ELEVEN - ARMOR-1

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    When they returo the ship, Farder  and John Faa and the other leaders spent a long time in feren the saloon, and Lyra went to her  to sult the alethiome-ter. Within five minutes she kly where the bears armor was, and why it would be difficult to get it back.

    She wondered whether to go to the saloon and tell John Faa and the others, but decided that theyd ask her if they wao know. Perhaps they knew already.

    She lay on her bunk thinking of that savage mighty bear, and the careless way he drank his fiery spirit, and the loneliness of him in his dirty lean-to. How different it was to be human, with ones daemon always there to talk to! In the silence of the still ship, without the tinual creak of metal and timber or the rumble of the engine or the rush of water along the side, Lyra gradually fell asleep, with Pantalaimon on her pillow sleeping too.

    She was dreaming of her great imprisoned father when suddenly, for no reason at all, she woke up. She had no idea what time it was. There was a faint light in the  that she took for moonlight, and it showed her new cold-weather furs that lay stiffly in the er of the . No sooner did she see them than she loo try them on again.

    Ohey were on, she had to go out on deck, and a mier she opehe door at the top of the pan-ionway and stepped out.

    At once she saw that something strange was happening in the sky. She thought it was clouds, moving and trembling under a nervous agitation, but Pantalaimon whispered:

    “The Aurora!”

    Her wonder was s that she had to clutch the rail to keep from falling.

    The sight filled the northern sky; the immensity of it was scarcely ceivable.

    As if from Heaven itself, great curtains of delicate light hung and trembled.

    Pale green and rose-pink, and as transparent as the most fragile fabrid at the bottom edge a profound and fiery crimson like the fires of Hell, they swung and shimmered loosely with mrace than<samp>..</samp> the most skillful dancer. Lyra thought she could evehem: a vast distant whispering swish. In the eva delicacy she felt something as profound as shed felt close to the bear. She was moved by it; it was so beautiful it was almost holy; she felt tears prick her eyes, and the tears splihe light even further into prismatic rainbows. It wasnt long before she found herself entering the same kind of trance as when she sulted the alethiometer. Perhaps, she thought calmly, whatever moves the alethiometers needle is making the Aurlow too.

    It might even be Dust itself. She thought that without notig that shed thought it, and she soon fot it, and only remembered it much later.

    And as she gazed, the image of a city seemed to form itself behind the veils and streams of translut color: towers and domes, honey-colored temples and nades, broad boulevards and sunlit parkland. Looking at it gave her a sense of vertigo, as if she were looking not up but down, and across a gulf so wide that nothing could ever pass over it. It was a whole universe away.

    But something was moving across it, and as she tried to focus her eyes on the movement, she felt faint and dizzy, because the little thing moving wasnt part of the Aurora or of the other universe behind it. It was in the sky over the roofs of the town.

    When she could see it clearly, she had e fully awake and the sky city was gone.

    The flying thing came closer and circled the ship on outspread wings. Then it glided down and landed with brisk sweeps of its powerful pinions, and came to a halt on the wooden deck a few yards from Lyra.

    In the Auroras light she saw a great bird, a beautiful gray goose whose head was ed with a flash of pure white. A wasnt a bird: it was a daemon, though there was no one in sight but Lyra herself. The idea filled her with sickly fear.

    The bird said:

    “Where is Farder ?”

    And suddenly Lyra realized who it must be. This was the daemon of Serafina Pekkala, the  queen, Farder s witch friend.

    She stammered to reply:

    “I—hes—Ill go a him....”

    She turned and scampered down the panionway to the  Farder  occupied, and opehe door to speak into the darkness:

    “Farder ! The witchs daemons e! Hes waiting on the deck! He flew here all by hisself—I seen him ing in the sky—”

    The old man said, “Ask him to wait oerdeck, child.”

    The goose made his stately way to the stern of the ship, where he looked around, elegant and wild simultaneously, and a cause of fasated terror to Lyra, who felt as though she were eaining a ghost.

    Then Farder  came up, ed in his cold-weather gear, closely followed by John Faa. Both old men bowed respectfully, and their daemons also aowledged the visitor.

    “Greetings,” said Farder . “And Im happy and proud to see you again, Kaisa. Now, would you like to e inside, or would you prefer to stay out here in the open?”

    “I would rather stay outside, thank you, Farder . Are you warm enough for a while?”

    Witches and their daemo no cold, but they were aware that other humans did.

    Farder  assured him that they were well ed up, and said, “How is Serafina Pekkala?”

    “She sends her greetings to you, Farder , and she is well and strong. Who are these two people?”

    Farder  introduced them both. The goose daemon looked hard at Lyra.

    “I have heard of this child,” he said. “She is talked about among witches. So you have e to make war?”

    “Not war, Kaisa. We are going to free the children taken from us. And I hope the witches will help.”

    “Not all of them will. Some s are w with the Dust hunters.”

    “Is that what you call the Oblation Board?” “I dont know what this board may be. They are Dust hunters. They came tions ten years ago with philosophical instruments. They paid us to allow them to set up stations in our lands, and they treated us with courtesy.” “What is this Dust?”

