Thanks to blueicedragon129 and Dracorum for reviewing! Chapter 6 up, revised.
Disclaimer: I do not claim to own Garth Nix's works; this is only a work of fanfiction and is not for profit but written for entertainment purposes only.
Chapter 6
The Abhorsen came at Midwinter, just as he promised. He looked a little older and more tired than Sabriel remembered, shadows deepening under his weary eyes. But he smiled all the same when Sabriel ran to meet him coming in at the school gates. She hugged him and ambled beside him happily. Her head already came up to his shoulder. He sighed. Children grew so fast, and Sabriel would soon have to learn—
"Where have you been, Father?" she asked.
"Around. It has been a busy year. I just came back last week."
"From the east? That's what you said in your letter."
He smiled, a rare occurrence for him in those troubled times. "Then you did get it!"
Sabriel was glad for his sudden enthusiasm, but she had to ask, "Yes, I've got it, but why did you send it to me in the first place?"
The smile faded a little and he said, "I will explain later…remind me, all right? How is Magic coming along?"
"Very good," Sabriel said. Fine. Avoid the subject. "We're just finishing glamours. I put a glamour over, you know, the Book. Is that all right?"
"You have?" The Abhorsen seemed surprised, and he gazed at her thoughtfully. "Not many spells can affect the Book. That is why I had to mail it to you, because I could not send it somewhere else by the Charter. But maybe because a glamour lies only on the surface the Book does not reject it…well, that is unusual. I will look into it." Then he abruptly asked after her schoolwork.
"I think I'm doing well, except for maybe Mathematics," she said. "But I've got someone helping me with that."
"Good." And he went on, quizzing her good-naturedly, laughing.
Conversations, Sabriel would reflect later, were always like that. He was vague about his travels but more then willing to satisfy her curiosity about safe academic subjects. It was as if he relished the opportunity to talk to her like a normal father, who would see his daughter every other weekend.
"Do you have some free time, Sabriel?" he asked after a while, when they had both ran out of topics and were walking together in a pleasant silence.
"Yes. Today's a free day. No classes." Ms. Umbrade had made the announcement rather suddenly at breakfast that morning. Some girls had jokingly whispered she was on the verge of a breakdown, and Ms. Umbrade had looked rather frazzled lately. "What are you going to show me? When?"
He smiled at her curiosity. "Soon. I will have to talk to the Headmistress. Now, you said you couldn't find a map of the Old Kingdom. I have I map I can show you…"
sssssssssssssssssssssss
Ms. Umbrade always enjoyed her afternoon tea of coffee and doughnuts privately. No one would have thought her to be a coffee and doughnuts kind of woman, more like a tea and biscuit one. But regardless of biscuits or doughnuts this was her time to relax and forget. So she sat there comfortably in her big leather chair, nibbling at a doughnut. She really should stop eating them, they weren't good for her, and she was a getting a little heavy around the middle—
That was the train of her thoughts as the secretary peeked in, an odd expression on her flushed face.
"Ms. Umbrade, the, uh, Mr. Abhorsen here to see you. With a student."
The Headmistress set down her doughnut reluctantly, pushed them aside, and slid a few pieces of important-looking documents in front of her. She liked parents and students to see her as a hardworking, dedicated Head, not eating doughnuts and drinking coffee. She placed her spectacles on her nose.
"Send them in, thanks," she said to the secretary, who nodded.
A moment later, "Mr. Abhorsen" was seated in front of her beside a girl with the badge of the Second Form. Ms. Umbrade racked her head for the girl's name even as she tried to peer around her father to see her badge. It started with an S. Yes, an S. Sa—Sally? Sabby? Sa—
"Good afternoon, Ms. Umbrade," the man said. "I assure you this will not take much of your time."
"Good afternoon," she answered. "Not at all. What is it?"
"First, the school fee for the rest of the year," the man said, taking out a heavy pouch, which clanked as he placed it on her desk. "Second, I need to ask that Sabriel take several days of school off."
Ms. Umbrade sat up straighter. "What for?"
The Abhorsen glanced sideways at his daughter, and then gazed levelly at the Headmistress, who suddenly felt discomfited. "Personal…ah, family business, Ms. Umbrade. It is nothing much. Sabriel can catch up on the work after."
"That's fine with me," Ms. Umbrade said. She was not about to refuse a man who had just handed over a seemingly large sum of money. "When is Sabriel leaving?"
"Today, if that is all right."
Ms. Umbrade nodded. "Certainly. Sabriel, remember to sign in when you come back. Thank you, uh, Mr. Abhorsen. Have a safe trip."
"Yes, Ms. Umbrade, thank you," Sabriel said. "May we go now, please?"
"You may," she replied, fingers already inching towards the doughnut. As soon as father and daughter left, she reached instead towards the pouch of money and poured the coins, clinking and rolling, onto her desk.
Every piece was a heavy Old Kingdom denier. Mr. Abhorsen had not cheated her. The Headmistress reached for a cold iron poker she kept by the small fireplace and tested the coins. They were all real, solid silver.
What a good day. She popped the last bit of doughnut in her mouth.
sssssssssssssssssssssss
Sabriel, at the moment, was as happy as any child could be. She was taking an unexpected vacation from school, and going somewhere with Father. He had told her they were going to the Wall.
