Chapter 18 18. Fog and Ice

Lee Scoresby covered Lyra with leather jackets.Laila curled up against Luo Ting, and the two of them lay down next to each other and fell asleep.The balloon continued swiftly toward the North Pole.From time to time the balloonist checked his instruments, chewed a cigar, and shrunk back into his fur coat.He would never have lit the cigar so close to flammable hydrogen. "This little girl is still important, isn't she?" he said after a few minutes. "More important than what she herself is going to know," said Serafina Pekkala. "Does that mean there's a lot to do in this armed operation? You know, I'm telling the truth, because I'm going to earn a living. Unless some kind of compensation is agreed beforehand, if I Fucked, or shot to pieces, I can't afford that. Believe me, ma'am, I don't mean the expedition is less important, but what the gypsies like John Faa paid me Although it is enough to compensate me for my time, technology, and normal wear and tear and damage of the balloon, that is all. The risk of war is not included in the compensation. Madam, I tell you, as long as we land Iorek Bernison To Svalbard, it would be seen as an act of war."

He gracefully spits a small piece of tobacco out of the basket. "So I wonder what awaits us amidst the confusion and strife?" he concluded. "There might be a fight," said Serafina Pekkala, "but you've fought before." "Of course—as long as I'm paid. But the truth is, I thought the deal was simply to ship them over, and I was charged for that. After the little hustle and bustle, now I'm thinking— — I wonder how far my transportation responsibilities are; do I have to risk my life and the destruction of my instruments — say, to join in a battle with a armored bear; Are the enemies on Svalbard just as hot-tempered as those in Birvangar behind us. I only mention these things through dialogue."

"Mr. Scoresby," said the witch, "I wish I could answer your question, but all I can say is that all of us, men, witches, and bears, have gone to war, though not all of us know it. Regardless of whether you are in danger on Svalbard or whether you can leave safely, you have been called, you are already serving, you are already a soldier." "Well...it seems a bit rash to say that. In my opinion, people should have the right to choose whether to fight or not to fight." "This issue is the same as human birth. There is no choice at all." "Oh, but I like to choose," he said. "I like to choose what I'm going to do, where I'm going, what I'm going to eat, who I'm going to sit down with and talk to. Don't you want to choose once in a while? "

Serafina Pekkala thought for a moment, then said: "Mr. Scoresby, perhaps we don't mean the same thing as you when we say 'choice.' Profit making is not interested; as for choosing between the two, when you can live for hundreds of years, you know that every opportunity will come again. We have different needs. You have to mend the balloon and keep it in good condition I can see that it takes time and trouble, but when we want to fly, we only need to tear off a cloud pine branch-any one, and there are too many Count. We are not afraid of the cold, so we don't need warm clothing. We have nothing to exchange except helping each other. If one witch needs something, another witch will give it to her. If it is necessary to fight, it will pay The cost is not a factor when we decide whether we should fight or not. We also don't have any concept of honor, like the armored bear. Insulting the armored bear is very dangerous, for us... it is unimaginable. You How could the witch feel insulted? Even if you insulted her, so what?"

"Well... On this point, I agree with you to a certain extent. People will not offend me, and I will not offend others, but it is not worth arguing for the sake of reputation. However, madam, I hope you can understand my difficulties. I am just an ordinary I want to spend the last days of my life comfortably, buy a small farm, raise a few cows, a few horses... You see, there is no luxury at all, no need for palaces, servants, And you don't need piles of gold, just the grass in the evening breeze, a cigar, and a glass of bourbon. But the thing is, it all costs money. So, I fly out to make money, After each mission, I send part of the gold back to Wells Fargo Bank. When I have saved up enough money, ma'am, I will sell this balloon and book a ticket to the port of Galveston (Texas, USA) the port city in the southeastern part of the state), and never leave the land again.”

