THIRTEEN - TIALYS AND SALMAKIA
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Holding the heavy gun, Will swept his hand sideways and khe golden monkey off his perch, stunning him so that Mrs. Coulter groaned aloud and the monkeys paw relaxed enough to let the tiny woman struggle free.In a moment she leapt up to the rocks, and the man sprang away from Mrs. Coulter, both of them moving as quickly as grasshoppers. The three children had no time to be astohe man was ed: he felt his panions shoulder and arm tenderly, and embraced her swiftly before calling to Will.
"You! Boy!" he said, and although his voice was small in volume, it was as deep as a grown mans. "Have you got the knife?"
"Of course I have," said Will. If they didnt know it was broken, he wasnt going to tell them.
"You and the girl will have to follow us. Who is the other child?"
"Ama, from the village," said Will.
"Tell her to return there. Move now, before the Swiss e."
Will didate. Whatever these two intended, he and Lyra could still get away through the window hed opened behind the bush oh below.
So he helped her up and watched curiously as the two small figures leapt on, what? Birds? Nonflies, as large as seagulls, which had been waiting in the darkness. Then they darted forward to the cave mouth, where Mrs. Coulter lay. She was half-stunned with pain and drowsy from the Chevaliers sting, but she reached up as they went past her, and cried:
"Lyra! Lyra, my daughter, my dear one! Lyra, dont go! Dont go!"
Lyra looked down at her, anguished; but theepped over her mothers body and loosened Mrs. Coulters feeble clutch from her ahe woman was sobbing now; Will saw the tears glistening on her cheeks.
Croug just beside the cave mouth, the three children waited until there was a brief pause in the shooting, and then followed the dragonflies as they darted dowh. The light had ged: as well as the cold anbaric gleam from the zeppelins floodlights, there was the leaping e of flames.
Will looked bace. In the glare Mrs. Coulters face was a mask ic passion, and her daemon g piteously to her as she k and held out her arms, g:
"Lyra! Lyra, my love! My hearts treasure, my little child, my only one! Oh, Lyra, Lyra, dont go, dont leave me! My darling daughter, youre tearing my heart...”
And a great and furious sob shook Lyra herself, for, after all, Mrs. Coulter was the only mother she would ever have, and Will saw a cascade of tears run down the girls cheeks.
But he had to be ruthless. He pulled at Lyras hand, and as the dragonfly rider darted close to his head, urging them to hurry, he led her at a croug run dowh and away from the cave. In Wills left hand, bleeding again from the blow hed landed on the monkey, was Mrs. Coulters pistol.
"Make for the top of the cliff," said the dragonfly rider, "and give yourself up to the Afris. Theyre your best hope."
Mindful of those sharp spurs, Will said nothing, though he hadnt the least iion of obeying. There was only one place he was making for, and that was the window behind the bush; so he kept his head low and ran fast, and Lyra and Ama ran behind him.
"Halt!"
There was a man, three men, blog the path ahead, uniformed, white men with crossbows and snarling wolf-dog daemons, the Swiss Guard.
"Iorek!" cried Will at once. "Iorek Byrnison!" He could hear the bear crashing and snarling not far away, ahe screams and cries of the soldiers unlucky enough to meet him.
But someone else came from o help them: Balthamos, in a blur of desperation, hurled himself between the children and the soldiers. The men fell back, amazed, as this apparition shimmered into being in front of them.
But they were trained warriors, and a moment later their daemo at the angel, savage teeth flashing white in the gloom, and Balthamos flinched: he cried out in fear and shame, and shrank back. Then he sprang upward, beating his wings hard. Will watched in dismay as the figure of his guide and friend soared up to vanish out of sight among the treetops.
Lyra was following it all with still-dazed eyes.<bdo></bdo> It had taken no more than two or three seds, but it was enough for the Swiss troup, and now their leader was raising his crossbow, and Will had no choice: he swung up the pistol and clamped his right hand to the butt and pulled the trigger, and the blast shook his bones, but the bullet found the ma.
The soldier fell back as if hed been kicked by a horse. Simultaneously the two little spies lauhemselves at the other two, leaping from the drago their victims before Will could blink. The woman found a neck, the man a wrist, and each made a quick backward stab with a heel. A choking, anguished gasp, and the two Swiss died, their daemons vanishing in mid-howl.
