CHAPTER TEN: THE SHAMANTEN-2
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"I t do very much myself. My heart is diseased beyond the powers of anyone in this world to cure it. I have one great effort left in me, perhaps. But I know something Lord Asriel doesnt, something he o know if his effort is to succeed."You see, I was intrigued by that haunted world where the Specters fed on human sciousness. I wao know what they were, how they had e into being. And as a shaman, I discover things in the spirit where I ot go in the body, and I spent much time in trance, expl that world. I found that the philosophers there, turies ago, had created a tool for their own undoing: an instrument they called the subtle k had ma.9９ｌｉb.ny powers—more than theyd guessed when they made it, far more than they know even now—and somehow, in using it, they had let the Specters into their world.
"Well, I know about the subtle knife and what it do. And I know where it is, and I know how the one who must use it, and I know what he must do in Lord Asriels cause. I hope hes equal to the task. So I have summoned you here, and you are to fly me northward, into the world Asriel has opened, where I expect to find the bearer of the subtle knife.
"That is a dangerous world, mind. Those Specters are worse than anything in your world or mine.
We sh<bdo></bdo>all have to be careful and ceous. I shall not return, and if you want to see your try again, youll need all your ce, all your craft, all your luck.
"Thats your task, Mr. Scoresby. That is why you sought me out."
And the shaman fell silent. His face allid, with a faint sheen of sweat.
"This is the craziest damn idea I ever heard in my life," said Lee.
He stood up in his agitation and walked a pace or two this way, a pace or two that, while Hester watched unblinking from the bench. Grummans eyes were half-closed; his daemon sat on his knee, watg Lee warily.
"Do you want money?" Grumman said after a few moments. "I get you some gold. Thats not hard to do."
"Damn, I didnt e here fold," said Lee hotly. "I came here ... I came here to see if you were alive, like I thought you were. Well, my curiositys kinda satisfied on that point."
"Im glad to hear it."
"And theres anle to this thing, too," Lee added, and told Grumman of the witch cil at Lake Enara, and the resolutioches had sworn to. "You see," he finished, "that little girl Lyra ... well, shes the reason I set out to help the witches in the first place. You say yht
me here with that Navaj. Maybe thats so and maybe it aint. What I know is, I came here because I thought Id be helping Lyra. I aint never seen a child like that. If I had a daughter of my own, I hope shed be half as strong and brave and good. Now, Id heard that you knew of some object, I didnt know what it might be, that fers a prote on anyone who holds it. And from what you say, I <var></var>think it must be this subtle knife.
"So this is my price for taking you into the other world, Dr. Grumman: not gold, but that subtle knife. And I dont want it for myself; I want it for Lyra. You have to swear youll get her uhe prote of that object, and then Ill take you wherever you want to go."
The shaman listened closely, and said, "Very well, Mr. Scoresby; I swear. Do you trust my oath?"
"What will you swear by?"
"Name anything you like."
Lee thought and then said, "Swear by whatever it was made you turn down the love of the witch. I guess thats the most important thing you know."
Grummans eyes widened, and he said, "You guess well, Mr. Scoresby. Ill gladly swear by that. I give you my word that Ill make certain the child Lyra Belacqua is uhe prote of the subtle knife. But I warn you: the bearer of that knife has his own task to do, and it may be that his doing it will put her into eveer danger."
Lee nodded soberly. "Maybe so," he said, "but whatever little ce of safety there is, I wao have it."
"You have my word. And now I must go into the new world, and you must take me."
"And the wind? You aioo sick to observe the weather, I guess?"
"Leave the wind to me."
Lee nodded. He sat on the bench again and ran his fingers over and over the turquoise ring while Grumman gathered the few goods he needed into a deerskin bag, and thewo of them went back down the forest track to the village.
The headman spoke at some length. More and more of the villagers came out to touch Grummans hand, to mutter a few words, and to receive what looked like a blessing iurn. Lee, meanwhile, was looking at the weather. The sky was clear to the south, and a fresh-sted breeze was just lifting the twigs and stirring the piops. To the north the fog still hung over the heavy river, but it was the first time for days that there seemed to be a promise of clearing it.
At the rock where the landing stage had been he lifted Grummans pato the boat, and filled the little engine, which fired at once. He cast off, and with the shaman in the bow, the boat sped down with the current, darting uhe trees and skimming out into the main river so fast that Lee was afraid for Hester, croug just ihe gunwale. But she was a seasoraveler, he should have known that; why was he so damn jumpy?
* * * They reached the port at the rivers mouth to find every hotel, every lodging house, every private room andeered by soldiers. Not just any soldiers, either: these were troops of the Imperial Guard of Muscovy, the most ferociously trained and lavishly equipped army in the world, and one sworn to uphold the power of the Magisterium.
Lee had inteo rest a night before setting off, because Grumman looked in need of it, but there was no ce of finding a room.
"Whats going on?" he said to the boatman wheurhe hired boat.
