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Chapter Seventeen

The Witches

Lyra moaned and trembled uncontrollably, just as if she had been pulled out of water so cold that her heart had nearly frozen Pantalaiainst her bare skin, inside her clothes, loving her back to herself, but aware all the ti, and ers had run swiftly over Lyra’s body when only Pantalaimon could have noticed; and who had felt, around her waist, the oilskin pouch with its contents

"Sit up, dear, and drink this," said Mrs Coulter, and her gentle arm slipped around Lyra’s back and lifted her

Lyra clenched herself, but relaxed alht to her: We’re only safe as long as we pretend She opened her eyes and found that they’d been containing tears, and to her surprise and shame she sobbed and sobbed

Mrs Coulter made sympathetic sounds and put the drink into the monkey’s hands while she mopped Lyra’s eyes with a scented handkerchief

"Cry as ," said that soft voice, and Lyra deterled to hold back the tears, she pressed her lips together, she choked down the sobs that still shook her chest

Pantalaiame: fool them, fool them He became a mouse and crept away from Lyra’s hand to sniff

timidly at the drink in the monkey’s clutch It was innocuous: an infusion of cha more He crept back to Lyra’s shoulder and whispered, "Drink it"

She sat up and took the hot cup in both hands, alternately sipping and blowing to cool it She kept her eyes down She must pretend harder than she’d ever done in her life

"Lyra, darling," Mrs Coulter ht we’d lost you forever! What happened? Did you get lost? Did someone take you out of the flat?"

"Yeah," Lyra whispered

"Who was it, dear?"

"A man and a woman"

"Guests at the party?"

"I think so They said you needed sorabbed hold of me and took me in a car soed away and they never caught me But I didn’t knohere I was"

Another sob shook her briefly, but they eaker now, and she could pretend this one was caused by her story

"And I just wandered about trying to find ht meAnd they putbuilding, I dunno where it was"

With every second that went past, with every sentence she spoke, she felt a little strength flowing back And now that she was doing so difficult and fa, she felt a sort of ain, the saave her She had to be careful not to say anything obviously iue in some places and invent plausible details in others; she had to be an artist, in short

"How long did they keep you in this building?" said Mrs Coulter

Lyra’s journey along the canals and her tiyp-tians had taken weeks: she’d have to account for that tie with the Gobblers to Trollesund, and then an escape, lavish with details from her observation of the town; and a time as maid-of-all-work at Einarsson’s Bar, and then a spell working for a faht by the Saoing to - going to cut - "

"Hush, dear, hush I’ on"

"But ere they going to do that? I never done anything wrong! All the kids are afraid of what happens in there, and no one knows But it’s horrible It’s worse than anythingWhy are they doing that, Mrs Coulter? Why are they so cruel?"

"There, thereYou’re safe, my dear They won’t ever do it to you Now I know you’re here, and you’re safe, you’ll never be in danger again No one’s going to har to hurt you"

"But they do it to other children! Why?"

"Ah, my love - "

"It’s Dust, isn’t it?"

"Did they tell you that? Did the doctors say that?"

"The kids know it All the kids talk about it, but no one knows! And they nearly done it to ht to keep it secret, not any difficult ideas, Dust and so on It’s not so for children to worry about But the doctors do it for the children’s own good,evil and wicked

Grownups and their daemons are infected with Dust so deeply that it’s too late for them They can’t be helpedBut a quick operation on children means they’re safe froain They’re safe and happy and - "

Lyra thought of little Tony Makarios She leaned forward suddenly and retched Mrs Coulter ht, dear? Go to the bathroom - "

Lyra sed hard and brushed her eyes

"You don’t have to do that to us," she said "You could just leave us I bet Lord Asriel wouldn’t let anyone do that if he kneas going on If he’s got Dust and you’ve got Dust, and the Master of Jordan and every other grownup’s got Dust, itto tell all the kids in the world about this Anyway, if it was so good, why’d you stop theood, you should’ve let thelad"

Mrs Coulter was shaking her head and s," she said, "soood has to hurt us a little, and naturally it’s upsetting for others if you’re upset But it doesn’t mean your daemon is taken away frorownups here have had the operation The nurses seeh, don’t they?"

Lyra blinked Suddenly she understood their strange blank incuriosity, the way their little trotting dae, she thought, and shut her , no one would ever drea it first And no one in a thousand years would take a child’s daeether! All that happens is a little cut, and then everything’s peaceful Forever! You see, your daemon’s a wonderful friend and coe we call puberty, the age you’re co all sort of troublesos, and that’s what lets Dust in A quick little operation before that, and you’re never troubled again And your daemon stays with you, onlyjust not connected Like alike a wonderful pet, if you like The best pet in the world! Wouldn’t you like that?"

