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Chapter Twenty-One
Lord Asriel’s Welcoer rode another, while lorek paced tirelessly ahead and a squad ar the rear
The as long and hard The interior of Svalbard was es deeply cut by ravines and steep-sided valleys, and the cold was intense Lyra thought back to the sar; hoift and coress now seely chill than any she had experienced before; or it htfooted as lorek; or it ht have been that she was tired to her very soul At all events, it was desperately hard going
She knew little of where they were bound, or how far it was All she knehat the older bear S0ren Eisarson had told her while they were preparing the fire hurler He had been involved in negotiating with Lord Asriel about the terms of his imprisonment, and he remembered it well
At first, he’d said, the Svalbard bears regarded Lord Asriel as being no different fros, or troublemakers who had been exiled to their bleak island The prisoners were iht by their own people; they ht be valuable to the bears one day, if their political fortunes changed and they returned to rule in their own countries; so it ht pay the bears not to treat them with cruelty or disrespect
So Lord Asriel had found conditions on Svalbard no better and no worse than hundreds of other exiles had done But certain things had made his jailers more wary of him than of other prisoners they’d had There was the air ofthat had to do with Dust; there was the clear panic on the part of those who’d brought him there; and there were Mrs Coulter’s private communications with lofur Raknison
Besides, the bears had never hty and i forcefully and eloquently, and persuaded the bear-king to let hi place
The first one he was allotted was too lon, he said He needed a high spot, above the save the bears a design of the accommodation he wanted, and told theold, and he flattered and bullied lofur Raknison, and with a be a house had arisen on a headland facing north: a wide and solid place with fireplaces that burned great blocks of coal lass There he dwelt, a prisoner acting like a king
And then he set about asse the materials for a laboratory
With furious concentration he sent for books, instruments, chemicals, all manner of tools and equipment And somehow it had coled in by the visitors he insisted he was entitled to have By land, sea, and air, Lord Asriel assembled his materials, and within six months of his committal, he had all the equip and planning and calculating, waiting for the one thing he needed to complete the task that so terrified the Oblation Board It was drawing closer every limpse of her father’s prison cae for the children todangerously cold and stiff
"Look up there," he said
A wide broken slope of tumbled rocks and ice, where a track had been laboriously cleared, led up to a crag outlined against the sky There was no Aurora, but the stars were brilliant The crag stood black and gaunt, but at its suht spilled lavishly in all directions: not the sleahts, but the warlow of naphtha
The s froed also showed Lord Asriel’s fore sheets of it were prodigal of heat in these fierce latitudes; so to see thereater than lofur Raknison’s vulgar palace
Lyra and Roger mounted their bears for the last time, and lorek led the way up the slope toward the house There was a courtyard that lay deep under snow, surrounded by a loall, and as lorek pushed open the gate they heard a bell ring soot down She could hardly stand She helped Roger down too, and, supporting each other, the children stuh-deep snoard the steps up to the door
Oh, the warmth there would be inside that house! Oh, the peaceful rest!
She reached for the handle of the bell, but before she could reach it, the door opened There was a s under the lanized: Lord Asriel’s
Lyra wearily pushed back her hood
"Who" Thorold began, and then saho it was, and went on: "Not Lyra? Little Lyra? A?"
He reached behind him to open the inner door
A hall, with a coal fire blazing in a stone grate; war on carpets, leather chairs, polished wood It was like nothing Lyra had seen since leaving Jordan College, and it brought a choking gasp to her throat
Lord Asriel’s snow-leopard daerowled
Lyra’s father stood there, his powerful dark-eyed face at first fierce, triuer; and then the color faded frohter
"No! No!"
He staggered back and clutched at the mantelpiece Lyra couldn’t move
"Get out!" Lord Asriel cried "Turn around, get out, go! I did not send for you!"
She couldn’t speak She opened her ed to say:
"No, no, I came because - "
He see his head, he held up his hands as if to ward her off; she couldn’t believe his distress
She er came to stand with her, anxious Their daemons fluttered out into the warmth, and after a moment Lord Asriel passed a hand across his brow and recovered slightly The color began to return to his cheeks as he looked down at the two
"Lyra," he said "That is Lyra?"
"Yes, Uncle Asriel," she said, thinking that this wasn’t the ti you the alethiometer from the Master of Jordan"
"Yes, of course you did," he said "Who is this?"
"It’s Roger Parslow," she said "He’s the kitchen boy froet here?"
"I was just going to say, there’s lorek Byrnison outside, he’s brought us here He came with me all the way from Trollesund, and we tricked lofur - "
"Who’s lorek Byrnison?"
