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It was dark, with an enfolding blackness that pressed on Lyra’s eyes so heavily that she alht of the thousands of tons of rock above theht they had caonfly, and even that was fading; for the poor insects had found no food in the world of the dead, and the Chevalier’s had died not long before

So while Tialys sat on Will’s shoulder, Lyra held the Lady’s dragonfly in her hands as the Lady soothed it and whispered to the tre it first on crumbs of biscuit and then on her own blood If Lyra had seen her do that, she would have offered hers, since there was more of it; but it was all she could do to concentrate on placing her feet safely and avoiding the lowest parts of the rock above

No-Name the harpy had led the them, she said, to the nearest point in the world of the dead from which they could open ato another world Behind thehosts The tunnel was full of whispers, as the foreed on the fainthearted, as the old gave hope to the young

"Is it much farther, No-Naonfly’s dying, and then his light’ll go out"

The harpy stopped and turned to say:

"Just follow If you can’t see, listen If you can’t hear, feel"

Her eyes shone fierce in the gloom Lyra nodded and said, "Yes, I will, but I’ as I used to be, and I’m not brave, not very anyway Please don’t stop I’ll follow you - we all will Please keep going, No-Naonfly shine was getting dimone

But as she stumbled forward, a voice spoke just beside her - a familiar voice

"Lyra - Lyra, child"

And she turned in delight

"Mr Scoresby! Oh, I’lad to hear you! And it is you - I can see, just - oh, I wish I could touch you!"

In the faint, faint light she made out the lean form and the sardonic smile of the Texan aeronaut, and her hand reached forward of its own accord, in vain

"Me too, honey But listen tosome trouble out there, and it’s aimed at you - don’t ask me how Is this the boy with the knife?"

Will had been looking at hier to see this old coht past Lee to look at the ghost beside hirown-up vision of Will - the sa his head

Will was speechless, but his father said:

"Listen - there’s no time to talk about this - just do exactly as I say Take the knife now and find a place where a lock has been cut froent, and Will didn’t waste ti why Lyra, her eyes ith alaronfly with one hand and felt her hair with the other

"No," said Will, "take your hand away - I can’t see"

And in the faint gleam, he could see it: just above her left temple, there was a little patch of hair that was shorter than the rest

"Who did that?" said Lyra "And - "

"Hush," said Will, and asked his father’s ghost, "What ht down to her scalp Collect it carefully, every single hair Don’t miss even one Then open another world - any will do - and put the hair through into it, and then close it again Do it now, at once"

The harpy atching, the ghosts behind were crowding close Lyra could see their faint faces in the di her lip while Will did as his father told hionfly light He cut a little hollow space in the rock of another world, put all the tiny golden hairs into it, and replaced the rock before closing the

And then the ground began to shake Fro noise, as if the whole center of the earth were turning on itself like a vast an to fall froround lurched suddenly to one side Will seized Lyra’s aran to shift and slide, and loose pieces of stone cas and feet -

The two children, sheltering the Gallivespians, crouched doith their arborne away down to the left, and they held each other fiercely, too breathless and shaken even to cry out Their ears were filled with the roar of thousands of tons of rock tu doith theh all around the down a slope that hadn’t been there aon Will’s left arht hand he felt for the knife; it was still there at his belt

"Tialys? Salmakia?" said Will shakily

"Both here, both alive," said the Chevalier’s voice near his ear

The air was full of dust, and of the cordite smell of smashed rock It was hard to breathe, and ionfly was dead

"Mr Scoresby?" said Lyra "We can’t see anything What happened?"

"I’uess the bouess it htened; but then she said, "Roger - are you there?"

"Yeah," ca to fall, and he caught hold"

"Look," said the ghost of John Parry "But hold still to the rock, and don’t , and froli all around theh to strike their hearts ablaze with fear, for it lit up what lay to their left, the place into which it was all falling - or flowing, like a river over the edge of a waterfall

It was a vast black eolden light flowed into it and died They could see the other side, but it was much farther away than Will could have thrown a stone To their right, a slope of rough stones, loose and precariously balanced, rose high into the dusty glooing to as not even a ledge - just soe of that abyss, and there was no way out except forward, along the slope, a boulders, which, it see down below

And behind theazing in horror at the abyss They were crouching on the slope, too frightened to s and soared above, scanning backward and forward, flying back to reassure those still in the tunnel, flying ahead to search for the way out

Lyra checked: at least the alethio her fear, she looked around, found Roger’s little face, and said:

"Come on, then, we’re all still here, we en’t been hurt And we can see now, at least So just keep going, just keep on e of this" She gestured at the abyss "So we just got to keep going ahead I swear Will and me’ll just keep on till we do So don’t be scared, don’t give up, don’t lag behind Tell the others I can’t look back all the tiot to trust you to cohost nodded And so, in a shocked silence, the colue of the abyss How long it took, neither Lyra nor Will could guess; how fearful and dangerous it was, they were never able to forget The darkness beloas so profound that it seehastly dizziness swam over their minds when they looked Whenever they could, they looked ahead of them fixedly, on this rock, that foothold, this projection, that loose slope of gravel, and kept their eyes froulf; but it pulled, it te into it, only to feel their balance tilting and their eyesight swi their throats

Fro ones looked back and saw the infinite line of the dead winding out of the crack they’d co their infants’ faces to their breasts, aged fathers cla the skirts of the person in front, young boys and girls of Roger’s age keeping staunch and careful, soWill and Lyra, so they still hoped, toward the open air

But some didn’t trust them They crowded close behind, and both children felt cold hands on their hearts and their entrails, and they heard vicious whispers:

"Where is the upper world? How htened here!"

"We should never have come - at least back in the world of the dead we had a little light and a little co thing when you came to our land! You should have stayed in your oorld and waited to die before you caht are you leading us? You are only children! Who gave you the authority?"

Will wanted to turn and denounce thehtened, she said

Then the Lady Sal way in the great eether and keep going! The way is hard, but Lyra can find it Be patient and cheerful and we’ll lead you out, don’t fear!"

Lyra felt herself strengthened by hearing this, and that was really the Lady’s intention And so they toiled on, with painful effort

"Will," said Lyra after some minutes, "can you hear that wind?"

"Yes, I can," said Will "But I can’t feel it at all And I tell you so about that hole down there It’s the sae There’s soe; once you’ve felt it you never forget it And I can see it there, just where the rock falls away into the dark But that big space down there, that’s not another world like all the others It’s different I don’t like it I wish I could close it up"

"You haven’t closed everyyou’ve made"

"No, because I couldn’t, so if they’re left open And one that big" He gestured doard, not wanting to look "It’s wrong So together, another conversation had been taking place a little way off: the Chevalier Tialys was talking quietly with the ghosts of Lee Scoresby and John Parry

"So what are you saying, John?" said Lee "You’re saying we ought not to go out into the open air? Man, every single part of ain!"