Page 11 (1/2)

Chapter Eleven

Armor

When they returned to the ship, Farder Cora time in conference in the saloon, and Lyra went to her cabin to consult the alethiome-ter Within five minutes she knew exactly where the bear’s aret it back

She wondered whether to go to the saloon and tell John Faa and the others, but decided that they’d ask her if they wanted to know Perhaps they knew already

She lay on her bunk thinking of that savage hty bear, and the careless way he drank his fiery spirit, and the loneliness of him in his dirty lean-to How different it was to be human, with one’s daemon always there to talk to! In the silence of the still ship, without the continual creak of ine or the rush of water along the side, Lyra gradually fell asleep, with Pantalai of her great imprisoned father when suddenly, for no reason at all, she woke up She had no idea what tiht in the cabin that she took for ht, and it showed her new cold-weather furs that lay stiffly in the corner of the cabin No sooner did she see theain

Once they were on, she had to go out on deck, and a minute later she opened the door at the top of the compan-ionway and stepped out

At once she saw that soht it was clouds, itation, but Pantalaimon whispered:

"The Aurora!"

Her wonder was so strong that she had to clutch the rail to keep froht filled the northern sky; the immensity of it was scarcely conceivable As if fro and trereen and rose-pink, and as transparent as the e a profound and fiery cri and shirace than the ht she could even hear the swish In the evanescent delicacy she felt so as profound as she’d felt close to the bear She was moved by it; it was so beautiful it was almost holy; she felt tears prick her eyes, and the tears splintered the light even further into pris before she found herself entering the same kind of trance as when she consulted the alethioht cal the Aurora glow too Itthat she’d thought it, and she soon forgot it, and only reazed, the ie of a city seemed to form itself behind the veils and streams of translucent color: towers and domes, honey-colored temples and colonnades, broad boulevards and sunlit parkland Looking at it gave her a sense of vertigo, as if she were looking not up but down, and across a gulf so wide that nothing could ever pass over it It was a whole universe away

But so across it, and as she tried to focus her eyes on thewasn’t part of the Aurora or

of the other universe behind it It was in the sky over the roofs of the town When she could see it clearly, she had coone

The flying thing calided down and landed with brisk sweeps of its powerful pinions, and came to a halt on the wooden deck a few yards froreat bird, a beautiful gray goose whose head was croith a flash of pure white And yet it wasn’t a bird: it was a daeht but Lyra herself The idea filled her with sickly fear

The bird said:

"Where is Farder Coram?"

And suddenly Lyra realized who it must be This was the daemon of Serafina Pekkala, the clan queen, Farder Coram’s witch friend

She stao and get him"

She turned and scampered down the companionway to the cabin Farder Coram occupied, and opened the door to speak into the darkness:

"Farder Cora on the deck! He flew here all by hisself - I seen hi in the sky - "

The old man said, "Ask hioose made his stately way to the stern of the ship, where he looked around, elegant and wild simultaneously, and a cause of fascinated terror to Lyra, who felt as though she were entertaining a ghost

Then Farder Coraear, closely followed by John Faa Both old ed the visitor

"Greetings," said Farder Coraain, Kaisa Noould you like to come inside, or would you prefer to stay out here in the open?"

"I would rather stay outside, thank you, Farder Corah for a while?"

Witches and their daemons felt no cold, but they were aware that other humans did

Farder Coram assured him that they rapped up, and said, "How is Serafina Pekkala?"

"She sends her greetings to you, Farder Cora Who are these two people?"

Farder Coraoose daemon looked hard at Lyra

"I have heard of this child," he said "She is talked about a witches So you have co to free the children taken from us And I hope the witches will help"

"Not all of the with the Dust hunters"

"Is that what you call the Oblation Board?" "I don’t knohat this board ions ten years ago with philosophical instruments They paid us to allow them to set up stations in our lands, and they treated us with courtesy" "What is this Dust?"

"It comes from the sky So What is certain is that when people becoreat fear co to discover what it is But it is not of any concern to witches"

"And where are they now, these Dust hunters?" "Four days northeast of here, at a place called Bolvangar Our clanobligation to you, Farder Coram, I have come to show you how to find these Dust hunters"

Farder Coraether in satisfaction

"Thank you kindly, sir," he said to the goose "But tell us this: do you know anything ar?"

"They have put up buildings of round chareat expense We don’t knohat they do, but there is an air of hatred and fear over the place and for s where other humans can’t Anis and foxes have fled Hence the naar: the fields of evil They don’t call it that They call it ’the station’ But to everyone else it is Bolvangar"

"And how are they defended?"

"They have a coood soldiers, but they lack practice, because no one has ever attacked the settlement since it was built Then there is a wire fence around the compound, which is filled with anbaric force There may be other means of defense that we don’t know about, because as I say they have no interest for us"

Lyra was bursting to ask a question, and the goose das permission

"Why do the witches talk about me?" she said

"Because of your father, and his knowledge of the other worlds," the daemon replied

That surprised all three of them Lyra looked at Farder Coram, who looked back in mild wonder, and at John Faa, whose expression was troubled

"Other worlds?" John Faa said "Pardon me, sir, but orlds would those be? Do you mean the stars?"

"Indeed no"

"Perhaps the world of spirits?" said Farder Coram

"Nor that"

"Is it the city in the lights?" said Lyra "It is, en’t it?"