Oh, the wicked liar, oh, the sha! And even if Lyra hadn’t known theed daemons) she would have hated it with a furious passion Her dear soul, the daring companion of her heart, to be cut away and reduced to a little trotting pet? Lyra nearly blazed with hatred, and Pantalaily and vicious of all his for Lyra held Pantalaiht and let Mrs Coulter stroke her hair

"Drink up your chamomile," said Mrs Coulter softly "We’ll have theo back and share a dorot my little assistant back My favorite! The best assistant in the world D’you knoe searched all over London for you, darling? We had the police searching every town in the land Oh, I missed you so ain"

All the ti about restlessly, one ing to Mrs Coulter and chittering softly in her ear, the next pacing the floor with tail erect He was betraying Mrs Coulter’s impatience, of course, and finally she couldn’t hold it in

"Lyra, dear," she said, "I think that the Master of Jordan gave you soave you an alethioive It was left in his care It’s really too valuable to be carried about - d’you know, it’s one of only two or three in the world! I think the Master gave it to you in the hope that it would fall into Lord Asriel’s hands He told you not to tell me about it, didn’t he?"

Lyra twisted her , because you didn’t tell me, did you? So you haven’t broken any proht to be properly looked after I’m afraid it’s so rare and delicate that we can’t let it be at risk any longer"

"Why shouldn’t Lord Asriel have it?" Lyra said, notYou know he’s been sent away to exile, because he’s got soerous and wicked in mind He needs the alethio anyone should do is let him have it The Master of Jordan was sadly mistaken But now that you know, it really would be better to let me have it, wouldn’t it? It would save you the trouble of carrying it around, and all the worry of looking after it - and really itlike that was any good for"

Lyra wondered how she had ever, ever, ever found this wo and clever

"So if you’ve got it now, dear, you’d really better let me have it to look after It’s in that belt around your waist, isn’t it? Yes, that was a clever thing to do, putting it away like this"

Her hands were at Lyra’s skirt, and then she was unfastening the stiff oilcloth Lyra tensed herself The goldenwith anticipation, little black hands to his mouth Mrs Coulter pulled the belt away fro fast She took out the black velvet cloth and unfolded it, finding the tin box lorek Byrnison had ain, tensed to spring Lyra drew her legs up away fro them down to the floor so that she too could run when the time came

"What’s this?" said Mrs Coulter, as if amused "What a funny old tin! Did you put it in here to keep it safe, dear? All this mossYou have been careful, haven’t you? Another tin, inside the first one! And soldered! Who did this, dear?"

She was too intent on opening it to wait for an answer She had a knife in her handbag with a lot of different attach it under the lid

At once a furious buzzing filled the room

Lyra and Pantalaimon held themselves still Mrs Coulter, puzzled, curious, pulled at the lid, and the goldenmoment the black form of the spy-fly hurtled out of the tin and crashed hard into thehi Mrs Coulter too, and she cried out in pain and fright with the monkey, and then the little clockwork devil swarmed upward at her, up her breast and throat toward her face

Lyra didn’t hesitate Pantalai for the door and she was after him at once, and she tore it open and raced away faster than she had ever run in her life

"Fire alarm!" Pantalaimon shrieked, as he flew ahead of her

She saw a button on the next corner, and s toward the dormitories, san to co up and down for the fire

By this tiht into her mind, and she darted in Aaof flour froe of a table so it burst and filled the air hite, because she had heard that flour will explode if it’s treated like that near a flame

Then she ran out and on as fast as she could toward her own dor this way and that, vivid with exciteot around The oldest werewas kept, and herding the younger ones with the to control it all, and none of the people were everywhere

Through it all Lyra and Pantalai always for the dormitory, and just as they reached it, there was a dull explosion froirls had fled: the rooed the locker to the corner, ju, felt for the alethioed the furs on quickly, pulling the hood forward, and then Pantalaimon, a sparrow at the door, called:

"Now!"

She ran out By luck a group of children who’d already found so down the corridor toward the , her heart thu that she had to escape or die

The as blocked The fire in the kitchen had taken quickly, and whether it was the flour or the gas, soht down part of the roof People were claet up to the bitter cold air The s Then came another explosion, louder than the first and closer The blast knocked several people over, and cries of fear and pain filled the air

Lyra struggled up, and with Pantalai the other daes, she hauled herself over the rubble The air she was breathing was frozen, and she hoped that the children had ; it would be a fine thing to escape from the station only to die of cold

There really was a blaze now When she got out onto the roof under the night sky, she could see flareat hole in the side of the building There was a throng of children and adults by the itated and the children er!" Lyra called, and Pantalaimon, keen-eyed as an owl, hooted that he’d seen him

A moment later they found each other

"Tell ’em all to come with me!" Lyra shouted into his ear

"They won’t - they’re all panicky - "

"Tell ’em what they do to the kids that vanish! They cut their dae knife! Tell ’em what you saw this afternoon - all the to happen to theaped, horrified, but then collected his wits and ran to the nearest group of hesitating children Lyra did the sa, some children cried out and clutched their daemons in fear

"Co! We got to get out of the compound! Come on, run!"

