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"You have led e His voice was flavored with Free Magic, and he soundedman He looked like it, too He towered over Lirael, and there were fires everywhere within hiers and shining through his skin Lirael wasn’t even sure he was a living ic spirit himself, only clad in human flesh "But it is finished now, here and in Life My un Only the Dead walk in the living world, to praise Orannis for Its work Only the Dead--and I, the faithful vizier"
His voice had a hypnotic quality about it Lirael realized he was trying to distract her while he went for a killing blow He hadn’t tried the bell upon her, which was curious--but then, she’d broken free of Hedge and Saraneth before
"Look up, Hedge," she answered, as they circled again "The Ninth Gate calls Can’t you feel the sue was ready, and more practiced with a sword He parried, and his swift riposte cut the fabric of her surcoat directly above her heart
Quickly, she backed off again, this tie followed, his head still bent, watching her through hooded eyes
Behind hi stirred Slowly, she raised one paw from the shallow river, careful not to an to sneak after the necromancer as he stalked towards Lirael
"I don’t believe you about the Destroyer, either," said Lirael as she backed away, hoping her voice would cover the sound of the Dog’s advance "I would know if anything had happened to my body in Life Besides, you wouldn’t bother withnow, and the fla off his expectation of a kill "It pleases me to finish you There is no more to it than that As my Master destroys that which displeases, so do I!"
He slashed viciously down at her Lirael barely ed to parry and push his sword aside Then they were locked together, body to body, his head bent over hers and his metallic, flame-ridden breath hot upon her cheek as she turned away
"But perhaps I will play a little with you first" Hedge sed, and stepped back
Lirael struck at hihed, parried, stepped back once
He dropped his sword and bell at once, and clapped his hands to his eyes as he struck the water with the hiss and roar of steam But he was an instant too late He saw the stars as he fell, and they called to hiht of spells and power that had kept hi world forDeath, always searching for so that could let hiht he had found it, serving Orannis, for he cared nothing about anyone else or any other living thing The Destroyer had proreater do he could to earn it
Noith a single glie’s hands fell back Starlight filled his eyes with glowing tears, tears that slowly quenched his internal fires The coils of steae raised his aran his own fall towards the sky, the stars, and the Ninth Gate
The Disreputable Dog picked up Lirael’s bell from the river and took it to her, careful not to let it sound Lirael accepted it in silence and put it away There was no time to savor their triumph over the necromancer Lirael knew that he was only ever a lesser enehth Gate, both filled with a terrible fear The fear that though Hedge’s words were lies, they would becoet back to Life
Lirael was further burdened by the weight of knowledge Now she kne to bind the Destroyer anew, but she also knew it couldn’t be done just by her Sam would need to be the heir of the Wallmakers in truth and not just be entitled to wear their silver trowel on his surcoat
Others of the Blood would be needed too, and they just weren’t there
Even worse, the binding was only half of what e that, there was the breaking, and that would require ht she had
Chapter Twenty-six
Sam and the Shadow Hands
AS THE DEAD broke free of Saraneth’s hold, Sam blew on the Ranna pipe But the soft lullaby was too late, and Sam’s breath too hasty Only a half dozen of the Dead lay down to sleep under Ranna’s spell, and the bell caught several soldiers, too The other ninety or , to be htning of the Charter Mages
For a furious, frenzied , Sa Then the Hand in front of his cut away Sam was surprised to see that he’d done that hi with blue-white fury
"Try the pipes again!" shouted the Major He stepped in front of Sae the next broken-jawed apparition "We’ll cover you!"
Saain with new determination The Dead had driven the defenders back with their charge, and now Lirael was only a few feet behind him, a frozen statue ould be totally vulnerable to attack
Most of the Dead Hands were fresh corpses, still clad in their workers’ overalls Butin Death, who quickly transfor it less human and more like the dreadful shapes they’d assu like a snake between Major Greene and Lieutenant Tindall, its lower jaw unhinged for a larger bite Reflexively, Sah the throat Sparks flew as the Charter led and threshed but couldn’t free itself froan to crawl out of its fleshy husk, like a wor a totally rotten apple