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Chapter Fourteen

Bolvangar Lights

The fact that the gyptians had heard or seen nothing of Mrs Coulter worried Farder Coram and John Faa more than they let Lyra know; but they weren’t to know that she orried too Lyra feared Mrs Coulter and thought about her often And whereas Lord Asriel was now "father," Mrs Coulter was never "mother" The reason for that was Mrs Coulter’s daeolden , and who, Lyra felt, had pried into her secrets, and particularly that of the alethio her; it was silly to think otherwise The spy-fly proved that, if nothing else

But when an eneyptians had planned to stop and rest their dogs, repair a couple of sledges, and get all their weapons into shape for the assault on Bolvangar John Faa hoped that Lee Scoresby as to fill his so up to spy out the land However, the aeronaut attended to the condition of the weather as closely as a sailor, and he said there was going to be a fog; and sure enough, as soon as they stopped, a thickfro his equiph it was all inat all, a volley of arrows flew out of the dark

Three gyptian men went down at once, and died so silently that no one heard a thing Only when they slu traces or lay unexpectedly still did the nearest , and then it was already too late, becauseat the sounds that came from up and down the line as arrows hurtled into wood or frozen canvas

The first to come to his as John Faa, who shouted orders from the center of the line Cold hands and stiff limbs ht rods of rain tipped with death

Lyra was in the open, and the arroere passing over her head Pantalaimon heard before she did, and becaet Brushing snow out of her eyes, she rolled over to try and see as happening, for the se with confusion and noise She heard aand scrape of lorek Byrnison’s ar, and that was followed by screa blows, cries of terror and roars of bearish fury as he laid them waste

But as theyptians were swares, but that (as even Lyra could see) ets; and their rifles were not easy to fire in gloves and ainst the ceaseless knocking rain of arrows And more and more ht in anguish You didn’t foresee this, and I didn’t help you!

But she had no hty snarl fro - another dae all the breath out of Lyra herself; and then hands were hauling at her, lifting her, stifling her cry with foul-sh the air into another’s arain, so that she was dizzy and breathless and hurt all at once Her arms were hauled behind till her shoulders cracked, and soether, and then a hood was crammed over her head to muffle her screams, for scream she did, and lustily:

"lorek! lorek Byrnison! Help me!"

But could he hear? She couldn’t tell; she was hurled this way and that, crushed onto a hard surface which then began to lurch and bue The sounds that reached her ild and confused Sheway off, and then she was jolting over rough ground, are and fear And strange voices spoke around her

"Pan"

"I’m here, shh, I’ll help you breathe Keep still"

His ed at the hood until her ulped at the frozen air

"Who are they?" she whispered

"They look like Tartars I think they hit John Faa"

"No - "

"I saw him fall But he should have been ready for this sort of attack We know that"

"But we should have helped hi the alethiometer!"

"Hush Pretend to be unconscious"

There was a whip cracking, and the howl of racing dogs Fro jerked and bounced about, Lyra could tell how fast they were going, and though she strained to hear the sounds of battle, all she made out was a forlorn volley of shots, muffled by the distance, and then the creak and rush and soft paw thuds in the snoere all there was to hear

"They’ll take us to the Gobblers," she whispered

The word severed came to their mind Horrible fear filled Lyra’s body, and Pantalaiht," he said

"So will I I’ll kill them"

"So will lorek when he finds out He’ll crush thear?"

Pantalaiht it was less than a day’s ride

After they had been driving along for such a time that Lyra’s body was in torhly pulled off the hood

She looked up at a broad Asiatic face, under a wolverine hood, lit by flickering lalint of satisfaction, especially when Pantalaimon slid out of Lyra’s anorak to bare his white er heavy wolverine, snarled back, but Pantalaimon didn’t flinch

The ainst the side of the sledge She kept falling sideways because her hands were still tied behind her, and so he tied her feet together instead and released her hands

Through the snow that was falling and the thick fog she saerful this e, how yptians weren’t

TheHe tried a different language with the salish

"You naly, and she knehat he meant at once So these men didn’t knoho she was! They hadn’t kidnapped her because of her connection with Mrs Coulter; so perhaps they weren’t in the pay of the Gobblers after all

"Lizzie Brooks," she said

"Lissie Broogs," he said after her "We take you nice place Nice peoples"

"Who are you?"

"Sa me?"

"Nice place Nice peoples You have panserbjorne?"

"For protection"

"No good! Ha, ha, bear no good! We got you anyway!"

He laughed loudly Lyra controlled herself and said nothing

"Who those peoples?" theback the way they had come

"Traders"

"TradersWhat they trade?"

"Fur, spirits," she said "Smokeleaf"

"They sell smokeleaf, buy furs?"

"Yes"

He said so to his coe was speeding onward, and Lyra pulled herself up ; but the snoas falling thickly, and the sky was dark, and presently she becaer, and lay down She and Pantalaihts, and tried to keep calht of John Faa deadAnd what had happened to Farder Corae to kill the other Sae to track her down?

