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He sighed, and pointed at a hole in the park fence

"We h here There’s an entrance to the reservoir in one of the ornamental caves in the park Only fifty steps down to the water, rather than the hundred and fifty froget "As I recall"

Touchstone shrugged, and cliy turf of the park There was no one--and no thing--in sight, but he drew his swords anyway There were large trees nearby, and accordingly, shadows

Sabriel followed, Mogget ju down from her shoulders to saunter forward and sniff the air Sabriel drew her sword too, but left the bells There were Dead about, but none close The park was too open in daylight

The ornamental caves were only five minutes’ walk away, past a fetid pond that had once boasted seven water-spouting statues of bearded tritons Now their ed with rotten leaves, and the pond was alreen slime

There were three cave entrances, side by side Touchstone led theest, central entrance Marble steps led down the first three or four feet, and oes back about forty paces into the hill," Touchstone explained, as they lit their candles by the entrance, sulphurtheir own noisome stench to the dank air of the cave "They were built for picnics in high summer There is a door at the back of this one It may be locked, but should yield to a Charter-spell The steps are directly behind, and pretty straight, but there are no light shafts And it’s narrow"

"I’ll go first then," said Sabriel, with a fir in her stomach "I can’t sense any Dead, but they could be there"

"Very well," said Touchstone, after a moment’s hesitation

"You don’t have to come, you know," Sabriel suddenly burst out, as they stood in front of the cave, candles flickering foolishly in the sunshine She suddenly felt awfully responsible for him He looked scared, much whiter than he should, almost as pale as a Death-leeched necros that had once driven him mad, and despite his self-accusation, Sabriel didn’t believe it was his fault It wasn’t his father down there He wasn’t an Abhorsen

"I do have to," Touchstone replied He bit his lower lip nervously "I have to I’ll never be free of , make new memories, better ones I need toseek redemption Besides, I am still a member of the Royal Guard It is lad you’re here"

"I ae sort of way," said Touchstone, and he alet, decidedly "Let’s get on with it We’re wasting sunlight"

The door was locked, but opened easily to Sabriel’s spell, the si froainst the keyhole But though the spell was successful, it had been difficult to cast Even up here, the broken stones of the Great Charter exerted an influence that disrupted Charter Magic

The faint candlelight showed daht down No curves or turns, just a straight stair leading into darkness

Sabriel trod gingerly, feeling the soft stone crumble under her heavy boots, so she had to keep her heels well back on each step This ress, with Touchstone close behind her, the light fro Sabriel’s shadon the steps in front, so she saw herself elongated and distorted, sliding into the dark beyond the light

She smelled the reservoir before she saw it, somewhere around the thirty-ninth step A chill, das, and filled her with the impression of a cold expanse

Then the steps ended in a doorway on the edge of a vast, rectangular hall--a giant chamber where stone columns rose up like a forest to support a roof sixty feet above her head, and the floor before her wasn’t stone, but water as cold and still as stone Around the walls, pallid shafts of sunlight thrust down in counterpoint to the supporting coluht on the water These ht and shade, but the center remained unknown, cloaked in heavy darkness

Sabriel felt Touchstone touch her shoulder, then she heard his whisper

"It’s about waist-deep Try and slip in as quietly as possible Here--I’ll take your candle"

Sabriel nodded, passed the candle back, sheathed her sword, and sat down on the last step, before slowly easing herself into the water

It was cold, but not unbearable Despite Sabriel’s care, ripples spread out from her, silver on the dark water, and there had been the tiniest splash Her feet touched the bottoasp Not from the cold, but from the sudden awareness of the two broken stones of the Great Charter It hit her like the savage onset of gastric flu, bringing stomach cramps, sudden sweat and dizziness Bent over, she clutched at the step, till the first pains subsided to a dull ache It was much worse than the lesser stones, broken at Cloven Crest and Nestowe

"What is it?" whispered Touchstone

"Ahthe broken stones," Sabrielthe pain and discoet in"

She drew her sword, and took her candle back from Touchstone, who prepared to enter the water Even forewarned, she saw him flinch as his feet touched the botto the ripples that spread froet to juiven his apparent dislike for Touchstone, but he surprised her, leaping to the man Touchstone was clearly startled too, but recovered well Mogget draped himself around the back of Touchstone’s neck, and es, if you can The corruption--the break--will have even more unpleasant effects near the center"

Sabriel raised her sword in assent and led off, following the left wall, trying to break the surface tension of the water as little as possible But the quiet slosh-slosh of their wading seeh the cistern, adding to the only other noise--the regular dripping of water, plopping loudly fro down the columns