"Mr. Scoresby, there is another difference between you and me. Just like you can't give up breathing, witches won't give up flying. Flight and us are completely integrated." "I understand that, ma'am, and I envy you. But I don't have the reasons to satisfy you. Flying is just a job to me. I'm just a technician, and my job is very important. It could be adjusting a valve on an internal combustion engine, it could be installing an electrical circuit. But you see, I chose this job, and it's a choice I made freely, and because of that, I feel like, I don't know anything The war thing worries me a little bit."

"The discord between Iorek Bernison and his king is also part of this war," said the witch. "This child is destined to play an important role in it." "You talk about fate, and it seems like it's a given," Scoresby said. "I can't say I like it any more than I like being called into a war I didn't know about beforehand. ...can you tell me where my free will is? It seems to me that this child has more autonomy than anyone I've ever met. Are you telling me that she's just a hairy Can't the machine of the road change its own path?"

"We are all subject to fate, but we must act as if we were not," said the witch, "or we can only die in despair. There is a strange thing about this child. Prophecy: She is destined to influence the ultimate destiny. However, she must do so in a state of ignorance, as if it is from her nature and not from her fate. If someone tells her Something had to be done, and it would all be a failure; death would sweep the world, and that would be the victory of the desperate, forever. The universe would all be a chained machine, without light, without thought, No emotion, no life..."

They looked down at Lyra.She was still asleep, frowning slightly stubbornly (they could only see a small part of her face hidden in the hood). "I guess a part of her mind knows that," said the balloonist. "Anyway, she looks ready. What about this little boy? Lyra came all the way to get him Saved from those devils behind us, you know that? Probably in Oxford, they're playmates, you know that?" "Yes, I do know. Lyra was carrying something of great value, and it seemed that fate had sent her as a messenger to bring that thing to her father. So she came on a long journey to find her friend, without knowing that her friend was carried north by fate, so that she might come after her and give something to her father."

"That's your understanding, isn't it?" The witch didn't seem to be fully sure, this was the first time for her. "That's what the whole thing looks like... But, Mr. Scoresby, there's something dark about it that we don't understand. Maybe I'm wrong, and that's quite possible." "Then may I ask, what brought you to this matter?" "Whatever they're doing in Birvangar, we really don't think they should. Lyra's their enemy, so we're her friends, and that's all we know. But besides, my tribe A fondness for the gypsies, from the time Fader Colum saved my life, and they gypsies have an obligation to Lord Asriel."

"So, that is to say, you are pulling the balloons to Svalbard for the sake of the gypsies. Is this friendship between you strong enough to pull us back from there too, or shall I wait for the good wind and lean on the kindness of the armored bear?Madame, I would like to say again that I am asking this in the purest spirit of goodwill. " "Mr. Scoresby, if we can help you get back to Trollsand, we will. But we don't know what to expect in Svalbard. The new armored bear The Kings have made a lot of changes and don't like the way they used to behave, so this landing may be difficult. Besides, I don't know how Lila found her father, or what Iorek Bernison wants to do, only that his fate is tied to Lila's. " "I don't know about that, ma'am. I think he associates the child with her as his protector, because, you know, she helped him get his armor back. Does anyone know the feelings of the armored bear?" But if the armored bear can really love humans, then he loves Lyra. As for landing in Svalbard, it has never been an easy task. Even so, if I can ask you to help adjust If I give directions, it will be