The goose turned his stately head toward her His eyes were black, surrounded by a thin line of pure sky-blue, and their gaze was intense

"Yes," he said "Witches have known of the other worlds for thousands of years You can see thehts They aren’t part of this universe at all; even the furthest stars are part of this universe, but the lights show us a different universe entirely Not further away, but interpenetrating with this one Here, on this deck, millions of other universes exist, unaware of one another"

He raised his wings and spread theain

"There," he said, "I have just brushed tenof it We are as close as a heartbeat, but we can never touch or see or hear these other worlds except in the Northern Lights"

"And why there?" said Farder Coraed particles in the Aurora have the property ofthe h it for a brief time Witches have always known this, but we seldom speak of it"

"My father believes in it," Lyra said "I know because I heard hi pictures of the Aurora"

"Is this anything to do with Dust?" said John Faa

"Who can say?" said the goose daehtened of it as if it were deadly poison That is why they imprisoned Lord Asriel"

"But why?" Lyra said

"They think he intends to use Dust in soe between this world and the world beyond the Aurora"

There was a lightness in Lyra’s head

She heard Farder Coraoose daemon "They don’t believe he can, because they think he is mad to believe in the other worlds in the first place But it is true: that is his intention And he is so powerful a figure that they feared he would upset their own plans, so they made a pact with the armored bears to capture him and keep him imprisoned in the fortress of Svalbard, out of the way Soain his throne, as part of the bargain"

Lyra said, "Do the witches want hiainst him?"

"That is a question with too complicated an answer Firstly, the witches are not united There are differences of opinion ae will have a bearing on a war being waged at the present between some witches and various other forces, soe, if it ever existed, would give a huge advantage to whoever held it Thirdly, Serafina Pekkala’s clan - reat pressure is being put on us to declare for one side or another You see, these are questions of high politics, and not easily answered"

"What about the bears?" said Lyra "Whose side are they on?"

"On the side of anyone who pays them They have no interest whatever in these questions; they have no daemons; they are unconcerned about human problems At least, that is how bears used to be, but we have heard that their new king is intent on changing their old waysAt any rate, the Dust hunters have paid them to imprison Lord Asriel, and they will hold him on Svalbard until the last drop of blood drains from the body of the last bear alive"

"But not all bears!" Lyra said "There’s one who en’t on Svalbard at all He’s an outcast bear, and he’s going to coave Lyra another of his piercing looks This time she could feel his cold surprise

Farder Coram shifted uncomfortably, and said, "The fact is, Lyra, I don’t think he is We heard he’s serving out a terht he ed he won’t be free to come, armor or no armor; and he won’t never have that back, either"

"But he said they tricked him! They made him drunk and stole it away!"

"We heard a different story," said John Faa "He’s a dangerous rogue, is e heard"

"If - " Lyra was passionate; she could hardly speak for indignation " - if the alethio, I know it’s true And I asked it, and it said that he was telling the truth, they did trick hi lies and not him I believe him, Lord Faa! Farder Coram - you saw him too, and you believe hiht I did, child I en’t so certain of things as you are"

"But what are they afraid of? Do they think he’s going to go round killing people as soon’s he gets his armor on? He could kill dozens of ’em now!"

"He has done," said John Faa "Well, if not dozens, then so round looking for it He tore open the police house and the bank and I don’t knohere else, and there’s at least two men who died The only reason they didn’t shoot to kill him is because of his wondrous skill with metals; they wanted to use him like a laborer"

"Like a slave!" Lyra said hotly "They hadn’t got the right!"

"Be that as it s he done, but they didn’t And they bound him over to labor in the town’s interest until he’s paid off the dae and the blood money"

"John," said Farder Coram, "I don’t kno you feel, but it’s my belief they’ll never let hiry he’ll be when he gets it"

"But if we get his arain," said Lyra "I pro to do that?"

"I knohere it is!"

There was a silence, in which they all three became aware of the witch’s daemon and his fixed stare at Lyra All three turned to him, and their own daemons too, who had until then affected the extre their eyes ular creature, here without his body

"You won’t be surprised," said the goose, "to know that the alethiometer is one other reason the witches are interested in you, Lyra Our consul told us about your visit thisI believe it was Dr Lanselius who told you about the bear"

"Yes, it was," said John Faa "And she and Farder Coram went theirselves and talked to hi the law of these people we’ll only get involved in a quarrel with the on towards this Bolvangar, bear or no bear"

"Ah, but you en’t seen him, John," said Farder Coram "And I do believe Lyra We could proht make all the difference"

"What do you think, sir?" said John Faa to the witch’s daes with bears Their desires are as strange to us as ours are to theht be less reliable than they are said to be You must decide for yourselves"

"We will," said John Faa firar froan to explain He spoke of valleys and hills, of the tree line and the tundra, of star sightings Lyra listened awhile, and then lay back in the deck chair with Pantalairand vision the goose daee between torldsThis was farshe could have hoped for! And only her great father could have conceived it As soon as they had rescued the children, she would go to Svalbard with the bear and take Lord Asriel the alethiometer, and use it to help set hiether, and be the first across

Soht John Faa must have carried Lyra to her bunk, because that here she awoke The diet, only a hand’s breadth above the horizon, so it ht Soon, when they moved further north, there would be no sun at all