Mrs. Coulter couldnt speak. She had to turn away and go to the window to conceal the emotion on her face. Finally she said:
Mrs. Coulter heard no more of what he was saying, because he was already halfway down the stairs. When his running footsteps had faded, too, the only sounds were the gentle hiss of the naphtha lamp and the moan of the wild wind outside.
Ten minutes later there was a knock on the door. The pale, dark-eyed alethiometrist, with his nightingale daemon on his shoulder, came in and bowed slightly. A moment later the orderly arrived with a tray of bread, cheese, and coffee, and Mrs. Coulter said:
"Tell Madame Oxentiel at once. Put this order out: the daemons are not to be threatened, or frightened, or coerced in any way. Anyone seeing them should first..."
Moving like someone in a dream, she got to her feet, picked up the rucksack that lay in the corner of the room, and reached inside it for her pistol; and what she would have done next, no one knew, because at that moment there came the sound of footsteps running up the stairs.
Lord Asriel said, "Marisa, wake up. Were about to land."
"He should have rested before. Send for him, would you? Oh, one more thing: please ask Madame Oxentiel to come to the tower as soon as its convenient. I must give her my condolences."
Her eyes found the eyes of her daemon. The golden monkeys expression was as subtle and complex as it had ever been in all their thirty-five years of life.
"No."
A drift of gray was leaving the Clouded Mountain, a slowly spreading smudge against the blue sky. But it couldnt have been smoke: it was drifting against the wind that tore at the clouds.
"That is so."
Her daemon sat up beside her, but she didnt want to move closer to the door; it was simply the sound of Lord Asriels voice she wanted to hear rather than any particular words. She thought they were both doomed. She thought they were all doomed.
"We should have married," she said, "and brought her up ourselves."
The Gallivespian leader said, "What form do they have, these two lost daemons?"
"And the bomb?"
She washed and changed into the one clean shirt she had left. The cold wind that shook the windows and the gray morning light made her shiver. She put some more coals on the iron stove, hoping it would stop her trembling, but the cold was in her bones, not just her flesh.
He said nothing.
"Hes working with his books at the moment, maam. Ill ask him to step up here when he can."
"You didnt hear?" he said.
His hands were shaking. King Ogunwe poured the golden Tokay and handed him the glass.
"Thank you for coming, Mr. Basilides. May I offer you some refreshment?"
His part was simply to listen. His eyes were locked on hers, and he was paying profound attention; there was no need to respond. She said:
"Please tell me," she said as soon as shed poured the drink, "because Im sure youve been following whats happened: is my daughter alive?"
The lady nodded. Her stiff gray hair caught the lamplight, glinting like stainless steel, and the blue hawk she had inherited from Lord Roke spread his wings briefly on the bracket by the door.
"What are you going to do?" said King Ogunwe harshly.
"Yes? Oh, please, what do you mean?"
The telescope brought it closer, but there was no more detail: cloud still looks like cloud however much its magnified.
"Asriel..." she murmured.
The king put his field glasses to his eyes and saw what it was. "Angels," he said.
Lord Asriel sat up, transfigured. All the fatigue had been wiped off his face in a moment. He sprang to his feet and seized his greatcoat.
Lord Asriel passed a hand over his forehead.
"Thank you, my lord," said the reader.
Lord Asriel came away from the telescope and stood up, hand shading his eyes. In hundreds, and then thousands, and tens of thousands, until half that part of the sky was darkened, the minute figures flew and flew and kept on coming. Lord Asriel had seen the billion-strong flocks of blue starlings that wheeled at sunset around the palace of the Emperor Kang-Po, but he had never seen so vast a multitude in all his life. The flying beings gathered themselves and then streamed away slowly, slowly, to the north and the south.
"Thats not a mountain," he said. "I saw gun emplacements ..."
"I cant hear the thought of oblivion, Asriel," she continued. "Sooner anything than that. I used to think pain would he worse, to be tortured forever, I thought that must he worse... But as long as you were conscious, it would be better, wouldnt it? Better than feeling nothing, just going into the dark, everything going out forever and ever?"
Ignoring Mrs. Coulter, he flung the coat around his shoulders and said to the orderly:
"The Clouded Mountain," said Ogunwe. "Or, what do they call it? The Chariot?"
"Whatever you have," she said. "And thank you. Oh, by the way," she went on as the man turned to go: "Lord Asriels alethiometrist, Mr. ..."