easier for me; in return, if I can do something for you, just ask. In addition, I just want to know, can you tell me that in this invisible war Which side am I on?" "We're all on Lyra's side." "Oh, there is no doubt about it." They keep flying.They have no way of knowing their speed because of the clouds below.Of course, under normal circumstances, the balloon is stationary relative to the wind, and it will float at whatever speed the air moves.But now, since the balloon is not as smooth as a streamlined Zeppelin, the balloon, propelled by the witches, does not go with the air, but travels through the air against the resistance, which makes the gondola more violent than in normal flight shaking, bumping. Lee Scoresby cared less about his comfort than about his instruments.It took him a long time to make sure they were all fastened securely to the big pillars.The altimeter told them they were approaching ten thousand feet.The temperature at this time was twenty degrees below zero.While he's experienced colder weather than that, the difference isn't huge.He didn't want to get cold anymore, so he opened the emergency camping canvas, spread it out in front of the sleeping children to keep out the wind, and lay down with his old comrade-in-arms, Iorek Bernie Turning his back to his back, he fell asleep. When Lyra awoke, the moon was high in the sky, silvering everything from the churning clouds below to the frost-covered spears and the icicles on the balloon ropes. Roger wasn't awake yet, and Lee Scoresby and the armored bear were sleeping too.But beside the gondola, the queen of the tribe of witches was flying smoothly. "How far are we from Svalbard?" Lyra asked. "If there is no headwind, we should be in the sky above Svalbard in about twelve hours." "Where do we land?" "That depends on the weather, but we'll try to avoid the cliffs, where there are animals that prey on anything that moves. If we can, we'll land you in the heart of the island, away from Eofol the palace of Er Raknisson." "What will happen when I find Lord Asriel? Will he want to go back to Oxford, or something? I don't know if I should tell him I know he is my father, maybe he wants to pretend It's my uncle, I don't know him very well." "He doesn't want to go back to Oxford, Lyra. There seems to be something he needs to do in another world, and Lord Asriel is the only one who can build a bridge between that world and ours. But he Need something to help him." "It's the alethiometer!" Lyra said. "When the dean of Jordan College gave it to me, I think he wanted to say something about Lord Asriel, but he never got the chance. I know The Abbot wasn't really trying to poison him. Was Lord Asriel trying to find out from the alethiometer how to build that bridge? I'm sure I can help him, I can understand the alethiometer, no worse than anyone else. " "How he built this bridge, I don't know," said Serafina Pekkala. "What his mission was, we cannot say. Some forces will give us a foreshadowing, but above these forces There are other powers, too; even the most powerful have things they don't know." "The alethiometer will tell me! I can see it now..." But it's too cold now, even if she took it out, she couldn't hold it.She tightened her clothes and pulled the hood tightly to keep out the biting cold wind, leaving only a gap to look out.High above the head and a little below, the long rope hung down from the iron ring hanging from the balloon, and half a dozen witches rode on the branches of cloud pine, pulling the balloon forward.The stars shone bright, cold, and piercing like diamonds. "Serafina Pekkala, why aren't you cold?" "We feel the cold too, but we don't care because we are invulnerable to the cold. If we wrap ourselves up to keep out the cold, then we can't feel anything else, like the merry tinkling of the stars, the glow of the aurora. the music, and best of all - the silky feel of the moonlight on our skin. For these, it is worthwhile to be cold. " "Can I feel it?" "No. If you take off the fur coat, you will die. You must dress warmly." "How many years can a witch live? Serafina Pekkala? Fader Kolam said you can live hundreds of years, but you