When the throne room was empty but for lofur Raknison and Lyra, he turned to her eagerly.
And with me helping him, he could lead all the bears against you. Thats what hes come to Svalbard for.”
“How?” he said, breathlessly. “How has a bear got a daemon? And why him? And how are you so far from him?” The flies left his mouth like tiny words. “Thats easy. I can go far from him because Im like a witchs daemon. You know how they can go hundreds of miles from their humans? Its like that. And as for how he got me, it was at Bolvangar. Youve heard of Bolvangar, because Mrs. Coulter must have told you about it, but she probably didnt tell you everything they were doing there.” “Cutting...” he said.
“Please, Your Majesty, let me tell you all about it first before you harm me.
His expression changed. She couldnt read what it was saying, but there was no doubt that he was powerfully interested. Suddenly he lumbered forward off the throne, making her skip aside, and roared an order to the other bears. They all bowed their heads and backed out toward the door. The birds, which had risen in a flurry at his roar, squawked and swooped around overhead before settling again on their nests.
“But you—how can—”
“Tell me one thing more. What did the Lady Coulter promise me when she was here?”
“Tell them.. .tell them that to make your kingdom com-pletely secure, youve called lorek Byrnison here yourself to fight him, and the winner will rule over the bears forever. See, if you make it look like your idea that hes coming, and not his, theyll be really impressed. Theyll think youre able to call him here from far away. Theyll think you can do anything.”
“You cannot see lofur Raknison when you please,” he said. “You have to wait till he wants to see you.”
All the time she was holding Pantalaimon in her pocket with a trembling hand, and he was keeping as still as he could, in the smallest mouse form he had ever assumed.
“I can become your daemon,” she said, “but only if you defeat lorek Byrnison in single combat. Then his strength will flow into you, and my mind will flow into yours, and well be like one person, thinking each others thoughts; and you can send me miles away to spy for you, or keep me here by your side, whichever you like. And Id help you lead the bears to capture Bolvangar, if you like, and make them create more daemons for your favorite bears; or if youd rather be the only bear with a daemon, we could destroy Bolvangar forever. We could do anything, lofur Raknison, you and me together!”
She put the alethiometer away, and wondered how to tell him about it.
“Yes, cutting, thats part of it, intercision. But theyre doing all kinds of other things too, like making artificial daemons. And experimenting on animals.
“Then tell me what was the first creature I killed.” “Ill have to go into a room by myself to do this,” she said. “When Im your daemon, youll be able to see how I do it, but until then its got to be private.”
“lorek Byrnisons, Your Majesty,” she said. “Ive got something very important and secret to tell you, and I think I ought to tell you in private, really.”
“There is an anteroom behind this one. Go into that, and come out when you know the answer.”
She was nearly asleep when the bolts clattered and the door opened. Light spilled in, and she was on her feet at once, with Pantalaimon hidden swiftly in her pocket.
Once again Lyra went into the empty room and consulted the alethiometer before returning with the answer.
It was the most dangerous thing she had ever said. She could see quite clearly that only his astonishment prevented him from killing her at once. She went on:
She knelt down in front of him and bowed her head to touch his left forepaw, the stronger, for bears were left-handed.
“Something about lorek Byrnison?”
“Yes. What should we tell them?”
“I am a daemon, Your Majesty,” she said.
“Well?” he said. “Tell me who you are. What is this about daemons?”
Just like when people have daemons, theyre animal-formed, so when a bear has a daemon, itll be human. And Im his daemon. I can see into his mind and know exactly what hes doing and where he is and—” “Where is he now?”
“That wouldnt be right, not for someone else to know before the king does,” she said. “Im sorry, I dont mean to be rude, but you see, its the rule that the king has to know things first.”
“You know! You can see!”
“I dont know....What should I do?”
“Flatter him!” whispered Pantalaimon. “Thats all he wants.”
She asked further, and learned that lofur had been alone on the ice as a young bear, on his first hunting expedition, and had come across a solitary bear. They had quarreled and fought, and lofur had killed him. This in itself would have been a crime, but it was worse than simple murder, for lofur learned later that the other bear was his own father. Bears were brought up by their mothers, and seldom saw their fathers. Naturally lofur concealed the truth of what he had done; no one knew about it but lofur himself, and now Lyra knew as well.