Will leapt over the bodies, and Lyra went with him, running hard and fast with Pantalaimon rag wildcat-formed at their heels. Wheres Ama? Will thought, and he saw her in the same moment dodging down a different path. Now shell be safe, he thought, and a sed later he saw the pale gleam of the window deep behind the bushes. He seized Lyras arm and pulled her toward it. Their faces were scratched, their clothes were sheir awisted on roots and rocks, but they found the window and tumbled through, into the other world, onto the bone-white rocks uhe glaring moon, where only the scraping of the is broke the immense silence.
And the first thing Will did was to hold his stomad retch, heaving and heaving with a mortal horror. That was two men now that hed killed, not to mention the youth iower of the Angels... Will did not want this. His body revolted at what his instinct had made him do, and the result was a dry, sonizing spell of kneeling and vomiting until his stomad his heart were empty.
Lyra watched helpless nearby, nursing Pan, rog him against her breast.
Will finally recovered a little and looked around. And at once he saw that they werent alone in this world, because the little spies were there, too, with their packs laid on the ground nearby. Their dragonflies were skimming over the rocks, snapping up moths. The man was massaging the shoulder of the woman, and both of them looked at the children sternly. Their eyes were sht and their features so distinct that there was no doubt about their feelings, and Will khey were a formidable pair, whoever they were.
He said to Lyra, "The alethiometers in my rucksack, there."
"Oh, Will, I did so hope youd find it, whatever happened. Did you find your father? And my dream, Will, its too much to believe, what we got to do, oh, I darent even think of it... And its safe! Y it all this way safe for me..."
The words tumbled out of her sently that even she didnt expeswers. She turhe alethiometer over and over, her fingers stroking the heavy gold and the smooth crystal and the knurled wheels they knew so well.
Will thought: Itll tell us how to mend the knife!
But he said first, "Are you all right? Are you hungry or thirsty?"
"I dunno... yeah. But not too much. Anyway...”
"We should move away from this window," Will said, "just in case they find it and e through."
"Yes, thats true," she said, and they moved up the slope, t, Will carrying his rucksad Lyra happily
carrying the little bag she kept the alethiometer in. Out of the er of his eye, Will saw the two small spies following, but they kept their distand made no threat.
Over the brow of the rise there was a ledge of rock that offered a narrow shelter, and they sat beh it, having carefully checked it for snakes, and shared some dried fruit and some water from Wills bottle.
Will said quietly, "The knifes broken. I dont know how it happened. Mrs. Coulter did something, or said something, and I thought of my mother and that made the kwist, or catch, or, I dont know what happened. But were stuck till we get it mended. I didnt want those two little people to know, because while they think I still use it, Ive got the upper hand. I thought you could ask the alethiometer, maybe, and...”
"Yeah!" she said at once. "Yeah, I will."
She had the golden instrument out in a moment and moved into the moonlight so she could see the dial clearly. Looping back the hair behind her ears, just as Will had seen her mother do, she began to turn the wheels in the old familiar way, and Pantalaimon, mouse-formed now, sat on her knee.
She had hardly started before she gave a little gasp of excitement, and she looked up at Will with shining eyes as the needle swung. But it hadnt finished yet, and she looked back, frowning, until the instrument fell still.
She put it away, saying, "Iorek? Is he nearby, Will? I thought I heard you call him, but then I thought I was just wishing. Is he realty?"
"Yes. Could he mend the knife? Is that what the alethiometer said?"
"Oh, he do anything with metal, Will! Not only armor, he make little delicate things as well..." She told him about the small tin box Iorek had made for her to shut the spy-fly in. "But where is he?"
"Close by. He would have e when I called, but obviously he was fighting... And Balthamos! Oh, he must have been shtened..."
"Who?"
He explained briefly, feeling his cheeks warm with the shame that the angel must be feeling.
"But Ill tell you more about him later," he said. "Its se... He told me so many things, and I think I uand them, too..." He ran his hands through his hair and rubbed his eyes.
"You got to tell me everything," she said firmly. "Everything you did since she caught me. Oh, Will, you ent still bleeding? Your poor hand..."
"No. My father cured it. I just ope up when I hit the golden monkey, but its better now. He gave me some oihat hed made...”
"You found your father?"
"Thats right, on the mountain, that night..."
