Chapter Three

Erithae was riding full tilt, racing to get to Belisaere. If she could be the one to go on this mission, she could prove to everyone that necromancers were not out to massacre the entire human population. On the contrary, they worked to bring the Dead back, although there was quite a bit of manipulation involved. And even then it wasn't as horrible as so many made it out to be. When she returned the prisoners to a relieved Belisaere, she'd see what they said about necromancers-

Without any sort of warning, Erithae's horse reared back in panic. It whinnied manically and as soon as its hooves touched the ground, it bolted back the way they had come. Erithae, as much as she tried, could do nothing to stop it.

"Stupid animal!" she hissed as she dug her ankles into its sides "Go back!"

The horse didn't heed any of her words.

Practically snarling, Erithae readied a spell. She brushed her fingers against the horses' neck, letting the Free Magic flow from them. The animal skidded to a halt as all of its muscles were immobilized.

Erithae clambered down from is back and looked straight into a bulging, quivering eye. Unable to think of anything better, she muttered,

"Stupid animal."

She turned, and drew her sword. The horse must have sensed something; something bad to cause such a reaction. Erithae decided it could be one of two things: Dead, or Free Magic. Animals hated both of those. That was why the horse had never liked her much in the first place. She sniffed the air. Yes, just barely, there was a faint, metallic tinge on the breeze. There was something stronger, too. Rotting skin. So she had been right. Erithae twirled her sword around skillfully, deciding on what to do. She could ambush whatever lay up ahead, and maybe gain a few new Dead Hands. No, that wasn't a good idea. Jumping out at an unknown opponent was never a smart thing to do. Erithae settled on scouting ahead a bit to see what was there. That made much more sense. Before she put her plan into motion, though, a swarm of gore crows came tearing through the forest. Erithae was shocked. She had not seen them coming, and was not prepared to fight them off. In a last minute defense mechanism, she began to charge up the most powerful spell she knew of, only to realize the crows didn't notice her. They were all going in the same direction. Heading for the same place. This was a sure sign of a necromancer.

Sheathing her sword, Erithae followed close behind the crows. She would see where they were going, and see who was controlling them, without being noticed.

Lirael collapsed onto the floor of the boat. Diamonds of Protection were never easy to cast, even if you had two other people helping. However, they were now safe, as almost nothing could get through the invisible barrier that surrounded them. A few gore crows were demonstrating this by dive- bombing and harmlessly bouncing off.

"They're rather stupid little things, aren't they?" said Nick as he observed one that missed the boat completely and landed in the water. "They can't get it into their tiny little heads that THEY CAN"T GET THROUGH!"

He hollered the last part triumphantly and was about to say something along the lines of 'take that, Chlorr' when Sam clapped his hand over his mouth.

"You're not much smarter than the birds," he growled. "That will just make Chlorr more furious than she already is. Shut up and keep us alive."

Nick let out a muffled grunt.

Lirael, however, had not really noticed the entire episode. She was concentrated on the shore. It was hard to see past all the gore crows, but it looked as if Chlorr was preparing to do something else.

Chlorr lowered her arms. The little brats. They had foiled her gore crow attack. She would have to use more direct methods. Snapping a twig off of a nearby tree, Chlorr began to infuse it with Free Magic. Muttering words only she could hear and understand, Chlorr dipped the twig in the water. It vibrated violently, causing triangular ripples that headed directly towards the boat. Satisfied, Chlorr removed the branch form the water. She'd see how they liked waves.

The boat lurched violently as the second wave hit. Lirael, Sam, and Nick clung to the planks of wood that served as seats.

"Lirael! How strong is this Diamond of Protection?" Sam yelled over another oncoming wall of water.

Lirael shook her head.

"It's breaking. And even if it wasn't, we'd still be able to go through it. It was made in haste. We should have-"

She was interrupted as the third wave broke above them. Small drips of water were beginning to come through, and all three of them were viciously slammed against the wall of the boat.

"It's going to capsize," said Nick, with considerable effort because both Sam and Lirael were on top of him "I know it. Next wave. We should get under the boat when it's upside down so we still have some shelter."

Lirael was working on dislodging her self from the tangle of body parts. She stopped for a moment to agree with Nick.

"You're right. There are still gore crows about, and the waves will keep coming." She looked out over the water. "Here it comes.."

The wave hit.

The boat was overturned.

Lirael was unsure of exactly where she was. She began to grope about, unable to see anything in the dark water. All of a sudden her hands found a pair of legs. She swam upwards, and saw that they belonged to Nick.

"We're under the boat, if you haven't noticed already," he said. He smiled nervously. "I'm glad you made it."

It was awkward silence for a moment, until Lirael asked,

"Where's Sam?"

"Oh, he's probably still underwater. He should pop up in a moment or to, I'd expect."

Another pause.

"We just have the absolute worst luck, don't we?" said Nick, brushing several strands of wet hair out of his eyes.

"You could say that."

Nick was thinking.