"And what about Mrs. Coulter?" said the king.
"We shall win."
"Few as we are," he went on, "and short-lived as we are, and weak-sighted as we are, in comparison with them, were still stronger. They envy us, Ogunwe! Thats what fuels their hatred, Im sure of it. They long to have our precious bodies, so solid and powerful, so well-adapted to the good earth! And if we drive at them with force and determination, we can sweep aside those infinite numbers as you can sweep your hand through mist. They have no more power than that!"
"Frankly, no. Thats why I want to see Basilides. Where did he go?"
"Ah! And whats that?" said Lord Asriel, pointing. "Thats not the wind."
"They are not yet fixed, madame," said Teukros Basilides. "They might be any shape."
breathlessly:
King Ogunwe put down his field glasses.
Finally Lord Asriel spoke.
"I remember you said something strange, on Svalbard, on the mountaintop, just before you left our world," she went on. "You said: Come with me, and well destroy Dust forever. You remember saying that? But you didnt mean it. You meant the very opposite, didnt you? I see now. Why didnt you tell me what you were really doing? Why didnt you tell me you were really trying to preserve Dust? You could have told me the truth."
"She is in the world of the dead. For some time I could not interpret what the instrument was telling me: it seemed impossible. But there is no doubt. She and the boy have gone into the world of the dead, and they have opened a way for the ghosts to come out. As soon as the dead reach the open, they dissolve as their daemons did, and it seems that this is the most sweet and desirable end for them. And the alethiometer tells me that the girl did this because she overheard a prophecy that there would come an end to death, and she thought that this was a task for her to accomplish. As a result, there is now a way out of the world of the dead."
"I will take some coffee, thank you."
She couldnt sit still, but she didnt really have the strength to stand up. For a moment she felt faint, her head swam, sounds receded, the room darkened, but almost at once her senses came back even more pitilessly than before, and nothing in the situation had changed.
He pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes. His face was ravaged with fatigue. He sat down and rested an elbow on the table. Their daemons were very still, the monkey crouching on the chair back, the snow leopard sitting upright and alert at Lord Asriels side, watching Mrs. Coulter unblinkingly.
"I wanted you to come and join me," he said, his voice hoarse and quiet, "and I thought you would prefer a lie."
"Mr. Basilides?"
A blustery dawn was breaking over the basalt fortress as the intention craft flew in from the south. Mrs. Coulter, sore and heartsick, opened her eyes; shehad not been asleep. She could see the angel Xaphania gliding above the landing ground, and then rising and wheeling up to the tower as the craft made for the ramparts.
"I would not have her troubled," he said. "Leave her alone and protect her if you can. Although... Well, maybe Im doing her an injustice. Whatever else shes done, shes never failed to surprise me. But we all know what we must do, and why we must do it: we have to protect Lyra until she has found her daemon and escaped. Our Republic might have come into being for the sole purpose of helping her do that. Let us do it as well as we can."
"And will she come out alive?, But no, I know you cant predict. Is she, how is she, has she..."
He was looking through the watchtower telescope at something in the western sky. It had the appearance of a mountain hanging in the sky a hands breadth above the horizon, and covered in cloud. It wasa very long way off, so far, in fact, that it was no bigger than a thumbnail held out at arms length. But it had not been there for long, and it hung there absolutely still.
Finally she heard the door closing in the other room and roused herself to stand up.
He laid his hand against his friends rough cheek.
"Im going to destroy Metatron. But my part is nearly over. Its my daughter who has to live, and its our task to keep all the forces of the Kingdom away from her so that she has a chance to find her way to a safer world, she and that boy, and their daemons."
He knew at once what she meant. He leapt to her breast, and they embraced. Then she found her fur-lined coat, and they very quietly left the chamber and made their way down the dark stairs.
"What will this mean, Lord Asriel?" said the clear voice of Madame Oxentiel.
"So did I. A whole complexity of things. Can he see out through the cloud, I wonder? In some worlds, they have machines to do that. But as for his army, if those angels are all theyve got...”
"Very well," he said, spreading his hands wide on the table. "Then this is what we shall do when the battle begins. King Ogunwe, you will assume command of all the armies defending the fortress. Madame Oxentiel, you are to send your people out at once to search in every direction for the girl and the boy, and the two daemons. When you find them, guard them with your lives until they come together again. At that point, I understand, the boy will be able to help them escape to another world, and safety."
