A/N I'm so sorry about the long wait for this chapter! Right before I typed it up, my spacebar died! So, I had to wait until the new keyboard arrived before this could be typed. For those of you who have been oh so patient, here's an extra long chapter.

At last, Lirael and Nick reached the door of sunburst.

"Nick," Lirael warned. "should you see any strange creatures, scream as loudly as you can and run till your legs fail you. Should you stop to so much as look at any of the beasts in this chamber, you will be killed mercilessly."

"Surely it cannot be so bad the the slightest second's glance would doom me?"

"I assure you Nick," intoned Lirael, her voice reflecting many previous experiences with such beasts, "it can."

††††

Miraculously keeping control of himself throughout the entire journey, Mogget had reached the Clayr's glacier. 'Now,' he thought. 'all there is left to do is the crossing of the bridge.' Since the Clayr had actually though to provide a decent bridge instead of just a few stones in the river, he should be able to cross. The first three bridges went as easily as Mogget had anticipated, but as he passed the threshold of the fourth, a great column of fire in the shape of two women rose up and proclaimed " You shall not pass this trestle!"

"Should have known they'd have one of those lousy door greeters," he grumbled. "I suppose I'll have to find another way."

Crestfallen and rather singed, Mogget wandered over the ice, trying to recall the back way to gain access to the glacier's interior. Allowing his eyes to glance over the ground, he noticed a small crack in the ice. Tightening his focus on the crevice, he could make out a large area of caves far below. It would seem that this was the alternate path he had discovered so long ago. The Clayr had been lazy, not sealing it, though they knew what sorts of things could so easily pass through such a gap. Still, he should be grateful that the top of the Great Rift was uncovered, else he would never have gained passage. Below lay hundreds of dead Clayr, each in a cave dug out of the cliff. "Well, its not as though I'm going to find a less morbid route to take, " said Mogget to what appeared to be only himself. But far beneath the ice, in one of the hundreds of caves rested an ancient spirit, and she heard.

She came to the entrance of her cave, and peered upwards to where the sound had come from. There, she spied the entwined spirits, and knew that at least one was that of a Stilken. This Stilken must have joined with something far wiser to know of the Rift, though. She must follow this creature until it left the Glacier. Who knew what havoc something like this could wreak? As it squeezed through the crack in the ice, the being lay in wait, preparing herself for the upcoming chase. This was a particularly powerful spirit, and precautions would have to be taken.

Mogget rushed through the rift with incredible speed. He didn't know exactly where this entrance led to, but it let out somewhere in the Old Levels of the Great Library. There it was, another tiny crevice in the endless glacier that surrounded the Clayr's chosen home. Or not so tiny, Mogget thought as he traversed its length. The crack was truly a tiny tunnel, and was much longer than it outward appearance had led him to believe. It took him a couple minutes to traverse its length, and by the time he came flooding out the other side, the spirit was nearly upon him. Mogget, however, had yet to notice. He raced through the old levels, eager to find Lirael and be freed from the Stilken's spirit mingling with his own. As he passed one of the hundreds of doors, he heard a trace of sound from behind it, and stopped. Entering the room, he saw the best thing he could have hoped for. There, off to the far side of the room, which was strangely full of red poppies, stood Lirael, speaking to Nick while staring intently at the ground around her.

Mogget raced over to her, giddy with the joy of being rid of the Stilken. Just as he was about to call out her name, the strange spirit glided in front of him, barring his way. " be warned,Stilken, for if you step any closer to these humans I will slay you where you stand!"

At last, Lirael stood and saw him. "Mogget, what are you doing here, and why in the Charter are you unbound?"

"I'm here to find you, of course," said Mogget. "My collar ripped as I ran from that trick you left in you jacket pocket. Nice of you to leave a S-"

"The Stilken is free?"

"Yes I was about to say that I consumed it into my essence, so it is here, and I advise that you separate it from me before it takes over again!"

"Of all places, you had to bring such a dangerous thing here? Why couldn't you find Sabriel in the borderlands, where there's not thousands of spirits for it to devour and grow stronger off of?"

