TWENTY-ONE - LORD ASRIELS WELCOME-1

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    Lyra rode a strong young bear, and Roger rode another, while lorek paced tirelessly ahead and a squad armed with a fire hurler followed guarding the rear.

    The way was long and hard. The interior of Svalbard was mountainous, with jumbled peaks and sharp ridges deeply cut by ravines and steep-sided valleys, and the cold was intense. Lyra thought back to the smooth-running sledges of the gyp-tians on the way to Bolvangar; how swift and fortable that progress now seemed to have been! The air here was more peingly chill than any she had experienced before; or it might have been that the bear she was riding wasnt as lightfooted as lorek; or it might have been that she was tired to her very soul.

    At all events, it was desperately hard going.

    She knew little of where they were bound, or how far it was. All she knehat the older bear S0ren Eisarson had told her while they were preparing the fire hurler. He had been involved iiating with Lord Asriel about the terms of his impriso, and he remembered it well.

    At first, hed said, the Svalbard bears regarded Lord Asriel as being no different from any of the other politis, kings, or troublemakers who had been exiled to their bleak island. The prisoners were important, or they would have been killed ht by their own people; they might be valuable to the bears one day, if their political fortunes ged and they returo rule in their own tries; so it might pay the bears not to treat them with cruelty or disrespect.

    So Lord Asriel had found ditions on Svalbard er and no worse than hundreds of other exiles had done. But certain things had made his jailers more wary of him than of other prisoheyd had. There was the air of mystery and spiritual peril surrounding anything that had to do with Dust; there was the clear pani the part of those whht him there; and there were Mrs.

    Coulters private unications with lofur Raknison.

    Besides, the bears had never met anything quite like Lord Asriels own haughty and imperious nature. He dominated even lofur Raknison, arguing forcefully and eloquently, and persuaded the bear-king to let him choose his own dwelling place.

    The first one he was allotted was too low down, he said. He needed a high spot, above the smoke and stir of the fire mines and the smithies. He gave the bears a design of the aodation he wanted, and told them where it should be; and he bribed them with gold, and he flattered and bullied lofur Raknison, and with a bemused willihe bears set to work. Before long a house had arisen on a headland fag north: a wide and solid place with fireplaces that burned great blocks of ined and hauled by bears, and with large windows of real glass.

    There he dwelt, a prisoner ag like a king.

    And the about assembling the materials for a laboratory.

    With furious tration he sent for books, instruments, chemicals, all manner of tools and equipment. And somehow it had e, from this source or that; some openly, some smuggled in by the visitors he insisted he was entitled to have. By land, sea, and air, Lord Asriel assembled his materials, and within six months of his ittal, he had all the equipment he wanted.

    And so he worked, thinking and planning and calculating, waiting for the ohing he o plete the task that so terrified the Oblation Board. It was drawing closer every minute.

    Lyras first glimpse of her fathers prison came when lorek Byrnison stopped at the foot of a ridge for the children to move and stretch themselves, because they had beeing dangerously cold and stiff.

    “Look up there,” he said.

    A wide broken slope of tumbled rocks and ice, where a track had been laboriously cleared, led up to a crag outlined against the sky. There was no Aurora, but the stars were brilliant. The crag stood blad gaunt, but at its summit acious building from which light spilled lavishly in all dires: not the smoky instant gleam of blubber lamps, nor the harsh white of anbaric spotlights, but the warm creamy glow of naphtha.

    The windows from which the light emerged also showed Lord Asriels formidable plass was expensive, and large sheets of it were prodigal of heat in these fierce latitudes; so to see them here was evidence of wealth and influence far greater than lofur Raknisons vulgar palace.

    Lyra and Roger mouheir bears for the last time, and lorek led the  the slope toward the house. There was a courtyard that lay deep under snow, surrounded by a low wall, and as lorek pushed opee they heard a bell ring somewhere in the building.

    Lyra got down. She could hardly stand. She helped Roger down too, and, supp each other, the children stumbled through the thigh-deep snow toward the steps up to the door.

    Oh, the warmth there would be ihat house! Oh, the peaceful rest! She reached for the handle of the bell, but before she could reach it, the door opehere was a small dimly lit vestibule to keep the warm air in, and standing uhe lamp was a figure she reized: Lord Asriels manservant Thorold, with his pinscher daemon Anfang.