"Or closer to it," he added, as they trudged along at an easy pace, packs slung over their shoulders. The Book of the Dead was tucked away in Father's pack. "It will be easier that way."
"What?" she asked, but he did not reply. Instead, he pointed out a dark blob, gliding high in the hot air above them.
"The black vulture," he said, watching the bird with a strange expression. "I wonder…"
"Vultures are scavengers, aren't they?" Sabriel said. "Eating dead things? Do you think that's disgusting?"
The Abhorsen regarded her. "They can be our best friends, Sabriel…look! It is flying down…it must have found something. Shall we see?"
Without waiting for an answer, he veered off the small road. Sabriel followed, a little uneasy. The vulture must have found something dead…and now more vultures gliding around overhead. Father suddenly stopped and held up a hand. They had come to a thicket of berry bushes, almost on the edge of a small clearing. He glanced quickly at her.
Be quiet. Be cautious.
Sabriel nodded and peered around his shoulder. A red deer…a doe, she saw later, laid under a bush, its ginger coat half hidden, left there when it died of old age and the herd moved on. The vulture was already perched on top of it. Sabriel shivered, not because of the dead carcass in front of her, but from the way the doe seemed only asleep, and would rise to her feet any moment and bolt away. The Book had often reminded her about the thin line between Life and Death.
Father and daughter stayed that way, unmoving, watching the vultures feast. When they finally backed silently away and back onto the path, the Abhorsen asked her, "Do you think you know how long ago she died, Sabriel?"
"A day or so, at the most," she said automatically, and then wondered how she knew.
"I think so, too," he said. "Let us get on our way. And do not despise vultures or scavengers—"
"—Because they clean up the world for us, and they can tell you where the dead…thing…lies," Sabriel commented. Everything became clearer: the whole cycle of living, dying, and giving back to those who are alive so they could live. Even the science teacher couldn't have made her understand better. Father smiled with approval, and her heart swelled.
sssssssssssssssssssssss
On their second day of travel, the sun had not even begun to set when Father announced they would stop, and make camp. They were close enough to the Wall.
"What are you going to show me?" Sabriel was excited. She had caught him lightly touching the bandolier of bells he always wore.
The Abhorsen listened: the sound of a squirrel climbing nimbly up a tree, the mole burrowing under the ground, and a myriad of other animal noises going about their business. He deemed the campsite safe, set between the fork of a gurgling river creek, surrounded on three sides by running water. They splashed through the creek and sat down on the grass.
"Death," he said simply. "I cannot teach you how, or even show you, as you were saying. You will have to find it for yourself. Imagine Death. Do not be afraid; I will be there beside you, once you have crossed over."
"How?" She found that her hands were clammy.
"Try," he said.
From the Book, Sabriel knew Death was a river, or something like that…there was something about waterfalls and the First Gate, but memories from the Book seemed to have flown out of her mind. She bit her lip.
"You are not trying," Father commented. "Ask yourself: what is Death?"
Why, Death was dying…of the spirit passing on…everyone and everything had to die sooner or later. Everything that lives has to die…then what? Then Death…Death was a part of Life, and Life a part of Death. She tried to listen, like Father did, and relaxed. She imagined the cold river of Death, of gates, of the dead doe…
She felt cold, and opened her eyes. The river of Death rushed around her feet. A sudden strong surge nearly made her lose balance. She panicked, and the calmness she felt entering Death fled. She fell back, desperate…and felt Father pull her safely back into Life.
The warm sun. The birds singing. The cool breeze. Sabriel shivered, and found that she was lightly frosted over. As she breathed deeply to calm herself the frost melted, leaving light drops of water on her skin. Father was watching her, his expression inscrutable. For the first time Sabriel became really aware of what her father really did, and she shivered again.
"Not bad for a first try," he said. "Try again. As I said earlier, do not be afraid. I will be there with you."
Sabriel closed her eyes again. This time it was easier to find that calm stillness, already there, in the back of her mind. She only had to dig it out, listening to the rustles of Life all around her, focusing on the river of Death.
She felt the familiar icy, biting cold. The river of Death rushed once more around her. Another tricky surge in the current nearly toppled her but she was not afraid, for Father was beside her, and what was Death, anyway? Life. Death was part of Life and Life was part of Death.
"Good," he said softly. "Be careful, now. This is Death. The Gate you see before you is the First Gate. If you are killed in Death, you are killed in Life. Understand?"
"Yes," Sabriel whispered, just as softly. Shadows seemed to flow past them, never touching, though some came close to. But they knew the presence of the Abhorsen and did not dare to come closer. She pointed at them.
"Father…are those the spirits?"
"Yes…and remember, they all hunger for life, some more than others. If you fall in the river completely, and let yourself be overwhelmed…you will become die. Each time you go into Death it will suck away some of your Life. Do not go into Death without thought."
"Yes, Father."
They stood there for a moment more, until the Abhorsen said, "This is all I can tell you, Sabriel. The rest…the rest you will have to figure out for yourself. So I had to when I was young, so you will have to, one day. But do not worry much over it. Let us go back."
Sabriel thought of the sun, the trees, and the lively squirrel. Father, Sulyn, Ellimere…even Maggie.
She crossed the invisible border of Death into Life.
