Disclaimer: All materials of the Old Kingdom, including characters, objects, places, aspects, powers, possessions, events, themes, bloodlines, concepts, and everything else, belongs to Garth Nix.

This begins after Abhorsen, after Lirael and the other seven defeat Orannis.

Please do not use any part of text without explicit permission from author or original author Garth Nix, be it ideology, plot, character, objects, places, aspects, powers, possessions, events, themes, bloodlines, concepts, etcetera.

Oh, I've a really, really, bad memory btw. That's why I took so long with this – I forgot what I wanted to write! But if I remember, I'll try to make an eighth bell called "Yrael"… to counter something x) and try to make a Yrael speech on Life like Portia's famous speech on Mercy.

Don't know Portia or her speech? Well, check up Portia and Shakespeare on Google! I have to memorise large chunks though – my literature grades are seriously degenerating. Ms Choh refuses to give me my first A in this entire year, when last year I had plenty.

BTW: I'm a fan of Christine Feehan, Star Wars, Garth Nix, Horowitz and all too! In my blog[sanguinestance dot blogspot dot com Though I've left off for quite awhile due to this, please tag! I promise to reply within a month!

Mogget's Debut

The sun was at its zenith, high in the sky. Townsfolk were out in the open fearlessly – the reign of the Dead was long over, when King Touchstone and Queen Sabriel Abhorsen set out to quell the Dead. Unnoticed by all who crossed its path, a small, white cat was traveling. The interesting thing, however, was that it was also spiritedly muttering to itself.

"Such a quick dismissal after I spared much of my power opposing Orannis! I'd expect to stay at Abhorsen's House for a while longer, but no, they don't have fish! Do I have to do everything myself?" The cat grumbled angrily, "and then they fly off to the Royal Palace, but there's no space for me on the Paperwings, of course! Excuses – they're just leaving me to myself!"

"And now they assign me tasks as if I were still their servant. Those Abhorsens – Sabriel freed me with Belgaer already!" The cat looked dubiously down at his collar, where a miniature bell rang.

"Or… did she? Ah, memory fades…"

Suddenly, the cat realized that he was quite lost. "Now where am I? Where was I headed?" The cat pondered on this for a while, and would have gone on pondering had not for a fish jumping in the stream. All thoughts were lost to it then, as feral instincts took over.

The Paperwing landed softly on the little islet on which Abhorsen's House was built. Lirael couldn't understand it, but it felt as if there were a yearning deep within her. She walked the familiar path, and was about to walk up to the front door when an urge, which she couldn't quite place, brought her to the well they last climbed down.

Lirael still shuddered to think of their past experiences. She'd thought even Mogget dead from the apparition which took the Charter and replaced it with Death. Although it had saved them some time as a gesture of goodwill, she still couldn't bring herself to try and understand or sympathise with it, or even think of it at all.

Or rather, of her. For the Dog had later explained that the apparition was a leftover of an investment of Astarael's original power. Lirael shuddered to think that Astarael's blood ran strongest in her.

Lirael suddenly realized that her bandolier was draped more tightly across her, and her sword glowed a diffuse shade of yellow. Thyme, her new sword, ran with Charter marks that were somehow unfamiliar to her knowledge yet familiar with her self. And when she opened her eyes – she hadn't realized they were closed till she'd thought about it – she saw that she was climbing down the old well.

A horrified gasp was stifled, but her body moved as if of its own accord. She tried to stop and reverse direction, and her will pushed for supremacy, when, suddenly, her feet touched the bottom of the well.

Cold fear clawed at her heart. Her feet started shuffling towards the direction where Astarael was residing, and she couldn't get them to budge one inch in the opposite direction. She was a puppet in a show which got more sinister by the hour.

Mogget pounced, missed, and growled, as the bird chirped and fluttered away. It was the fifth time he had missed the songbird, which now landed on another branch. It wasn't that the fish weren't filling – they certainly were – but now he wanted dessert.

He leapt to the branch where the songbird was, to see, in midair, the songbird flying away to another tree. Mogget had no such skill whatsoever, however – the branch broke and he fell, snarling, into the toughened ground. He yelped as he hit the ground ungracefully, then turned to stare balefully at the songbird. The songbird did not seem in the least bit remorseful, however.

