Four
Renowe
I own "Mogget's" new names and the plot. Cheers to Garth Nix for everything else.
Lirael opened her eyes, dismayed and disoriented, to a fading white cloud and puddles of water. The soapstone dog in her hand was luminescent, shedding white light like fur. She held it up in front of her, and the entire truck was lit; all shadows were chased away.
Sanar and Ryelle stirred behind her, where they had been unable to move at all for quite some time. Lirael turned, the little dog in her hand shedding light like fur.
The Clayr opened their eyes, squinting against the glare. Lirael lowered the dog into her lap where its brilliance faded to a pale glow. As one, Sanar and Ryelle asked, "What happened?"
Lirael faltered, "I don't know. I saw—light. White light and golden sparks. And I thought I was casting a spell to make a Charter Sending, but it just turned into a lamp…" she felt somehow as if she ought to be ashamed. As if she ought to hide behind her hair as she once had. Then she realized she was hiding behind her hair.
The two Clayr looked at her quizzically.
She just wanted to sleep again. To go back to that velvet darkness, and forget for a while all that she had seen. To be free from behind these cold, hard walls she had built up to protect herself against all that she had yet to see.
Sanar and Ryelle saw her weariness.
"Go back to sleep," Sanar said.
"We'll talk about it when you wake up," Ryelle continued.
Lirael slept, the stone dog caught up in the crook of her right arm.
As Nick had opened his eyes, both Ellimere and Sabriel stirred and sat up. Sam immediately went to his sister while Touchstone went to Sabriel. Both were confused and disoriented, lost in the shadows of the half-light of the now fading charter marks on the canvas ceiling.
"What happened?" Sabriel asked.
"You fainted. Or, at least, you collapsed." Sam answered his mother from the other side of the truck.
"Both of us?" Ellimere queried, "At the same time?"
Sam glanced at his father, who nodded. Ellimere put her fingers to her mouth and subsided into thought.
As if in a trance, Sabriel spoke, "I dreamt I stood at a window. I was wearing white silk, and I was staring and staring out through the glass. On the other side of the window I could see the river of Death. I could hear the first gate, and I could tell that there were living spirits traversing the waters; people who needed help. But I could do nothing. I was trapped behind the glass, and all I could do was watch as Lirael was pursued toward Life by some strange creature.
"I saw a dog. I saw it come from the side and intercept the creature. And then Lirael disappeared in a cloud of white. Everything went still, and I fell into a dreamless state. I do not remember anything more after that."
Sam pondered his mother's description, and then turned to his sister. "What did you see? The same thing?"
Ellimere nodded, "Except," she continued, her fingers absently pinching the edge of her shirt, "There was a man in the water, too. He looked almost like Nick, but the mist obscured his features. Have you spoken to Lirael?"
Touchstone shook his head wearily, but Sam started and jumped out of the quiescent truck again, realizing, with a start, that the moon had now risen and was full, its light permeating the thick tangle of brush that grew on either side of the road.
Back in the truck Sabriel looked after him in surprise, but Ellimere only rolled her eyes, and Nick whispered, "Third time he's done that."
The green eyes belonging to Ellsei blinked and narrowed for a moment, than closed in a purr. Touchstone glanced at the being, surprised.
Halfway between the two trucks, Sam saw the two Clayr emerge from the back of the truck and make their way towards him. He rushed forward, almost falling over his own feet in his urgency.
"Is she alright?" Sam asked
"She's fine, she sleeps," Sanar said, her eyes wide and calm.
"How is Sabriel?" Ryelle asked.
Sam gestured behind him and they went into the other truck. Then he clambered into the space where Lirael slept, quietly inspecting it, surprised by the light that left no shadowed corners beneath the canvas. Seeing that she slept still, he went back to Nick's truck, where a meeting of everyone was now taking place.
Ellimere, having listened carefully to everything that had occurred in the past few hours from each person's perspective, looked up at the circle of faces.
"Do you think that this could have something to do with, well, with our blood connection? I mean the one between Lirael and mum and Sam and I," she said nervously, "Maybe, then, there is a connection between the sword we used to bind the Destroyer, and how everyone here was affected by this event?"
"But if that was the case, why wasn't I affected?" Touchstone asked.
"I don't know," Ellimere said, her face half lit by the dim charter mark cast on the ceiling, "I don't know."
