Chapter 13 13. Thales and Sarmacia

frown frowning night in this desert let your moon rise brightly when i close my eyes —William Blake Will grabbed the heavy gun, flung his hand aside, and pushed the golden monkey off its seat, beating it so dazed that Mrs. Coulter let out a loud snort, and the monkey's paws loosened a little, letting the The little woman broke free. Immediately she jumped onto the rock, and the man jumped away from Mrs. Coulter, both as quick as grasshoppers.The three children had no time to be surprised.The man seemed concerned: he touched his companion's shoulders and arms tenderly and gave her a quick hug before calling out to Will.

"You! Boy!" he said, and though his voice was low-pitched, it was as deep as a grown man's. "Do you have a knife?" "Of course." Will said.If they didn't know it was broken, he wasn't going to tell them. "You and the little girl have to go with us, who is that girl?" "Ama, from the village." "Tell her to go back. Go now, before the Swiss come." Will didn't hesitate.Whatever the intentions of the two men, he and Lyra could still escape through the window he opened on the path behind the bushes below.So he helped her stand up, and watched those two little figures jump up curiously—what was it?

bird?No, dragonflies, almost as long as his upper arm, they had been waiting in the dark, they rushed towards the hole where Mrs Coulter lay, half dazed with pain, the knight's sting It made her dizzy, but she held out her hand as they passed, and cried, "Lyla! Lyla, my daughter, my dear daughter! Lyra, don't go, don't go!" Lyra looked down at her, in pain, but then she stepped over her mother's body and let go of Mrs. Coulter's limp grip on her ankle, and the woman wept, and Will saw the sparkle on her cheek. tears. The three kids crouched by the hole, waited for a brief pause in the shootout, and followed the dragonfly down the path.The light had changed: so had the cold electric light from the Zeppelin's floodlights, here and there glowed golden flames.

Will glanced back, and in the blinding glare, Mrs. Coulter's face became a mask of grief, and her elf nestled pitifully beside her, and she knelt there, arms outstretched, and cried : "Leila! Lyla my love! My sweetheart, my child, my one and only! Oh, Lyla, Lyla, don't go, don't leave me! My dear daughter—you're tearing me apart heart of--" A violent sob made Lyra shake because Mrs. Coulter was her only mother after all, and Will saw the tears run down her cheeks. But he had to be ruthless, and he tugged at Laila's hand, leading her cat-legged down the path and out of the cave as Dragonfly Rider rushed up to his head, urging them to speed up.Will's left hand, bleeding from the punch the monkey had just given him, held Mrs. Coulter's pistol.

"Run up to the top of the cliff," said the Dragonfly Rider, "and join the Africans, who are your best hope." Afraid of those sharp spikes, Will didn't say anything, even though he didn't want to obey their orders at all.There was only one place he was going, and that was the window behind the bushes, so he ran fast with his head down, Laila and Ama running after him. "stop!" There was one man stopped on the path ahead, three—in uniform—white men with crossbows and snarling wolfhounds—Swiss guards. "Iorek!" Will yelled immediately. "Iorek Bernison!" He could hear the bear rampaging and roaring not far away, and he could hear the screams and shouts of the soldiers he encountered.

But someone else appeared to help them out of nowhere: Balthamos, flying desperately between the children and the soldiers.The apparition flickered before the soldiers, causing them to back away in fright. But, after all, they were well-trained warriors, and after a moment their daemons sprang upon the angels, their murderous teeth gleaming white in the dim light—Balthamos flinched: he cried out in terror and shame flinched.Then he leapt up, flapping his wings furiously.Will watched in despair as the figure of his guide and friend soared into the sky and disappeared into the treetops without a trace.

Lyra's still dazed eyes followed the figure as well.The time was less than two or three seconds, but it was enough for the Swiss soldiers to rally, and now their leader raised his crossbow.Will had no choice: he raised the pistol, gripped the handle with his right hand, and pulled the trigger. The shock wave shook his bones loose, but the bullet reached the man's heart. The soldier fell back as if kicked by a horse.At the same time, the two spies jumped on the other two, and before Will could blink, they jumped from the dragonfly onto the victim.The woman found a neck, the man aimed a wrist, each with a quick back thrust with his heel, and with a suffocating gasp of pain, the two Swiss soldiers died, their sprites roaring and disappearing halfway through.

