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Will and Lyra slept through the night and woke up when the sun struck their eyelids They actually aithin seconds of each other, with the saht; but when they looked around, the Chevalier Tialys was caluard close by

"The force of the Consistorial Court has retreated," he told theunwe, and on her way to Lord Asriel"

"How do you know?" said Will, sitting up stiffly "Have you been back through the ?"

"No We talk through the lodestone resonator I reported our conversation," Tialys said to Lyra, "to o with you to the bear, and that once you have seen him, you will come with us So we are allies, and we shall help you as much as we can"

"Good," said Will "Then let’s eat together Do you eat our food?"

"Thank you, yes," said the Lady

Will took out his last few dried peaches and the stale flat loaf of rye bread, which was all he had left, and shared it ah of course the spies did not take much

"As for water, there doesn’t seem to be any around here on this world," Will said "We’ll have to wait till we go back through before we can have a drink"

"Then we better do that soon," said Lyra

First, though, she took out the alethioer in the valley No, caers are in their homes; so they prepared to leave

Thelooked strange in the dazzling air of the desert, giving onto the deep-shaded bush, a square of thick green vegetation hanging in the air like a painting The Gallivespians wanted to look at it, and were astounded to see hoas just not there fro when you came round from the side

"I’ll have to close it once we’re through," Will said

Lyra tried to pinch the edges together after they went through, but her fingers couldn’t find it at all; nor could the spies, despite the fineness of their hands Only Will could feel exactly where the edges were, and he did it cleanly and quickly

"How many worlds can you enter with the knife?" said Tialys

"As many as there are," said Will "No one would ever have ti his rucksack up and led the way along the forest path The dragonflies relished the fresh, ht The movement of the trees above was less violent, and the air was cool and tranquil; so it was all the yropter suspended aled in his seat belt, half out of the door, and to find the charred remains of the zeppelin a little farther up - soot-black strips of cloth, blackened struts and pipe work, broken glass, and then the bodies: three men burned to cinders, their li to fight

And they were only the ones who had fallen near the path There were other bodies andthe trees farther down Shocked and silenced, the two children onflies looked around one and who had lost most

When they reached the top of the valley, where the trees thinned out and the rainboaterfalls began, they stopped to drink deeply of the ice-cold water

"I hope that little girl’s all right," said Will "We’d never have got you away if she hadn’t woken you up She went to a holy et that powder specially"

"She is all right," said Lyra, " ’cause I asked the alethioh She’s afraid of us She probably wishes she’d never got ht"

They climbed up beside the waterfalls and refilled Will’s canteen before striking off across the plateau toward the ridge where the alethioone

And then there ca: no trouble for Will, but a torment to Lyra, whose li sleep But she would sooner have her tongue torn out than confess how bad she felt; li, she kept pace with Will and said nothing Only when they sat down at noon did she allow herself so one apart to relieve himself

The Lady Sal weary"

"But I don’t want to let Will down! I don’t want hi hi he thinks"

"You don’t know," said Lyra rudely "You don’t know him any more than you know me"

"I know impertinence when I hear it," said the Lady caly for the walking"

Lyra feltspurs were very clear in the sunlight, so she said nothing

The Lady’s co the case of the lodestone resonator, and, curiosity overco resentment, Lyra watched to see what he did The instruray-black stone, resting on a stand of wood, and the Chevalier swept a tiny bow like a violinist’s across the end while he pressed his fingers at various points along the surface The places weren’tit at random, but from the intensity of his expression and the certain fluency of hisa process as her own reading of the alethiometer

After several minutes the spy put the boay and took up a pair of headphones, the earpieces no larger than Lyra’s little fingernail, and wrapped one end of the wire tightly around a peg in the end of the stone, leading the rest along to another peg at the other end and wrapping it around that By s and the tension on the wire between thee