    “It es from the sky. Some say it has always been there, some say it is newly falling. What is certain is that when people bee aware of it, a great fear es over them, and theyll stop at nothing to discover what it is. But it is not of any  to witches.”

    “And where are they now, these Dust hunters?” “Four days northeast of here, at a place called Bolvangar. Our  made no agreement with them, and because of our longstanding obligation to you, Farder , I have e to show you how to find these Dust hunters.”

    Farder  smiled, and John Faa clapped his great hands together in satisfa.

    “Thank you kindly, sir,” he said to the goose. “But tell us this: do you know anything more about these Dust hunters? What do they do at this Bolvangar?”

    “They have put up buildings of metal and crete, and some underground chambers. They burn coal spirit, which they bring in at great expense. We dont know what they do, but there is an air of hatred and fear over the plad for miles around. Witches  see these things where other humans t. Animals keep away too. No birds fly there; lemmings and foxes have fled. Hehe name Bolvangar: the fields of evil. They dont call it that. They call it the station. But to everyone else it is Bolvangar.”

    “And how are they defended?”

    “They have a pany of Northern Tartars armed with rifles. They are good soldiers, but they lack practice, because no one has ever attacked the settlement si was built. Then there is a wire fence around the pound, which is filled with anbaric force. There may be other means of defehat we dont know about, because as I say they have no i for us.”

    Lyra was bursting to ask a question, and the goose dasmo and looked at her as if giving permission.

    “Why do the witches talk about me?” she said.

    “Because of your father, and his knowledge of the other worlds,” the daemon replied.

    That surprised all three of them. Lyra looked at Farder , who looked ba mild wonder, and at John Faa, whose expression was troubled.

    “Other worlds?” John Faa said. “Pardon me, sir, but what worlds would those be?

    Do you meaars?”

    “Indeed no.”

    “Perhaps the world of spirits?” said Farder .

    “Nor that.”

    “Is it the city in the lights?” said Lyra. “It is, ent it?”

    The goose turned his stately head toward her. His eyes were black, surrounded by a thin line of pure sky-blue, and their gaze was intense.

    “Yes,” he said. “Witches have known of the other worlds for thousands of years.

    You  see them sometimes in the Northern Lights. They arent part of this universe at all; even the furthest stars are part of this universe, but the lights show us a different universe entirely. Not further away, but interpeing with this one. Here, on this deck, millions of other universes exist, unaware of one another....”

    He raised his wings and spread them wide before folding them again.

    “There,” he said, “I have just brushed ten million other worlds, and they knew nothing of it. We are as close as a heartbeat, but we ever touch or see or hear these other worlds except in the Northern Lights.”

    “And why there?” said Farder .

    “Because the charged particles in the Aurora have the property of making the matter of this world thin, so that we  see through it for a brief time.

    Witches have always known this, but we seldom speak of it.”

    “My father believes in it,” Lyra said. “I know because I heard him talking and showing pictures of the Aurora.”

    “Is this anything to do with Dust?” said John Faa.

    “Who  say?” said the goose daemon. “All I  tell you is that the Dust hunters are as frightened of it as if it were deadly poison. That is why they imprisoned Lord Asriel.”

    “But why?” Lyra said.

    “They thiends to use Dust in some way in order to make a bridge between this world and the world beyond the Aurora.”

    There was a lightness in Lyras head.

    She heard Farder  say, “And does he?”

    “Yes,” said the <dfn>藏书网</dfn>goose daemon. “They dont believe he , because they think he is mad to believe iher worlds in the first place. But it is true: that is his iion. And he is so powerful a figure that they feared he would upset their own plans, so they made a pact with the armored bears to capture him and keep him imprisoned in the fortress of Svalbard, out of the way. Some say they helped the new bear king to gain his throne, as part of the bargain.”

    Lyra said, “Do the witches want him to make this bridge? Are they on his side ainst him?”

    “That is a question with too plicated an answer. Firstly, the witches are not uhere are differences of opinion among us. Sedly, Lord Asriels bridge will have a bearing on a war being waged at the preseween some witches and various other forces, some in the spirit world. Possession of the bridge, if it ever existed, would give a huge advao whoever held it.

    Thirdly, Serafina Pekkalas —my —is not yet part of any alliahough great pressure is being put on us to declare for one side or another. You see, these are questions of high politics, and not easily answered.”

    “What about the bears?” said Lyra. “Whose side are they on?”

    “On the side of anyone who pays them. They have no i whatever in these questions; they have no daemons; they are uned about human problems. At least, that is how bears used to be, but we have heard that their new king is i on ging their old ways....At any rate, the Dust hunters have paid them to imprison Lord Asriel, and they will hold him on Svalbard until the last drop of blood drains from the body of the last bear alive.”

    “But not all bears!” Lyra said. “Theres one who ent on Svalbard at all. Hes an outcast bear, and hes going to e with us.”

    The goose gave Lyra another of his pierg looks. This time she could feel his cold surprise.

