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It was desperately hard for Lyra and Will to leave that sorld where they had slept the night before, but if they were ever going to find their daeo into the dark once h the dim tunnel, Lyra bent over the alethio little unconscious sounds of distress - whimpers and catches of breath that would have been sobs if they were any stronger Will, too, felt the pain where his daemon had been, a scalded place of acute tenderness that every breath tore at with cold hooks

Hoearily Lyra turned the wheels; on what leaden feet her thoughtsthat led from every one of the alethiometer’s thirty-six syhtly and confidently, felt loose and shaky And holding the connections between the, or telling a story: sorip was failing, and shewould fail

"It’s not far," she said at last "And there’s all kinds of danger - there’s a battle, there’s But we’re nearly in the right place now Just at the end of this tunnel there’s a big sh there"

The ghosts ere going to fight pressed forward eagerly, and she felt Lee Scoresby close at her side

He said, "Lyra, gal, it won’t be long now When you see that old bear, you tell hi And when the battle’s over, there’ll be all the ti the wind and find the atoelands, and my sweethearts - all my sweethearts Lyra, child, you rest when this is done, you hear? Life is good, and death is over"

His voice faded She wanted to put her arms around him, but of course that was impossible So she just looked at his pale forhost saw the passion and brilliance in her eyes, and took strength from it

And on Lyra’s shoulder, and on Will’s, rode the two Gallivespians Their short lives were nearly over; each of them felt a stiffness in their limbs, a coldness around the heart They would both return soon to the world of the dead, this tiht each other’s eye, and vowed that they would stay with Will and Lyra for as long as they could, and not say a word about their dying

Up and up the children clambered They didn’t speak They heard each other’s harsh breathing, they heard their footfalls, they heard the little stones their steps dislodged Ahead of the, her claws scratching, silent and griular drip-drip, echoing in the tunnel And then a faster dripping, a trickle, a running of water

"Here!" said Lyra, reaching forward to touch a sheet of rock that blocked the way, smooth and wet and cold "Here it is"

She turned to the harpy

"I been thinking," she said, "how you saved hosts that’ll coh the world of the dead to that land we slept in last night And I thought, if you en’t got a naht I’d give you a naue I’s So that’s your name now, and that’s what you’ll be for evers"

"One day," said the harpy, "I will see you again, Lyra Silvertongue"

"And if I know you’re here, I shan’t be afraid," Lyra said "Good-bye, Gracious Wings, till I die"

She e her on both cheeks

Then the Chevalier Tialys said: "This is the world of Lord Asriel’s Republic?"

"Yes," she said, "that’s what the alethiometer says It’s close to his fortress"

"Then let h, and he called, "Listen, because the Lady Sal us who have seen this world before There is a fortress on aWho the enemy is I do not know Lyra and Will have only one task nohich is to search for their daee and fight well"

Lyra turned to Will

"All right," he said, "I’m ready"

He took out the knife and looked into the eyes of his father’s ghost, who stood close by They wouldn’t know each other for lad he would have been to see his ether -

"Will," said Lyra, alarmed

He stopped The knife was stuck in the air He took his hand away, and there it hung, fastened in the substance of an invisible world He let out a deep breath

"I nearly"

"I could see," she said "Look at ht hair, her firm-set mouth, her candid eyes; he felt the warht the friendly scent of her flesh

The knife caain," he said

He turned away Focusing hard, he let his , searching, and then he found it In, along, down, and back The ghosts crowded so close that Will’s body and Lyra’s felt little jolts of cold along every nerve

And hethey sensed was noise The light that struck in was dazzling, and they had to cover their eyes, ghosts and living alike, so they could see nothing for several seconds; but the pounding, the explosions, the rattle of gunfire, the shouts and screa

John Parry’s ghost and the ghost of Lee Scoresby recovered their senses first Because both had been soldiers, experienced in battle, they weren’t so disoriented by the noise Will and Lyra simply watched in fear and a in the air above, showering fragments of rock and metal over the slopes of the mountain, which they saw a little way off; and in the skies angels were fighting angels, and witches, too, swooped and soared screa their clan cries as they shot arrows at their ene to attack a flying ht hionfly darted and skimmed above, its rider leapt off to clamp his spurs deep in the pilot’s neck; and then the insect returned, swooping low to let its rider leap on the brilliant green back as the flying ht into the rocks at the foot of the fortress

"Open it wider," said Lee Scoresby "Let us out!"

"Wait, Lee," said John Parry "So - look over there"

Will cut another smallin the direction he indicated, and as they looked out, they could all see a change in the pattern of the fighting The attacking force began to withdraw A group of ar fire, turned laboriously and etting the better of a ragged battle with Lord Asriel’s gyropters, wheeled in the sky and round - columns of rifle cannons, eapons such as none of the watchers had ever seen - began to disengage and pull back