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"I thought it was later than twelve o’clock," she said to Sam as they moved up to take a position in the forward line of soldiers There were about sixty of them in two lines across the road and out into the fields on either side The front line all woresword bayonets that shone with silver The second rank were archers, though Lirael could tell by looking at the way they held their bows that only half of the Their arroere silvered, too, she noticed with approval That would help a little against the Dead

"Uht ahead’; the tilance at the night sky Obviously he knew the Ancelstierran stars as well as the Old Kingdo to Lirael

"Front rank kneel!" ordered Major Greene He stood at the front with Lirael and Sa, as growing to her full fighting size The soldiers next to the hound shifted nervously, even as they knelt and set their bayoneted rifles out at a forty-five degree angle, so the front rank was a thicket of spears

"Archers stand ready!"

The archers nocked arrows but did not draw The Dead were approaching at a steady pace, but they were not close enough for Lirael and Sam to make out individuals in the dark other than Chlorr The clicking of their bones could be heard, and the shuffle of many misshapen feet upon the road

Lirael felt the tension and fear in the soldiers around her The drawn-in breaths that were not released The nervous shifting of feet and the fussing with equipment The silence after the Major’s shouted orders It would not takefor their lives

"They’ve stopped," said the Dog, her keen eyes cutting through the night

Lirael peered ahead Sure enough, the dark lint fro to outflank us?" asked the Major "I wonder why"

"No," said Saroup of Dead farther back "She’s waiting for the second lot of Dead Close to a thousand, I’d say"

He spoke softly, but there was a ripple a the nearer soldiers at his last words, a ripple that went slowly through both lines as his words were repeated

"Quiet!" ordered Greene "Sergeant! Take that eants Most of the the in their field notebooks

"We can’t wait," said Lirael anxiously "We have to get to the Lightning Farm!"

"We can’t turn our backs on this lot either," said Greene He bent close, the Charter Mark on his forehead glowing softly as it responded to the Charter Magic in the Dog, and whispered, "TheThey’re not Scouts, not used to this sort of thing"

Lirael nodded She gritted her teeth,a moment of indecision, then stepped out froht to Chlorr," she declared "If I can defeat her, the Hands ht badly, anyway"

"You’re not going withoutShe stepped forward too, with an excited bark, a bark that echoed out across the night There was soe about that bark It made everyone’s hair stand on end, and the bell in Lirael’s hand chimed quietly before she could still it Both sounds made the soldiers even jumpier

"Or me," said Saht with Charterwith a prepared spell

"I’ll coet "Maybe you’ll scare a couple of ht with you--" Greene began, but Lirael shook her head

"You stay here, Major," she said, and her voice was not that of a young woman but of an Abhorsen about to deal with the Dead "Protect our rear"

"Yes, ma’am," said Major Greene He saluted and stepped back into the line

Lirael walked ahead, the gravel of the road crunching under her feet The Disreputable Dog was at her right hand and Sa the roadside, darting backwards and forwards, presumably in search of more mice to torment

The Dead did not ot closer, she saw they were spreading out,into the fields to present a broader front Chlorr waited on the road, a tall shape, darker than the night save for her burning eyes Lirael could feel the Greater Dead’s presence like a chill hand upon the back of her neck

When they were about fifty yards away, Lirael stopped, the Dog and Sah, so the bell shone silver in theupon the metal

"Chlorr of the Mask," shouted Lirael, "return to Death!"

She flipped the bell, catching it by the handle and ringing it at the saht, the Dead Hands flinching as the sound hit them But it was for Chlorr the bell sounded, and all Lirael’s power and attention were focused on that spirit

Chlorr raised her shadow-bladed sword above her head and screamed back in defiance Yet the screa of the bell, and Chlorr took a step back even as she brandished her sword

"Return to Death!" ordered Lirael, walking forward, swinging Saraneth in slow loops that were straight out of a page of The Book of the Dead that now shone so brightly in her mind "Your time is over!"

Chlorr hissed and took another step backwards Then a new sound joined the bell A pere on and on, sharper and higher pitched than Saraneth’s deep voice Chlorr raised her sword as if to parry the sounds but took two ered out of her way, gobbling their distress from their decayed throats

Saolden fire suddenly exploded on and around Chlorr and splashed onto the Hands, who screamed and writhed as it ate into their Dead flesh

Then a small white shape suddenly appeared al on its hind feet, batting at the air in front of the Greater Dead spirit