"....if you light it yourself and put one of your protection spells around the village."
Sam's mouth dropped open. "The whole village?"
"Did you not understand me the first time? Yes, the whole village! If you need our forge badly enough, you will do it." The old woman was the embodiment of the proverbial iron hand in a velvet glove.
"Does the village have a Charter stone?"
"I don't know what you're yammering about, but there are plenty of stones in the village."
"Evidently not," Sam muttered.
"What about people like us?" Lirael asked after a sudden thought struck her. "People who cast enchantments?"
Vannah rolled her eyes. "If we did, would we be asking you to do this?" A light flashed behind eyes as grey as her hair. "There is a man who walks about mumbling strange words, and sometimes strange things happen around him. If he is what you're looking for,fine. If not, we have no one who can help you."
Sam was about to give her a smart reply, but Lirael tugged him outside. "We need to find this madman. If there is a Charter stone here, he will be the only one who can tell us where it is."
He nodded. It'll go faster if we split up. Whistle if you find him."
"Alright then. I'll see you in an hour or so." Fifteen minutes later, Lirael was wishing that madman would hurry up and show up. It had been a long time since she gone wandering in strange place without a companion, and she felt like a spy, or worse. Ten minutes after that, she was sure that was exactly what everybody thought she was. Of course, that could just be because someone was walking very quickly towards her, muttering something under his breath. She wanted nothing more than to turn and run, but that would only make her seem more suspicious. Lirael set it firmly in her ind that she would quicken her stride just the tiniest bit and walk right past him, perhaps even brushing his shoulder.
But things always turn out better in our imaginations, and her slightly quicker stride was nearly an all-out sprint. A hand grabbed her shoulder as she casually bumped into him. She turned her head just in time to see his other hand coming towards her face, and turned back around as fast as she could. She wasn't fast enough, and his hand contacted her forehead with a resounding smack. She never heard it though, as she was lost in the endless patterns of the Charter. She came back to earth, immediately whistling the tune Sam had taught her. The hand slapped down on her mouth. "Do you want them to think you're mad, too?"
Lirael cut off mid-tune. She certainly didn't need any more attention than she already had. Now that she thought of it, the sudden stop would probably make Sam hurry. If he had even had enough time to figure out where she was, at any rate.
†††
Sam heard the beginning of the tune they agreed to communicate with. After only a few notes, it was silenced. The worst possibility immediately sprang to his mind. Lirael had been shot. But there were no guns here, and the impact of an arrow would have caused a sudden jerk in the pitch of the final note. The only thing for it was to find her. The noise had come from almost directly to his left. He ran like mad that way, jumping any fence or animal separating him from Lirael. He was about to duck beneath yet another set of strung-up clothes when a hand grabbed his collar, jerking him backwards and into a , Lirael sat at a table, looking very much pleased with herself. "Excellent time, Sameth. I was hoping the sudden stop would get you here faster."
"Are you suggesting that the cut-off was intentional? Because if it was…" He let the end hang threateningly.
"No! Of course not! But after the fact, that was when I started hoping that. After he clapped that huge hand over my mouth." She gestured to the fellow still holding Sam's collar, who released it meekly.
"Sorry, but you were moving too fast for me to get a good grip on your shoulder. At any rate, I think I'm the person you're looking for, by her description, flattering as it is." His voice held a sarcastic tone much like Mogget's. Pity the cat wasn't here; the two would b fast friends.
"You're a madman, then?"
"I suppose."
"And strange things happen because of your mutterings?"
"If I should take 'strange' to mean useful," he continued in his unwitting impersonation of Mogget. "I expect you'll be asking me whether I work by Charter or Free Magic next, to which the answer is Charter Magic. Now, if you would please get tot he root of the matter, I have a wholly unsullied reputation to protect."
"Does your village have a CHarter Stone?"
He laughed. "My village has no need of a Charter Stone. The area from whence my mother came is where I place my true allegiance, though the do not honor it. This area, however, does."
"Does what? Honor it? Or posses a Stone?"
"both."
Sam sighed. This guy was sounding more like the fiend he'd hoped to leave far behind with every word.
The man strode away, but paused at the outlet of the alley. "Coming?"
Lirael attempted to make conversation along the way. Every answer was met with a uniform, monotone reply. "What's your name?"
"Nordale."
"Where are you from?"
"Nowhere."
"You have to be from somewhere!"
"I was born in the sky. You tell me where that is."
"You can't have been born in the sky. There's no paperwings but ours this far north."
He stopped to stare her straight in the eye. "I was born in the sky." He turned on his heel and took a brisker pace.
Lirael made a mental note to ask someone else later. Vannah would probably know. She cringed. Vannah was one person she did not want to talk to. 'But,' she thought, 'the only other person we know here is Eldrin, and he's too much of a loner to know what on earth this fellow is talking about.'
Lost in her thoughts, Lirael kept walking a few steps past where Sam and Nordale stopped. A rough hand grabbed the back of her collar. She was growing more and more certain that he had meant to nearly choke Sam.
"Thanks," Sam said. "You can go now. We should be able to create the barrier with the help of the Stone."
"Wait," Lirael whispered in his ear. "He is strong, very much so for one not of the Blood."
"We don't ned him yet, and he will only resent it if we waste his time with this."
"Whatever you say. You're the caster." She moved to sit on another large stone. Sam grabbed her arm. "You, however, will be required. Put one hand on the Stone and give me the other."
Lirael did as she was told, and instantly felt her energy heavily drained. Had she not had a hand on the Stone, she would have collapsed on the spot. The spell must have been more draining than Sam claimed. Then again, perhaps the sheer size of it had made the difference. Whatever the cause, it was still a short spell, and Sam let Lirael's hand fall back to her side within the minute. He stumbled towards a nearby stump and collapsed onto it.
"That...was big."