Sabriel reached the Third Gate just ahead of the wave, gabbling a Free Magic spell as she ran, feeling it fume up and out of her mouth, filling her nostrils with acrid fumes.
The spell parted the mists, and Sabriel stepped within, the wave breaking harmlessly around her, dumping its cargo of Dead down into the waterfall beyond. Sabriel waited a moment more, for the path to appear, then passed on— on to the Fourth Prect.
This was a relatively easy area to traverse. The current was strong again, but predictable. There were few Dead, because most were stunned and rushed through by the Third Prect』s wave.
Sabriel walked quickly, using the strength of her will to suppress the leeg cold and the plug hands of the current. She could feel her father』s spirit now, close by, as if he were in one room of a large house, and she in arag him down by the slight sounds of habitation.
He was either here in the Fourth Prect, or past the Fate, in the Fifth Prect.
She increased her pace a little again, eager to find him, talk with him, free him. She knew everything would be all right oher was freed . . .
But he wasn』t in the Fourth Prect. Sabriel reached the Fate without feeling any intensification of his presehis gate was another waterfall, of sorts, but it wasn』t cloaked in mist. It looked like the easy drop of water from a small weir, a matter of only two or three feet down. But Sabriel khat if you approached the edge there was more than enough force t the stro spirit down.
She halted well back, and was about to launto the spell that would jure her path, when a niggliion at the back of her head made her stop and look around.
The waterfall stretched as far as she could see to either side, and Sabriel khat if she was foolish enough to try and walk its length, it would be an unending journey. Perhaps it eventually looped ba itself, but as there were no landmarks, stars or anything else to fix one』s position, you』d never know. No one ever walked the breadth of an inner prect ate.
What would be the point? Everyo into Death or out of it. Not sideways, save at the border with Life, where walking along altered where you came out—but that was only useful for spirit-forms, or rare beings like the Mordit, who took their physical shape with them.
heless, Sabriel felt an urge to walk aloo the Gate, to turn on her heel and follow the line of the waterfall. It was an uifiable urge, and that made her uneasy. There were other things ih than the Dead—inexplicable beings of Free Magic, strange structs and inprehensible forces. This urge—this calling— might e from one of them.
She hesitated, thinking about it, then pushed out into the water, heading out parallel to the waterfall. It might be some Free Magic summoning, or it might be some e with her father』s spirit.
「They』re ing down the east a stairs, too,」 said Mogget. 「More Hands.」
「What about the south—where we came in?」
asked Touchstone, looking nervously from side to side, ears straining to hear every sound, listening to the Dead wading out into the reservoir to form up in their strange, regimented lines.
「Not yet,」 replied Mogget. 「That stair ends in sunlight, remember? They』d have to gh the park.」
「There 』t be much sunlight,」 muttered Touchstone, looking at the light-shafts. Some sunshine was ing through, heavily filtered by clouds, but it wasn』t enough to cause the Dead in the reservoir any distress, or lift Touchsto