A/N: Yeah, I'm just writing the next days... haven't even checked for reviews yet. In my haste to get the next chapter up I found many mistakes. Shame on me. I will edit, or at least resolve to edit. I'm not guaranteeing anything, as we all know promises are hard to keep sometimes. So how'd you like that last chapter? Hehehe, that's what I thought. I just hope I can follow up with something just as good here. Hopefully better, considering I wasn't too pleased with how things flowed. But enough of my bashing- on to the fic!
And if you people would like to see the next chapter...well then you need to start reviewing. Because if I don't get at least two reviews per chappy, things will not be progressing as planned. Hehehe- I know I'm blackmailing you into this, but you've got to admit, it's nice getting reviews and knowing that you're loved!!!!! So love me!!! :-P

Sabriel's breath was coming in shallow gasps, her heart pounding much too quickly in her chest. Not again, she thought to herself. No more deaths, no more loss, no more pain. Please, please, please no. Touchstone's face was twisted, his mouth twitching as he stared at the creature that had once been his brother and closest friend. Rogir, he thought, hands reaching for the swords that lay on his bed upstairs. They were supposed to be safe here, in Abhorsen's house. He was seething inside and out, but he was also frightened. Sabriel didn't have all of the bells, how could she rebind him?

"Touchstone," she whispered, her voice shaking.
"Yes?" he responded through clenched teeth.
"He's still bound, but there is an immense amount of free will in that thing, along with Free Magic that will take years to quench. I think that if we just put him back into his box, or put more Charter spells on him, maybe... maybe."
"Or you could just ring Ranna and put him back to sleep, Abhorsen," Mogget said, quietly licking his chops as he finished his fish. "It would be, by far, the easiest way to get him to cooperate. Really, you are the most ignorant Abhorsen to date."
"Ranna," she said thoughtfully, almost rubbing her chin in contemplation. "But my bells are upstairs. I can't possibly get by him, retrieve the bells, then come back to find the two of you clawed to death and eaten."
"Oh, he wouldn't eat me again. He'd just eat the fool," said Mogget smugly. "King, the king," he added after a cold glare from the two of them.
Before any of them could act, Kerrigor included, the sendings walked into the room carrying the second course, as if nothing at all was out of the ordinary. Grinning suddenly, Touchstone grabbed one by the arm and whispered something into its ear. Moments later it came back carrying a large black pot, almost like a kettle. It glided across the floor and upended the tub onto the cat's head. It hissed and lashed out with a black paw at the sending's leg, but all it hit was the air as the sending moved out of the way and dropped the now empty pot over the drenched animal. It yowled, but Touchstone was up and moving before the sending had even left the room. He placed a foot atop it and smiled over at Sabriel.
"Well, at least we know he's good for something."
"Be quiet cat."
They sat in silence for a few moments, taking it all in. Sabriel deliberated on what to do with Kerrigor. Turning to the stool next to her, she began to ask Mogget a question, but found him curled into a tiny little ball of fur, purring softly as he slept. She groaned and poked at him.
"Wake up you dope," she growled. Yawning, he stared at her with contempt in his green eyes.
"What?" he snapped. "I was having a rather nice nap." Sabriel snorted.
"Can you tell me if there's anywhere in the house that the sendings don't go unless bidden? Or that we can Charter spell to keep something in, no matter how badly it wants out?"
"There is the cellar, north or south, take your pick. Or you could lock it in a wall, in between the stones. Or just throw it down the well...no better not. Or-".
"Thank you, that's more than enough. Go back to sleep," she said, scratching his throat and ringing the tiny Ranna that hung from his collar.

"What do you think?" she asked Touchstone.
"Cellar sounds like a good idea to me." He motioned her over and lifted the pot slowly. She bent down and caught the soaking wet black cat into her arms, Ranna ringing as she lifted him. Walking out of the hall, they passed the parlor and descended the North cellar stairs. Touchstone went down as deep as was possible, then grabbed a shovel from a small closet at the bottom of the stairwell and began to dig. The floor around them was solid dirt, and looked like it had been some sort of a storeroom used by the first few Abhorsens. He dug about six feet or so deep before he turned to her and extended his arms for the cat.
"Do you know how to make a Netlid?"
"Umm, I think so. What exactly is it?"
"A cover, almost like a lid. It keeps what's inside in, and allows things from the outside to be let within. In other words, this," he said, nodding to the cat, "stays in the hole, but the sendings can bring him food and water and those necessities."
"Ahh. Yes, I think I saw one of those in the Book of the Dead once. But you'll have to pull the Master marks, I don't remember them very well." She paused, glancing at the sleeping evil in his arms. "Will it work?"
"It should. Besides, what other choices do we have?"
She nodded grimly, moving to stand beside him at the rim of the hole. She placed her hand on his arm and immediately felt the Charter magic flowing through him. The four Master marks were clearly outlined in his head, and he sent them down his arm and into hers, letting her know which ones they were.
"Ready?" he asked. She nodded, and he leaned over and dropped the cat into the hole. As soon as the cat had left his arms he began to pull the marks from his mind, the power flowing from him stronger than any Sabriel could hope to conjure. As the cat howled, he threw the marks from his fingers at the hole, and it glowed with a brilliant white light. Distantly, she could hear curses being spat, by Kerrigor no doubt. Looking back at the hole as the light dulled itself, she saw a shimmering net covering the opening, Charter marks scurrying across it with vibrant life.
"It worked!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms around Touchstone. Startled, he stepped back and caught her in his embrace, spinning her body around in the air. "It worked, it worked, it worked!!!"
"Yes, yes it did," he choked out, pulling her back and looking at her face. She looked back at him, beads of sweat and a few stray curls on his brow. He looked just like a little boy up to mischief. Smiling broadly, she pulled his head closer to hers and let her lips find his. It was a short kiss, but a sweet one regardless. Touchstone responded suddenly, and his tongue was just about to roam past his lips and towards hers when she broke away. Her face was flushed red, her pupils dilated from the darkness and a passion inside of her that was beginning to surface.
"We ought to go finish dinner now," he said, clearing his throat of the lump that had settled there.
"I'm not very hungry," she murmured, watching his face for a reaction but finding none.
"Neither am I."

A/N: Yeah I know, kind of short, but I'm leaving for Cape Cod on Monday and I want to get a bunch up before then. My writer's block is letting up, knock on wood, so I should be able to get one or two chapters up by then, at the least. And, as always, REVIEW!!!!!