He let her his wound and put on some fresh oi from the little horn box while he told her some of what had happehe fight with the strahe revelation that came to them both a sed before the witchs arrow strue, his meeting with the angels, his jouro the cave, and his meeting with Iorek.
"All that happening, and I was asleep," she marveled. "Dyou know, I think she was kind to me, Will, I think she was, I dont think she ever wao hurt me...She did such bad things, but..."
She rubbed her eyes.
"Oh, but my dream, Will, I t tell you how stra was! It was like when I read the alethiometer, all that clearness and uanding going so deep you t see the bottom, but clear all the way down.
"It was... Remember I told you about my friend Roger, and how the Gobblers caught him and I tried to rescue him, and it went wrong and Lord Asriel killed him?
"Well, I saw him. In my dream I saw him again, only he was dead, he was a ghost, and he was, like,
being to me, calling to me, only I couldnt hear. He didnt wao be dead, it wasnt that. He wao speak to me.
"And... It was me that took him there, to Svalbard, where he got killed, it was my fault he was dead. And I thought back to when we used to play in Jordan College, Roger and me, on the roof, all through the town, in the markets and by the river and down the Claybeds... Me and Roger and all the others... And I went to Bolvangar to fetch him safe home, only I made it worse, and if I dont say sorry, itll all be no good, just a huge waste of time. I got to do that, you see, Will. I got to go down into the land of the dead and find him, and...and say sorry. I dont care what happens after that. Then we ... I ... It doesnt matter after that."
Will said, "This place where the dead are. Is it a world like this one, like mine or yours or any of the others? Is it a world I could get to with the knife?"
She looked at him, struck by the idea.
"You could ask," he went on. "Do it now. Ask where it is, and how we get there."
She bent over the alethiometer and her fingers moved swiftly. A mier she had the answer.
"Yes," she said, "but its a strange place, Will...Se ... Could we really do that? Could we really go to the land of the dead? But, art of us does that? Because daemons fade away when we die, Ive seen them, and our bodies, well, they just stay in the grave and decay, dont they?"
"Then there must be a third part. A different part."
"You know," she said, full of excitement, "I think that must be true! Because I think about my body and I think about my daemon, so there must be another part, to do the thinking!"
"Yes. And thats the ghost."
Lyras eyes blazed. She said, "Maybe we could get Rhost out. Maybe we could rescue him."
"Maybe. We could try."
"Yeah, well do it!" she said at once. "Well go together! Thats exactly what well do!"
But if they didhe knife mended, Will thought, theyd be able to do nothing at all.
As soon as his head cleared and his stomach felt calmer, he sat up and called to the little spies. They were busy with some minute apparatus nearby.
"Who are you?" he said. "And whose side are you on?"
The man finished what he was doing and shut a wooden box, like a violin case no lohan a walnut. The oke first.
"We are Gallivespian," she said. "I am the Lady Salmakia, and my panion is the Chevalier Tialys. We are spies for Lord Asriel."
She was standing on a rock three or four paces away from Will and Lyra, distind brilliant in the moonlight. Her little voice erfectly clear and low, her expression fident. She wore a loose skirt of some silver material and a sleeveless top of green, and her spurred feet were bare, like the mans. His e was similarly colored, but his sleeves were long and his wide trousers reached to midcalf. Both of them looked strong, capable, ruthless, and proud.
"What world do you e from?" said Lyra. "I never seen people like you before."
"Our world has the same problems as yours," said Tialys. "We are outlaws. Our leader, Lord Roke, heard of Lord Asriels revolt and pledged our support."
"And what did you want to do with me?"
"To take you to your father," said the Lady Salmakia. "Lord Asriel sent a forder King Oguo rescue you and the boy and bring you both to his fortress. We are here to help."
"Ah, but suppose I dont want to go to my father? Suppose I dont trust him?"
"Im sorry to hear that," she said, "but those are our orders: to take you to him."
Lyra couldnt help it: she laughed out loud at the notion of these tiny people making her do anything. But it was a mistake. Moving suddenly, the woman seized Pantalaimon, and holding his mouse body in a fierce grip, she touched the tip of a spur to his leg. Lyra gasped: it was like the shock when the men at Bolvangar had seized him. No one should toueone elses daemon, it was a violation.