"You know, I might be able to create a diversion. Something so that Chlorr temporarily forgets about us and we can swim far enough away so that she won't be able to find us again."

"How would you do that?"

"I'm very good at turning regular objects into flaming balls of destruction. Maybe I could set Chlorr's dress on fire or something," he gave an embarrassed smirk, "That is, if I aimed right."

"Possibly. But I doubt you'll need to. We're safe in the water. Once Sam-"

They both realized it at the same time. Sam wasn't with them, like he should have been several minutes ago. Lirael and Nick dived under, and came up outside of the overturned boat. The sight that met them almost proved Nick's earlier statement. They did have awful luck.

Sam was struggling against an unseen force. It was pulling him to the shore.
Lirael started to swim out to him, but Nick grabbed her arm.

"No. Look. See how fast the water is moving under the surface? It's a current. Chlorr created it, I'm sure. Sam is caught in it. There's no getting out of a current like that."

Sam was practically on the sand now. Chlorr seized him and pinned his arms behind his back. She forced his head into the water.

"You have decision to make." Chlorr said, her voice carrying out across the water. "He dies if you don't come back to me. Choose."
She jerked Sam's head up. He gasped and sputtered for breath.

"Go!" he screamed, "Don't worry about what happens to me! Go-"

Chlorr silenced his speech with another dunk.

"Choose."

Nick was chewing his fingernails frantically.

"Damn her! What are we going to do? Sam can't.we can't let him die, Lirael! What about the diversion?"

Lirael bit her lip.

"No. You could harm Sam with the fire. Nick, we have to go back. There's no other way."

"But..there has to be..we can't go back to that..that torture..after escaping.."

"What about Sam, Nick? He'll be killed if we don't!"

"Killed.." he hesitated. "But."

"KILLED, Nick!"

Nick pounded his fist against the side of the boat. He broke down sobbing. Lirael, who was close to tears herself, placed a hand on Nick's shoulder, but he shifted away.

"Fine" he said quietly, edging away from the boat. "Fine. We'll go back. Back to Chlorr to give her whatever it is that she wants from us. But it's not just going to be Sam who loses his life. It will be every single one of us."

Lirael did not know what to say.

Erithae watched the other two come into the shore. The girl, she guessed, was the Abhorsen-in-Waiting. The boy was somewhat of a mystery, though. He wasn't the Prince; that was the other one. He must be the "close friend" she had heard about. Chlorr approached them, towing Sam along with her.

"So, you have made your choice. You are wiser than I might have expected." She snapped her fingers, and several Dead came up to bind their hands.

"I will not, however, tolerate any more escape attempts. They are fruitless efforts. You have no chance."

The faint moonlight reflected off of the bronze of Chlorrs' infamous mask, creating the effect of an evil smile.

"You are mine."

She walked over to the unfamiliar boy, and stopped barley inches away from him. His hair blew gently as she spoke.

"Nicholas." she hissed. "The one who taunted my Gore Crows.I believe you were responsible for injuring one of my Dead Hands. Kicking him into a fire."

The boy, or Nicholas, as Erithae now knew his name, nodded his head nervously.

"He would like to express his feelings towards that episode."

A massive Dead Hand loomed up behind Chlorr. Nick blanched.

"I will allow you to sort this out by yourselves."

The Dead Hand stepped in front of Chlorr. It snarled with horrible pleasure, and then struck Nick with a heavy blow right on his cheekbone. He went flying.

Erithae recoiled as Nicks' body landed near her spot. She could have reached out and touched him, if she had dared. She could hear the Dead cheering; mangled cries that sounded the exact opposite of encouragement. Erithae caught glimpses of the Abhorsen-in-Waiting and of the Prince, who were both seething with repressed anger. Chlorr, like her henchmen, seemed satisfied. She turned. Erithae could hear her muttering words, and saw her slowly remove Astarel from its pouch.

And suddenly she understood.

They had been traveling in Death. That was how they hadn't been detected. It was ingenious.

Chlorr raised the bell above her head. All but three of the Dead closed in around her, groping about to find another to touch. It would keep the army together during the process of being transported.

Nicholas opened his eyes.

Erithae watched the utter astonishment spread across his face as he saw her. Astonishment and hope. He mouthed something to her. She couldn't understand it. He did it again.

"Go to Belisaere. Get help. We're in Death.

She nodded. He gave her a faint grin, and was then roughly dragged away by a Dead Hand.

Erithae left then, running as quietly as she could through the undergrowth. In a short while, she had reached her horse, freed it from its spell, and was on her way once more. Riding faster than the breeze. Somewhere in the distance, Erithae could hear the final mournful echoes of a bell, resonating with sinister malice in the dark of the night.

What will happen next? No one knows, except me, of course ( I have the whole plot line planned out, right up to the end. It's just rather tricky to write. I had quite a few problems with this particular chapter, let me tell you. Thank you so very much for the reviews, suggestions, and positive feedback. Keep sending them! In the meantime, I'll be working on Chapter Four..