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"Dog," whispered Lirael She drew the Dog closer and hugged her about the neck "Dog What if we’re too late to destroy the Lightning Far didn’t say anything She snuffled at Lirael’s ear instead and thuo into Death, don’t I?" whispered Lirael "To use the Dark Mirror and find out hoas bound in the Beginning"
Still the Dog didn’t speak
"Will you come with me?" asked Lirael, her whisper so low no hu "Wherever you walk, I will be there"
"When should we go?" asked Lirael
"Not yet,""Not until there is no other choice Perhaps ill still reach the Lightning Fared the Dog again, then let her go and settled back onto her own pack Sam was already asleep on the opposite side of the truck, with Mogget curled up against hi about on the wooden floor of the truck Lirael picked it up, wrinkled her nose, and wedged it into a corner where it wouldn’t rattle
"I will keep watch," said the Disreputable Dog "You should sleep, Mistress There are still several hours before the dawn, and you will need all your strength"
"I don’t think I can sleep," said Lirael quietly But she leaned back on her pack and closed her eyes Her whole body felt edgy, and if she had been able to, she would have got up and practiced with her sword, or done so off with exercise But there was nothing she could do in the back of avehicle Except lie there and worry about what lay ahead So she did that, and surprisingly soon crossed the line betakeful worrying and troubled sleep
The Dog lay with her head on her paws and watched Lirael toss and turn, and mumble in her sleep Beneath theoing up and down as the vehicle negotiated bends and rises and falls in the road
After an hour or so, Mogget opened one eye He saw the Dog watching and quickly shut it again The Dog quietly got up and stalked over, pushing her snout down right against Mogget’s little pink nose
"Tell me why I shouldn’t take you by the scruff of your neck and throw you off right nohispered the Dog
Mogget opened one untroubled eye again
"I’d only run behind," he whispered back "Besides, She gaveless?"
"I a her teeth "Let me remind you that should you turn, I will make it my business to see that you are ended for it"
"Will you?" purred Mogget, opening his other eye "What if you can’t?"
The Dog growled, low and h to wake Sam, who blinked and reached for his sword
"What is it?" he asked sleepily
"Nothing," said the Dog She turned back to Lirael and plonked herself doith a frustrated sigh "Nothing to worry about Go back to sleep"
Mogget s Saainst his pack, asleep again in an instant
Nicholas Sayre swa to a fly A slow ascent that left hi about like that saht on the shores of a loch--which here he was He sat up and looked around Some part of his ht worldwas crackling down less than fifty yards away He was less interested in the pallid half sun in the east, just rising above the ridge
Nicholas was lying on a pile of straw next to a hut, off to one side of what had once been an active wharf Twenty yards away Hedge’s s, ropes, and pulleys to swing one of the silver hemispheres ashore from a small coastal trader Another coaster stood off the wharf, several hundred yards into the loch, carefully positioned not to get close enough for the hemispheres to work their violent repulsion on each other
Nicholas smiled They were at Forwin Mill He couldn’t reot the he Farm was ready, and all they had to do was join the he would fall into place
Thunder cracked, and someone screamed A man fell away from the boat, his skin blackened and hair on fire He lay on the dock, writhing and groaning till one of the other men stepped down and quickly cut his throat Nick watched it all happen quite cal with the heot up, first to all fours, and then fully upright It was hard work, and he had to clutch at the broken drainpipe of the hut for a while, till the dizziness passed But slowly he grew steadier Another man died as he stood there, but Nick didn’t even notice He had eyes only for the sheen of the heression of the work Soon the first hemisphere would be ready to be shifted into the ruined shell of the timber mill It would be loaded into a special cradle on, one of two on the same short stretch of track
At least that hat Nicholas had ordered It occurred to hi Farm He had drawn the plans and paid for its construction before leaving for the Old Kingdoo He had never seen the Lightning Farm in actuality Only in paper plans, and in his troubled dreams
He was still weak from the illness he’d picked up across the Wall, too weak to easily walk around He needed a stick or a crutch There was a stretcher nearby, a si of canvas and wood Perhaps he could pull out one of the poles and use that as a staff, Nick thought Very slowly and with infinite care, he walked over to the stretcher, cursing his weakness as he nearly fell He knelt down and re it out of the canvas loops It was easily eight feet long, and a bit heavy, but it would be better than nothing
He was about to use it to stand up when he saw so on the stretcher A piece of splintered wood, painted with strange luminous symbols Puzzled, he reached out to pick it up