"Lord Asriel," said the king, "do you understand her importance for the future?"
"Asriel, they have allies from a thousand worlds, living beings like us."
He still hadnt answered her first question, and he wasnt going to, and she knew it.
"Oh, Asriel, what will happen to us?" Mrs. Coulter said again. "Is this the end of everything?"
Lord Asriel came back to the table.
"What do you make of that, King?" said Lord Asriel.
"My daughter!" cried Lord Asriel, exulting. "Isnt it something to bring a child like that into the world? Youd think it was enough to go alone to the king of the armored bears and trick his kingdom out of his paws, but to go down into the world of the dead and calmly let them all out! And that boy; I want to meet that boy; I want to shake his hand. Did we know what we were taking on when we started this rebellion? No. But did they know, the Authority and his Regent, this Metatron, did they know what they were taking on when my daughter got involved?"
"The bomb did not hurt her."
"And suppose hes sent those angels to look for your daughter?"
The golden monkey put a tentative hand out to touch the paw of the snow leopard. The man watched without a word, and Stelmaria didnt move; her eyes were fixed on Mrs. Coulter.
"With the Regent at the reins. Hes concealed himself well, this Metatron. They speak of him in the apocryphal scriptures: he was a man once, a man called Enoch, the son of Jared, six generations away from Adam. And now he rules the Kingdom. And hes intending to do more than that, if that angel they found by the sulphur lake was correct, the one who entered the Clouded Mountain to spy. If he wins this battle, he intends to intervene directly in human life. Imagine that, Ogunwe, a permanent Inquisition, worse than anything the Consistorial Court of Discipline could dream up, staffed by spies and traitors in every world and directed personally by the intelligence thats keeping that mountain aloft...The old Authority at least had the grace to withdraw; the dirty work of burning heretics and hanging witches was left to his priests. This new one will be far, far worse."
follow; and if he can control those two children, the future is his, forever. Our task is clear: we have to find the daemons before he does, and keep them safe till the girl and the boy rejoin them."
He hesitated. The golden monkey clutched her arm,
His daemon growled softly; the golden monkey dropped his head low to propitiate her. Lord Asriel was rolling up a large map and did not turn.
The man bowed and left. Mrs. Coulter went to lie down on the camp bed, but try as she would, she couldnt keep her eyes closed.
Mrs. Coulter lay in Lord Asriels bed next door. Hearing voices in the other room, she stirred, for she wasnt deeply asleep. She came out of her troubled slumber uneasy and heavy with longing.
"Yes," she whispered, "thats what I thought."
"The other day, when you spoke about her so bitterly, and about me... I thought you hated her. I could understand your hating me. Ive never hated you, but I could understand... I could see why you might hate me. But I couldnt see why you hated Lyra."
Lord Asriel sighed, almost with satisfaction; it was as if hed come to the end of a long and complex calculation, and reached an answer that made quite unexpected sense.
There was more than a mountain there, but they only saw it for a moment; and then the cloud swirled back, as if drawn across by an unseen hand, to conceal it again.
All through that day the army assembled. Angels of Lord Asriels force flew high over the Clouded Mountain, looking for an opening, but without success. Nothing changed; no more angels flew out or inward; the high winds tore at the clouds, and the clouds endlessly renewed themselves, not parting even for a second. The sun crossed the cold blue sky and then moved down to the southwest, gilding the clouds and tinting the vapor around the mountain every shade of cream and scarlet, of apricot and orange. When the sun sank, the clouds glowed faintly from within.
"She is alive," said Basilides carefully, "but also..."
"Now, Xaphania," said Lord Asriel. "What do you know of this Metatron? He was once a man: does he still have the physical strength of a human being?"
"Well, hes begun by invading the Republic," said Ogunwe. "Look, is that smoke?"
"So," said Lord Asriel, "to sum it up: all of us, our Republic, the future of every conscious being, we all depend on my daughters remaining alive, and on keeping her daemon and the boys out of the hands of Metatron?"
"I see," he said. "Finally, Xaphania, Mr. Basilides tells us that their bomb not only opened an abyss below the worlds, but also fractured the structure of things so profoundly that there are fissures and cracks everywhere. Somewhere nearby there must be a way down to the edge of that abyss. I want you to look for it."
