to confer a themselves

"An ordinary hammer and nails will be fine, liaison," one of them assured me "The iron content suffices"

"Great" I tucked the spirit lantern under an’s duppy and fix his shadow?"

"Perhaps" The slightest hint of a frown creased Hel’s brow Well, the fair-skinned and luht side, anyway The blackened-skull side was pretty immobile "This spirit that has never been laid to rest has no rest to which to return, save the vessel which contained it Your young sorcerer must be prepared to recapture it" Her ember eye flared in its socket "That responsibility lies on his head"

"Yes, my lady" I hesitated "Umjust in case, what if there are zo the immortal undead, Daisy Johanssen," Hel said to est you use it"

"Oh Right"

"Is there aught else?"

I shook ht to report on the other matter?" she asked "The person of interest?"

"Theoh The hell-spayer No, I haven’t There hasn’t been any sign of hi to contact hiht be a good job for a coenius like Lee "Do you, um, want me to make it a priority?"

"No" It was a definitive "no," accohts will be upon us soon, Daisy Johanssen," Hel said griate between the world of the living and the dead in my demesne If the dead are not laid to rest by the tiate may never be closed"

"I see" Okay, so this was a more serious business than I’d realized I cleared my throat "I’ll make sure it’s done"

Hel inclined her head "That is well"

With that, I was disy But as we reached the big doors of the sawmill, Hel addressed me once more

"Daisy Johanssen"

I turned back She had her blue eye open, and although her gaze was stern, it wasn’t disappointed "You did well to gain the sorceress’s oath"<ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>