t terium is assembling test army ever knoy. And t rumors about some of t Bolvangar, and ting c evil  of ed in toies keep t s out, and toerrified of t;

    quot; of tc; said Serafina Pekkala. quot; news do you ;

    quot;Most o tcing, Serafina Pekkala, s, for ;

    quot;And w do you ;

    quot;te confusion. You see, t knoends to do.quot;

    quot;Nor do I,quot; s;and I cant imagine  mig do you tending, Dr.

    Lanselius?quot;

    ly rubbed t daemon humb.

    quot;; er a moment, quot;but sc atesmans   and poure, but not a despotic one. I dont ts to rule.... I dont knoell you.  mig to see if ell you anyt, of course,  o ter.quot;

    quot;ts a good idea.... Ill do it. And Ill go at once.quot;

    So to join Kaisa in the clouds.

    Serafinas journey to tic peoples o panic, and so  only by tic variations but by unseasonal crackings of ice and stirrings in t self, t, were slowly awakening from a long dream of being frozen.

    In all turmoil, s in too gallop soutely to t or tig skeins of geese disintegrated into a ic fields t, Serafina Pekkala sat on o tes of Svalbard.

    t, ting off a group of cliff-gs.

    S before so see yard. A single figure so t of t dog daemon snarling and snapping beside hings flew low enough.

    S kno a cliff-g oo loosely organized to be called a troop—circled, sa, and fled in confusion. A minute later tantly off tains before do silence.

    Serafina fleo tyard and aligrampled, blood-sprinkled snoill cimes, and seady-eyed.

    quot;I am a friend of Lyras,quot; s;I alk. Look: I lay my bo;

    quot;; he said.

    quot;In anoty. And I need to kno;

    ;Step inside, t;

    ties exc indoors. Kaisa glided tcold  h Lyra.

    quot;S; ed at table in t;Id see ed  . But ;

    quot; o do?quot;

    quot;You dont told me, do you, Serafina Pekkala? Im , ts all. I clean idy. I may  only by picking em up accidental.  confide in me any more t;

    quot;tell me t,quot; sed.

    t  flattered by ttention of tcy, as any man ention  really on  on  elling for muchan he needed.

    quot;I cant tell you precisely ails are beyond my grasp. But I can tell you tle signs. Correct me if Im  tc gods from ours, ent t rig;

    quot;Yes, ts true.quot;

    quot;But you kno our God? ty?quot;

    quot;Yes, I do.quot;

    quot;ell, Lord Asriel  ease rines of to speak.

    Ive seen a spasm of disgust cross alk of ts, and atonement, and redemption, and sucs deato c Lord Asriels been nursing a rebellion in  for as long as Ive served s one t;

    quot;A rebellion against t;

    quot;Partly, aye. time  an issue of force, but urned a.quot;

    quot;oo strong?quot;

    quot;No,quot; said t, quot;t  stop my master. No sound strange to you, Serafina Pekkala, but I knoter tter ther.

    er and my study for nigy years. I cant follo of  any more t I can see er him.

    No, its my belief urned a t because too strong, but because it oo o be ing.quot;

    quot;So... w is ;

    quot;I t. I t t poroy s  s to voice it, maam. I . But I cant put togetory t makes sense of w ;

    Serafina sat quiet for a fes, absorbing horold had said.

    Before s on:

    quot;Course, anyone setting out to do a grand t arget of t saying. Itd be t gigantic blasps orial Court and sentenced to deat before and I s again; Id be afraid to speak it aloud to you if you  a c t makes sense, and noto find ty and kill ;

    quot;Is t possible?quot; said Serafina.

    quot;Lord Asriels life   like to say t do. But on t, Serafina Pekkala, yes, ark mad. If angels couldnt do it, o t it?quot;

    quot;Angels?  are angels?quot;

    quot;Beings of pure spirit, teac some of ted, and got flung out of o s t. t do it. And t a man, . But ion is limitless. o do  even dare to t orn open to anot? ? So  of me, Serafina Pekkala, I say   I t like ot o be possible, itd be done by ;

    quot;And ;

    quot;Ill stay . Ill guard till ells me different, or till I die.

    And no;

    quot;Im going to make sure t; s;It mig I o pass to kno you ill be ;

    quot;I  budge,quot; old her.

    Shorolds offer of food, and said good-bye.

    A minute or so later s silence ains. Sroubled, and to explain: every strand of moss, every icy puddle, every midge in   fear for t fear of oo, for so co, tter; Lord Asriels god  chhood?

    If s do it alone.

    quot;; s;e must talk to our sisters, Kaisa. ts are too big for us alone.quot;

    And toward Lake Enara and home.

    * * * In ted caves beside too.

    t ruggled to keep  after t Svalbard, and tco to repair to  and the gasbag.

    quot;Maam, Im very glad to see you,quot; ;Any netle girl?quot;

    quot;None, Mr. Scoresby. ill you join our council tonig to do?quot;

    texan blinked o join a ch council.

    quot;Id be greatly ; ;I may ion or t;

    All t day tcorm, filling ting flutter of ted in ts or fising ice floes o see tcing on a secret tide.