Finally the large door was opened from the inside. A blaze of light from half a dozen chandeliers, a crimson carpet, and more of that thick perfume hanging in the air; and the faces of a dozen or more bears, all gazing at her, none in armor but each with some kind of decoration: a golden necklace, a headdress of purple feathers, a crimson sash. Curiously, the room was also occupied by birds; terns and skuas perched on the plaster cornice, and swooped low to snatch at bits of fish that had fallen out of one anothers nests in the chandeliers.
“Yes...”
“But this is urgent, what Ive got to tell him,” she said. “Its about lorek Byrnison. Im sure His Majesty would want to know it, but all the same I cant tell it to anyone else, dont you see? It wouldnt be polite. Hed be ever so cross if he knew we hadnt been polite.”
She put that thought aside and asked the question lofur Raknison wanted. What was the first creature he had killed? The answer came: lofurs own father.
“Yes...”
He stopped still.
But she moved a little closer, because she had to, and then she saw that lofur was holding something on his knee, as a human might let a cat sit there—or a daemon.
Ive come here at my own risk, as you can see, and theres nothing Ive got that could hurt you. In fact, I want to help you, thats why Ive come. lorek Byrnison was the first bear to get a daemon, but it should have been you. I would much rather be your daemon than his, thats why I came.”
“Thats why I love you best,” she said to lofur Raknison, “because youre passionate and strong as well as clever. And I just had to leave him and come and tell you, because I dont want him ruling the bears. It ought to be you. And there is a way of taking me away from him and making me your daemon, but you wouldnt know what it was unless I told you, and you might do the usual thing about fighting bears like him thatve been outcast; I mean, not fight him properly, but kill him with fire hurlers or something. And if you did that, Id just go out like a light and die with him.”
When lorek Byrnison heard about it, he offered himself for an experiment to see if they could make a daemon for him, and they did. It was me. My name is Lyra.
lofur Raknison was pacing up and down with an air of explosive excitement.
“Our greetings to you, great King,” she said quietly. “Or I mean my greetings, not his.”
She moved up close to the throne and bowed very low, with Pantalaimon keeping quiet and still in her pocket.
“Its the only way,” said Lyra, wishing it were not, because lofur Raknison seemed bigger and more fierce every minute. Dearly as she loved lorek, and strong as her faith was in him, she couldnt really believe that he would ever beat this giant among giant bears. But it was the only hope they had. Being mown down from a distance by fire hurlers was no hope at all. Suddenly lofur Raknison turned. “Prove it!” he said. “Prove that you are a daemon!” “All right,” she said. “I can do that, easy. I can find out anything that you know and no one else does, something that only a daemon would be able to find out.”
Well, Im afraid that she hasnt done that, lofur Raknison, and quite honestly I dont think theyd ever agree to that if you didnt have a daemon. I think she knew that, and she wasnt telling you the truth. But in any case when youve got me as your daemon, you could be baptized if you wanted to, because no one could argue then. You could demand it and they wouldnt be able to turn you down.”
But she was equal to it.
She quailed. Suddenly her idea seemed too feeble for words.
“Whose?” he said.
The great bear was helpless. Lyra found her power over him almost intoxicating, and if Pantalaimon hadnt nipped her hand sharply to remind her of the danger they were all in, she might have lost all her sense of proportion.
“And maybe when he comes I better pretend I still belong to him, and say I got lost or something. He wont know. Ill pretend. Are you going to tell the other bears about me being loreks daemon and then belonging to you when you beat him?”
“Four hours away, and hurrying ever faster.” “How can I tell him what Ive done?” “You must trust him.”
“I beg your pardon, lofur Raknison!” she said. “I didnt know you were so strong and great!”
“Single combat?” he was saying. “Me? I must fight lorek Byrnison? Impossible! He is outcast! How can that be? How can I fight him? Is that the only way?”
“Yes...True. Thats what she said. True, every word. And she has deceived me? I trusted her, and she deceived me?”
“Its about lorek Byrnison,” she said quickly. “I know something about him, and the king needs to know.”
That seemed to carry some weight, or else to mystify the bear sufficiently to make him pause. Lyra was sure her interpretation of things was right: lofur Raknison was introducing so many new ways that none of the bears was certain yet how to behave, and she could exploit this uncertainty in order to get tolofur.
“Yes, because I am a daemon, like I said.”
He dropped the meat from his jaws and looked up. It wasnt easy to read bears expressions, but he looked angry.
She thought anxiously of how tired he would be. But then she reflected that she was not doing what the alethiometer had just told her to do: she wasnt trusting him.
“Whats this? Answer my question!”
So Lyra opened the door and found lofur Raknison waiting for her, with an expression of triumph, slyness, apprehension, and greed.