    Lyra wearily pushed back her hood.

    “Who...” Thorold began, and then saw who it was, a on: “Not Lyra? Little Lyra? Am I dreaming?”

    He reached behind him to open the inner door.

    A hall, with a coal fire blazing in a stone grate; warm naphtha light glowing on carpets, leather chairs, polished wood... It was like nothing Lyra had seen since leaving Jordan College, and it brought a choking gasp to her throat.

    Lord Asriels snow-leopard daemon growled.

    Lyras father stood there, his powerful dark-eyed face at first fierce, triumphant, and eager; and then the color faded from it; his eyes widened, in horror, as he reized his daughter.

    “No! No!”

    He staggered bad clutched at the mantelpiece. Lyra couldnt move.

    “Get out!” Lord Asriel cried. “Turn around, get out, go! I did not send for you!”

    She couldnt speak. She opened her mouth twice, three times, and then mao say:

    “No, no, I came because—”

    He seemed appalled; he kept shaking his head, he held up his hands as if to ward her off; she couldnt believe his distress.

    She moved a step closer to reassure him, and Roger came to stand with her, anxious. Their daemons fluttered out into the warmth, and after a moment Lord Asriel passed a hand across his brow and recovered slightly. The can to return to his cheeks as he looked down at the two.

    “Lyra,” he said. “That is Lyra?”

    “Yes, Uncle Asriel,” she said, thinking that this wasnt the time to go into their true relationship. “I came t you the alethiometer from the Master of Jordan.”

    “Yes, of course you did,” he said. “Who is this?”

    “Its Roger Parslow,” she said. “Hes the kit boy from Jordan College. But—”

    “How did you get here?”

    “I was just going to say, theres lorek Byrnison outside, hes brought us here.

    He came with me all the way from Trollesund, aricked lofur—”

    “Whos lorek Byrnison?”

    “An armored bear. He brought us here.”

    “Thorold,” he called, “run a hot bath for these children, and prepare them some food. Then they will o sleep. Their clothes are filthy; find them something to wear. Do it now, while I talk to this bear.”

    Lyra felt her head swim. Perhaps it was the heat, or perhaps it was relief. She watched the servant bow and leave the hall, and Lord Asriel go into the vestibule and close the door behind, and then she half-fell into the  chair.

    Only a moment later, it seemed, Thorold eaking to her.

    “Follow me, miss,” he was saying, and she hauled herself up a with Roger to a warm bathroom, where soft towels hung on a heated rail, and where a tub of water steamed in the naphtha light.

    “You go first,” said Lyra. “Ill sit outside aalk.”

    Ser, wing and gasping at the heat, got in and washed. They had swum ogether often enough, frolig in the Isis or the Cherwell with other children, but this was different.

    “Im afraid of your uncle,” said Roger through the open door. “I mean your father.”

    “Better keep calling him my uncle. Im afraid of him too, sometimes.”

    “When we first e in, he never saw me at all. He only saw you. And he was horrified, till he saw me. Then he calmed down all at once.”

    “He was just shocked,” said Lyra. “Anyone would be, to see someohey didnt expect. He last saw me after that time iiring Room. Its bound to be a shock.”

    “No,” said Roger, “its more than that. He was looking at me like a wolf, or summing.”

    “Youre imagining it.”

    “I ent. Im more scared of him than I was of Mrs. Coulter, and thats the truth.”

    He splashed himself. Lyra took out the alethiometer.

    “Dyou wao ask the symbol reader about it?” Lyra said.

    “Well, I dunno. Theres things Id rather not know. Seems to me everything I heard of sihe Gobblers e to Oxford, everythings been bad. There ent been nothing good more than about five minutes ahead. Like I  see now, this baths nice, and theres a nice warm towel there, about five minutes away. And once Im dry, maybe Ill think of summing o eat, but no further ahead than that. And wheen, maybe Ill look forward to a kip in a fortable bed. But after that, I dunno, Lyra. Theres been terrible things we seehere? And more a ing, moren likely. So I think Id rather not know whats iure. Ill stick to the present.”