don't look old at all." "I'm three hundred years old, maybe more. Our oldest old witch, Old Mother, is nearly a thousand years old. But there will be a day when Jabe-Akka will come to her; and she will come someday Find me. She is the goddess of death. She comes to you, smiling and kind, and that's when you know your final days are at hand. " "Are there any male wizards, or are all wizards female?" "We have men who serve us as servants, like the consul in Trollsand, and some men we take as lovers or husbands. You are too young to understand this, Lyra, but I will Tell you so you'll understand later: Men fly before our eyes like butterflies, short-lived creatures. We love them because they're brave, energetic, handsome, intelligent, but their lives are fleeting They will die soon, but our hearts continue to be afflicted with pain. We bear their children, if they are girls, they are witches; .So is our son.The little boy grew up thinking he would live forever, but his mother knew that was not the case.With each experience, the pain increases until finally, your heart is broken. Maybe this is the time for Yabei~Aka to come to you.She is older than the arctic tundra, and perhaps in her view, the life of a witch is as short as the life of a human being in our eyes. " "Did you ever love Fadell Colum?" "Loved. Did he know?" "I don't know, but I know he loves you." "When he rescued me, he was young, strong, full of life, very handsome, and I fell in love with him immediately. I could have changed my nature, I could have given up admiring the beauty of Ding Dong's stars and Aurora Sound; I could never fly again—I could have given it all up in that moment, without a second thought, to be a gypsy boatman's wife, cook for him, sleep with him, bear his children. But you can't Change who you are, you can only change what you do. I am a witch and he is a man. I lived with him for a while and bore him a child..." "He never said that! Is it a girl? Is it a witch?" "No, it was a boy who died forty years ago in that dreadful epidemic which was brought from the East. Poor boy, he came and went like a moth In this world, my heart was torn to pieces—this kind of thing always happens, and Colum's heart was also broken. Then came the summons, to return me to the witches, because Yabe—Ah Ka took my mother away, so I became the queen of our tribe. So, as a last resort, I had to stay." "Have you seen Farder Colum again?" "Never again. I've heard about him; I heard he was wounded with a poisoned arrow by the Skrelin bastard, and I sent for him with herbs and spells to help him heal, but I Not brave enough to see him. I heard that since then, his body has broken down, but his wisdom has increased. He has read and studied a lot, and I am proud of his kindness.But I didn't go to him, because my tribe was in danger at that time, and the war between witches was imminent, and besides, I thought he would forget me and find a wife among humans..." "He'll never forget," Lyra said firmly. "You should go to him. He still loves you. I know that. "But he'll be ashamed of his old age, and I don't want him to feel that way. " "Maybe he feels that way, but at least you should bring him a letter. That's what I think." Serafina.Pekkala did not speak for a long time.Pantalaimon, transformed into a tern, flew to her cloud pine branch and stayed there for a moment, acknowledging that perhaps Lyra and he had been rude. Lyra asked, "Serafina Pekkala, why do people have elves?" "Everyone is asking this question, but no one knows the answer. Since there are humans, they have elves. This is the difference between us and animals." "That's right! We're not like animals... like bears. They're weird, aren't they? When you think they're human, then all of a sudden, they do some really weird, cruel things that make you You think you'll never know them... but you know what? Iorek once told me that his armor was to him what the elves are to a man, he said it was his soul But this is another difference between us and them, he made his own armor. When they exiled him, they took his first armor, so he found some meteorite and made a pair New, like a new soul. We couldn't