"An arht us here"
"Thorold," he called, "run a hot bath for these children, and prepare them some food Then they will need to sleep Their clothes are filthy; find the to wear Do it nohile I talk to this bear"
Lyra felt her head swim Perhaps it was the heat, or perhaps it was relief She watched the servant bow and leave the hall, and Lord Asriel go into the vestibule and close the door behind, and then she half-fell into the nearest chair
Only ato her
"Follow , and she hauled herself up and ith Roger to a war on a heated rail, and where a tub of water steao first," said Lyra "I’ll sit outside and we’ll talk"
So Roger, wincing and gasping at the heat, got in and washed They had swu in the Isis or the Cherith other children, but this was different
"I’h the open door "Ihim my uncle I’m afraid of him too, sometimes"
"When we first come in, he never saw me at all He only saw you And he was horrified, till he saw me Then he calmed down all at once"
"He was just shocked," said Lyra "Anyone would be, to see someone they didn’t expect He last sawRooer, "it’s "
"You’re i it"
"I en’t I’m more scared of him than I was of Mrs Coulter, and that’s the truth"
He splashed himself Lyra took out the alethiometer
"D’you want me to ask the symbol reader about it?" Lyra said
"Well, I dunno There’s things I’d rather not know See I heard of since the Gobblers co’s been bad There en’t been nothing good more than about five minutes ahead Like I can see now, this bath’s nice, and there’s a nice warm towel there, about five minutes away And once I’ nice to eat, but no further ahead than that And when I’ve eaten, maybe I’ll look forward to a kip in a comfortable bed But after that, I dunno, Lyra There’s been terrible things we seen, en’t there? And , more’n likely So I think I’d rather not knohat’s in the future I’ll stick to the present"
"Yeah," said Lyra wearily "There’s tih she held the alethioer, it was only for co of the needle passed her by Pantalaimon watched it in silence
After they’d both washed, and eaten some bread and cheese and drunk some wine and hot water, the servant Thorold said, "The boy is to go to bed I’ll show hio His Lordship asks if you’d join him in the library, Miss Lyra"
Lyra found Lord Asriel in a room whose s overlooked the frozen sea far below There was a coal fire under a wide chimneypiece, and a naphtha lamp turned do, so there was little in the way of distracting reflections between the occupants of the room and the bleak starlit panorae armchair on one side of the fire, beckoned her to co hi outside," he said "He prefers the cold"
"Did he tell you about his fight with lofur Raknison?"
"Not in detail But I understand that he is now the king of Svalbard Is that true?"
"Of course it’s true lorek never lies"
"He seeuardian"
"No John Faa told hi it because of that He’s following John Faa’s orders"
"How does John Faa come into this?"
"I’ll tell you if you tell ," she said "You’re my father, en’t you?"
"Yes So what?"
"So you should have told s like that from people, because they feel stupid when they find out, and that’s cruel What difference would it hter? You could have said it years ago You could’ve told me and askedI was, I’d have done that if you askedwould’ve torn it out of me, if you asked me to keep it secret But you never You let other people know, but you never told me"
"Who did tell you?"
"John Faa"
"Did he tell you about your mother?"
"Yes"
"Then there’s not much left for ated and condemned by an insolent child I want to hear what you’ve seen and done on the way here"
"I brought you the bloody alethiometer, didn’t I?" Lyra burst out She was very near to tears "I looked after it all the way froh what’s happened to us, and I learned about using it, and I carried it all this bloody hen I could’ve just given up and been safe, and you en’t even said thank you, nor showed any sign that you’re glad to see me I don’t knohy I ever done it But I did, and I kept on going, even in lofur Raknison’s stinking palace with all the, all onwith lorek so’s I could come on here for your sakeAnd when you did seeyou never wanted to see again You en’t human, Lord Asriel You en’t my father My father wouldn’t treat hters, en’t they? You don’t love me, and I don’t love you, and that’s a fact I love Farder Coram, and I love lorek Byrnison; I love an armored bear more’n I love my father And I bet lorek Byrnison loves me more’n you do"
"You toldJohn Faa’s orders
If you’re going to be senti to you"
"Take your bloody alethio back with lorek"
"Where?"
"Back to the palace He can fight with Mrs Coulter and the Oblation Board, when they turn up If he loses, then I’ll die too, I don’t care If he wins, we’ll send for Lee Scoresby and I’ll sail away in his balloon and - "
"Who’s Lee Scoresby?"
"An aeronaut He brought us here and then we crashed Here you are, here’s the alethioood order"