to t tle past noon. tumbled out onto teps of turnal animals prematurely flus of an underground warren.

    Sabriel looked around at t, sunlit trees, tain.

    Everyted c .

    S too, losing focus in treating lines of clouds just edging about t. Gone forever . . .

    “tern part of Palace he blueness.

    “?”

    “to t Yard.”

    It oucone talking. Sabriel closed old o concentrate, to get a grip on t toucone.

    reaked from , plastered flat, armor and cloter dripped doill , angled to the ground.

    “You didn’t tell me you ional tone. S ing on trange in  s o do anyt it.

    “I’m not,” toucone replied, s t my fatook up er ’s deating accident before I o t Yard?”

    “I suppose so,” Sabriel said dully. “Fating for us to tell us wo go.”

    “I see,” said toucone.  Sabriel’s vacant eyes, took ing and oddly floppy arm, and steered orees t marked a pato tern end of tly, increasing oucone sped up, till tically jogging. toucone was pusion.

    A feo more laarted up tco top.

    t tones  maintenance, and te deep ruts and   in one and s fell, toucone just catc to break s of tness cutting through her dumb despair.

    “hy are we running?”

    “those scavengers are following us,”

    toucone replied sly, pointing back t te.”

    Sabriel looked alking.

    t Sabriel and toucone could not escape to be t of casual beaters, easily driving tupid prey to a definite end. One of toucone cure t distance made unclear, but entions were clear. ile.

    “I he Dead,”

    Sabriel said bleakly, revulsion in those words.

    “to do t lends its aid to the living . . .”

    “toucone, as t off again, building up from a fast o a jog. “t t, unlike towe.”

    “Yes,” replied Sabriel. “I here . . .”

    S need to expand upon . Neiting, or mucer Magic, and nine bo ure, and the reservoir . . .

    teeper, and t and ragged, o spare for oucone coug ill soo. t mig take an arroo finisters.

    t anyway.

    “Not . . . mucoucone gasped as turned at tcired legs gaining a fe, before starting t incline.

    Sabriel started to laugter, coug ill a lot furtruck o toucone, carrying boto tones. A long-s arrow s mark.

    “Sabriel!” toucone sed, voice ed  Cer Magic explode into life  gre  and dooo over-gifted marksman.

    Eig ips, greo ts, and s out, leaving rails of after-image in t second later, a scream from beloestified to t least one target.

    Numbly, Sabriel ill rengt and lifted ion. Stle as ted in  toucone didn’t seem to notice.  an animal-like carted to run up to an in. Frot from  over o Sabriel. Every vein and muscle in , and  h unseeing energy.

    op otal dismemberment. Sabriel  surned o , too disturbed to look on ting face t bore so little resemblance to toucone s at least he enemy . . .

    On umbled stones of -like precision.  red as a fire engine noing as fast as a hummingbird’s wings.

    Sabriel, forgetting   , started sing at o come out of the rage.

    “toucone! e’re safe! Put me doop! Please, stop!”

    ration bent on teo side like a scentfollowing hound.

    “toucone! toucone!” Sabriel sobbed, beating on   aop!”

    Still ones falling aair, jumping gaping ed , and Sabriel breat  it viciously, till tten wood collapsed and ers.

    Beyond tumbledoall unted, selfsoree rising above t at tern edge, percinct siltes bordered ernoon sun t was sinking down behem.

    toucone broke into a gait t could only be described as a gallop, parting t up to tanding figures, gently placed Sabriel on to ching.

    Sabriel tried to crao  t s  up and look at the Paperwings.

    “, t be the King.”

    Sabriel stared, dry-mout o see t, piercing blue eyes. te linen dresses, h long, open sleeves.

    Fres made Sabriel feel extremely dirty and uncivilized, in y armor. Like tical. Very pretty.

    twins.

    t dooucone’s. Sabriel felt Cer Magic sloer rising in a spring—t floo aking a and pain of the arrow.

    Next to oucone’s breato t of sleep.

    “tried to smile, but seemed to  t. “the Dead . . . behind us.”

    “e kno ten   minutes be. e saomorrow.”

    “Ao , t  t to find out  really confusing.

    “traig o sloes. t feel ly—just older, as if it ruck a ead of minutes.

    “Fat you cching for where Kerrigor has his body.”

    “Yes,” replied t us exactly.

    e’ve only been alloo be today, because  Papers . . .”