"How does that work?" she said when he’d finished

Tialys looked at her as if to judge whether she was genuinely interested, and then said, "Your scientists, what do you call the called quantulement It means that two particles can exist that only have properties in common, so that whatever happens to one happens to the other at the same moment, no matter how far apart they are Well, in our world there is a way of taking a co all its particles, and then splitting it in two so that both parts resonate together The counterpart to this is with Lord Roke, our commander When I play on this one with my bow, the other one reproduces the sounds exactly, and so we co away and said so to the Lady She joined hi too quietly for Lyra to hear, though Pantalaireat ears in their direction

Presently Will came back and then they ot steeper and the snow line nearer They rested once more at the head of a rocky valley, because even Will could tell that Lyra was nearly finished: she was liray

"Let me see your feet," he said to her, "because if they’re blistered, I’ll put some ointment on"

They were, badly, and she let hi her teeth

Meanwhile, the Chevalier was busy, and after a few minutes he put his lodestone away and said, "I have told Lord Roke of our position, and they are sending a gyropter to bring us away as soon as you have spoken to your friend"

Will nodded Lyra took no notice Presently she sat up wearily and pulled on her socks and shoes, and they set off once more

Another hour, andwhether they would find any shelter before night fell; but then Lyra gave a cry of relief and joy

"Iorek! Iorek!"

She had seen hi was soainst a patch of snow, but when Lyra’s voice echoed out he turned his head, raised it to sniff, and bounded down theWill, he let Lyra clasp his neck and bury her face in his fur, growling so deep that Will felt it through his feet; but Lyra felt it as pleasure and forgot her blisters and her weariness in a lad to see you! I never thought I’d ever see you again - after that tis that’ve happened, is Mr Scoresby safe? How’s your kingdom? Are you all alone here?"

The little spies had vanished; at all events, there see reat white bear As if she had never wanted to be anywhere else, Lyra climbed up as Iorek offered his back and rode proud and happy as her dear friend carried her up the last stretch of the way to his cave

Will, preoccupied, didn’t listen as Lyra talked to Iorek, though he did hear a cry of dismay at one point, and heard her say:

"Mr Scoresby - oh no! Oh, it’s too cruel! Really dead? You’re sure, Iorek?"

"The witch told me he set out to find the man called Grumman," said the bear

Will listened more closely now, for Baruch and Balthamos had told him some of this

"What happened? Who killed hi He kept a whole company of Muscovites at bay while the e hi freely, and Will didn’t knohat to say, for it was his father whom this unknown man had died to save; and Lyra and the bear had both known and loved Lee Scoresby, and he had not

Soon Iorek turned aside and ainst the snow Will didn’t knohere the spies were, but he was perfectly sure they were nearby He wanted to speak quietly to Lyra, but not till he could see the Gallivespians and knoasn’t being overheard

He laid his rucksack in the cavea fire, and Lyra watched, curious despite her sorrow Iorek held a small rock of some sort of ironstone in his left forepaw and struck it no more than three or four times on a similar one on the floor Each time a scatter of sparks burst out and went exactly where Iorek directed therass Very soon that was ablaze, and Iorek cal and then another and another until the fire was burning strongly

The children welcomed it, because the air was very cold now, and then caht have been goat Iorek ate his meat raw, of course, but he spitted its joint on a sharp stick and laid it to roast across the fire for the two of the up in these mountains, Iorek?" she said

"No My people can’t live here I rong, but luckily so, since I found you What are your plans now?"

Will looked around the cave They were sitting close to the fire, and the firelight threar’s fur Will could see no sign of the spies, but there was nothing for it: he had to ask

"King Iorek," he began, "my knife is broken - " Then he looked past the bear and said, "No, wait" He was pointing at the wall "If you’re listening," he went on more loudly, "come out and do it honestly Don’t spy on us"

Lyra and Iorek Byrnison turned to see who he was talking to The little ht, on a ledge higher than the children’s heads, Iorek growled

"You haven’t asked Iorek Byrnison for per, and you’re just a spy You should showthat She looked at Will with pleasure, and saw him fierce and contemptuous

But the Chevalier’s expression, as he looked at Will, was displeased

"We have been truthful with you," he said "It was dishonorable to deceive us"

Will stood up His daeress, and she shrank back froreat animal to show