Breaking and Bonding

This is set DIRECTLY after Abhorson. Meaning Garth Nix accidentally left of in the middle of a paragraph and I am continuing...lol

Prologue

Nick opened his eyes. There was a girl in front of him. She was kneeling beside his fallen body and there was blood on her shirt. She had a handless arm tucked close to her body and it was bleeding profusely. Her long dark hair was tangled and her face sweat streaked. Tears made clean trails through the dirt and grime of battle. Although she was so dirty, when she looked at Nick, he realized she was very beautiful but had been through great pain. Her eyes were deep pools of blue (I always imagined she had blue eyes though I'm not sure what the actual color is) but they were so dark and so cold. Nick reached up and brushed his fingers against her face. He did not know why. It just seemed like the right thing to do.

"Nick." Lirael exclaimed, grabbing the boy, "Sam, Sam! Come quick, he's alive!" Sam came and everyone congregated around the once-dead boy. A charter mark flickered on his forehead. Lirael was about to point it out but she stopped. She could feel a slight vibration on her chest. Her good hand reached up and she felt the bandolier. It was shaking very noticeably now.

"Sabriel!" Lirael cried out. The Abhorson Queen had noticed the same thing and she was desperately trying to stop her bells from ringing. Then, they burst free.

All fourteen bells from both bandoliers ripped out of their casings. Sam's pipes tore themselves through his belt and when Sam tried to stop them, he screamed and drew back. Red and white blisters were popping all over his hands. A cacophony of sound ensued and all the bells were ringing. The light chimes of Ranna sounded so harsh now and the once-comforting peal of Saraneth was broken and discordant. The low moan of Astarael seemed more fierce and less subtle, less grieving. Then, the bells began to glow first red than white. Sam looked up and opened his mouth to yell, but the moisture was sucked out of his mouth by the growing heat. Then, in a loud and horrible cracking sound, the bells shattered.

Shrapnel flew everywhere, slashing any exposed portion of skin, seeming almost to fly of their own accord toward tender areas.

Lirael looked up, pain overwhelming her, and croaked with a dry and rattling voice,

"They broke."

And fainted.

This is going to be short because it is the prologue. Review a whole lot and I will write more. By for now.