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"My child! My daughter! Where is she? What have you done? My Lyra - you’d do better to tear the fibers from my heart - she was safe with me, safe, and nohere is she?"

Mrs Coulter’s cry resounded through the little chamber at the top of the adamant tower She was bound to a chair, her hair disheveled, her clothing torn, her eyes wild; and her led on the floor in the coils of a silver chain

Lord Asriel sat nearby, scribbling on a piece of paper, taking no notice An orderly stood beside hi nervously at the woman When Lord Asriel handed him the paper, he saluted and hurried out, his terrier daemon close at his heels with her tail tucked low

Lord Asriel turned to Mrs Coulter

"Lyra? Frankly, I don’t care," he said, his voice quiet and hoarse "The wretched child should have stayed where she was put, and done what she was told I can’t waste any more time or resources on her; if she refuses to be helped, let her deal with the consequences"

"You don’t mean that, Asriel, or you wouldn’t have - "

"I mean every word of it The fuss she’s caused is out of all proportion to her irl, not very clever - "

"She is!" said Mrs Coulter

"All right; bright but not intellectual; ienerous, loving"

"A perfectly ordinary child, distinguished by nothing - "

"Perfectly ordinary? Lyra? She’s unique Think of what she’s done already Dislike her if you will, Asriel, but don’t you dare patronize your daughter And she was safe with etting up "She is unique To have tamed and softened you - that’s no everyday feat She’s drawn your poison, Marisa She’s taken your teeth out Your fire’s been quenched in a drizzle of sentient of the Church, the fanatical persecutor of children, the inventor of hideous machines to slice thes for any evidence of sin - and along coernails, and you cluck and settle your feathers over her like a hen Well, I adift I’ve never seenift And now you ht as well be quiet I’ve asked ent conference, and if you can’t control your noise, I’ll have you gagged"

Mrs Coulter was hter than she knew Her answer to this was to spit in Lord Asriel’s face He wiped it cal would put an end to that kind of behavior, too"

"Oh, do correct me, Asriel," she said "Someone who displays to his under-officers a captive tied to a chair is clearly a prince of politeness Untieme"

"As you wish," he said, and took a silk scarf from the drawer; but before he could tie it around her mouth, she shook her head

"No, no," she said, "Asriel, don’t, I beg you, please don’t hury tears dashed from her eyes

"Very well, I’ll untie you, but he can stay in his chains," he said, and dropped the scarf back in the drawer before cutting her bonds with a clasp knife

She rubbed her wrists, stood up, stretched, and only then noticed the condition of her clothes and hair She looked haggard and pale; the last of the Gallivespian veno pains in her joints, but she was not going to show him that

Lord Asriel said, "You can wash in there," indicating a ser than a closet

She picked up her chained daelared at Lord Asriel over her shoulder, and went through to make herself tidier

The orderly caunwe and the Lord Roke"

The African general and the Gallivespian caunwe in a clean uniforliding swiftly to the table astride his blue hawk

Lord Asriel greeted them warmly and offered wine The bird let his rider step off, and then flew to the bracket by the door as the orderly announced the third of Lord Asriel’s high coel by the naher rank than Baruch or Balthaht that seemed to come from soed, much tidied, and all three commanders bowed to her; and if she was surprised at their appearance, she gave no sign, but inclined her head and sat down peaceably, holding the pinionedtiunwe"

The African, powerful and deep-voiced, said, "We killed seventeen Swiss Guards and destroyed two zeppelins We lost five irl and the boy escaped We captured the Lady Coulter, despite her courageous defense, and brought her here I hope she feels we treated her courteously"

"I am quite content with the way you treated me, sir," she said, with the faintest possible stress on the you

"Any dayropters? Any wounded?" said Lord Asriel

"Soe and so; your force did well My Lord Roke, what have you heard?"

