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Serafina Pekkala, the clan queen of the witches of Lake Enara, wept as she flew through the turbid skies of the Arctic She ith rage and fear and reainst the woman Coulter, who to her beloved land; and remorse She would face the re down at theice cap, the flooded lowland forests, the swollen sea, she felt heartsick

But she didn’t stop to visit her hoe her sisters Instead, she flew north and farther north, into the fogs and gales around Svalbard, the kingdom of Iorek Byrnison, the arnized the main island The mountains lay bare and black, and only a few hidden valleys facing away from the sun had retained a little snow in their shaded corners; but as the sun doing here anyway, at this time of year? The whole of nature was overturned

It took herthe rocks off the northern edge of the island, swi fast after a walrus It was harder for bears to kill in the water: when the land was covered in ice and the great sea-e of cae and their prey was out of its eles should be

But Iorek Byrnison was hungry, and even the stabbing tusks of the hty walrus couldn’t keep hi the white sea-spray red, and saw Iorek haul the carcass out of the waves and onto a broad shelf of rock, watched at a respectful distance by three ragged-furred foxes, waiting for their turn at the feast

When the bear-king had finished eating, Serafina flen to speak to hi Iorek Byrnison," she said, "please may I speak with you? I lay my weapons down"

She placed her bow and arrows on the wet rock between them Iorek looked at theister any emotion, it would be surprise

"Speak, Serafina Pekkala," he growled "We have never fought, have we?"

"King Iorek, I have failed your comrade, Lee Scoresby"

The bear’s small black eyes and bloodstainedthe tips of the crea

"Mr Scoresby is dead," Serafina went on "Before I parted froave him a flower to summon me with, if he should need me I heard his call and flew to hi a force of Muscovites, but I know nothing of what brought the the Iorek, I am wretched with remorse"

"Where did this happen?" said Iorek Byrnison

"In another world This will take in"

She told him what Lee Scoresby had set out to do: to find the man who had been known as Stanislaus Grumman She told him about how the barrier between the worlds had been breached by Lord Asriel, and about so of the ice, for exaht after the angels, and she tried to describe those flying beings to the bear-king as Ruta had described theht that shone on them, the crystalline clarity of their appearance, the richness of their wisdom

Then she described what she had found when she answered Lee’s call

"I put a spell on his body to preserve it from corruption," she told him "It will last until you see hi Iorek Troubled by everything, but mostly by this"

"Where is the child?"

"I left her with my sisters, because I had to answer Lee’s call"

"In that same world?"

"Yes, the saet there from here?"

She explained Iorek Byrnison listened expressionlessly, and then said, "I shall go to Lee Scoresby And then I o south"

"South?"

"The ice has gone fro about this, Serafina Pekkala I have chartered a ship"

The three little foxes had been waiting patiently Two of the, and the other was still sitting up, following the conversation The foxes of the Arctic, scavengers that they were, had picked up soe, but their brains were so formed that they could only understand statements in the present tense Most of what Iorek and Serafina said was less noise to them Furthermore, when they spoke, much of what they said was lies, so it didn’t matter if they repeated what they’d heard: no one could sort out which parts were true, though the credulous cliff-ghasts often believed most of it, and never learned from their disappointment The bears and the witches alike were used to their conversations being scavenged as well as the meat they’d finished with

"And you, Serafina Pekkala?" Iorek went on "What will you do now?"

"I’yptians," she said "I think they will be needed"

"Lord Faa," said the bear, "yes Good fighters Go well"

He turned away and slipped into the water without a splash, and began to swim in his steady, tireless paddle toward the neorld

And soh the blackened undergrowth and the heat-split rocks at the edge of a burned forest The sun was glaring through the snored the charcoal dust that blackened his white fur and the es that searched in vain for skin to bite