make our own elves. Later, the people of Trollsand got him drunk and stole the armor. And then I found out where the armor was hidden and he brought it back... But what I don't understand is, why did he come to Svalbard? They will beat him and probably kill him ...I like Iorek, I love him so much, I wish he hadn't come." "Did he ever tell you who he was?" "I only know his name, and the consul in Trollsand told us." "He is of high birth, a prince. In fact, if he had not committed such a great crime, he would be king of the armored bear by now." "He told me that their king's name is Eofur Raknisson." "Iofur Laknizon became king after Iorek Bernison was exiled. Of course, Eofur was also a prince, or they would not have allowed him to rule; but he had the wisdom of a human being, making alliances and making treaties; he did not live in a fortress of ice like a bear , but lived in a newly built palace; he said that he would exchange ambassadors with human countries, and develop fire mines with the help of human engineers... He is very shrewd and cunning.Some say he was the one who instigated Iorek to do the thing that got him into exile, others say that even if he didn't instigate, he instigated people to feel that he did, because it further cemented his shrewdness and cunning reputation. " "What the hell did Iorek do? You see, one of the things I like about Iorek is that my dad did something similar to what Iorek did and got punished for it. I think Well, they're very similar, and Iorek told me he killed another bear, but he never said how." "They fought over a female bear. The male bear killed by Iorek did not give the usual signal of surrender, and Iorek was obviously stronger than him. Although they both had self-esteem, But the armored bear never refuses to admit that another bear is stronger than itself and expresses its admiration. However, for some unknown reason, the bear did not express anything. Some people say that Eofur Laknisson controlled him or give him some drugs. Anyway, the young bear didn't flinch at all, and Iorek Bernison finally got angry and couldn't control himself. The case was not difficult to judge, He could have wounded the bear instead of killing him." "Otherwise he'd be king," Lyra said, "and I've heard something about Iofur Laknizon from Professor Palmer at Jordan College, because the professor has been to the North Pole before and met him. He said... I wish I could remember what he said... I think he tricked himself into becoming king... But you know, Iorek told me once that armored bears can't be fooled Yeah, and put on a show, and showed me that I couldn't fool him. Now it sounds like they both--he and the other bear--got tricked. Maybe only a bear can fool a bear, maybe a man can't fool them, Except... except the Trollsand guys, they lied to him, didn't they? They got him drunk and stole his armor, didn't they?" "When bears behave like people, maybe they'll be fooled," Serafina Pekkala said. "When bears behave like bears, maybe they won't. Usually bears don't drink, Eyre. Orek Bernison drank too much to forget the shame of his exile, and that's why the men of Trollsand tricked him." They keep flying.Lyra took some pieces of seal meat out of her pocket and chewed them in her mouth. "Serafina. Pekkala," she said after a while, "what is dust? Because I think all these troubles are related to dust, but no one has told me what it is." "I don't know," Serafina Pekkala told her, "the witch never worries about dust. I can only tell you that where there are priests, there is a panic about dust.Of course, Mrs. Coulter was not a priest, but she was a powerful explanator of religious teachings, and it was she who established the priestly committee and persuaded the church to fund Birvangar, all because of her interest in dust.We don't know what she thinks about the dust, but there are many, many things we will never understand, for example, we see the Tartars drill holes in their skulls, and we can only express our gratitude to this strange thing. surprise.So, maybe dust is a strange thing, and we are surprised by it, but we don't worry about it, and we don't tear things apart to study