The children heard her and followed, streahts, their boots pattering and creaking in the hard-packed snow

Behind the, and there was a ru fell in Sparks gushed into the air, and fla through this came another sound, dreadfully close and violent Lyra had never heard it before, but she knew it at once: it was the howl of the Tartar guards’ wolf daemons She felt weak from head to foot, and many children turned in fear and stu at a loift tireless lope cauards, rifle at the ready, with the rayness of his daemon beside him

Then came another, and another They were all in padded mail, and they had no eyes - or at least you couldn’t see any eyes behind the snow slits of their helmets The only eyes you could see were the round black ends of the rifle barrels and the blazing yellow eyes of the wolf dae from their jaws

Lyra faltered She hadn’t drea those wolves were And now that she kne casually people at Bolvangar broke the great taboo, she shrank fro teeth

The Tartars ran to stand in a line across the entrance to the avenue of lights, their daemons beside them as disciplined and drilled as they were In another , and ht with despair: children can’t fight soldiers It wasn’t like the battles in the Oxford claybeds, hurling lumps of mud at the brickburners’ children

Or perhaps it was! She re a handful of clay in the broad face of a brickburner boy bearing down on her He’d stopped to claw the stuff out of his eyes, and then the townies leaped on hi in thein the snow

Just as she’d done that afternoon, but in deadly earnest now, she scooped a handful together and hurled it at the nearest soldier

"Get ’em in the eyes!" she yelled, and threw another

Other children joined in, and then so as a swift beside the snowball and nudging it directly at the eye slits of the target - and then they all joined in, and in a fewand trying to brush the packed snow out of the narrow gap in front of their eyes

"Coate into the avenue of lights

The children strea jaws of the wolves and racing as hard as they could down the avenue toward the beckoning open dark beyond

A harsh scream came from behind as an officer shouted an order, and then a score of rifle bolts worked at once, and then there was another screa children’s pounding feet and gasping breath to be heard

They were taking aim They wouldn’t asp came from one of the Tartars, and a cry of surprise from another

Lyra stopped and turned to see a ray-feathered arrow in his back He rithing and twitching and coughing out blood, and the other soldiers were looking around to left and right for whoever had fired it, but the archer was nowhere to be seen

And then an arrow caht down from the sky, and struck another man behind the head He fell at once A shout from the officer, and everyone looked up at the dark sky

"Witches!" said Pantalaiant black shapes sweeping past high above, with a hiss and swish of air through the needles of the cloud-pine branches they flew on As Lyra watched, one swooped low and loosed an arrow: another man fell

And then all the Tartars turned their rifles up and blazed into the dark, firing at nothing, at shadows, at clouds, and more and more arrows rained down on the the children almost away, ordered a squad to race after them Some children screa forward any back in confusion, terrified by thetoward thehts

"lorek Byrnison!" cried Lyra, her chest nearly bursting with joy

The arht except what gave him momentum He bounded past Lyra al soldiers, daemons, rifles to all sides Then he stopped and whirled round, with a lithe athletic power, and struck two uards closest to him

A wolf daeht fire spilled out of her as she fell to the snohere she hissed and howled before vanishing Her human died at once

The Tartar officer, faced with this double attack, didn’t hesitate A long high scream of orders, and the force divided itself into two: one to keep off the witches, the bigger part to overconificently brave They dropped to one knee in groups of four and fired their rifles as if they were on the practice range, not budging an inch as lorek’s hty bulk hurtled toward theain, twisting to one side, slashing, snarling, crushing, while bullets flew about hied the children on and out into the darkness beyond the lights They erous as the Tartars were, far ar

So she called and beckoned and pushed to get the childrenshadows on the snow, Lyra found her heart ht and the clean coldness, leaping forward to love it as Pantalai in his own propulsion

"Where we going?" so out here but snow!"

"There’s a rescue party coyptians or more I bet there’s soyptian families that lost a kid, they all sent soyptian," a boy said

"Don’t matter They’ll take you anyway"

"Where?" someone said querulously

"Home," said Lyra "That’s what I coyptians here to take you hoo on a bit further and then we’ll find ’em The bear ith ’em, so they can’t be far off"

"D’you see that bear!" one boy was saying "When he slashed open that daemon - the man died as if someone whipped his heart out, just like that!"