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As the Dog spoke the Destroyer’s nah the reh now, and do the yellow of the sun
Lirael wanted to say so, but the words were choked by incipient tears She did not knohether they were of relief or sadness Whatever was to co would ever be the sa, she scratched the Dog’s head Just twice, running her fingers through the soft dog hair Then she quickly recited the binding spell, showing everyone thethe sword that I will use to break the Destroyer once It is bound," Lirael finished At least she hoped he was As if to reinforce her hope, she added, "He is a true inheritor of the Wallestured to where Saestures, the na fro symbols into a complex thread that tumbled out of the air and spilled down upon the nad blade
"How long will it take?" asked Ellimere
"I don’t knohispered Lirael Then she repeated herself more loudly "I don’t know"
They stood and waited, anxious seconds stretching out awfully into minutes as Sam called forth his Charter e, both of the down into the valley every few seconds, where it looked like Major Greene s lie down; then she would look at Saain, full of different anxieties and fears everywhere she looked
The Southerlings were still too close, Lirael knew, though they were considerably lower in the valley than they had been Sa The Destroyer was growing taller and stronger, and any minute Lirael kneould assume its second manifestation, the one for which it was named
The Destroyer
Everyone juain as he spoke seven old and silver flame fell from his outstretched hands down upon Lirael’s bloody sword and the panpipes, which he’d separated into individual tubes and laid along the length of the silvered blade
Moround rumbled beneath their feet
"Look away and close your eyes!" screamed Lirael She threw one ar doards the valley Behind her a shining silver globe--the joined hemispheres--ascended to the sky atop the coluhter till it was h in the air for a few seconds, as if surveying the ground, then sank back out of sight
For nine very long seconds, Lirael waited, her eyes screwed shut, her face pushed into her very dirty sleeve She kneas to come, but it did not help her
The explosion came as she counted nine, a blast of white-hot fury that annihilated everything in the loch valley The mill and the railere vaporized in the first flash The loch boiled dry an instant later, sending a vast cloud of superheated stea to the sky Rocks melted, trees beca rods flashed into h into the air, to fall back as deadly rain
The blast sheared the top of the ridge co rods, trees, and everything else Anything left that could burn did, till it was extinguished seconds later by the wind and the steam
The outermost diamond of protection took as left of the blast after it destroyed the protective earth of the hill The one
The second diamond had the hot wind and the steam that could strip flesh froave way
The third and final dia a hail of stones, molten metal, and debris Then it also failed, but not until the worst had passed A hot--but bearable--wind rushed in as the diamond fell and washed around the Seven as they crouched on the ground, their eyes still shut, shaken in body and e cloud of dust, ash, stea thousands of feet till it spread out like a toadstool top, to cover all in shadow
Lirael was the first to recover She opened her eyes to see ash falling all around like blackened snow, and their little diamond-shaped patch of unharmed dirt an island in a wasteland where all color had drained away under a sky that was like a cloudy night, with no hint of sun But it was not the shock it could have been She had seen it already in the past, and herahead to what they must do To what she would have to do
"Protect yourselves against the heat!" she shouted, as the others slowly stood and looked around, shock and horror in their eyes Quickly, she called thethe Then she looked for the weapon she hoped Sam had made
Sam held it by the blade and looked puzzled, as if uncertain what he’d wrought He offered it to Lirael, and she took the hilt, not without a stab of fear It was not Nehier than it had been, with a one froh the metal, which had a silvery-red sheen, as if it had been washed in soht The inscription on the blade seemed the same Or was it? She couldn’t recall exactly Now it simply said, "Remember Nehima"
"Is that it?" asked Sam He hite-faced with shock He looked past her to the valley, but he could not see anything of the Southerlings or Major Greene and his ht But he couldn’t hear anything either No screams or shouts for help, and he feared the worst "I did what you said"
"Yes," croaked Lirael, her throat dry The sas heavy in her hand, and even heavier on her heart Whenifthey bound Orannis, this hat she would use to break It in two, for no binding could long contain the Destroyer if It was left entire This weapon could break Orannis, but only at the cost of the wielder’s life
Her life
"Does everyone have a bell?" she asked quickly, to distract herself "Sabriel, please give Belgaer to Sa spell"