Chapter 23 TWELVE - THE LOST BOY-1

They traveled for several hours and then stopped to eat. While the men were lighting fires and melting snow for water, with lorek Byrnison watching Lee Scoresby roast seal meat close by, John Faa spoke to Lyra. “Lyra, can you see that instrument to read it?” he said. The moon itself had long set. The light from the Aurora was brighter than moonlight, but it was instantaneous. However, Lyras eyes were keen, and she fumbled inside her furs and tugged out the black velvet bag. “Yes, I can see all right,” she said. “But I know where most of the symbols are by now anyway. What shall I ask it, Lord Faa?”

“I want to know more about how they are defending this place, Bolvangar,” he said. Without even having to think about it, she found her fingers moving the hands to point to the helmet, the griffin, and the crucible, and felt her mind settle into the right meanings like a complicated diagram in three dimensions. At once the needle began to swing round, back, round and on further, like a bee dancing its message to the hive. She watched it calmly, content not to know at first but to know that a meaning was coming, and then it began to clear. it dance on until it was certain. “Its just like the witches daemon said, Lord Faa. Theres a company of Tartars guarding the station, and they got wires all round it. They dont really expect to be attacked, thats what the symbol reader says. But Lord Faa... "

"What, child?" “Its a telling me something else. In the next valley theres a village by a lake where the folk are troubled by a ghost.” John Faa shook his head impatiently, and said, “That dont matter now. Theres bound to be spirits of all kinds among these forests. Tell me again about them Tartars. How many, for instance? What are they armed with?” Lyra dutifully asked, and reported the answer: “Theres sixty men with rifles, and they got a couple of larger guns, sort of cannons. They got fire throwers too. And... Their daemons are all wolves, thats what it says.” That caused a stir among the older gyptians, those who campaigned before.

“The Sibirsk regimes have wolf daemons,” said one. John Faa said, “I never met fiercer. We shall have to fight like tigers. And consult the bear; hes a shrewd warrior, that one.” Lyra was impatient, and said, “But Lord Faa, this ghost—I think its the ghost of one of the kids!” “Well, even if it is, Lyra, I dont know what anyone could do about it. Sixty Sibirsk riflemen, and fire throwers...Mr. Scoresby, step over here if you would, for a moment.” While the aeronaut came to the sledge, Lyra slipped away and spoke to the bear. “Lorek, have you traveled this way before?” “Once,” he said in that deep flat voice.

“Theres a village near, ent there?” “Over the ridge,” he said, looking up through the sparse trees. "Is it far?" "For you or for me?" "For me," she said. "Too far. Not at all far for me." “How long would it take you to get there, then?” “I could be there and back three times by next moonrise.” “Because, lorek, listen: I got this symbol reader that tells me things, you see, and its told me that theres something important I got to do over in that village, and Lord Faa wont let me go there. He just wants to get on quick, and 1 know thats important too. But unless I go and find out what it is, We might not know what the Gobblers are really doing."

The bear said nothing. He was sitting up like a human, his great paws folded in his lap, his dark eyes looking into hers down the length of his muzzle. He knew she wanted something. Pantalaimon spoke: “Can you take us there and catch up with the sledges later on?” “I could. But I have given my word to Lord Faa to obey him, not anyone else.” “If I got his permission?” said Lyra. “Then yes.” She turned and ran back through the snow. “Lord Faa! If lorek Byrnison takes me over the ridge to the village, we can find out whatever it is, and then catch the sledges up further on. He knows the route,” she urged "And I wouldn't ask, except its like what I did before, Farder Coram, you remember, with that chameleon? I didn't understand it then, but it was true, and we found out soon after. I got the same feeling now. I cant understand properly what its saying, only I know its important. And lorek Byrnison knows the way, he says he could get there and back three times by next moonrise, and I couldnt be safer than Id be with him, could I? he won't go without he gets Lord Faas permission."

There was a silence. Farder Coram sighed. John Faa was frowning, and his mouth inside the fur hood was set grimly. But before he could speak, the aeronaut put in: "Lord Faa, if lorek Byrnison takes the little girl, shell be as safe as if she was here with us. All bears are true, but Ive known lorek for years, and nothing under the sky will make him break his word. Give him the charge to take care of her and hell do it, make no mistake. As for speed, he can slope for hours without tiring.” “But why should not some men go?” said John Faa. "Well, they'd have to walk," Lyra pointed out, "because you couldn't run a sledge over that ridge. lorek Byrnison can go faster than any man over that sort of country, and Im light enough sos he won't be slowed down. And I promise, Lord Faa, I promise not to be any longer than I need, and not to give anything away about us, or to get in any danger.”

“Youre sure you need to do this? That symbol reader ent playing the fool with you?” “It never does, Lord Faa, and I dont think it could.” John Faa rubbed his chin. "Well, if all comes out right, well have a piece more knowledge than we do now. lorek Byrnison," he called, "are you willing to do as this child bids?" “I do your bidding, Lord Faa. Tell me to take the child there, and I will.” “Very well. You are to take her where she wishes to go and do as she bids. Lyra, Im a commanding you now, you understand?” "Yes, Lord Faa." "You go and search for whatever it is, and when you've found it, you turn right round and come back. lorek Byrnison, well be a traveling on by that time, so you'll have to catch us up."

The bear nodded his great head. “Are there any soldiers in the village?” he said to Lyra. “Will I need my armor? We shall be swifter without it.” “No,” she said. “Im certain of that, lorek. Thank you, Lord Faa, and I promise Ill do just as you say.” Tony Costa gave her a strip of dried seal meat to chew, and with Pantalaimon as a mouse inside her hood, Lyra clambered onto the great bears back, gripping his fur with her mittens and his narrow muscular back between her knees. His fur was wondrously thick, and the sense of enormous power she felt was overwhelming. As if she weighed nothing at all, he turned and sloped away in a long swinging run up toward the ridge and into the low trees.

It took some time before she was used to the movement, and then she felt a wild exhilaration. She was riding a bear! And the Aurora was swaying above them in golden arcs and loops, and all around was the bitter arctic cold and the enormous silence of the North. lorek Byrnisons paws made hardly any sound as they padded forward through the snow. The trees were thin and stunted here, for they were on the edge of the tundra, but there were brambles and snagging bushes in the path. The bear ripped through them as if they were cobwebs. They climbed the low ridge, among outcrops of black rock, and were soon out of sight of the party behind them. Lyra wanted to talk to the bear, and if he had been human, she would already be on familiar terms with him; but he was so strange and wild and cold that she was shy, almost for the first time in her life. So as he sloped along, his great legs swinging tirelessly, she sat with the movement and said nothing. Perhaps he preferred that anyway, she thought; she must seem a little prattling cub, only just past babyhood, in the eyes of an armored bear.