"He came to prominence long after I was exiled," the angel said. "I have never seen him up close. But he would not have been able to dominate the Kingdom unless he was very strong indeed, strong in every way. Most angels would avoid fighting hand-to-hand. Metatron would relish the combat, and win."
"Well," he said, "it will mean that when we join battle, we shall have a new objective. My daughter and this boy have become separated from their daemons, somehow, and managed to survive; and their daemons are somewhere in this world, correct me if Im summarizing wrongly, Mr. Basilides, their daemons are in this world, and Metatron is intent on capturing them. If he captures their daemons, the children will have to
Mrs. Coulter felt suddenly exhausted. She wanted nothing more than to lie down and sleep for months, for years. Outside, the flag rope snapped and clattered in the wind, and the rooks cawed as they wheeled around the ramparts.
"Excuse me, my lord, the two daemons, theyve been seen, not far from the eastern gate, in the form of cats, the sentry tried to talk to them, bring them inside, but they wouldnt come near. It was only a minute or so ago..."
"To the Lady Coulter. But the man is worn out; he can do no more until hes rested."
"Very well," she said. "I cant see any other way. I think... I think well..."
"They havent got this!" he said, and shook Ogunwes arm violently. "They havent got Zesh!"
The king gave a brief exclamation, half of astonishment, half of despair. Lord Asriel turned and gripped his arm with fingers that all but bruised him to the bone.
Ogunwe could tell that Lord Asriel had been struck by an idea. His attention suddenly withdrew, his eyes lost focus for an instant, and then snapped back to the moment with an extra charge of intensity.
"Thank you, sir," she said, turning back to the reader. "Im very grateful. Please would you let me know if you discover anything more about her, or where she is, or what shes doing?"
It was such an unexpected remark that he blinked. His daemon uttered the softest possible growl at the back of her throat, and settled down with her paws outstretched in the manner of the Sphinx. He said nothing.
"I heard a little. I couldnt sleep, but I wasnt listening. Where is Lyra now, does anyone know?"
He turned his head away slowly, and then looked back.
"Yes. Is he free to come here for a moment?"
The cloud was swirling on the southern flank of the mountain, and long tattered banners of vapor streamed out in the powerful winds. But Lord Asriel was right: the movement was coming from within, not from the air outside. The cloud roiled and tumbled, and then it parted for a second.
"Asriel, what will happen to us all?" she said, taking a chair.
Madame Oxentiel had been the Gallivespians second-in-command. Now she would have to take over Lord Rokes responsibilities. King Ogunwe bowed and left his commander scanning the gray horizon.
Warriors were now in place from every world where Lord Asriels rebellion had supporters; mechanics and artificers were fueling aircraft, loading weapons, and calibrating sights and measures. As the darkness came, some welcome reinforcements arrived. Padding silently over the cold ground from the north, separately, singly, came a number of armored hears, a large number, and among them was their king. Not long afterward, there arrived the first of several witch clans, the sound of the air through their pine branches whispering in the dark sky for a long time.
At midnight in the adamant tower, Lord Asriel sat in discussion with King Ogunwe, the angel Xaphania, Madame Oxentiel the Gallivespian, and Teukros Basilides. The alethiometrist had just finished speaking, and Lord Asriel stood up, crossed to the window, and looked out at the distant glow of the Clouded Mountain hanging in the western sky. The others were silent; they had just heard something that had made Lord Asriel turn pale and tremble, and none of them quite knew how to respond.
"Mr. Basilides," he said, "you must be very fatigued. I am grateful for all your efforts. Please take some wine with us."
Both man and woman, and both daemons, turned to look at the orderly who came in and said
As soon as the craft had landed, Lord Asriel leapt out and ran to join King Ogunwe on the western watchtower, ignoring Mrs. Coulter entirely. The technicians who came at once to attend to the flying machine took no notice of her, either; no one questioned her about the loss of the aircraft shed stolen; it was as if shed become invisible. She made her way sadly up to the room in the adamant tower, where the orderly offered to bring her some food and coffee.
Along the plain to the south of the fortress glimmered thousands of lights, marking the camps of those who had arrived from far off. Farther away, in all four corners of the compass, flights of spy-angels cruised tirelessly, keeping watch.
"She is suffering, she is in pain, she is afraid. But she has the companionship of the boy, and of the two Gallivespian spies, and they are still all together."
"Asriel," she said, going through into the warm naphtha light.