"Well, while you all ponder that," a small sarcastic voice pitched up, "Why don't you, sir prince, try and find out what Nicholas' power is about?"
Nick jumped when Ellsei said his name, and Sam shook his head wearily, "I can't believe we forgot about that. Thank you... er… Ellsei."
"My name is not Ellsei," the white cat replied airily and continued, "You don't suppose there might be some fish about? No? Then perhaps I will just go to sleep. Carry on." And the collarless being curled up with a mischievous grin on his face.
Sabriel rolled her eyes at this, while, almost simultaneously, Sam shrugged. Nick, from his half-horizontal position on the floor of the still quiet truck began to tap his fingers impatiently.
Touchstone shifted uncomfortably as a sort of awed silence sat down with the group.
A loud tapping sound came from the canvas flap, a second later it opened to reveal Major Greene.
"I was just wondering if you plan on sitting here all day, or if we should get moving? The men are becoming restless…" he said, the edges of his coat flapping slightly in the breeze that was gathering.
Touchstone shuffled over to the flap, looking mildly ridiculous, "Certainly all seems to be in relative order now, and we can easily continue our discussions while moving. Thank you, Major, for your time, it is a good thing you had space, since our Paperwings were destroyed."
The major nodded and went back along the lines, shouting. Soon after, the sputtering sound of the truck engines cut the still air, canvas jerked, truck frames rattled, and they began to move.
Lirael awoke again. Grayish light was showing under the edges of the canvas, so it must be daylight. She uncurled from her sleeping position and sat up slightly. The trucks were moving again, the hard rattling as they bumped over rut and stone must have been what woke her up.
Pulling herself into a kneeling position she stared at the blank wooden barrier in front of her. She had a vague memory of light coming from the soapstone dog, but couldn't quite make out anything else.
She turned around then, towards the back of the truck, where the opening in the canvas was bumping congenially against the truck frame. It was a sort of dusty natural light that leaked in the opening, making more shadows than creating visibility.
Lirael hunted around with her hand for a few moments until she felt the smooth roundness of the dog under her palm. The brilliance it had had last time she saw it was no longer there, but the stone instantly warmed at her touch. Leaning up against her pack she ran her thumb along the top of its head. It began to emit a faint aura of white light, which grew as she stroked it. It did not get very bright, just enough that she could see around her.
Where were Sanar and Ryelle?
Everything that had happened flooded back into her head and she nearly dropped the figurine. Dog…
She shook her head as if to clear it. What about everyone else?
Over the oily roar of the engine Lirael heard voices, and then the truck slowed to a crawl, the canvas flap opened, and Sanar and Ryelle calmly and gracefully climbed in to the vehicle, closely followed by Sam, who managed to lurch onto the floor just as they picked up speed again.
The two Clayr came to sit on either side of Lirael, Sanar on the left Ryelle on the right, their gentle, calm presence warming the dark haired girl who sat between them.
Sam came and sat in front of her, his head full of ideas and new information. Lirael raised her head, brown eyes meeting her nephew's for a moment, a tired but renewed look on her face.
"What happened?" she asked.
"That's what we came to find out," Sameth replied, head tilted slightly.
"Are you ready?" Sanar asked, eyes gentle.
"What about the others? Sabriel, Ellimere…?"
"They're arguing over Nick, and Dad's asleep," Sam replied, eyes laughing slightly.
Lirael tilted her head to the right, her tangled hair half covering her face, her eyes questioning.
"One thing at a time," Ryelle said.
"Let us hear your story and we will tell you ours," Sanar continued.
Clutching the figurine, which was still emitting a faint glow, Lirael went over what she could remember, from the moment she woke in the truck the first time till the present time.
She was still exhausted, still immensely confused, but the telling seemed to drain some of the ache from her limbs, she felt the walls inside her diminish slightly, and the stone in her hand was comforting, almost as if the Dog were lying by her side, tail wagging slightly, ears incorrigibly quirked, eyes wise and loving.
Hello, All,
Sorry, it took me almost three months to get this finished. I'm well on my way through the fifth chapter now, and will post that as well as soon as I can. This Fic is turning out to be rather longer than I expected.
Thank you all for your wonderful reviews and helpful critiques.
For those of you who keep wondering about "Wong" an explanation will appear as soon as I can figure out where to put it in. So far there's just been too much action for it to fit.
Keep On Writing, people!
Renowe
