Authors Note: Thank-you for your review, dyingfromacough. I'm happy that not just my friends are reading this story. Sorry this chapter took so long. It's a pretty boring chapter, too. My apologies!
Chapter 2
Chlorr and Mogget reached the Ratterlin just before nightfall, spotting an islet just down stream. Chlorr waded out, carrying Mogget in the crook of her arm then began to set up camp.
"Do you know how to cast a diamond of protection?" Mogget asked, as she gathered dry wood for a fire. His green eyes focused somewhere into the dense foliage of the eastern shore of the Ratterlin.
"Of course, I'm not so oblivious!" Chlorr said, cross. How could someone not know how to cast a simple diamond of protection? "Why?" she asked, her rage being overcome by a sudden realization, as a cold sense tingled in the dark corners of her mind.
"You may want to consider casting one. There are three Dead Hands headed this way. They should be here within the hour." Mogget seemed very calm, unlike his statement.
"Wh-what? Did you say Dea-Dead?" she stuttered, dropping her wood and jerking up with a straight back. Her heart pounded and the cold sense grew. Without waiting for a reply, she drew her sword and held it awkwardly, weighing it in her hands. She had never used a sword for anything, it would be better if she made the marks in the sand with her finger. Slipping her sword back in its sheath and bent down to the ground.
She traced the north mark and squinted as it sparked into radiance. She scooted over to do the east mark and just as she started tracing it, Chlorr felt that sixth sense become like a frozen rock in the back of her mind. Ignoring it, she let her magic flow into the east mark. Soon she was on the final mark; the west mark. She could hear a faint clinking of bones and dead flesh toppling over itself toward her. She couldn't lose her concentration.
That ice sense overtook her just as she finished the last mark, and the dead filtered out of the trees and screeched as they saw her. She clasped her hands to her ears at the terrible noise and suddenly realized that the cool sense grew as the Dead were nearer. In her rush to finish the diamond she hadn't made the connection. That must be her Dead Sense, then.
"That should hold until morning," Mogget announced, inspecting her work, after Chlorr had taken her hands off her ears. "We'd best sleep now, since dinner seems to be impossible."
"But what of the Dead," Chlorr questioned, "Do we just leave them?" Even from inside the diamond, she didn't feel safe from the creatures. They stumbled and moved in such an inhuman way, not to mention the creaks and groans of deteriorating bones and rotting muscles that shouldn't work.
After setting a small fire and making a pillow of leaves, Chlorr found that sleep came easily. She hadn't even removed her bells or let her hair down before she closed her eyes. It seemed that she was soon awakened by Mogget butting her with is soft white head. He himself looked as if he had just gotten up, for the fur on his right side was matted and dirty. The sun wasn't up yet up, but there was a faint glow on the horizon. She could see no Dead and her diamond of protection was much weakened by time.
"You'd best get up, Abhorsen," Mogget said, as Chlorr pulled open her heavy eyelids. "You should prepare for travel now, so we don't waste time later." It seemed like he had something else in mind, but Chlorr was too tired to ask what.
Chlorr shook her head drowsily. As she pulled her self up, she decided to make some of her tea to help her awaken. But since she had no way of heating the water, she just slipped some of the leaves into her mouth to chew them. Although it was quite bitter, chewing it kept her hunger at bay. She stood and let down her diamond of protection, as no Dead were in sight. She went to the other side of the islet and cleaned her self in the cool river, letting it carry her troubles away. After she redressed and brushed her hair, she re-lit the fire. She watched its flicker, idly twiddling her fingers and picking up the orange leaves that were scattered about the island.
"I guess this would be as good a time as any for you to begin your studies of The Book of the Dead" Mogget said, suddenly, after making sure his hairs were in just the right spots. He had a voice that seemed cruel, yet emotionless at the same time. His pink tongue was constantly moving, be it from speech or grooming. His eyes were fierce and his hearing acute. He had many services to offer to an Abhorsen, but he refused to give her any of them.
Chlorr's eyes bulged slightly, She had nearly forgot about that. Her hand shook as she remembered it. She had stuffed it absently under her pillow of leaves. While she slept soundly, the emerald book had waited for her under her head. She lifted it out, the leaves cascading off the cover, then undid the silver latch and began to read.