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Into this wild abyss,

The worave,

Of neither sea, nor shore, nor air, nor fire,

But all these in their pregnant causes ht,

Unless the alhty maker them ordain

His dark materials to create more worlds,

Into this wild abyss the wary fiend

Stood on the brink of hell and looked a while,

Pondering his voyage

John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book II

Part One

Oxford

Chapter One

The Decanter of Tokay

Lyra and her dae care to keep to one side, out of sight of the kitchen The three great tables that ran the length of the hall were laid already, the silver and the glass catching what little light there was, and the long benches were pulled out ready for the guests Portraits of for the walls Lyra reached the dais and looked back at the open kitchen door, and, seeing no one, stepped up beside the high table The places here were laid with gold, not silver, and the fourteen seats were not oak benches but any chairs with velvet cushions

Lyra stopped beside the Master’s chair and flicked the biggest glass gently with a fingernail The sound rang clearly through the hall

"You’re not taking this seriously," whispered her daemon "Behave yourself"

Her daemon’s name was Pantalaimon, and he was currently in the form of a moth, a dark brown one so as not to show up in the darkness of the hall

"They’retoo much noise to hear from the kitchen," Lyra whispered back "And the Steward doesn’t co"

But she put her pal crystal anyway, and Pantalaihtly open door of the Retiring Rooain

"There’s no one there," he whispered "But we h table, Lyra darted along and through the door into the Retiring Rooht in here cas settled slightly as she looked, sending a fountain of sparks up into the chie, but had never seen the Retiring Roouests were allowed in here, and never females Even the maidservants didn’t clean in here That was the Butler’s job alone

Pantalaio?" he whispered

"Don’t be silly! I want to look around!"

It was a large room, with an oval table of polished rosewood on which stood various decanters and glasses, and a silver s stand with a rack of pipes On a sideboard nearby there was a little chafing dish and a basket of poppy heads

"They do themselves well, don’t they, Pan?" she said under her breath

She sat in one of the green leather ar down, but she sat up again and tucked her legs under her to look at the portraits on the walls More old Scholars, probably; robed, bearded, and gloomy, they stared out of their frames in solemn disapproval

"What d’you think they talk about?" Lyra said, or began to say, because before she’d finished the question she heard voices outside the door

"Behind the chair - quick!" whispered Pantalai behind it It wasn’t the best one for hiding behind: she’d chosen one in the very center of the room, and unless she kept very quiet

The door opened, and the light changed in the roo a las, in their dark green trousers and shiny black shoes It was a servant

Then a deep voice said, "Has Lord Asriel arrived yet?"

It was the Master As Lyra held her breath, she saw the servant’s dae, like all servants’ daemons) trot in and sit quietly at his feet, and then the Master’s feet became visible too, in the shabby black shoes he alore

"No, Master," said the Butler "No word from the aerodock, either"

"I expect he’ll be hungry when he arrives Show hiood, Master"

"And you’ve decanted some of the special Tokay for him?"

"Yes, Master The 1898, as you ordered His Lordship is very partial to that, I remember"

"Good Now leave me, please"

"Do you need the la dinner to trihtly and turned to leave, his dae obediently after hi place Lyra watched as the Master went to a large oak wardrobe in the corner of the rooer, and pulled it laboriously on The Master had been a powerful man, but he ell over seventy now, and his movements were stiff and slow The Master’s daemon had the form of a raven, and as soon as his robe was on, she jumped down froht shoulder

Lyra could feel Pantalaih he made no sound For herself, she was pleasantly excited

The visitor mentioned by the Master, Lord Asriel, was her uncle, a reatly He was said to be involved in high politics, in secret exploration, in distant warfare, and she never knehen he was going to appear He was fierce: if he caught her in here she’d be severely punished, but she could put up with that

What she saw next, however, changed things completely

The Master took from his pocket a folded paper and laid it on the table beside the wine He took the stopper out of the olden wine, unfolded the paper, and poured a thin strea the paper and throwing it into the fire Then he took a pencil from his pocket, stirred the wine until the powder had dissolved, and replaced the stopper

His daeave a soft brief squawk The Master replied in an undertone, and looked around with his hooded, clouded eyes before leaving through the door he’d come in by

Lyra whispered, "Did you see that, Pan?"

"Of course I did! Now hurry out, before the Steward comes!"