The Gallivespian said, "My spies are with the boy and girl in another world Both children are safe and well, though the girl has been kept in a drugged sleep forthe events in the cave: by soain, thanks to a creature froiant bear, very skilled at sh into another world, where they are now My spies are with them, of course, but there is a difficulty: while the boy has the knife, he cannot be co; and yet if they were to kill him in his sleep, the knife would be useless to us For the tio with theo, so at least we can keep track of the to come here, at any rate My till not lose them"

"Are they safe in this other world they’re in now?" said Lord Asriel

"They’re on a beach near a forest of large tree-ferns There is no sign of aniirl are asleep; I spoke to the Chevalier Tialys not five o"

"Thank you," said Lord Asriel "Now that your two agents are following the children, of course, we have no eyes in the Magisterium anymore We shall have to rely on the alethiometer At least - "

Then Mrs Coulter spoke, to their surprise

"I don’t know about the other branches," she said, "but as far as the Consistorial Court is concerned, the reader they rely on is Fra Pavel Rasek And he’s thorough, but slow They won’t knohere Lyra is for another few hours"

Lord Asriel said, "Thank you, Marisa Do you have any idea what Lyra and this boy intend to do next?"

"No," she said, "none I’ve spoken to the boy, and he see secrets I can’t guess what he would do As for Lyra, she is quite iunwe, " council? If so, what is her function? If not, should she not be taken elsewhere?"

"She is our captive and ent of the Church, she may have information that would be useful"

"Will she reveal anything willingly? Or will she need to be tortured?" said Lord Roke, watching her directly as he spoke

Mrs Coulter laughed

"I would have thought Lord Asriel’s commanders would know better than to expect truth to come out of torture," she said

Lord Asriel couldn’t help enjoying her barefaced insincerity

"I will guarantee Mrs Coulter’s behavior," he said "She knoill happen if she betrays us; though she will not have the chance However, if any of you has a doubt, express it now, fearlessly"

"I do," said King Ogunwe, "but I doubt you, not her"

"Why?" said Lord Asriel

"If she teht to capture her, but wrong to invite her to this council Treat her with every courtesy, give her the greatest comfort, but place her somewhere else, and stay away from her"

"Well, I invited you to speak," said Lord Asriel, "and I must accept your rebuke I value your presenceI’ll have her taken away"

He reached for the bell, but before he could ring, Mrs Coulter spoke

"Please," she said urgently, "listen to me first I can help I’ve been closer to the heart of the Magisteriuain I kno they think, I can guess what they’ll do You wonder why you should trust me, what’sto kill hter They daren’t let her live The moment I found out who she is - what she is - what the witches prophesy about her - I knew I had to leave the Church; I kneas their enemy, and they were mine I didn’t knohat you all were, or what I was to you - that was a ainst the Church, against everything they believed in, and if need be, against the Authority himself I"

She stopped All the co intently Now she looked Lord Asriel full in the face and seemed to speak to hilittering

"I have been the worst mother in the world I let my only child be taken away from me when she was a tiny infant, because I didn’t care about her; I was concerned only with my own advancement I didn’t think of her for years, and if I did, it was only to regret the embarrassan to take an interest in Dust and in children, and so stirred in my heart, and I remembered that I was a mother and Lyra was my child

"And because there was a threat, I saved her from it Three tier First, when the Oblation Board began its work: I went to Jordan College and I took her to live with me, in London, where I could keep her safe from the Board or so I hoped But she ran away

"The second tiar, when I found her just in time, under the under the blade of the My heart nearly stopped It hat they - hat I had done to other children, but when it was mine Oh, you can’t conceive the horror of that ot her free; I took her out; I saved her a second time

"But even as I did that, I still felt myself part of the Church, a servant, a loyal and faithful and devoted servant, because I was doing the Authority’s work

"And then I learned the witches’ prophecy Lyra will somehow, sometime soon, be tempted, as Eve was - that’s what they say What forrowing up, after all It’s not hard to iine And now that the Church knows that, too, they’ll kill her If it all depends on her, could they risk letting her live? Would they dare take the chance that she’d refuse this temptation, whatever it will be?