But then she saw that Will had swept up the man in his right hand, holding him tightly around the legs so he couldn<samp></samp>t use his spurs, and was holding him high.
"Stalemate again," said the Lady calmly. "Put the Chevalier down, boy."
"Let go of Lyras daemon first," said Will. "Im not in the mood tue."
Lyra saw with a cold thrill that Will erfectly ready to dash the Gallivespians head against the rock. And both little people k.
Salmakia lifted her foot away from Pantalaimons leg, and at once he fought free of her grasp and ged into a wildcat, hissing ferociously, fur on end, tail lashing. His bared teeth were a hands breadth from the Ladys face, and she gazed at him with perfeposure. After a momeurned and fled to Lyras breast, ermine-shaped, and Will carefully placed Tialys ba the rock beside his partner.
"You should show some respect," the Chevalier said to Lyra. "You are a thoughtless, i child, and several brave men have died this evening in order to make you safe. Youd do better to act politely."
"Yes," she said humbly, "Im sorry, I will. Ho."
"As for you...” he went on, turning to Will.
But Will interrupted: "As for me, Im not going to be spoken to like that, so dont try. Respect goes two ways. Now listen carefully. You are not in charge here; we are. If you want to stay and help, then you do as we say. Otherwise, go back to Lord Asriel now. Theres nuing about it."
Lyra could see the pair of them bristling, but Tialys was looking at Wills hand, which was on the sheath at his belt, and she knew he was thinking that while Will had the knife, he was strohan they were. At all costs they mustnt know it was broken, then.
"Very well," said the Chevalier. "We shall help you, because thats the task weve been given. But you must let us know what you io do."
"Thats fair," said Will. "Ill tell you. Were going bato Lyras world as soon as weve rested, and were going to find a friend of ours, a bear. Hes not far away."
"The bear with the armor? Very well," said <samp>.</samp>Salmakia. "We saw him fight. Well help you do that. But then you must e with us to Lord Asriel."
"Yes," said Lyra, lying early, "oh yes, well do that then all right."
Pantalaimon was calmer now, and curious, so she let him climb to her shoulder and ge. He became a dragonfly, as big as the two that were skimming through the air as they spoke, and darted up to join them.
"That poison," Lyra said, turning back to the Gallivespians, "in your spurs, I mean, is it deadly? Because you stung my mother, Mrs. Coulter, didnt you? Will she die?"
"It was only a light sting," said Tialys. "A full dose would have killed her, yes, but a small scratch will make her weak and drowsy for half a day or so."
And full of maddening pain, he knew, but he didnt tell her that.
"I o talk to Lyra in private," said Will. "Were just going to move away for a minute."
"With that knife," said the Chevalier, "you cut through from one world to another, isnt that so?"
"Dont you trust me?"
"No."
"All right, Ill leave it here, then. If I havent got it, I t use it."
He unbuckled the sheath and laid it on the rock, and then he and Lyra walked away and sat where they could see the Gallivespians. Tialys was looking closely at the knife handle, but he wasnt toug it,
"Well just have to put up with them," Will said. "As soon as the knifes mended, well escape."
"Theyre so quick, Will," she said. "And they wouldnt care, theyd kill you."
"I just hope Iorek mend it. I hadnt realized how much we ."
"He will," she said fidently.
She was watg Pantalaimon as he skimmed and darted through the air, snapping up tiny moths like the other dragonflies. He couldnt go as far as they could, but he was just as fast, and even more brightly patterned. She raised her hand atled on it, his long, transparent wings vibrating.
"Do you think we trust them while we sleep?" Will said.
"Yes. Theyre fierce, but I think theyre ho."
They went back to the rock, and Will said to the Gallivespians, "Im going to sleep now. Well move on in the m."
The Chevalier nodded, and Will curled up at ond fell asleep.
Lyra sat down beside him, with Pantalaimon cat-formed and warm in her lap. How lucky Will was that she was awake now to look after him! He was truly fearless, and she admired that beyond measure; but he wasnt good at lying araying and cheating, which all came to her as naturally as breathing. Whehought of that, she felt warm and virtuous, because she did it for Will, never for herself.
She had inteo look at the alethiometer again, but to her deep surprise she found herself as weary as if shed been awake all that time instead of unscious, and she lay down close by and closed her eyes, just for a brief nap, as she assured herself before she fell asleep.
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