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All the ti for the Nick creature At first there was no sign of anythingand bubbling a few yards away, as if the lake were boiling A hand--Nick’s hand--reached up and gripped the side of the boat, tearing away a whole section of the woven reeds with ih-pitched screaer sent every ht

It sent Lirael, too Instinctively, she juht off the other side of the boat as far as she could, s run The terrible screa For a ht behind her; but instead there was a violent explosion of water and broken reeds: Nick had picked up the entire boat and thrown it at her If she had been a little slower, it would have been the boat that struck her back, rather than spray and so else, Lirael redoubled her efforts to get away The water wasn’t as deep as she expected--only up to her chest--but it slowed her down, so every second she thought the creature would catch her, or strike her with a spell Desperately, she headed back towards shalloater, hacking at the reeds with Nehima to speed the way

She didn’t look back, because she couldn’t face what she ht see, and she didn’t stop, not even when she was lost in the rushes with no idea where she was going, and her lungs and

Finally, she was forced to a halt when the cras were unable to hold her up out of the water Fortunately, it was only knee-deep now, so Lirael sat down, crushing reeds into a wet and muddy seat

All her senses were attuned to pursuit, but there didn’t see she could hear over the pounding of her heart echoing through every blood vessel in her entire body

She rested there, in thetime Finally, when she felt as if she could ot up and sloshed forward again

As she waded, she thought about what she’d done--or hadn’t done Over and over the scene played through her head She should have been quicker with the bells, she thought, re her hesitation and cluh that didn’t see the chance to manifest itself It probably wouldn’t even have helped, since the fragment could probably inhabit a Dead Nick as easily as it did while he lived Perhaps it could even have got inside her

The Clayr’s vision of a world destroyed was also prominent in her mind Had she missed her chance to stop the Destroyer? Were those few reat cusp of destiny? A vital chance that she could have grasped but failed to?

She was still thinking about that when the water she was racing through turned to actual mostly solid mud, instead of muddy water The reed clu to the edge of the marsh But as this particularthe eastern shore of the Red Lake, Lirael still didn’t really knohere she was

She took a guess at south froth of a tall reed’s shadow, and started to head that way, keeping to the fringe of the round, but safer if there were Dead about, forced out into the sun by Hedge

Two hours later Lirael etter and morethe way She was al mixture of red reed pollen and black mud It stank, and she stank, and there seen of her friends, either

Doubts began to assail her even an to fear for her co Perhaps she had been overcome by the sheer nue, in the saic aside as if it didn’t exist

Or perhaps they ounded, or still fighting, she thought, forcing herself to greater speed Without her and the bells, they would beThe Book of the Dead He wasn’t an Abhorsen What if there was a Mordicant pursuing theh to endure the sun at noon?

Thinking about thatand walking along firround Run a hundred paces, walk a hundred paces--all the while keeping an eye out for Gore Crows, other Dead, or the hue

Once she saw--and felt--Dead nearby, but they were Dead Hands fleeing in the distance, seeking so into them, flesh and spirit, the sun that would send them back into Death if they could not find a cave or unoccupied grave

Soon she felt like an animal that is both hunter and hunted--like a fox or a wolf All she could concentrate on was getting to the streath to find either her friends or--as she feared--some evidence of what had happened to them At the same time, she had the unpleasant sensation that soht rise or shrunken tree, or dive down from the sky

At least it was ht, as she noted the line of trees and bushes that marked the stream It was less than a halftwo hundred paces at a stretch instead of one

She was up to 173 running paces when soht towards her

Instinctively Lirael reached for her bohich wasn’t there She changed thatacross her body to draw her sword and kept on running

She was just about to screanized the Disreputable Dog and let out a glad cry instead, a cry that was ’s happy yelp

A few , and dancing around (on the Dog’s part) and hugging, kissing, and keeping her sword out of the way (on Lirael’s part)

"It’s you, it’s you, it’s you!" woofed the Dog, wiggling her hindquarters and squeaking

Lirael didn’t say anything She knelt and put her head against the Dog’s warh that held all her troubles in it

"You s, after the initial excitement had worn off and she had had a chance to sniff Lirael’s et back to the streae seems to have abandoned thehtning stor the hemispheres--has moved out over the lake"

"Yes," said Lirael, after they’d starting walking back "Hedge is there Nickthe thing insidecalled out to hi the heain in Nick," ht"