it.Let the church do this. " "Church?" Lyra asked.She suddenly remembered something: she remembered talking to Pantalaimon about what the moving pointer on the alethiometer meant when they were in the swamp, and they remembered what happened in Gabriel's college church. The "photonic windmill" on the high altar, how elementary particles push those small blades.The Vicar is clear about the connection between elementary particles and religion. "possible," She said and nodded, "After all, they keep a lot of things in the church secret. But most things in the church are very old, and as far as I know, the dust is not old. I don't know if Lord Asriel can tell I……" She yawned. "I'd better lie down," she said to Serafina Pekkala, "or I might freeze. I've been cold on the ground, but I've never felt so cold No. I think if it had been any colder, I would have froze to death." "Then lie down and wrap yourself in a fur coat." "Okay. If I had to die, I'd rather die in the sky than down there, any day is the same. When they put me under that big blade, I thought, the time has come... we both That's what I thought. Oh, that's painful. But I'll lie down now. Wake us up when the time comes," Lyra said, laying down in the pile of furs, as close to the sleeper as possible. Roger lay down, looking very awkward.In the biting cold, she felt pain everywhere in her body. In this way, the four passengers continued to fly forward, and fell asleep in the ice-covered balloon.They flew towards the rocks, glaciers, fire mines and ice fortresses of Svalbard. Serafina Pekkala yelled to the balloonist, who woke up immediately.Although he was drowsy from the cold, he knew something had happened when he saw the condition of the hanging basket.Under the strong wind, the hanging basket swayed violently, and the witches who were pulling the rope could hardly control it.If they let go, the balloon would be blown off course in no time.Glancing at the compass, he judged that they would be blown toward Nova Zambra at nearly a hundred miles an hour. "Where are we?" Lyra heard him call.She almost woke up herself, the violent shaking made her feel a little worried, and her body was numb from the cold. She couldn't hear the witch's answer, but through her tight-knit hood she saw Lee Scoresby clutching a strut under a blue electric light, on the rope.He gave a jerk, as if to break free of some obstacle, then looked up at the quivering black mass, and wound the rope around a peg on the suspension line. "I'll deflate it again!" he called to Serafina Pekkala. "We're going to lower the altitude a little bit. We're flying too high." The Witch said yes loudly, but Lyra still didn't hear her.Roger woke up too; the creaking of the gondola alone was enough to wake the deepest sleeper, if not for the violent rocking.Roger's daemon and Pantalaimon huddled together like monkeys, and Lyra lay as still as possible so as not to jump up in fright. "It's all right," Roger said, sounding much happier than Lyra's. "We'll be down soon, and we'll light a fire to keep warm. I've got matches in my pocket, stolen from Bolvangar's kitchen. " The balloons were of course descending, for soon they were surrounded by thick, icy clouds.Wisps of dark clouds flew across the basket, and then everything blurred in the blink of an eye, like the thickest fog Lyra had ever seen.After a while, Serafina Pekkala yelled again, and the balloonist untied the rope from the peg, let go, and the rope flicked upwards in his hand.Among the creaks, struggles, and howls of the wind blowing through the ropes, Lyra could still hear—or feel—the thud somewhere above her head. Lee Scoresby saw her wide eyes. "That's the gas valve!" he exclaimed. "It holds the gas through a spring and keeps it from coming out. When I pull it down, it releases some gas and we lose buoyancy and descend." "We're about to—" She didn't finish this sentence, because at this moment, a very terrible thing happened suddenly.Something half the size of a man climbed over the edge of the gondola, toward Lee Scoresby.The thing had hard wings and hook-like claws, a flat head, bulging eyes, and a mouth as wide as a frog, from which came