But as he spoke, there ca once from the far end of the hall

"That’s the Steward’s bell!" said Lyra "I thought we had more time than that"

Pantalaimon fluttered swiftly to the hall door, and swiftly back

"The Steward’s there already," he said "And you can’t get out of the other door"

The other door, the one the Master had entered and left by, opened onto the busy corridor between the library and the Scholars’ coed withto leave papers or briefcases in the co nto the hall Lyra had planned to leave the way she’d co on another few

And if she hadn’t seen the Master tipping that powder into the wine, she er, or hoped to avoid being noticed in the busy corridor But she was confused, and that made her hesitate

Then she heard heavy footsteps on the dais The Steas co Room was ready for the Scholars’ poppy and wine after dinner Lyra darted to the oak wardrobe, opened it, and hid inside, pulling the door shut just as the Steward entered She had no fear for Pantalaimon: the room was somber colored, and he could always creep under a chair

She heard the Steward’s heavy wheezing, and through the crack where the door hadn’t quite shut she saw hi stand and cast a glance over the decanters and glasses Then he smoothed the hair over his ears with both pal to his dae; but a superior servant, so a superior dog In fact, she had the form of a red setter The daemon seemed suspicious, and cast around as if she’d sensed an intruder, but didn’t make for the wardrobe, to Lyra’s intense relief Lyra was afraid of the Steward, who had twice beaten her

Lyra heard a tiny whisper; obviously Pantalai to have to stay here now Why don’t you listen to me?"

She didn’t reply until the Steward had left It was his job to supervise the waiting at the high table; she could hear the Scholars co into the hall, the murood thing I didn’t," she whispered back "We wouldn’t have seen the Master put poison in the wine otherwise Pan, that was the Tokay he asked the Butler about! They’re going to kill Lord Asriel!"

"You don’t know it’s poison"

"Oh, of course it is Don’t you remember, he made the Butler leave the room before he did it? If it was innocent, it wouldn’t have oing on - so about it for days Pan, we could prevent a murder!"

"I’ve never heard such nonsense," he said shortly "How do you think you’re going to keep still for four hours in this poky wardrobe? Let o and look in the corridor I’ll tell you when it’s clear"

He fluttered from her shoulder, and she saw his little shadow appear in the crack of light

"It’s no good, Pan, I’ here I’ll put that on the floor and ot to see what they do"

She had been crouching She carefully stood up, feeling around for the clothes hangers in order not to er than she’d thought There were several academic robes and hoods, some with fur around them, most faced with silk

"I wonder if these are all the Master’s?" she whispered "When he gets honorary degrees froive hi-upPan, do you really think it’s not poison in that wine?"

"No," he said "I think it is, like you do And I think it’s none of our business And I think it would be the silliest thing you’ve ever done in a lifeti to do with us"

"Don’t be stupid," Lyra said "I can’t sit in here and watch theive him poison!"

"Come somewhere else, then"

"You’re a coward, Pan"

"Certainly I a to leap out and snatch the glass froers? What did you have inin mind, and well you know it," she snapped quietly "But now I’ve seen what the Master did, I haven’t got any choice You’re supposed to know about conscience, aren’t you? How can I just go and sit in the library or so to happen? I don’t intend to do that, I promise you"

"This is what you wanted all the time," he said after a moment "You wanted to hide in here and watch Why didn’t I realize that before?"

"All right, I do," she said "Everyone knows they get up to so And I just wanted to knohat it was"

"It’s none of your business! If they want to enjoy their little secrets you should just feel superior and let the is for silly children"

"Exactly what I knew you’d say Now stop nagging"

The two of them sat in silence for a while, Lyra uncomfortable on the hard floor of the wardrobe and Pantalai his temporary antennae on one of the robes Lyra felt ain her head, and she would have liked nothing better than to share them with her daemon, but she was proud too Perhaps she should try to clear theht was anxiety, and it wasn’t for herself She’d been in trouble often enough to be used to it This time she was anxious about Lord Asriel, and about what this all e, and the fact that this was a tih political tension meant that he hadn’t come simply to eat and drink and smoke with a few old friends She knew that both Lord Asriel and the Master were members of the Cabinet Council, the Priht have been sos of the Cabinet Council were held in the palace, not in the Retiring Rooe Then there was the ru for days It was said that the Tartars had invaded Muscovy, and were surging north to St Petersburg, from where they would be able to dominate the Baltic Sea and eventually overcome the entire west of Europe And Lord Asriel had been in the far North: when she’d seen hi an expedition to Lapland