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Touchstone’s face set in griht He would welcoainst opponents manipulated from afar Nohatever it was had come out in the open, and it would face the co, the Abhorsen, and the Clayr

Provided, of course, that the King and the Abhorsen ht

PART THREE

Chapter Seventeen

Co Home to Ancelstierre

"WIND’S VEERING NOR-NOREAST, sir," reported Yeoe, which was mechanically linked to the weathervane several floors above thehts overhead flickered and went out, leaving the room lit by only two rather smoky hurricane lamps Prindel looked at his watch, which had stopped, and then at the striped time candle between the hurricane laood, Prindel," replied Lieutenant Drewe "Order the switch to oil and sound general quarters I’ht"

"Aye, aye, sir," replied Prindel He uncovered a speaking tube and bawled down it, "Switch to oil! General quarters! I say again, general quarters!"

"Aye, aye!" ca tube, followed by the screa of a cracked handbell, both of which could be heard throughout the lighthouse

Drewe shrugged on his blue duffel coat and strapped on a broad leather belt that supported both a revolver and a cutlass His blue steel helolden keys emblem that proclaiht, coed to his predecessor and was slightly too large, so Dreays felt a bit like a fool when he put it on, but regulations were regulations

The control rooht As Drewe cli down

"Sir! You’d better hurry!"

"I a his voice was steadier than his suddenly accelerating heart "What is it?"

"Fog--"

"There’s always fog That’s e’re here To warn any ship not to sail into it"

"No, no, sir! Not on the sea! On the land A creeping fog that’s co behind it, and it’s heading for the Wall And there’s people co up from the south, too!"

Drewe abandoned his cale he’d left only eighteen months before He pushed past Kerrick and took the rest of the steps three at a ti as he pushed open the heavy steel trapdoor and cliht chaed to present some semblance of the cool, collected naval officer he was supposed to be

The light was off and wouldn’t be lit for another hour or so There was a dual system, one oil and clockwork, the other fully electric, to cater to the strange way that electricity and technology failed when the wind blew frodom

Dreas relieved to see his most experienced petty officer was already there Coxswain Berl was outside on the ay, big observer’s binoculars pressed to his eyes Dreent out to join hi himself for the cold breeze But when he went out, the arn that it came from the north Berl had told him the seasons were different across the Wall, and Drewe had been at the Western Light long enough to believe hih he had dis on?" Drewe de off the coast, as it always did, night and day But there was another, darker fog rolling down froely lit by flashes of lightning and stretched to the east as far as Drewe could see

"Where are these people?"

Berl handed him the binoculars and pointed

"Hundreds of thes, I reckon, froet across the Wall But they aren’t the probleed the binoculars against the rim of his helmet, and wished he could beat all at first, but as he got the focus right, all the fuzzy blobs sharpened and becaures There were thousands of them, men in blue hats and women in blue scarves, andplanks onto the concertina wire, forcing their way through and cutting where they had to Soh the No Man’s Land of wire and were alht Why on earth were they trying to get into the Old Kingdo, sos who hadto run back

"Has Perimeter HQ been informed about these people?" he asked There was an Army post down there, at least a co posts spread out forward and back What were the pongoes doing?

"The phones will be out," said Berl grimly "Besides, those people aren’t the proble, sir"

Dreung the binoculars around The fog was ular Al down toillu it from the inside

Dreed, blinked, and fiddled with the focus knob on the binoculars again, unable to believe what he was seeing There were things in the forefront of the fog Things that ht have once been people but noere not He’d heard stories of such creatures when he was first posted to shore duty in the north, but hadn’t really believed theic both cruel and kind

"Those Southerlings won’t stand a chance," whispered Berl "I grew up in the north I seen what happened twenty years ago at Bain--"

"Quiet, Berl," ordered Drewe "Kerrick!"

Kerrick poked his head out the door

"Kerrick, get a dozen red rockets and start firing them One every three minutes"

"R-red rockets, sir?" quavered Kerrick Red rockets were the ultihthouse

"Red rockets! Move!" roared Drewe "Berl! I want every man but Kerrick asse and rifles!"