"We dont know. The regiment arrived yesterday and andeered every billet, every scrap of
food, and every ship iown. Theyd have had this boat, too, if you hadnt taken it."
"Dyou know where theyre going?"
"North," said the boatman. "Theres a war going to be fought, by all ats, the greatest war ever known."
"North, into that new world?"
"Thats right. And theres more troops ing; this is just the advance guard. There wont be a loaf of bread allon of spirit left in a weeks time. You did me a favor taking this boat—the price has already doubled...."
There was no sense iing up now, even if they could find a place. Full of ay about his balloon, Lee went at oo the warehouse where hed left it, with Grumman beside him. The man was keeping pace. He looked sick, but he was tough.
The warehouse keeper, busy ting out some spare engine parts to a requisitioning sergeant of the Guard, looked up briefly from his clipboard.
"Balloon—too bad—requisitioned yesterday," he said. "You see how it is. Ive got no choice."
Hester flicked her ears, and Lee uood what she meant.
"Have you delivered the balloo?" he said.
"Theyre going to collect it this afternoon."
"No, theyre not," said Lee, "because I have an authority that trumps the Guard."
And he showed the warehouseman the riaken from the finger of the dead Skraeling on Nova Zembla. The sergeant, beside him at the ter, stopped what he was doing and saluted at the sight of the Churchs token, but for all his discipline he couldnt prevent a flicker of puzzlement passing over his face.
"So well have the ballht now," said Lee, "and you set some men to fill it. And I mean a. once. And that includes food, and water, and ballast."
The warehouseman looked at the sergeant, whed, and then hurried away to see to the balloon. Lee and Grumman withdrew to the wharf, where the gas tanks were, to supervise the filling and talk quietly.
"Where did you get that ring?" said Grumman.
"Off a dead mans finger. Kinda risky using it, but I couldnt see another way of getting my balloon back. You re that sergeant suspected anything?"
"Of course he did. But hes a disciplined man. He wont question the Church. If he reports it at all, well be away by the time they c<cite>藏书网</cite>an do anything about it. Well, I promised you a wind, Mr.
Scoresby; I hope you like it."
The sky was blue overhead now, and the sunlight was bright. To the north the fog banks still hung like a mountain range over the sea, but the breeze ushing them bad back, and Lee was impatient for the air again.
As the balloon filled and began to swell up beyond the edge of the warehouse roof, Lee checked the basket and stowed all his equipment with particular care; for iher world, who knew what turbuleheyd meet? His instruments, too, he fixed to the framework with close attention, even the pass, whose needle was swinging around the dial quite uselessly. Finally he lashed a score of sandbags around the basket for ballast.
When the gasbag was full and leaning northward in the buffeting breeze, and the whole apparatus straining against the stout ropes anch it down, Lee paid the warehouseman with the last of his gold and helped Grumman into the basket. Theuro the men at the ropes to give the order to let go.
But before they could do so, there was an interruption. From the alley at the side of the
warehouse came the noise of pounding boots, moving at the double, and a shout of and:
"Halt!"
The men at the ropes paused, some looking that way, some looking to Lee, and he called sharply, "Let go! Cast off!"
Two of the men obeyed, and the balloon lurched up, but the other two had their attention on the soldiers, who were moving quickly around the er of the building. Those two men still held their ropes fast around the bollards, and the balloon lurched siingly sideways. Lee grabbed at the suspensi; Grumman was holding it too, and his daemon had her claws tight around it.
Lee shouted, "Let go, you damn fools! Shes going up!"
The buoyancy of the gasbag was too great, and the men, haul as they might, couldnt hold it back.
O go, and his rope lashed itself loose from the bollard; but the other man, feeling the rope lift, instinctively g on instead of letting go. Lee had seen this happen once before, and dreaded it. The poor mans daemon, a heavyset husky, howled with fear and pain from the ground as the balloon surged up toward the sky, and five endless seds later it was over; the mans strength failed; he fell, half-dead, and crashed into the water.
But the soldiers had their rifles up already. A volley of bullets whistled past the basket, oriking a spark from the suspensi and making Lees hands sting with the impact, but none of them did any damage. By the time they fired their sed shot, the balloon was almost out e, hurtling up into the blue and speeding out over the sea. Lee felt his heart lift with it. Hed said oo Serafina Pekkala that he didnt care for flying, that it was only a job; but he had it. S upward, with a fair wind behind and a new world in front—what could be better in this life?
He let go of the suspensi and saw that Hester was croug in her usual er, eyes halfclosed.
From far below and a long way back came another futile volley of rifle fire. The town was reg fast, and the broad sweep of the rivers mouth was glittering in the sunlight below them.
"Well, Dr. Grumman," he said, "I dont know about you, but I feel better hi the air. I wish that poor man had let go of the rope, though. Its so damned easy to do, and if you do go at oheres no hope for you."
"Thank you, Mr. Scoresby," said the shaman. "You mahat very well. Now we settle down and fly. I would be grateful for those furs; the air is still cold."
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