    “Or actually, Ryelle is . . .” one of ting at t since so fly wo Paperwings were needed, so . . .”

    “Sanar came too,” Ryelle continued, pointing back at er.

    “Bot mucime. You can take ted it in t  first, there’s Kerrigor’s body.”

    “Yes,” said Sabriel. o deal ter ly felt, so bear it.

    “ierre,” said twins.

    “But our vision is  he place names.

    e’ll o so remember.”

    “Yes,” agreed Sabriel, feeling like a dull student promising to deal ion quite beyond her. “Yes.”

    teete and even. One, possibly Ryelle—Sabriel  t a bottle made of clear green glass out from telltale flaser Magic s  been t of her sleeve.

    “Ready?” taneously, and, “Yes,” before tion rated Sabriel’s tired brain.

    Ryelle unstoppered ttle  “pop,” and in one quick motion, poured out tents along a al line. Sanar, equally quickly, dreer—and it froze in mid-air, to form a pane of transparent ice. A frozen  of Sabriel.

    “atcapped t clouded over at t touceadied into a moving vision—muc from a traveling car. yverley College  Sabriel o see quite a fe in color, and sural sounds as clearly as if shere.

    typical Ancelstierran farmland—a long field of , ractor stopped in tance, its driver cting op a cart, -anding  stolidly, peering out their blinkers.

    toc conversation, and continued—folloed e of greater importance. tever it o it, till t filled the ice-window. “yverley ? miles,”

    it read, directing travelers along ting doowards yverley village.

    A feer, to sable’s trim ern. All landmarks knoo Sabriel. Srated even more carefully, for surely t of reference, o parts of Ancelstierre wo her.

    But ture still moved slo a   turned off ted . A nice  enougo be sure, covered by a cork tree plantation, e old trees. Its only point of interest angular cairn upon top . . . tones, square-cut and tigogetively recent folly, Sabriel remembered from tory lessons. A little less ted it once, but something had changed her mind . . .

    tone, doar, zigzagging around to t its . For an instant t completely dark, t came. A bronze sarcopal craer marks. ting marks, penetrated thed in Free Magic.

    ted, moving y to t so focus, a face t s Kerrigor once ures clearly s oucone.

    Sabriel stared, sickened and fascinated by ties beto greyness, greyness accompanied by ruser. Death.

    Sometrous  t, a jagged cutting of darkness, formless and featureless, save for t burned ural flame. It seemed to see orm clouds reaching forward.

    “Ab!” screamed Kerrigor. “Your blood will gusones . . .”

    to come t suddenly, to a pile of s-melting slush.

    “You saoget  a question. Sabriel nodded, ss still on t on t led to tion known as Kerrigor? “e es,” announced Sanar.

    “till t to your Paperwing, shall we?”

    “Yes, please,” replied Sabriel. Despite t of Kerrigor’s ra form, te sense of purpose. Kerrigor’s body ierre. S and destroy it, and t. But to get to t . . .

    ted toucone up, grunting . ime, and noer from  te to manage well enough.

    “e o tening we and blue below.

    “Cousin?” Sabriel murmured. “I suppose , aren’t we?”

    “Blood relatives, all t Cers,” the clan dwindles . . .”

    “Do you alo happen?”

    Sabriel asked, as tly looucone into t, and strapped s normally used for securing luggage.

    Boter! Our family is t numerous of t is spread among many. Our visions come in snatcers, glimpses and s, ts strengto narrow our sig oday.

    tomorroo dreams and confusion, not knoes . . .”

    Suddenly, ture. Seful for their care.

    it— but perers in toucone would be . . .

    “tes,” repeated bot took to toucone’s slightly snoring form.

    After a second’s t, suffed in t cloak.

    toucone’s s into t, but t of its contents o be abandoned.

    “Next stop, ttered as so t, trying not to t w would o land somewween.

    t, and, as Sabriel did up raps, so reaming out into trengt, tossing black ing tails and jostling their wings.

    Sabriel took a breater tling, and stroked ted paper of t Papero mind, broken and burning in ths of holehallow.

    “I ter togeto  note, t er Magic in t.

    A second later, t from t to to circle , of green and silver,  turned to t. turned south.

    toucone, o tion of flying, groggily muttered, “ happened?”

    “e’re going to Ancelstierre,” Sabriel sed.

    “Across to find Kerrigor’s body—and destroy it!”

    “Ooucone, whe all.” “Good.”