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"I suppose we’d better wake everybody up," she said, dis speculation about swords for the irunting as he pulled his swords free of the floor
"I don’t think so," replied Sabriel "That Mordaut was very clever, for it had hardly sapped the spirit of poorPatarso its presence was masked by his life It would have co impressed the poor man with instructions before they left the mainland I doubt whether any others would have done the sauess I should check the other buildings, and walk around the island, just to be sure"
"Now?" asked Touchstone
"Now," confiranize sohts for us We’d also better talk to the Elder about a boat for the et, who’d slunk back to the half-eaten whiting, his voice sharp above the heavy drone of snoring fisher-folk
There were no Dead on the island, though the archers reported seeing strange lightsbrief lulls in the rain They’d heard movement on the breakwater too, and shot fire arrows onto the stones, but saw nothing before the crude, oily ragwrapped shafts guttered out
Sabriel advanced out on the breakwater, and stood near the sea gap, her oilskin coat loosely draped over her shoulders, shedding rain to the ground and down her neck She couldn’t see anything through the rain and dark, but she could feel the Dead There were rown , she realized that this strength belonged to a single creature, only now e the broken stone as a portal An instant later, she recognized its particular presence
The Mordicant had found her
"Touchstone," she asked, fighting to keep the shivers froht?"
"Yes," replied Touchstone, his voice iht fro only his back and feet He hesitated, as if he shouldn’t be offering an opinion, then added, "But it would be ht is very dark"
"Mogget can see in the dark," Sabriel said quietly, ers couldn’t hear her
"We have to leave i to adjust her oilskin "A Mordicant has come The same one that pursued me before"
"What about the people here?" asked Touchstone, so softly the sound of the rain almost washed his words away--but there was the faint sound of reproof under his business-like tone
"The Mordicant is afteraway fro its otherwordly senses to find her "It can feel o, it will follow"
"If we stay till ," Touchstone whispered back, "won’t we be safe? You said even a Mordicant couldn’t cross this gap"
"I said, ‘I think,’ " faltered Sabriel "It has grown stronger I can’t be sure--"
"That thing back in the shed, the Mordaut, it wasn’t very difficult to destroy," Touchstone whispered, the confidence of ignorance in his voice "Is this Mordicant much worse?"
"Much," replied Sabriel shortly
The Mordicant had stoppedboth its senses and its desire to find her and slay Sabriel stared vainly out into the darkness, trying to peer past the sheets of rain, to gain the evidence provided by sight, as well as her necro to the villager as in charge of their lantern-holders He caery hair plastered flat on his rounded head, rainwater dripping down froy nose
"Riemer, have the archers keep very careful watch Tell the that co out there now Only the Dead We need to go back and talk to your Elder"
They walked back in silence, save for the sloshing of boots in puddles and the steady finger-applause of the rain At least half of Sabriel’s attention stayed with the Mordicant; apresence across the dark water She wondered why it aiting Waiting for the rain to stop, or perhaps for the now-banished Mordaut to attack froave theet to a boat, and lead it away And perhaps, there was always the chance that it couldn’t cross the breakwater gap
"What tiht struck
"Ah, just about an hour before dawn," replied the fishere"
The Elder awoke crankily froht, though Sabriel felt that at least half of his reluctance was due to their need for a boat The villagers only had five left The others had been sunk in the harbor, drowned and broken by the stones hurled down by the Dead, eager to stop the escape of their living prey
"I’ain "But we must have a boat and we need it now There is a terrible Dead creature in the village--it tracks like a hunting dog, and the trail it follows is mine If I stay, it will try and coap in the breakwater If I go, it will follow"
"Very well," the Elder agreed, mulishly "You have cleansed this island for us; a boat is a little thing Riemer will prepare it with food and water Riemer! The Abhorsen will have Landalin’s boat--make sure it is stocked and seaworthy Take sails from Jaled, if Landalin’s is short or rotten"
"Thank you," said Sabriel Tiredness weighed down on her, tiredness and the weight of awareness Awareness of her enee of her vision "We will go now My good wishes stay with you, and my hopes for your safety"
"May the Charter preserve us all," added Touchstone, bowing to the old ure, sotall on the wall behind
Sabriel turned to go, but a long line of villagers was for on the way to the door All of them wanted to bow or curtsey before her, to mutter shy thank-yous and farewells Sabriel accepted the Patar True, she had banished the dead, but another life had been lost in the doing Her father would not have been so clumsy
The second-to-last person in the line was a little girl, her black hair tied in two plaits, one on either side of her head Seeing herTouchstone had said She stopped, and took the girl’s hands in her own
"What is your na of déjà vu swept over her as the srader hesitantly reaching out to the older pupil ould be her guide for the first day at Wyverley College Sabriel had experienced both sides, in her tiht and lively, too young to be diaze A good choice, Sabriel thought