Will jumped over the corpse, and Lyra followed, running hard and fast, Pantalaimon in wild cat shape at their heels.Where did Ama go?Will thought; then he saw her dodging down another path.He thought she'd be safe now, and a second later he saw a pale light coming through the window, deep behind the bushes.He grabbed Lyra's arm and dragged her toward it. Their faces were scratched, their clothes hung, their ankles tangled in roots and rocks, but they found the window and stumbled through it, into another world, into a bright moonlit white On the dense rock, only the chirping of insects breaks the boundless silence.

The first thing Will does is clutch his stomach and retch, inhaling again and again with great fear.Now he's killed two people, not counting the young man in the Angel's Tower... Will doesn't want that. His body resented what he was doing instinctively, and he fell to his knees, and there was another dry, sore, painful vomit until his stomach and heart were empty. Lyra watched helplessly, tending to Pantalaimon, rocking him gently against her chest. Finally, Will felt better and looked around.He knew right away that they weren't alone in this world, for the little spies were here too, their backpacks lying on the ground nearby.Their dragonflies flitted over the rocks and devoured the moths, the man massaged the woman's shoulders, and both looked sternly at the children.Their eyes are so bright, their features so distinct, expressing their inner feelings, and Will knows that no matter who they are, they will make a difficult couple.

He said to Lyra, "The alethiometer is in my rucksack, over there." "Oh, Will - how I wished you had found it - whatever happened? Did you find your father? My dream, Will - unbelievable, what shall we do, oh , I can't even think about it... It's safe and sound! You brought it all the way here for me..." The words rushed in and out of her mouth, and she didn't even hope to get an answer, and her fingers flicked the thick gold, smooth crystal and knurled wheels of the alethiometer, they were so beautiful. familiar. Will thought: It'll tell us how to fix that knife!