"No, they’re bound to kill her If they could, they’d go back to the Garden of Eden and kill Eve before she was te is not difficult for them; Calvin himself ordered the deaths of children; they’d kill her with pomp and ceremony and prayers and lamentations and psalms and hymns, but they would kill her If she falls into their hands, she’s dead already

"So when I heard what the witch said, I saved hter for the third time I took her to a place where I kept her safe, and there I was going to stay"

"You drugged her," said King Ogunwe "You kept her unconscious"

"I had to," said Mrs Coulter, "because she hated me," and here her voice, which had been full of emotion but under control, spilled over into a sob, and it trembled as she went on: "She feared me and hated me, and she would have fled froed her into oblivion Do you knohat that means to a mother? But it was the only way to keep her safe! All that time in the cave asleep, her eyes closed, her body helpless, her daemon curled up at her throat Oh, I felt such a love, such a tenderness, such a deep, deep My own child, the first tis for her, my little! washed her and fed her and kept her safe and warm, I made sure her body was nourished as she slept I lay beside her at night, I cradled her ineyes, my little one"

She was shameless She spoke quietly; she didn’t declaim or raise her voice; and when a sob shook her, it washer emotions for the sake of courtesy Which made her barefaced lies all the ust; she lied in the very marrow of her bones

She directed her wordsto, and Lord Asriel saw that, too Not only was the king her chief accuser, he was also huel or Lord Roke, and she kne to play on hih, it was on the Gallivespian that she reatest impression Lord Roke sensed in her a nature as close to that of a scorpion as he had ever encountered, and he ell aware of the power in the sting he could detect under her gentle tone Better to keep scorpions where you could see theunhen the latter changed his ued that she should stay, and Lord Asriel found himself outflanked: for he noanted her elsewhere, but he had already agreed to abide by his commanders’ wishes

Mrs Coulter looked at him with an expression of mild and virtuous concern He was certain that no one else could see the glitter of sly triumph in the depths of her beautiful eyes

"Stay, then," he said "But you’ve spoken enough Stay quiet noant to consider this proposal for a garrison on the southern border You’ve all seen the report: is it workable? Is it desirable? Next I want to look at the armory And then I want to hear froelic forces First, the garrison King Ogunwe?"

The African leader began They spoke for some tie of the Church’s defenses, and their clear assessths

But now that Tialys and Saler had a spy in the Magisteriuerously out of date An idea came to Mrs Coulter’s lance that felt like a powerful anbaric spark; but she said nothing, and stroked his golden fur as she listened to the coh That is a problem we’ll deal with later Now for the armory I understand they’re ready to test the intention craft We’ll go and look at it"

He took a silver key frooldeneven the tip of one golden hair

Lord Roke mounted his hawk and folloith the others as Lord Asriel set off down the stairs of the tower and out onto the battle at their eyelids, and the dark blue hawk soared up in a unwe drew his coat around him and rested his hand on his cheetah daemon’s head

Mrs Coulter said huel:

"Excuse me, my lady: your nael

Her appearance impressed Mrs Coulter, just as her fellows had impressed the witch Ruta Skadi when she found theh there was no source of light She was tall, naked, winged, and her lined face was older than that of any living creature Mrs Coulter had ever seen

"Are you one of the angels who rebelled so long ago?"

"Yes And since then I have been wandering between iance to Lord Asriel, because I see in his great enterprise the best hope of destroying the tyranny at last"

"But if you fail?"

"Then we shall all be destroyed, and cruelty will reign forever"

As they spoke, they followed Lord Asriel’s rapid strides along the wind-beaten battle down so deep that even the flaring lights on sconces down the walls could not disclose the botto down and down into the gloo his feathers flicker as he passed it, until he was el had moved on to Lord Asriel’s side, and Mrs Coulter found herself descending next to the African king

"Excuse norance, sir," she said, "but I had never seen or heard of a being like the ht in the cave yesterday Where does he come from? Can you tell me about his people? I wouldn’t offend hi about hiht be unintentionally rude"