By the m of the sixth day out of owe, Sabriel was heartily tired of nautical life. They』d sailed virtually non-stop all that time, only putting into shore at noon for fresh water, and only the was sunny.
Nights were spent under sail, or, when exhaustion claimed Touchstone, hove-to with a sea anchor, the unsleeping Mogget standing watch.
Fortunately, the weather had been kind.
It had been a relatively uful five days.
Two days from owe to Beardy Point, an unprepossessing peninsula whose only iiures were a sandy-bottomed bead a clear stream. Devoid of life, it was also devoid of the Dead. Here, for the first time, Sabriel could no longer sehe pursuing Mordit. A good, strong, south-easterly had propelled them, reag northwards, at too fast a pace for it to follow.
Three days from Beardy Point to the island of Ilgard, its rocky cliffs climbing sheer from the sea, a grey and pockmarked te, home to tens of thousands of seabirds. They passed it late iernoon, their single sail stretched to bursting, ker-built hull heeling well over, bow slig up a n of spray that salted mouths, eyes and bodies.
It was half a day from Ilgard to the Belis Mouth, that narrow strait that led to the Sea of Saere. But that was tricky sailing, so they spent the night hove-to just out of sight of Ilgard, to wait for the light of day.
「There is a boom- across the Belis Mouth,」 Touchstone explained, as he raised the sail and Sabriel hauled the sea anchor ihe bow. The sun was rising behind him, but had not yet pulled itself out of the sea, so he was no more than a dim shadow iern. 「It was built to keep pirates and suchlike out of the Sea of Saere. You won』t believe the size of it—I 』t imagine how it was fed, or strung across.」
「Will it still be there?」 Sabriel asked, cautiously, not wanting to prevent Touchstone』s straalkative mood.
「I』m sure of it,」 replied Touchstone. 「We』ll see the towers on the opposite shores first. Winding Post, to the south, and Boom Hook to the north.」
「Not very imaginative names,」 ented Sabriel, uo help herself from interrupting.
It was just such a pleasure to talk! Touchstone had lapsed bato non-unication for most of the voyage, though he did have a good excuse—handling the fishing boat fhteen hours a day, even in good weather, didn』t leave muergy for versation.
「They』re named after their purpose,」 replied Touchstone. 「Which makes sense.」
「Who decides whether to let vessels past the ?」 asked Sabriel. Already, she was thinking ahead, w about Belisaere. Could it be like owe—the city abandoned, riddled with the Dead? 「Ah,」 said Touchstone. 「I hadn』t thought about that. In my time, there was a Royal Boom Master, with a force of guards and a squadron of small, picket ships. If, as Mogget says, the city has fallen into anarchy . . .」
「There may also be people w for, or in alliah, the Dead,」 Sabriel added thoughtfully.
「So even if we cross the boom in daylight, there could be trouble. I think I』d better reverse my surcoat and hide my helmet ing.」
「What about the bells?」 asked Touchstone.
He leaned past her, to draw the maiighter, right hand slightly nudging the tiller to take advantage of a shift in the wind. 「They』re fairly obvious, to say the least.」
「I』ll just look like a neancer,」 Sabriel replied. 「A salty, unwashed neancer.」
「I don』t know,」 said Touchstone, who couldn』t see that Sabriel was joking. 「No neancer would be let into the ci