But he asked first: "How are you? Are you hungry, thirsty?" "I don't know . . . yes, but not very much, anyway—" "We should stay away from this window," Will said, "in case they find it, come through." "Yes, indeed," she said.They walked up the ramp, Will with his rucksack, Lyra happily carrying the pouch with the alethiometer.Out of the corner of his eye, Will saw the two smaller spies following behind, but they kept their distance and made no threat. At the brow of the high slope, there was a protruding rock that formed a narrow bunker. After checking carefully and confirming that there were no snakes inside, they sat down and ate some Hugo and water. Will said calmly, "The knife broke, I don't know how. Mrs. Coulter did something, or said something, and then I remembered my mother, and the knife was twisted, or snatched." Gone, or—I don't know what happened. We can't escape until it's fixed, and I don't want these two little people to know, because as long as they think I can still use it, they will feel that I take Upwind, I think you could ask the alethiometer, maybe, and—" "Okay!" She said immediately, "Okay, let me ask." Immediately she took out the golden instrument, moved to the moonlight so that she could see the dial, and, just as Will had seen her mother do, pulled her hair behind her ear and began to spin in that old familiar way. The turntables, Pantalaimon now a mouse, sat on her lap.But everything is not as easy as she thought, maybe there is something wrong with Moonlight.She had to turn it around once or twice, blinking her eyes to make the symbols clear, and then she turned it again. She had barely started, and gasped under her breath in excitement, looking up at Will with twinkling eyes as the pointer swung.But it wasn't over yet, and she looked back again, frowning, until the instrument stopped. She put it aside and said, "Iorek? Is he around, Will? I thought I heard you call him, but then I thought it was just my wish. Is he really there?" "Yes. Can he fix that knife? Does the alethiometer say so?" "Oh, he can fix anything metal, Will! Not just armor - he makes fancy bauble..." She told Will of the one that Eorek made for her to hold spooky ghosts small tin box. "But where is Iorek?" "He was around when I yelled, but obviously fighting... and Balthamus! Oh, he must have been frightened..." "Who?" He explained briefly, feeling his face heat up, the shame the angel must be feeling right now. "But I'll tell you more about him later," he said, "how strange...he told me so many things, I think I understand what they mean..." He stroked his hand Hair, wipe eyes. "You've got to tell me everything," she said firmly, "everything you've done since she caught me. Oh, Will you're still bleeding, aren't you? Your poor hand..." "It's gone. My father cured it. When I hit the golden monkey, it split again, but it's better now. He gave me some oil he made—" "You found your father?" "Yes, on the mountain, that night..." He let her wash the wound and apply some fresh oil from the little horn box, while he told her some of the events: the fight with the stranger, the revelation they both had a second before the witch's arrow hit the heart , his meeting with the angel, his journey to the cave, and his encounter with Iorek. "There's so much going on and I'm sleeping," she marvels. "You know what? I thought she was nice to me, Will - and I still do - I don't think she ever meant to hurt me... She did that bad thing, but..." She wiped her eyes. "Oh, but my dream, Will—I can't tell you how strange that dream was! It was like when I was reading the alethiometer, seeing so clearly that it seemed bottomless, but without Confuse. "It's like... I told you about my friend Roger. The gluttons caught him. I tried to save him, but it was self-defeating. Lord Asriel killed him. Do you remember ? "Well, I saw him. I saw him again in a dream, only he was dead, he was a ghost, he seemed to be beckoning to me, calling me, but I couldn't hear him. He didn't want me dead. No So what happened. He wanted to talk to me. "And . . . it was I who took him there, to Svalbard, where he was killed, and his death was my fault, and I recall that we, Roger and I, were in Jordan Playing in the academy, on the rooftops, up and down the city, in the market, by the river, under the mud beds... Me and Roger and the others... I went to Birvangar to get him home safely, but I made it worse, it would be wrong if I didn't say sorry to him, it would be a huge waste of time. I have to do it, you see, Will. I have to go down to the dead world to find him , and then... and say sorry. I don't care what happens after that, and then we can... I can... then it doesn't matter." Will said, "Death world, is this world like this world, or mine or yours or any other world? Is it a world I can enter with a knife?" She looked at him, startled by the idea. "You can ask," he went on, "ask now. Ask where it is and how we can get there." She leaned over to look at the alethiometer, had to rub her eyes, looked closer again, and moved her fingers quickly. After a minute, she had the answer. "Yes," she said, "but it's a strange place, Will... so strange... can we really do that? Can we really go to the world of the dead? But—what part of us To? Because when we die our spirits disappear—I've seen other people die and their spirits disappear—and our bodies, well, they just sit and rot in the grave, don't they?" "There must be a third part, a different part." "You know that," she said excitedly, "I think it must be! Because I can think about my body, and think about my elf—so there must be another part that does these thoughts!" "Yes, that is the soul!" Lyra's eyes sparkled, and she said, "Maybe I can get Roger's ghost out, maybe we can save him." "Maybe. We could try!" "Yes, let's try!" she said immediately. "Let's go together! We'll do it!" But, Will thought, they couldn't do anything without fixing the knife. When his mind cleared up and his stomach felt much calmer, he sat up and called out to the little spies who were busy arranging some tiny instruments nearby: "Who are you? Which side are you on?" After the man finished the work in hand, he closed a wooden box like a violin case that was not long enough for walnuts.The woman speaks first. "We are the Galliferspins," said she, "I am the Lady of Salmachia, my companion is the Knight of Thales, and