For the first tian to feel a little sorry for herself

After a long time, the man shook her by the shoulder and handed her a strip of dried reindeer ry, and there was nourish it, she felt a little better She slipped her hand slowly into her furs till she was sure the alethiometer was still there, and then carefully withdrew the spy-fly tin and slipped it down into her fur boot Pantalaimon crept in as ait under the botto

When that was done, she closed her eyes Fear had made her exhausted, and soon she slipped uneasily into sleep

She woke up when the ed It was suddenly shts dazzling above her, so bright she had to pull the hood further over her head before peering out again She was horribly stiff and cold, but she e was driving swiftly between a row of high poles, each carrying a glaring anbaric light As she got her bearings, they passed through an open hts and into a wide open space like an eame or sport It was perfectly flat and smooth and white, and about a hundred yards across Around the edge ran a high metal fence

At the far end of this arena the sledge halted They were outside a low building, or a range of low buildings, over which the snow lay deeply It was hard to tell, but she had the is with another, tunnels humped under the snow At one side a stout h she couldn’t say what it reminded her of

Before she could take h the cord around her ankles, and hauled her out roughly while the driver shouted at the dogs toa few yards away, and an anbaric light caht

Lyra’s captor thrust her forward like a trophy, without letting go, and said soure in the padded coal-silk anorak answered in the sae, and Lyra saw his features: he was not a Samoyed or a Tartar He could have been a Jordan Scholar He looked at her, and particularly at Pantalaiain, and the lish?"

"Yes," she said

"Does your daemon always take that form?"

Of all the unexpected questions! Lyra could only gape But Pantalai a falcon, and launching hie marmot, which struck up at Pantalaimon with a swift s

"I see," said the man in a tone of satisfaction, as Pantalaimon returned to Lyra’s shoulder

The Saar nodded and took off apurse and counted out a dozen heavy coins into the hunter’s hand

The two men checked thehalf Without a backward glance they got in the sledge, and the driver cracked the whip and shouted to the dogs; and they sped away across the hite arena and into the avenue of lights, gathering speed until they vanished into the dark beyond

The ain

"Come in quickly," he said "It’s warm and comfortable Don’t stand out in the cold What is your nalish one, without any accent Lyra could name He sounded like the sort of people she had met at Mrs Coulter’s: smart and educated and important

"Lizzie Brooks," she said

"Come in, Lizzie We’ll look after you here, don’t worry"

He was colder than she was, even though she’d been outside for far longer; he was iain She decided to play slow and died her feet as she stepped over the high threshold into the building

There were two doors, with a wide space between theh the inner doorway, Lyra found herself sweltering in what seemed unbearable heat, and had to pull open her furs and push back her hood

They were in a space about eight feet square, with corridors to the right and left, and in front of her the sort of reception desk youwas brilliantly lit, with the glint of shiny white surfaces and stainless steel There was the smell of food in the air, familiar food, bacon and coffee, and under it a faint perpetual hospital-ht hu sound, alet used to or go oldfinch nohispered, "Be stupid and dim Be really slow and stupid"

Adults were looking down at her: thea white coat, a wolish," the first"Traders, apparently"

"Usual hunters? Usual story?"

"Same tribe, as far as I could tell Sister Clara, could you take little, umm, and see to her?"

"Certainly, Doctor Come with me, dear," said the nurse, and Lyra obediently followed

They went along a short corridor with doors on the right and a canteen on the left, from which ca suessed, with a brisk, blank, sensible air; she would be able to stitch a wound or change a bandage, but never to tell a story Her daee chill when she noticed) was a little white trotting dog (and after a moment she had no idea why it had chilled her)

"What’s your na a heavy door "Lizzie" "Just Lizzie?" "Lizzie Brooks" "And how old are you?" "Eleven"

Lyra had been told that she was se, whatever that meant It had never affected her sense of her own importance, but she realized that she could use the fact now to nificant, and shrank a little as she went into the roo questions about where she had co answers; but it wasn’t only iar ht have been arriving all the time, for all the interest Sister Clara see at her heels just as brisk and blank as she was

In the room they entered there was a couch and a table and two chairs and a filing cabinet, and a glass cupboard with es, and a wash basin As soon as they were inside, the nurse took Lyra’s outer coat off and dropped it on the shiny floor

"Off with the rest, dear," she said "We’ll have a quick little look to see you’re nice and healthy, no frostbite or sniffles, and then we’ll find some nice clean clothes We’ll pop you in the shower, too," she added, for Lyra had not changed or washed for days, and in the enveloping war more and more evident

Pantalaimon fluttered in protest, but Lyra quelled him with a scowl He settled on the couch as one by one all Lyra’s clothes came off, to her resentment and shame; but she still had the presence of mind to conceal it and act dull-witted and compliant

"And the money belt, Lizzie," said the nurse, and untied it herself with strong fingers She went to drop it on the pile with Lyra’s other clothes, but stopped, feeling the edge of the alethiometer

"What’s this?" she said, and unbuttoned the oilcloth

"Just a sort of toy," said Lyra "It’s mine"

"Yes, on’t take it away fro the black velvet "That’s pretty, isn’t it, like a co the alethio back a coal-silk curtain in the corner

Lyra reluctantly slipped under the ater and soaped herself while Pantalaimon perched on the curtain rail They were both conscious that he mustn’t be too lively, for the daemons of dull people were dull themselves When she ashed and dry, the nurse took her temperature and looked into her eyes and ears and throat, and thena note on a clipboard Then she gave Lyra soood quality, like Tony Makarios’s anorak, but again there was a secondhand air about them Lyra felt very uneasy

"These en’t ood wash"