Forges are HOT! Chapter 15 of The Amber Spyglass

The GenNEXUS of NERD (formerly The Amber Spycast)

At the same time Lyra and Will are talking, Tialys and Salmakia are holding their own conversation about the knife. They know they must keep even closer to Will now that the knife is being mended. While Salmakia believes that they can win Lyra over and use her to keep close to WIll, Tialys is not so easily convinced. Skeptical, they watch as Iorek begins preparations to mend the knife. The children return from the woods and Iorek enlists them to help as he mends the knife, with Lyra overseeing the gas pit while Will tends to the fire. Iorek warns Will that the knife will look different after it is mended. He performs his craft with precision; as he meticulously joins the pieces of the knife, Iorek calls on Will to hold the pieces of the knife together with his mind. In doing so, Will can feel each atom of the knife link to one another, “...strengthening and straightening” (Pullman, 169) themselves into a new blade. When the forging is finally complete, Iorek, Lyra, and Will fall into exhaustion. Iorek asks Will to follow him out into the cold, dark mountainside. Once there, Iorek says that the knife should not have been made and reveals that he is troubled, expressessing doubt about having fixed the knife. Fearing he has been foolish like Iofur Rakinson, Iorek asks Will what he plans to do with the knife. Will explains the plan to go to the world of the dead. Iorek tells Will that if he wants to succeed in his task, he must put aside all thought of his mother. They return to the cave where Iorek tells Will to stay with the knife so he can say farewell to Lyra. Will examines the newly mended knife, which is shorter and more dull, and determines it is ugly. Lyra returns from her farewell talk with Iorek and tells Will that everything seems to be falling on them, even though they are too young for such responsibility. Wary of the impending arrival of the gyrocopters, Will and Lyra test the knife and open a window to sleep in another world. The Gallevespians protest, insisting the children stay. Will tells Tialys that they are leaving, so they can either come along to the other side or die trying to stop them. Once through the window to the other world, Will and Lyra immediately fall asleep while the Gallevespians open the lodestone resonator and begin playing a message into the darkness.