He must be mad! Well tear him to pieces!”
Sitting on the throne was the biggest bear she had ever seen. lofur Raknison was even taller and bulkier than lorek, and his face was much more mobile and expressive, with a kind of humanness in it which she had never seen in loreks.
“Not whose?” he said, and his voice was lighter than she had thought it would be, but full of expressive tones and subtleties. When he spoke, he waved a paw in front of his mouth to dislodge the flies that clustered there.
“She promised you that shed get the Magisterium in Geneva to agree that you could be baptized as a Christian, even though you hadnt got a daemon then.
She came close to him, stepping carefully over the bird-spattered floor, and brushed away the flies buzzing at her face.
“The first creature you killed was your own father. I think youre a new god, lofur Raknison. Thats what you must be. Only a god would have the strength to do that.”
And on a dais at the far end of the room, a mighty throne reared up high. It was made of granite for strength and mas-siveness, but like so many other things in lofurs palace, it was decorated with overelaborate swags and festoons of gilt that looked like tinsel on a mountainside.
“lorek Byrnisons,” was her answer.
It was a big stuffed doll, a manikin with a vacant stupid human face. It was dressed as Mrs. Coulter would dress, and it had a sort of rough resemblance to her. He was pretending he had a daemon. Then she knew she was safe.
“Well?”
“On Svalbard.Hes coming this way as fast as he can.” “Why? What does he want?
The bear-king roared his anger. He roared so loudly that the crystal in the chandeliers tinkled, and every bird in the great room shrieked, and Lyras ears rang.
“He wants me. Hes coming to get me back. But I dont want to be his daemon, lofur Raknison, I want to be yours. Because once they saw how powerful a bear was with a daemon, the people at Bolvangar decided not to do that experiment ever again. lorek Byrnison was going to be the only bear who ever had a daemon.
But she came to herself and stepped modestly back to watch and wait as the bears, under lofurs excited direction, prepared the combat ground for lorek Byrnison; and meanwhile lorek, knowing nothing about it, was hurrying ever closer toward what she wished she could tell him was a fight for his life.
“I dont think you better mention it yet. Once were together, you and me, we can think whats best to do and decide then. What you need to do now is explain to all the other bears why youre going to let lorek fight you like a proper bear, even though hes an outcast. Because they wont understand, and we got to find a reason for that. Imean, theyll do what you tell them anyway, but if they see the reason for it, theyll admire you even more.”
“Take me to lofur Raknison. Youll be in trouble if you dont. Its very urgent.”
Lyra opened the door and found herself in a room lit by one torch, and empty but for a cabinet of mahogany containing some tarnished silver ornaments. She took out the alethiome-ter and asked: “Where is lorek now?”
As soon as the bear guard bent his head to lift the haunch of seal meat and throw it in, she was at his side, saying:
When lofur looked at her, she seemed to see a man looking out of his eyes, the sort of man she had met at Mrs. Coulters, a subtle politician used to power. He was wearing a heavy gold chain around his neck, with a gaudy jewel hanging from it, and his claws—a good six inches long—were each covered in gold leaf. The effect was one of enormous strength and energy and craft; he was quite big enough to carry the absurd overdecoration; on him it didnt look preposterous, it looked barbaric and magnificent.
Perhaps he was slow-witted. At any rate, he paused, and then threw the meat into the cell before saying, “Very well. You come with me.”
“Tell me what it is, and Ill pass the message on,” said the bear.
So that bear retreated to consult the bear above him, and before long Lyra was ushered inside the palace again, but into the state quarters this time. It was no cleaner here, and in fact the air was even harder to breathe than in the cell, because all the natural stinks had been overlaid by a heavy layer of cloying perfume. She was made to wait in a corridor, then in an anteroom, then outside a large door, while bears discussed and argued and scurried back and forth, and she had time to look around at the preposterous decoration: the walls were rich with gilt plasterwork, some of which was already peeling off or crumbling with damp, and the florid carpets were trodden with filth.
He led her out into the open air, for which she was grateful. The fog had lifted and there were stars glittering above the high-walled courtyard. The guard conferred with another bear, who came to speak to her.
“Something about daemons,” she said, so that only he could hear.
“Yes, she did. But she doesnt matter anymore. Excuse me, lofur Raknison, I hope you wont mind me telling you, but lorek Byrnisons only four hours away now, and maybe you better tell your guard bears not to attack him as they normally would. If youre going to fight him for me, hell have to be allowed to come to the palace.”
