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Ignoring sun and light breezes, the fog spread fro out in advance of the ue on from the hill, one of these tendrils separated into a cloud that rose high in the air and crossed the hty river Ratterlin Once across, it sank to sit like a toad on the eastern bank, and new fog begun to puff out of it

Soon the two ar shrouded both western and eastern shores of the Ratterlin, though the sun still shone on the river in between

Both river and fog sped at their very different paces towards the Long Cliffs The river dashed along, getting faster and faster as it headed to the great waterfall, where it would plunge downIt thickened and rose higher as it rolled on

A few yards before it reached the Long Cliffs, the fog stopped, though it still grew thicker and rose higher, threatening the island that sat in the e of the waterfall An island with high white walls that enclosed a house and gardens

The fog did not spread across the river, nor lean in too far as it rose There were unseen defenses that held it back, that kept the sun shining on the white walls, the gardens, and the red-tiled house The fog was a weapon, but it was only the first e The battle lines were drawn and the House invested

For the whole river-circled isle was Abhorsen’s House Hoe was to maintain the borders of Life and Death The Abhorsen, who used necroic, but as neither necroic sorcerer The Abhorsen, who sent any Dead who trespassed in Life back to whence they ca knew that the Abhorsen was not actually in the House The Abhorsen and her husband, the King, had been lured across the Wall and would presumably be dealt with there That was part of her Master’s plan, long since laid but only recently begun in earnest

The plan had h the very heart and reason for it lay in the Old Kingdoees were ele, subtleto come to fruition

But as with any plan, there had already been complications and proble wolacier-clad mountain at the Ratterlin’s source The Clayr, who Saw many futures in the ice, and ould certainly try to twist the present to their own ends The woes, easily identified by the colored waistcoat she wore A red waistcoat,her as a Second Assistant Librarian

Thehad seen her, black haired and pale skinned, surely no older than twenty, awoman’s name, called out in desperate battle

Lirael

The other coh the evidence was conflicting A young man, hardly more than a boy, curly haired from his father, black eyebrowed from his mother, and tall fro Touchstone and the Abhorsen Sabriel

Prince Sa, heir to the powers of The Book of the Dead and the seven bells But thedoubted that now She was very old, and once she had known a great deal about the strange faht Saht like an Abhorsen; even the way he cast his Charter Magic was strange, reminiscent of neither the royal line nor the Abhorsens

Sameth and Lirael were not alone They were supported by two creatures who appeared to be no e black and tan dog of friendly disposition Yet both were h exactly what they as another slippery piece of inforic spirits of some kind, bound in service to the Abhorsen and the Clayr The cat was known to soet, and there was speculation about hi was a different matter She was new, or so old that any book that told of her was long since dust The creature in the fog thought the latter Both the young woman and her hound had come from the Great Library of the Clayr It was likely both of them, like the Library, had hidden depths and contained unknoers

Together, these four could be formidable opponents, and they represented a serious threat But the ht theuarded by both spell and sater Her orders were to make sure that they were trapped in the House The House was to be besieged while ressed elsewhere--until it was too late for Lirael, Sa at all

Chlorr of the Mask hissed as she thought of those orders, and fog billowed around what passed for her head She had once been a living necromancer, and she took orders from no one She had made a mistake, a mistake that had led to her servitude and death But her Master had not let her go to the Ninth Gate and beyond She had been returned to Life, though not in any living forht by the power of bells, bound by her secret name She did not like her orders yet had no choice but to obey

Chlorr lowered her arers There were Dead Hands all around her, hundreds and hundreds of swaying, suppurating corpses Chlorr had not brought the spirits that inhabited these rotten, half-skeletal bodies out of Death, but she had been given co arles and the clicking of frozen joints and broken bones, the Dead Handsall around them

"There are at least two hundred Dead Hands on the western bank, and fourscore or htened up fro it down out of the way "I couldn’t see Chlorr, but she ht of the last ti above hiht before, though it already felt ic sorcerer could have raised this mist," said Lirael But she didn’t believe it She could sense the sa," said the Disreputable Dog, as delicately balanced on the observer’s stool Apart froht collar made of Charter e black and tan ed their tails rowled "I think it has thickened sufficiently to be called fog"

The Dog; her mistress, Lirael; Prince Saet, were all in the observatory that occupied the topmost floor of the tower on the northern side of Abhorsen’s House

The observatory’s walls were entirely transparent, and Lirael found herself taking nervous glances at the ceiling, because it was hard to see if anything was holding it up The walls were not glass either, or any material she knehich somehow made it even worse

But she didn’t want her nervousness to show, so Lirael turned herspoke Only her hand betrayed her feelings, as she kept it resting on the Dog’s neck, for the co’s collar