    Farder  shifted unfortably, and said, “The fact is, Lyra, I dont think he is. We heard hes serving out a term as an iured laborer; he ent free, as we thought he might be, hes under senteill hes discharged he wont be free to e, armor or no armor; and he wont never have that back, either.”

    “But he said they tricked him! They made him drunk and stole it away!”

    “We heard a different story,” said John Faa. “Hes a dangerue, is what we heard.”

    “If—” Lyra assionate; she could hardly speak for indignation. “—if the alethiometer says something, I know its true. And I asked it, and it said that he was telling the truth, they did trick him, and theyre telling lies and not him. I believe him, Lord Faa! Farder —you saw him too, and you believe him, dont you?”

    “I thought I did, child. I ent so certain of things as you are.”

    “But what are they afraid of? Do they think hes going to go round killing people as soos his armor on? He could kill dozens of em now!”

    “He has done,” said John Faa. “Well, if not dozens, then some. When they first took his armor away, he went a rampaging round looking for it. He tore open the police house and the bank and I dont know where else, and theres at least two men who died. The only reason they didnt shoot to kill him is because of his wondrous skill with metals; they wao use him like a laborer.”

    “Like a slave!” Lyra said hotly. “They hadnt got the right!”

    “Be that as it may, they might have shot him for the killings he done, but they didnt. And they bound him over to labor iowns i until hes paid off the damage and the blood money.”

    “John,” said Farder , “I dont know how you feel, but its my belief theyll never let him have that armor back. The lohey keep him, the more angry hell be whes it.”

    “But if we get his armor back, hell e with us and never bother em again,”

    said Lyra. “I promise, Lord Faa.”

    “And how are we going to do that?”

    “I know where it is!”

    There was a silence, in which they all three became aware of the witchs daemon and his fixed stare at Lyra. All three turo him, and their own daemons too, who had until then affected the extreme politeness of keeping their eyes modestly away from this singular creature, here without his body.

    “You wont be surprised,” said the goose, “to know that the alethiometer is oher reasoches are ied in you, Lyra. Our sul told us about your visit this m. I believe it was Dr. Lanselius who told you about the bear.”

    “Yes, it was,” said John Faa. “And she and Farder  went theirselves and talked to him. I daresay what Lyra says is true, but if we go breaking the law of these people well only get involved in a quarrel with them, and what we o></a>ught to be doing is pushing on towards this Bolvangar, bear or no bear.”

    “Ah, but you ent seen him, John,” said Farder . “And I do believe Lyra. We could promise on his behalf, maybe. He might make all the difference.”

    “What do you think, sir?” said John Faa to the witchs daemon.

    “We have few dealings with bears. Their desires are as strao us as ours are to them. If this bear is an outcast, he might be less reliable than they are said to be. You must decide for yourselves.”

    “We will,” said John Faa firmly. “But now, sir,  you tell us how to get to Bolvangar from here?”

    The goose daemon began to explain. He spoke of valleys and hills, of the tree line and the tundra, of star sightings. Lyra listened awhile, and then lay ba the deck chair with Pantalaimon curled around her neck, and thought of the grand vision the goose daemon had brought with him. A bridge between two worlds...This was far more splendid than anything she could have hoped for! And only her great father could have ceived it. As soon as they had rescued the children, she would go to Svalbard with the bear and take Lord Asriel the alethiometer, and use it to help set him free; and theyd build the bridge together, ahe first across....

    Sometime in the night John Faa must have carried Lyra to her bunk, because that was where she awoke. The dim sun was as high in the sky as it was going to get, only a hands breadth above the horizon, so it must be nearly noon, she thought.

    Soon, when they moved further north, there would be no sun at all.

    She dressed quickly and ran oo find nothing very much happening. All the stores had been unloaded, sledges and dog teams had been hired and were waiting to go; everything was ready and nothing was moving. Most of the gyp-tians were sitting in a smoke-filled cafe fag the water, eating spice cakes and drinking strong sweet coffee at the long wooden tables uhe fizz and crackle of some a anbaric lights.

    “Wheres Lord Faa?” she said, sitting down with Tony Costa and his friends. “And Farder ? Are they getting the bears armor for him?”

    “Theyre a talking to the sysselman. Thats their word fovernor. You seen this bear, then, Lyra?”

    “Yeah!” she said, and explained all about him. As she talked, someone else pulled a chair up and joihe group at the table.

    “So youve spoken to old lorek?” he said.

    She looked at the newer with surprise. He was a tall, lean man with a thin black moustache and narrow blue eyes, and a perpetual expression of distant and sardonic amusement. She felt strongly about him at once, but she wasnt sure whether it was liking she felt, or dislike. His daemon was a shabby hare as thin and tough-looking as he was.

    He held out his hand and she shook it warily.

    “Lee Scoresby,” he said.

    “The aeronaut!” she exclaimed. “Wheres your balloon?  I go up in it?”

    “Its packed away right now, miss. You must be the famous Lyra. How did you get on with lorek Byrnison?”

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