Mogget now let a grin creep up, wiping away the last vestiges of his grimace. The cat looked very strange with a grin splashed on its furry, whiskered face. "I can play rough, too." The cat opened its mouth, and a stream of white fire came out, blasting the songbird. The poor bird did not have so much time as to start flapping its wings – it immediately roasted and fell to the ground, sizzling.

"Instant barbecue." Mogget seemed quite pleased with himself, and was about to go and claim his prize, when two voices rang out.

"Eric, it was here somewhere!"

"Yes, yes, Carman, I saw it too! White fire, wasn't it? A Free Magic elemental!" The second voice was nervous. "Got your rifle ready?"

"Eric, don't be stupid, what's bullets going to do to Free Magic things? Get those Charter-spelled arrows out, you dumb brute. I'm going to ready a spell."

By then, Mogget had already – very reluctantly – turned his back on the songbird. "Fancy not knowing that bullets can't harm me. And I'd like to see the spell that could do more than tickle me. Miserable fools. I never get dessert!" He complained with a low grumble in his throat, then hid himself.

The two hunters soon came into his view. They were middle-aged and looked very nervous. One clutched his gun in a tight grip, white knuckles trembling, as he made his way forward. The other held a handmade bow, made of yew, and notched a silver arrow. Charter marks glowed faintly on the arrow, and Mogget could make out at least two for strength, one for accuracy, and one for effectiveness against the undead.

The gun looked very old and rusted, and as Mogget watched, the handle suddenly broke off. The pale man uttered an oath, and seized the broken portion unhappily. "That's good money wasted. Drat this place!"

"Don't say I didn't warn you, Eric." Carman looked rather annoyed. "Did you bring a handmade bow, like I asked you to?"

"No!"

"Well, remember it next time, because the Old Kingdom won't accept any of your technology. Your old uncle isn't senile, you know, and you should listen to him. Take this."

Carman handed Eric a short dagger, and Eric stared at it as if he didn't know what it was. Which, Mogget mused, was probably the case.

Carman looked vaguely uncomfortable, though, and prowled about Mogget's hiding place. Mogget was hiding in the hole of a tree. Carman could most likely sense Mogget somewhere nearby, but no more precise than that.

Then, both Mogget and Carman reacted to another sensation. Death. There were Dead nearby.

A white, unnatural fog now covered the trees, and hid everything from sight, including the sun. As if that weren't enough, clouds moved in to block off the sun. It had to be a Free Magic sorcerer. And he was approaching.

"Uncle Carman! What's this? Where're you?"

Most mortals likely didn't have the supreme eyesight Mogget now utilized to see through the dense fog. Dead Hands were shambling up to the two unwitting hunters, and there were at least three Shadow Hands. The necromancer must be nearby.

Eric flailed wildly for his uncle, and, upon hearing footsteps, ran towards it sobbingly. Mogget realized with a start that Eric was running towards a Dead Hand. Normally, he would have ignored such proceedings unless they threatened him, and Mogget seriously doubted if any necromancer, save the Abhorsens, could actually threaten him. However, after his commitment to the destruction of Orannis, every one less Dead Hand meant one less enemy, for he had sided openly with the Seven.

There was not much time left for Mogget to ponder, however. Eric had crashed headlong into the Dead Hand and, noticing what it was by stench and feel, started to edge away. However, the shambling Hands displayed an alacrity which Mogget rarely saw from Hands. He had to make a decision quickly. If he revealed himself now, the necromancer might flee.

However, he acted on impulse as Eric ran towards him – he leapt out, and appeared to grow, until he was the size of a desert tiger. Roaring, he decided to take out the Hands by fire. However, no spells came to his mind – it was blank, and he could barely think. His memory, ancient as it was, yielded no results. He blinked. How was this possible? It was a cruel jest – one of the Nine could not even remember how to use his powers?

Mogget snarled as a Hand touched his nose. Instinctively, he drew a breath, and spat out a globule of pure, white flame which incinerated the Hand instantly. He turned to check on the other two humans. Eric was safe, and running in the right direction, towards Carman. Carman, lost as he was, wasn't in immediate danger.

Mogget bounded to Carman in two leaps, and growled, "Leave! Now!"

"Who – who are you?"

"I'm on your side. There's a necromancer nearby. Hurry up, leave!"

