Not a half hour into his flight, Katrel regretted bringing nothing but the bells. He had not had the time for breakfast, and was miserably hungry. The small berries he came by earlier were no help; they had only caused his belly to ache. Just how large was this forest?He had known it was easy to get lost in the overgrown orchards behind the palace, but this was ridiculous! If only it was late summer, half these blasted vines would be covered in fruit. His stomach rumbled loudly at the thought. Charter, no, Free Magic consume her, I'm going to kill Millane for this! Two days ago, I had a straight path of an abhorsen, and then she came to set this... thing on my chest. Try as he might, Katrel could not convince himself they were just silver and leather. That they were, but the instruments had been tainted by the Free Magic that gave all such things their power. Unimaginably heavier than his mother's, the bells were a weight spiritually just as they were physically.

Gentle wisps of nearly transparent smoke drifted in the breeze. So, I've found the camp after all. He loosened the small sword that hung at his waist. It won't do much, but maybe... Drat! She's sensed me. Now she'll -

Flash

What are you doing? Do you honestly think that mere steel could harm me? The mere fact that such a notion could strike you disgusts me! Begone!

Flash

The chime of a bell drifted to his ears. No other would have heard it; the sound was softer than the smoke's slight scent. But to his ears the sound was magnified ten thousand times. Kibeth's voice rose and fell, entangling his feet in her melody, as well as swinging his sword hand to flick the weapon into a tree. If he did not turn his body with his feet, they would be ripped from his legs. But he could not, would not leave just yet. True, Sabriel had bugged him at times, but Touchstone had always been good to him. For his death, she would suffer. Already cringing from the pain in his legs, Katrel reached for the Kibeth from his own bandolier. He swung it slowly, reversing the order and direction of turns usually made, pouring more of his will into the spell at the apex of each twist. The boy finished with a command impossible for any eight year old.

"BE STILL!" His voice thundered through the air, sending every bird within a mile into frenzied flight.

He met resistance for a moment, then his feet stopped, rooted to the ground. KAtrel swirled to face Millane, who was emerging from a denser patch of trees. Swinging Kibeth quickly now, he directed his will at the woman in front of him.

She would not walk as he did. Her path would be quite different; Katrel would ensure that. As far as he was concerned, their paths would never again cross. He watched the lazy mists drift from her body as Kibeth drove her farther into Death. Smirking, he followed her.

Millane's spirit hesitated at the First Gate, reluctant to pass. But Katrel poured more of his inexhaustible will into the still-echoing tones of the bell, urging her on. He gave one small kindness; as she stepped off the precipice of the waterfall, he spoke the spell of passage, allowing her to cross safely. The boy continued to do so for the next gates, always following a step behind her, just beyond a sword's reach. They reached the fourth gate, a thin ribbon of black unfurling before them. When they reached what seemed to be the halfway point he stopped, giving Kibeth a light shake to make his ward do likewise. Katrel quickly drew a dagger from his boot, one eye always on Millane, as he had not put much will behind the bell's last toll. He touched the fine edge of the blade to the back of her neck, then thought better of himself. Why should he be so kind? She certainly hadn't been. Whisking the weapon between their bodies, he feinted towards her abdomen. As the tip of the dagger pierced her skin, Millane wore through the last of the spell. He reeled back as her sword cut through the space he had just occupied. Catching her on the ball of one foot, Katrel shoved Millane off the strip of inky darkness.

Work finished, he turned back towards Life. Close to the border, he hunted the waters till he found the former Abhorsen's spirit. "Follow, and don't lag behind. You will be directly behind me at all times." Satisfied that she would obey, he left Death, dragging her through the border with him. Katrel then set off east, toward a small rowboat he had found the previous year.