    By evening t from belo fire of all  in front of ten, tc in ter, ttle scarlet floling among  sat Lee Scoresby, and on , a visitor: tvian ca Skadi.

    So Serafinas surprise. Serafina  Mrs. Coulter beautiful, for a s-life; but Ruta Skadi er, ra dimension of terious, trafficked s, and it sno  Lord Asriel igers.

    Serafinas daemon, Kaisa, a Skadis daemon t sigers o punisartar tribe erritory. it tiger gods, tribe declined into fear and melanco alloo o be rejected empt; for  igers. Suca Skadi: beautiful, proud, and pitiless.

    Serafina  sure iquette demanded t Ruta Skadi s on Serafinas rigo speak.

    quot;Sisters! You kno decide o do about ts. to anot, or live our lives as er our oter of tongue by King lorek Byrnison. S cloud-pine spray at the house of Dr.

    Lanselius: sed, and now she has vanished.

    quot;e s, s. First ;

    Ruta Skadi stood. e arms gleamed in t; tered so brig even t che play of expression on her vivid face.

    quot;Sisters,quot; s;let me tell you   fig knoerium, ts ory— and ts not long by our lives, but its many, many of ts tried to suppress and control every natural impulse. And  control t cuts t. Some of you  t Bolvangar. And t  is not t tice. Sisters, you knoraveled in t cut too, as t in t just as  t t t feel. t is rol, destroy, obliterate every good feeling. So if a ,  be on tter range allies o.

    quot; I propose is t our clans join togeto explore t  to be found in our s because ser Lord Asriel already. And Lord Asriel is to tes t does.

    quot;t is ;

    Ruta Skadi spoke passionately, and Serafina admired y. vian queen sat dourned to Lee Scoresby.

    quot;Mr. Scoresby is a friend of t; s;ould you tell us your ts, sir?quot;

    texan got to , rangeness of t er, crouc along her back, her golden eyes half closed.

    quot;Maam,quot; ;I o t for to me, and tended to an aeronaut battered by  came from anot trespass long on your patience.

    quot;raveling norto Bolvangar ians, told me about somet o live in, back in Oxford. Lord Asriel anislaus Grumman, and t kinda persuaded to give o come nort w had happened.

    quot;No s I didnt like to question oo muc  t I couldnt reac clearly. I kne t   I remembered   ungusk  seems t Grumman knes of some kind of object t gives protection to   to belittle t you c tever it is,  outclasses anything Ive ever heard of.

    quot;And I t I migpone my retirement to texas because of my concern for t c those scholars.

    quot;So Im going to Nova Zembla, ure, but I can see t clear enoug my bullets are  ts task Im going to take on, maam,quot; urning back to Serafina Pekkala. quot;Im going to seek out Stanislaus Grumman and find out  ake it to Lyra.quot;

    Serafina said, quot;;

    quot;No, maam, I o be a fat I understand your question, and youre rig little girl rue parents, and maybe I can f make it up to o do it, and Im ;

    quot;t; she said.

    And sook off  one of ttle scarlet flo, w been picked.

    take t; s;and w in your o me. I s;

    quot;; ook ttle floucked it carefully into  pocket.

    quot;And ; Serafina Pekkala told ;Noers, ;

    tcic, up to a point; every c,  to speak, but only to decide. talk lasted all nige voices for open  once, and some otion, and a fe, suggesting a mission to all tco urge to join toget time.

    Ruta Skadi agreed , and Serafina sent out messengers at once. As for ely, Serafina picked out ty of  figo prepare to fly norto t Lord Asriel had opened, and search for Lyra.

    quot; of you, Queen Ruta Skadi?quot; Serafina said finally. quot; are your plans?quot;

    quot;I s  seems t too. May I come t part of ter?quot;

    quot;You may, and ; said Serafina, wo hey agreed.

    But soon after tco Serafina Pekkala and said, quot;You ter listen to a Kamainen o say, Queen. Srong, but it migant.quot;

    tca Kamainen—young by candards, t is; s over a ubborn and embarrassed, and ated, flying from o tling again briefly on ce nature. Serafina didnt know her well.

    quot;Queen,quot; said tco stay silent under Serafinas gaze, quot;I knoanislaus Grumman. I used to love  I e  if I see  my sister made me tell you.quot;

    Sred at tcurned  love.

    quot;ell,quot; said Serafina, quot;if ill alive, o stay alive until Mr. Scoresby finds ter come o t. Forget a Kamainen. Love makes us suffer. But task of ours is greater t.quot;

    quot;Yes, Queen,quot; said tch humbly.

    And Serafina Pekkala and y-one companions and Queen Ruta Skadi of Latvia prepared to fly into tch had ever flown before.