a disgusting stench.Before Lila could even cry out, Iorek Bernison reached out and punched him out.The thing fell from the basket, and the scream disappeared. "It's the cliff ghost," Iorek said flatly. Then Serafina Pekkala appeared, clutching the sides of the gondola, and said eagerly: "The cliff ghosts are attacking us. We have to lower the balloon to the ground, and then we must defend ourselves, them--" But Laila didn't hear what she was going to say next, because there was a crackling sound and everything tilted to one side.Then the balloon took a hard blow, throwing all three of them to the other side of the balloon, where Iorek Bernison's armor was stacked.Iorek reached out a large hand and took hold of the armor, for the basket shook violently.Serafina Pekkala was gone.The sound was frightening: after each sound, there was the scream of the cliff ghost.Lyra saw them whizzing by and smelled their sickening stench. At this time, the hanging basket shook violently again.This came so unexpectedly that they all fell to the ground again, and the hanging basket began to spin and fall downward at a frightening speed, making people feel as if they had already escaped from the balloon and there was nothing to stop them Fall straight down.Then there was another jolt and crash, and the gondola was thrown from side to side as quickly as if it were bouncing between stone walls. The last thing Lyra saw was Lee Scoresby firing his long-barreled pistol into the face of a cliff ghost; Fur on Rick Bernison.The restless air was filled with roars, screams, whips, and squeals of the air, and the creaking of the gondolas like wounded animals made the noise in the air seem appalling. Suddenly, the gondola swayed again, the most violently, and Laila found herself thrown out of the air.The clutching hand was freed, and she fell to the ground, so that she couldn't breathe.She was dizzy and couldn't tell up, down, left, or right; her face, tightly wrapped in the hood, was covered with dry, cold, crystal-like powder—it was snow.She landed on a snowdrift.She was so ignorant that she almost stopped thinking.She lay quietly for a few seconds, then feebly spit out the snow that had entered her mouth, and blew again feebly, to make a small space for herself to breathe. She didn't seem to feel any special pain in her body, but she couldn't breathe at all.She tried to move her hands, feet, arms and legs cautiously, and then looked up again. She could see almost nothing because the hood was still stuffed with snow.She struggled to dig out the snow with her hands, feeling that each hand weighed a ton, and looked out.She saw a world of grays, pale grays, dark grays, and dark grays, with puffs of mist floating ghostly here and there. The only sounds she heard were the distant cries of the cliff ghosts from above, and the sound of waves breaking against the rocks not far away. "Iorek!" Lyra called.Her voice was weak and trembling.She called again, but no one answered. "Roger!" she cried. The result was the same. 也许她现在又是孤零零一个人了——但从来就没有这样过，因为她有潘特莱蒙作伴——他变成一只老鼠，从莱拉的大衣里面爬了出来。 “我看过真理仪了，”他说，“挺好的，没有摔坏。” “我们给落这儿了，潘！”莱拉说，“你刚才看见那些悬崖厉鬼了吗？看见斯科尔斯比先生冲他们开枪了吗？要是他们下到这儿来……但愿上帝能帮助我们……” “咱们最好去找找吊篮，”他说，“是不是？” “最好别大声叫喊，”莱拉说，“刚才我喊了，也许我不该喊，免得让他们听见。我真想知道我们现在在哪儿？” “最好还是不要知道的好，”他说，“我们有可能是在悬崖的底下，根本没有办法上去，等雾气一散，顶上的悬崖厉鬼就会发现我们了。” 休息了几分钟后，莱拉便向四周摸了摸，发现她降落在冰雪覆盖着的两块岩石之间的缝隙里。凛冽的雾气遮住了周围的一切，从声音判断，在大约五十码远的一侧传来的是海浪的声音；在高高的头顶上方，依然传来悬崖厉鬼的尖叫声，只是似乎已经弱了一些。黑暗之中，莱拉只能看两三码远的地方，就连潘特莱蒙的猫头鹰眼睛也无能为力。 她吃力地往前走了走，在粗糙的岩石上两步一滑、三步一晃，朝海浪的相反方向，往海滩上走了一段距离，但除了岩石和雪以外什么也没看见，没有气球的任何踪迹，也没看见气球上的任何人。 “他们不可能一下子全都消失了，”莱拉低声说。 潘特莱蒙变成一只猫，往远处稍稍走了一段距离，碰到了四个已经破裂了的沉重的沙袋，撒出来的沙子已经冰凉邦硬了。 “是压舱用的沙袋，”莱拉说，“他一定是把它们从吊篮上扔了下来，又飞走了……” 莱拉觉得喉咙里似乎堵着什么东西，也许是心中的恐惧，不过也许两者都有，她强忍着把它们咽了下去。 “哦，天啊，我害怕了，”她说，“但愿他们平安无事。” 潘特莱蒙扑到她怀里，然后变成一只老鼠，钻进莱拉的风帽里，这样别人就看不见他了。这时，莱拉听到了什么声音，像是刮擦岩石的声音。她回过头，想看看是什么东西。 “埃欧雷克！” 但没等把埃欧雷克的名字叫完，她便硬生生地住了口，因为根本就不是埃欧雷克?伯尔尼松，而是一只陌生的熊，穿着铮亮的盔甲，头盔上插着一枝羽毛，身上裸露在外面的部分已经结满了冰霜。 他静静地站着，离她大约六英尺。莱拉想，这回自己可是真地要完了。 那只熊张开嘴，大吼了一声，在悬崖峭壁上回响着，头顶上方也传来更多的尖叫。紧接着，从浓雾中钻出来一只又一只披甲熊。莱拉一动不动地站着，攥紧了自己的小拳头。 披甲熊都没有动。第一个来的那只熊问：“叫什么？” "Laila." “从哪儿来的？” "Heaven." “气球？” "yes." “跟我们走，你被俘虏了。走，现在就走，快点儿。” 莱拉又累又怕，跟在披甲熊后面，在凹凸不平、光滑的岩石上踉踉跄跄地往前走，心里琢磨着该说些什么才能让自己脱身。