we are the spies of Lord Asriel." She was standing on a rock three or four steps away from Will and Lyra, bright and clear in the moonlight.Her small voice was very clear and deep, with an air of confidence.She wore a loose skirt of some silver material and a green sleeveless bodice, and her spiked feet, like the man's, were bare. His costume was the same color, but with long sleeves and baggy trousers that fell to his calves.Both men appear strong, competent, ruthless and arrogant. "What world are you from?" Lyra said. "I've never seen anyone like you before." "Our world is in the same trouble as your world?" Thales said, "We are green men. Our leader, Lord Locke, heard about Lord Asriel's riot and vowed to support him." "What do you want me to do?" "Take you to your father," said Lady Salmachia, "and Lord Asriel has sent a force under King Oakonway to free you and the boy, and to send you both to his stronghold. We're here to help. " "Oh, but what if I don't want to see my father? What if I don't trust him?" "I'm sorry to hear that," she said, "but that's our order: bring you to him." Laila couldn't help laughing at the thought of these villains trying to force her.But she was wrong, the woman made a sudden movement, grabbed Pantalaimon, gripped his mouse body hard, touched his leg with the point of her boot spur, and Lyra gasped: just like Burr It was the same shock she had felt when Vangar's men grabbed him.No one should touch another's elf - it's against common sense. But then she saw Will grab the man up with his right hand, pinch his legs tightly so he couldn't use his spikes, and lift him high. "It's deadlocked again." Madam said calmly. "Put the knight down, boy." "Let Laila's elf go first," Will said, "I'm not in the mood to discuss it with you." Lyra shuddered when she saw that Will was fully prepared to smash the Gallifers flat head against the rock, and the two little men knew it too. Sarmazia lifted his feet off Pantalaimon's legs, and instantly he broke free from her grasp and became a feral cat, hissing ferociously, his hair bristling, and his tail flicking.His bared teeth were within a hand's reach of the lady's face, and she stared at him calmly, and after a moment he turned and fled into Lyra's arms, a marten. Will carefully lowered Thales back to his companion on the rock. "You should show some respect," the knight said to Lyra. "You are a selfish, rough and rude child. Several brave men died for your safety tonight. You better be polite. " "Yes," she said humbly, "I'm sorry, I will, really." "As for you—" he continued, turning to Will. But Will cuts him off: "As for me, I don't want to hear you talk to me like that, so don't try. Respect is two-way. Now listen carefully. It's not up to you here, it's up to us .If you want to stay and help, then do as we say. Otherwise, go back to Lord Asriel now, there is nothing to argue about." Lyra could see that they were both gearing up, but Thales was looking at Will's hand, on the scabbard on his belt, and she knew he was thinking that as long as Will had the knife, he Just stronger than them. Then, no matter how much it costs, they cannot let them know that the knife is broken. "Very well," said the knight, "we will help you, for this is our duty, but you must let us know what you intend to do." "That's fair," Will said, "I'll tell you, we're going back to Lyra's world as soon as we're done resting, and we're going to find a friend of ours, a bear, and he's not far from here." "A bear in armor? Very good." Salmakia said, "We saw him fighting, and we will help you find him, but then you must follow us to see Lord Asriel." "Yes," Lyra lied eagerly, "oh yes, we'll be there then." Now the calmer Pantalaimon was curious, and she let him climb on her shoulders and transform, and he became a dragonfly, as big as the two dragonflies that had been darting through the air while they were talking. , he leapt into the air to join them. "That poison," Lyra said, turning back to Galliferspin, "I mean the one in your boots. Is it deadly? Because you stung my mother, Mrs. Coulter, didn't you? She Will it die?" "It was just a light sting," Thales said. "If it had been the full dose, she would have died, yes, but a small scratch would only make her weak and sleepy for half a day or so." And full of maddening pain, he knew it, but he didn't tell her that. "I need to talk to Lila privately," Will said. "We're just going away for a while." "With that knife you can cut from one world to another, can't you?" said the knight. "You don't believe me?" "Yes." "Well, then, I'll leave it here. If I don't have a knife, I can't use it." He unsheathed his knife, set it on the rock, and walked away with Lyra to sit within sight of Galliferspin.Thales looked carefully at the handle of the knife, but he didn't touch it. "We'll just put up with them," Will said, "and run away as soon as the knife is fixed." "They're so fast, Will," she said, "and they don't care, they'll kill you." "I just hope Iorek fixes it, I didn't realize how much we needed it." "He will," she said confidently. She was watching Pantalaimon flitting through the air, pouncing on tiny moths like the two dragonflies.He couldn't fly as far as them, but he was just as fast, and he would change even more tricks.She raised her hand, and he stopped on it, the long transparent wings fluttering. "Do you think we can trust them in our sleep?" Will said. "Okay, they're fierce, but I think they're honest." They went back to the rock, and Will said to the Galliferspin, "I'm going to bed now, we're going in the morning." The knight nodded, and Will immediately curled up into a ball and fell asleep. Lyra sat down beside him, and Pantalaimon, transformed into a cat, lay on her lap to keep warm.How lucky Will was to have her awake and taking care of him now!He was indeed brave and fearless, and she adored him, but he was not good at lying, betrayal, and deceit, which came as naturally to her as breathing.When she thought about it, she felt warm and noble, because she was doing it for Will, never for herself. She wanted to take another look at the alethiometer, but to her great surprise, she found that she was also very tired, as if she hadn't closed her eyes for a while before, as if she hadn't closed her eyes for a rest. Will's side closed her eyes, promising herself only a short nap before falling asleep.