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"No songbird," said Lirael firlance at the Dog "A civilized agree in return for what help I care to offer Better than being a slave"

"You are a--" the Dog began hotly, but Lirael grabbed her collar and she subsided, growling

"There’s no tie let Mareyn--the Guard--go, intending to enslave her spirit later--a slow death hly where she died, and he may have had other servants in Death ill report "

"We should" Saive her a proper ending"

Lirael shook her head, a diagonal reement nor refusal, but si her brow again "I promised her I would"

Like the bodies of the merchant party, Mareyn’s body, if left here, could becoht be able to use it for even worse things

"Can you do it, Sa her wrist "I’m a bit worn out, to be honest"

"Hedge"As h the rain will help"

"I’ve already cast a spell," said Sa attacked--"

"Don’t worry," interrupted Lirael "But hurry"

Sam went over to the body and drew the Charter marks in the air A few seconds later, a white-hot shroud of fire enveloped the body, and soon there was nothing left for any necroo then, but Lirael stepped forward, and three simple Charter marks fell from her open hand into the bark of the tree above the ashes She spoke to the e to hear in the years ahead, for as long as the tree ht stand

"Mareyn died here, far from hoht against a foe too strong for her But even in Death she did her duty andgesture," said the Dog "And a--"

"Fairly stupid one," interrupted Mogget, from behind Sam’s head "We’ll have the Dead down on us in et," said Lirael "I’ now, so you can go back to sleep Dog--please scout ahead Sa for an answer, she struck off up towards the ridgeline, heading for a point where the trees clusteredran up behind her, then slipped around to get ahead, her tail wagging

"Bossy, isn’t she?" re more slowly "Re aside a branch that threatened to slap hi as fast as we can in the other direction," said Mogget "Don’t you?"

"You toldaway or trying to hide," snapped Saet didn’t answer, but Sa around in his pack Sa steeper and he needed all his breath Any thoughts of conversation quickly slipped away as they clis, torn out of the hillside by the wind and their inability to set deep roots

At last they reached the ridge, sodden despite their oilskins, and wretchedly tired from the cli, and it was clear they couldn’t goa rest, but when she gestured at the Dog, the hound ignored her, pretending she couldn’t see the frantic hand signals Lirael sighed and followed, thankful that the Dog had turned to the west and was following the ridge now, instead of cli down They kept on for another thirty h it felt like hours, till at last they careat swathe of open ground down the northern face of the ridge

The Dog stopped there, choosing a stand of ferns that would shelter theered in a minute later and collapsed like a broken concertina As he sat, Mogget cli Sam’s head as a rest for his two front paws

The four of the the valley, all the way to the Red Lake, a dull expanse of water in the distance, lit by flashes of lightning and what little of the setting sun h the cloud

Nick’s pit was clearly visible too, an ugly wound of red dirt and yellow clay in the green of the valley The land around it was constantly struck by lightning, the boo back to the four watchers, a constant background noise Hundreds of figures, made tiny by the distance, toiled around the pit Even from a few miles away, Lirael and Sam could feel that they were the Dead

"What are the Hands doing?" whispered Lirael Though they were hidden high on the ridge ast the trees and ferns, she still felt that they were on the verge of detection by Hedge and his servants

"I can’t tell," replied Sa--I think Towards the lake"

"Yes," said the Dog, as standing absolutely stiff next to Lirael "They are dragging two silver heget hissed, and Sam felt a shudder run down his spine

"Each hemisphere i Her voice was very low "A spirit fro, froet not to na "It was io, and trapped within the silver hemispheres; and the heold, and lead; rowan, ash, and oak; and the seventh as bone"

"So it’s still bound?" whispered Sa up the hemispheres, but it’s still bound inside the "But where the prison fails, little hope can be placed in the bonds Soh I cannot guess how, and where they are taking them

"I a down on her belly, her chin digging into the ground withdown at the dejected Dog For ato say Then she felt a little voice inside her ask, "What would an Abhorsen do?" and she knew that she h she felt exactly the opposite