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"I’ll show her," ry speech "Two thousand years of servitude already, and then to--"

He stopped ered hand plunging into the water It e fish, which he i the spinal cord His teeth, bright in the starlight, were sharper by far than any hu down his beard In a fewout the bones with curses and gru between bites over the fact that he’d wanted a trout and had got a redjack

When he finished, he carefully cleaned his face and beard and dried his feet, though he left the bloodstains on the si the bank of the streaain clean and white and new

The robe was fastened around the little man’s waist with a red leather belt, and where the buckle should have been there was a tiny bell All this ti only one hand to catch the fish and clean himself But his caution failed when he stu out as he fell to one knee, a bright sound that paradoxically ht lie down there and then, but with an obvious effort he shook his head and stood up

"No, no, sister," hethe bell even more fiercely "I have work to do, you see I cannot sleep, not now There are s and two hands while I still have theht bird called nearby and theit Still holding the bell, he licked his lips and, taking one slow step after the other, began to stalk it But the bird ary, and before the albino could pounce, it fleay, calling plaintively into the night

"I never get dessert," coan to folloards once again, still holding the bell andcomplaints

Chapter Six

The Silver Hemispheres

ONE HUNDRED AND twenty miles to the northwest of Abhorsen’s House, the eastern shores of the Red Lake lay in darkness, even though a new day had dawned For it was not the dark of night but of storm, the sky heavy with black clouds, that stretched for several leagues in all directions The darkness had already lasted for h the cloud eak and pale, and the days were lit by a strange twilight that did no favor to any living thing Only at the epicenter of this iht, and that was sudden, harsh and white, frorown used to the twilight, as he had grown used to e But his body still rebelled, even when his ainst his nose andworkers, but they did s on their bones Generally he didn’t like to get too close--in case whatever they had was contagious--but he’d had to this tie explained, "we cannot ether There is a force that keeps them apart, no matter what methods we enet"

Nick nodded, absorbing this information As he’d drearound, and his excavation had found them But his sense of triuistical proble them out Each hee hing even old

The hemispheres had been buried soe barrierbone Now that they were being raised, it was clear that this barrier had helped negate the repulsive force, for the heht within fifty feet of each other

Using rollers, ropes, and over two hundred of the Night Crew, one of the heed up the spiral raood distance down the ra and push up the lower hereat it was hurled back down, crushing e repulsive force, Nick noted, there were other effects around the heenerate an acrid, hot- odor of the Night Crew The sh it did not seee or his peculiar laborers

Then there was the lightning Nick flinched as yet another bolt struck down,an instant later The lightning was striking even more frequently than before, and now both hemispheres were exposed, Nick could see a pattern Each heht times in a row, but the ninth bolt would invariablyone of the workers

Not that this seemed to affect theht or get co But this inforhts always caoal with an intense focus that banished all extraneous thoughts

"We will have tothe shortness of breath that came with the nausea he suffered whenever he went too close to the silver e The two heot, not with a fifty-foot separation I hope the import license I have will alloo shipmentsIn any case, we have no choice There e, but he kept staring at Nick as if he expected so else

"I meant to ask if you’d found a crew," Nick said at last, when the silence becae "They gather at the lakeside Men like me, Master Those who served in the Army of Ancelstierre, down in the trenches of the Periht drew the posts and made them cross the Wall"

"You mean deserters? Are they trustworthy?" Nick asked sharply The last thing he wanted was to lose a heh human stupidity, or to introduce some additional complication for when they crossed back into Ancelstierre That simply could not be allowed to happen

"Not deserters, sir, oh, no," replied Hedge, s in action, and too far from home They are quite trustworthy I have e?" Nick asked

Hedge suddenly looked up, nostrils flaring to sniff the air, and he didn’t answer Nick looked up too, and a heavy drop of rain splashed upon his e, nu sensation spread down his throat

"This should not be," Hedge whispered to hi up around the froged, uncertain what Hedge was talking about The rainhi around him had assumed a dreamlike quality, and for the first tie pain struck hiht hi into e, but his tone was inquisitive rather than sys writhing He tried to speak, but only spittle came from his lips His eyes flickered wildly froe knelt by hi Rain continued to fall on Nick’s face, but now it sizzled as it hit, stea off his skin A few an to coil out of the youngas it e, his voice suddenly nervous

Nick’s mouth opened, and e could see, fingers clutching at the necroe clenched his teeth, fighting back the pain, and asked again, "Master?"