Chapter 3

Needless to say, when the troupe had landed at Belisaere (the Clayr had gone back to the Glacier), they were not greeted very warmly. The Royal Guards were busy in a turmoil, most Charter mages had left to help stop onslaughts of dead appearing everywhere, and no one knew what had happened to the Abhorsen. When Sabriel returned, she was bombarded with reports of dead rising everywhere. She escaped to the Topography room with the King to mark the different areas requesting help. The Topography room was a large room with many spelled maps that showed current weather trends, movements of Free Magic creatures, and most importantly, the Clayr's map.

This map had been given to Sabriel after she bound Kerrigor. It showed everything: the current conditions of all known Charter Stones, weather conditions, how certain towns were faring, how the Wall was holding up, and how the Abhorsen's House was doing. Currently it reported that three towns had large masses of dead attacking them and one town was overrun already. All the Charter Stones so far had been replaced, including the one's by Edge (Touchstone had done those before they left), and a rainstorm was coming. Sabriel and Touchstone sat down and began to think over the current change of events.

Lirael sighed and flopped on her bed. Well, actually the bed in the room that Sam had given her. She had just returned from a loooong bath and was now dressed in one of Ellimere's gowns. She heard a tap on the wall between her and Nick's room. Groaning, she got up and made her way over to his room.

"Yeah?" She said, her voice cracking slightly. It still hadn't recovered from speaking the Master marks, yesterday. It had taken a day and most of the next to fly to Belisaere. They had flown well into the night also despite the Paperwing's dislike for it. According to the position of the sun right now, it was about four in the afternoon.

"What is going on? What were those metal shards? Why was I so sick? What-"

"Hold on, please!" Lirael laughed, taking a seat on the bed next to him. "I'll explain everything."

Sam knocked on Nick's door at midnight. He saw the light still on.

"Come in." He heard his friend call. He entered into the room and had to stifle a laugh. Lirael had fallen asleep on Nick's bed, her hair was frizzy from her bath and it fell over her face.

"She explained everything to me." Nick said to Sam with solemn eyes.

"Everything, what?" Sam asked, confused. Obviously they had been talking for a long time and Nick seemed to have a great weight lifted off of his shoulders.

"Everything. About Hedge, about that hemisphere thing, about her, about the Abhorsen, about the Charter, about the King, about you, about...well..everything!" Nick emphasized the 'everything' by throwing his arms to the side and waving them around a bit.

"I see you are caught up, then." Sam chuckled at his friend. He gestured to Nick to follow him. "Come on, its late. You can sleep in Lirael's room."

"She said she is going to teach me magic!" Nick exclaimed, his face lighting up. Sam nodded and helped Nick settle in.

"Good night, Nick. I'm glad you're alive." Even to Sam, his words sounded so plain.

"Yeah, so am I."

After Sam shut the door with a crisp snap, Nick decided go to bed. He looked around first, and his eyes caught Lirael's bandolier. He knew it was empty but he still ran his hands over it, stopping at each bell pouch to say its name.

"Ranna, Mosrael, Kibeth, Belgaer, Dyrim, Saraneth, and...uh..oh bloody hell, I'm forgetting one." He thought about it hard, and then exclaimed, "Astarael!"

He ran his fingers over Astarael's pouch and found the leather to be unusually cold. Intrigued, Nick opened the pouch and gave a cry when he saw that the bell was still there.

It had not broken.

Then next morning, Lirael awoke to find herself in Nick's room. She returned to her chambers and Nick was gone. She mulled over the events of the past week and finally she decided that she would return to the Clayr. The Great Library would have answers and perhaps she could consult Sanar and Ryelle in private. Although she wouldn't admit it, Lirael was also hoping to find some way to bring back her Dog. That decision in the forefront of her mind, she washed, dressed, and ate. She met up with Nick and confided in him her plans. He begged her to take him along. So, she agreed. After much more thought, she decided the best way would be to Paperwing herself up there. That meant learning the Charter marks needed and braving her fear of them, but Lirael was confident she could do it.

She stumbled upon Sam's workshop purely by chance, and also told him of her plans. He agreed but also confessed to her his plan to try to recreate the bells.

"If anyone can do it, you can, Sam!" She said, vehemently, "You are a Wallmaker!"

She also learned that the Charter marks needed would be infused into the Paperwings themselves and that she should probably leave at noon, when the dead were the weakest.

"I have a present for you." Sam said and handed her a black book with silver charter marks swimming all over it. Inside there were blank pages and it went with a black pen.

"It is a notebook that you can write anything in. Keep it and do with it what you wish." He said gruffly despite her giving him a huge hug and thanking him profusely.

Her first notation in it was to write down the Charter marks needed to spell the Paperwing. That all done, she packed and was ready to go. Nick gave a muffled knock at her door when she was done packing. She let him in and he began to speak, stuttering and obviously bothered by something.

"Uh...Lirael...um...er.." He murmured.

"Well what is it? Spit it out!" Lirael was getting a bad feeling about what he had to say...

"Astarael didn't break." Nick said, quickly. He felt a burden lifted off of him when he told her.

"What!?" Lirael couldn't believe her ears! Astarael? Not broken? Why? "It must be because the bell is bound to a physical form. That woman." Lirael shuddered at the memory. But that also must mean...

"Mogget! Ranna!" Nick filled in. She had told him of the binding and origin of the Free Magic being he was. Lirael's mind flashed to the package that the King had given her. He said Mogget had left it. Lirael scrambled to the cabinet and yanked it open. There lay the brown package wrapped in silver string that she had set there last night before heading to Nick's room. She ripped open the brown paper and sure enough there laid a silver bell.

Ranna.

Later that day, Lirael presented the Abhorsen and King with the two bells and also her findings about the bells being bound to spirits. Sure enough, Sabriel fetched her bandolier and found that Astarael was still there and Lirael fetched Ranna from her own bandolier. Altogether they had two Astaraels and two Rannas. Lirael handed her two bells over to the dark-haired Queen. Sabriel raised her perfect eyebrow.

"You need them more than me." She whispered. Sabriel nodded. A bugle sounded in the distance. Sabriel jumped up.

"It is time for me to go." And she was off.

And so they all parted. The King and Abhorsen Queen were off to confront the dead, Lirael and Nick were traveling to the Glacier to consult the Clayr's famous library, and Sam the Wallmaker was creating the bell.