"I came here," said Mogget, "because the Abhorsen left the borderlands and entered the Abhorsen's house, which, if you recall, happens to be surrounded by water."

"Well, since you are here, with the Stilken, I suppose I may as well- Did you hear something?"

"Lirael! Hurry, I think I found something!" Nick's voice emanated in never ending echoes from a room Lirael had hoped to never reenter.

As Lirael squeezed past the sharp points of the crescent moon, she saw the seven plinths from which the soapstone statue of the Dog had come. But now, another two plinths had appeared. On the last stood a marble figurine of a man engulfed by flames. A single cold finger was wrapped around it.

Lirael reached to loosen Ness's finger from around the statue, but when she touched the long-dead hand, it was searingly hot. "Ouch!" Lirael screamed, jerking her hand away from Ness's. Nick looked up from where he had been staring into the former librarian's eyes. They were glazed, but seemed to still witness a horror beyond imagination. Her pupils were strangely lit up, as if they burned with an inner fire, hotter than any earthly flame.

"What happened?" inquired Nick, concerned that it had been serious.

"I touched her to move her hand from the statue, and...and she burned me!" answered Lirael, still in shock from the sudden heat. "Whatever burned her must still be hot, and is heating her hand."

"Then, we shall simply remove the statue from her hand rather than her hand from the statue," advised Nick in his usual scientific misdemeanor. He bent to take the small figure, index finger curving around the man's waist, thumb already grasping it from the other side. "There," he pronounced, as the statue lifted from its stand. Nicholas set it on the floor with a definite clink.

Unnoticed, a tiny ember sparked at his feet where he had set it. As he rose, so did the fire, becoming a snake that twirled around his body. When the flame reached up to twist about his head, a booming laughter filled the room.

"Nick, what have you done?" she cried. The laugh had sounded the the victory cry of some long-forsaken monster, or worse.

In the last room, the pursuing spirit had heard the horrid laughter as well. But she, unlike her more mortal companions, knew exactly what it signified. She did not particularly enjoy playing the bearer of bad news, however, and was content to wait until the two returned from the next room to deliver it. It was a rather shorter wait than she would have liked, as Lirael and Nick dashed out of the chamber, pausing only to squeeze past the moon points. Though they would otherwise have fled the flowered room in seconds, the spirit easily stopped them with a single sentence.

"Wait," it said, "for I am what remains of Mosrael, and though most of the frequency and power of my foresight has passed from myself to the Clayr long ago, I have still seen events that must be known." "Lirael, in time not too far off, you will bear a child, but its life will cause you more pain than any you have known. Yet bear this child you must, for the very wold may be worse yet without it. And as for that abomination," Mosrael swung a fierce look at Mogget, "be sure to bind him as soon as possible, or he will surely kill you before long."

In a whisper quieter than the blink of an eye, Mosrael said to Nick, "Watch yourself carefully, for you will bring this upon her, though my no fault of your own. The makings of chaos have entered your blood as laughter just entered your ears, and it shall not leave as readily." With that, Mosrael was satisfied to resume her state as an unnoticed being watching the world, whether it be the present or future she saw.

'And yet, how can I cause such pain when all I mean to do is love her?'he mused. Lirael, heavily disturbed by the news, chose to speak the binding spell and leave. Rather concerned to be alone in a place where Free Magic beings might yet roam, Nick quickly followed suit. Mogget shot one surreptitious look at the room beyond the moon and walked out.

†††

Meanwhile, Touchstone wandered the palace. With no one around but the court officials and guards, it made for a boring place. Not that he longed for any adventure at the moment. The binding of Orannis had sorely tired him, and he was already aging. He feared he would not be in this world for much longer, and the kingdom would be left to Ellimere.

Ellimere.…. While she was very strong for a woman, both mentally and physically, the kingdom would want a king to rule with her. She had many admirers within Belisaere, and even more over the entire kingdom, but showed no particular interest to any. Still with any sort of luck, he would be around for another decade or two. That should be plenty long enough for his daughter to find someone whose company she truly enjoyed.