"Where to? I can't see anything in this dratted fog – Eric? Eric, is that you?"

"Uncle!" Eric sobbed.

"Eric! We've to leave, by order of…" Carman looked wildly about, until Mogget patted his shoe with a claw. "Of, umm, this cat-thing here… hey, were you that small?"

"That is not important." Mogget himself was rather furious, confused, and upset all at once – a jumble of feelings which were very unhealthy for a cat. "Just leave."

"How?"

"Head this way. It leads to Uppside. Hurry, they are nearly upon us." Mogget prodded Carman, and pointed with a white, furred paw.

"We can't! Uppside is under invasion by a necromancer!"

Mogget cursed. The Dead Hands were very close by – and he would not feel at ease until they were ten leagues from him. "Well, then prepare for battle."

The hunter nodded, as his useless nephew clutched his leg. Mogget, for his part, tried to recall some notion of how to use his power. He knew it was there… or was it?

Mogget was instantly furious with everything – why had he forgotten so many things? His fury blossomed from sparks into flames into a forest fire, in his mind. He was quite stunned, however, to see a real forest fire, surrounding their little party but not quite coming in. The golden-yellow flames did not eat at the trees as they should, but, defying all logic, they merely ran past the trees to attack the Dead.

"Who dares?" A deep, rasping growl came from the mass of Dead Hands. It had to be the necromancer.

"Necromancer, I'd suggest you watch yourself, lest you go up in flames!" Mogget taunted the necromancer, but he knew his words were empty, for he had no notion of how the fire came to be, much less of how to control the fire.

The necromancer was evidently more confident in Mogget's words, for the fog and clouds dispersed, and Mogget saw a slightly turquoise shield glowing, beating back the golden flames. Carman looked stunned, then looked questioningly at the white cat who had just burnt away the Dead.

The white cat stared back. "Don't just gawk! Feel free to contribute your own efforts to the cause! We're not out of the woods yet, so to speak."

Carman nodded, then passed his bow and arrows to Eric. He looked straight at the column of gold, and spat, "Anet! Calew! Ferhan!"

Three silver marks flew true, and shot straight at the column. Mogget could not discern if they had any effect, nor did he spare any of his mind to working that out. He was more preoccupied with finding a way to heed his own advice, and help out.

Carman looked at the column, then, as there were no obvious signs that the necromancer was felled, he gathered a veritable sea of marks in his mind. Marks for fire and burning, for blasting and breaking, for wrecking and wreaking havoc, for destruction and obliteration, and linked them all in a shining chain.

Mogget observed this, and realized that the man was no ordinary Charter Mage, or else he had to be extraordinarily dumb. Such a spell could weaken even the Abhorsen-in-Training, and would most likely burn up all but the most proficient Mages. He decided to help Carman, and spat a line of silver fire at the glowing orb forming above Carman's hand. The silver fire wrapped the spell and made it even bigger, shining with a luminescence which few could rival. Then, Carman threw it in the general direction of the fire, which was dying out.

If the fire had seemed angry before, it was fury personified now. The spell seemed to fuel a rage that now grew titanic: it was terrifying to behold. The object of its craving – the necromancer – stood no chance whatsoever, or so it seemed to Mogget. With a fiery passion and lust, it reared and consumed the necromancer. The air nearby shimmered, as three Hish, three Jerreq and a Stilken materialized, and were consumed. The Shadow Hands which survived the earlier fire were then attacked by the murderous forest inferno, and like how light eats at shadows, so the inferno ate at the Shadow Hands. Soon, the army of Dead Hands were no more.

Carman was most impressed. "Wow."

Sorry it took me so long! It was tests all the way. Holidays are here now, though.

But still, I have to return to school! I hope to finish Chapter 9 within this week, though, so stay tuned!

My mom killed me for my MSG of 2.43. My Literature and Humanities were 1 from B3, and my Chinese 1 from A2. Argh!)

I did enjoy Teachers' Day, though. Happy Teachers Day to all you great teachers! This one dedicated to... hmm… let's see, Mrs Adeline Chng! x) You were the greatest teacher I had in Primary School – no offense to Mrs Susan Tan/Ang, Mrs Pauline Tay, Mr Daud Teo, Mr Kew Wong Yip, Ms Cecelia Theng, Mr Allan Wong – you guys were great too!