    “Yeah,” said Lyra wearily. “Theres times I feel like that too.”

    So although she held the alethiometer in her hands for a little longer, it was only for fort; she didnt turn the wheels, and the swinging of the needle passed her by. Pantalaimon watched it in silence.

    After theyd both washed, aen some bread and cheese and drunk some wine and hot water, the servant Thorold said, “The boy is to go to bed. Ill show him where to go. His Lordship asks if youd join him in the library, Miss Lyra.”

    Lyra found Lord Asriel in a room whose wide windows overlooked the frozen sea far below. There was a coal fire under a wide eypiece, and a naphtha lamp turned down low, so there was little in the way of distrag reflectio９９ｌｉb?ween the octs of the room and the bleak starlit panorama outside. Lord Asriel, reing in a large armchair on one side of the fire, beed her to e and sit iher chair fag him.

    “Your friend lorek Byrnison is resting outside,” he said. “He prefers the cold.”

    “Did he tell you about his fight with lofur Raknison?”

    “Not iail. But I uand that he is now the king of Svalbard. Is that true?”

    “Of course its true. lorek never lies.”

    “He seems to have appointed himself yuardian.”

    “No. John Faa told him to look after me, and hes doing it because of that. Hes following John Faas orders.”

    “How does John Faa e into this?”

    “Ill tell you if you tell me something,” she said. “Youre my father, ent you?”

    “Yes. So what?”

    “So you should have told me before, thats what. You shouldnt hide things like that from people, because they feel stupid when they find out, and thats cruel.

    What difference would it make if I knew I was your daughter? You could have said it years ago. You couldve told me a<tt>..t>nd asked me to keep it secret, and I would, no matter how young I was, Id have dohat if you asked me. Id have been so proud nothing wouldve torn it out of me, if you asked me to keep it secret. But you never. You let other people know, but you old me.”

    “Who did tell you?”

    “John Faa.”

    “Did he tell you about your mother?”

    “Yes.”

    “Then theres not much left for me to tell. I dont think I want to be interrogated and ned by an i child. I want to hear what youve seen and done on the way here.”

    “I brought you the bloody alethiometer, didnt I?” Lyra burst out. She was very o tears. “I looked after it all the way from Jordan, I hid it and I treasured it, all through whats happeo us, and I learned about using it, and I carried it all this bloody way whe<bdi></bdi>n I couldve just given up and been safe, and you ent even said thank you, nor showed any sign that ylad to see me. I dont know why I ever do. But I did, and I kept on going, even in lofur Raknisons stinking palace with all them bears around me I kept on going, all on me own, and I tricked him into fighting with lorek sos I could e on here for your sake....And when you did see me, you like to fainted, as if I was some horrible thing you never wao see again. You ent human, Lord Asriel.

    You ent my father. My father wouldnt treat me like that. Fathers are supposed to love their daughters, ent they? You dont love me, and I dont love you, and thats a fact. I love Farder , and I love lorek Byrnison; I love an armored bear moren I love my father. And I bet lorek Byrnison loves me moren you do.”

    “You told me yourself hes only following John Faas orders.

    If yoing to be seal, I shant waste time talking to you.”

    “Take your bloody alethiometer, then, and Im going back with lorek.”

    “Where?”

    “Back to the palace. He  fight with Mrs. Coulter and the Oblation Board, wheurn up. If he loses, then Ill die too, I dont care. If he wins, well send for Lee Scoresby and Ill sail away in his balloon and—”

    “Whos Lee Scoresby?”

    “An aeronaut. He brought us here and then we crashed. Here you are, heres the alethiometer. Its all in good order.”

    He made no move to take it, and she laid it on the brass fender around the hearth.

    “And I suppose I ought to tell you that Mrs. Coulters on her way to Svalbard, and as soon as she hears whats happeo lofur Raknison, shell be on her way here. In a zeppelin, with a whole lot of soldiers, and theyre going to kill us all, by order of the Magisterium.”

    “Theyll never reach us,” he said calmly.

    He was so quiet and relaxed that some of her ferocity dwindled.

    “You dont know,” she said uainly.

    “Yes I do.”

    “Have you got another alethiometer, then?”

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