ill said, quot; t;

    t in t, urned around, and ill and Lyra sat in talaimon a mouse nohed in Lyras hands.

    quot;Someone o to ter,quot; said Sir Charles.

    quot;Unfortunately for all of us, ter is in my possession, and t;

    quot; t ot;

    quot;I kno you dont.  else ? I am a good deal older and considerably better informed. t; ttagazze to do so all time.quot;

    quot;You ent from t all!quot; said Lyra suddenly. quot;Youre from t you?quot;

    And again came t strange nudge at  certain shed seen him before.

    quot;No, Im not,quot; he said.

    ill said, quot;If  to get t man, o kno  going to just give it to us, is ;

    quot;Certainly not. Its ters as not going to be easy by any means.quot;

    quot;ters are afraid of t;

    quot;Very muc;

    quot;tack only gro;

    quot;You dont need to kno no doesnt matter. Lyra,quot; Sir Curning to ;tell me about your remarkable friend.quot;

    Pantalaimon. And as soon as , ill realized t too, and t Sir C come from Lyras alaimon to put track: so  realize t ill had seen his own daemon.

    Lyra lifted Pantalaimon close to , and ,  Sir Ch red eyes.

    quot;You  supposed to see ; s; got daemons in t you le.quot;

    quot;If t ent to be represented by a scarab, so am I,quot; ;ell, youre from yet anoteresting. Is t eal it on your travels?quot;

    quot;I ,quot; said Lyra furiously. quot;ter of Jordan College in my Oxford gave it to me. Its mine by rig knoo do , you stupid, stinky old man; youd never read it in a s just a toy to you. But I need it, and so does ill. ell get it back, dont ;

    quot;ell see,quot; said Sir C;t you out ;

    quot;No,quot; said ill, because ;You cant come into Cigazze because of ters, so it doesnt matter if you knoo;

    quot;As you o pick you up.quot;

    till to a .

    As t out, Sir Co ill, quot;By t get t boto return. Come to my  it and Ill call t once  is illiam Parry, isnt it? Yes, I t so.

    to of you in todays paper.quot;

    And the car pulled away. ill was speechless.

    Lyra s all rig; s; tell anyone else.  already if o. Come on.quot;

    ten minutes later tood in ttle square at t of toold  topped still in treet, tormented again by t   come clear.

    quot;I didnt  to tell ; Lyra said quietly, quot;but I sa nig noise....quot;

    quot; did ;

    quot;Young,  old at all. But I sa top, over ttlements. I t  be... You remember Angelica and Paolo, and Paolo said to ty as elling us, as if it ? ell, I t it mig be after t it. I ts t place.quot;

    quot;Mmm,quot; ;Maybe.quot;

    Salking earlier t morning. No coalaimon y. Maybe t tering around  sunlight, whispering anxiously.

    quot;; s;t any cs our fault. e got to make it right, and

    t; ill o t, folloo t and t building, and ill  dooo, looking up, getting topped under a  tory level and said to Panta-laimon, quot;Can you fly up t;

    once and set off.  reac. Lyra gasped and gave a little cry hs like someone rescued from drowning. ill frowned, puzzled.

    quot;Its ; s;;

    quot;Sorry. Did you see anyt; ;Stairs,quot; said Pantalaimon. quot;Stairs and dark rooms. the young man.

    ;

    quot;Dancing?quot;

    quot;Moving to and fro,  sa;

    quot;Figer?quot; Lyra guessed. But t guess any better, so toopped ain (once again Pantalaimon fleo look); and to to, like frowning eyes.

    quot;ell o go in t, t; said ill. eps and pushe door wide.

    Sunligruck in, and took a step or t in fartones uries, and t a fligeps going do far enougo see t it opened into a  one end, ; but t up to trance o her lips, looking up.

    quot;I can ; s;alking to ;

    ill listened  too: a loerrupted occasionally by a  cry of anger. It sounded like the voice of a madman.

    ill ble  off to climb taircase. It eps as ones: far too solid to creak underfoot. t diminision  ened, climbed t, and t of ing, rsteps. It came from a room across tood ajar.

    ill tiptoed to it and pus open another few inches so he could see.

    It ered on taining badly preserved volumes orted y tables, and ot back higgledy-piggledy.

    In ter of talaimon ly like t. o to one side, to time   of acles. In t  a special-looking knife, just a dull blade about eig it for side, jab up and down, all

    in ty air.

    o turn, and ill  a finger to o Lyra, and led o tairs and up to t floor.

    quot;s ; she whispered.

    as well as he could.

    quot;; said Lyra. quot;Is ;

    quot;Yes. Red ainly looks mad. I dont knos look farto ;

    S question, but let aircase to top story. It e-painted fligeps led up to to a ructure like a little green t of teps t it was absorbing.

    And as tood they heard a groan from above.

    toalaimon artled t  once from a cat to a bird and fleo Lyras breast. ill and Lyra realized as  t go slowly.

    quot;Better go and see,quot; ill .quot;

    quot;I ougo go first,quot; s;seeing its my fault.quot;

    quot;Seeing its your fault, you got to do as I say.quot;

    Sed  fell in behind him.

    o t in tructure  urned it and stepped out quickly, o keep t of his eyes.

    tle-mented parapet. tructure  in ter, and tly dooter inside t, one for rainer.

    Lying on te tered, and one eye  closer, ied behind him.

    ried to turn over to shield himself.

    quot;Its all rig; said ill quietly. quot;e arent going to  you. Did t;

    quot;Mmm,quot; ted. quot;Lets undo t tied it very ; It ted, and it fell a. to get up and took o t quot;; ill said. quot;e didnt t;

    quot;Giacomo Paradisi,quot; ttered teet;I am the bearer. No one else.

    t young man stole it from me. take risks like t for t te. o kill me.quot;

    quot;No, ,quot; Lyra said. quot;s ts t mean?quot;

    quot;I le knife on be;

    quot;airs,quot; said ill. quot;e came up past  see us.  about in t;

    trying to cut t succeed. ; quot;atc,quot; Lyra said.

    ill turned. to ttle , but to ood up  and whipped

    around to face them.

    Immediately Pantalaimon became a bear and reared up on   be able to toucainly tared for a second, but ill sa  really registered it. tted, , and tes of he pupils.

    And  all. ill stepped up to jump or fig of the way.

    t , rig, coming closer and closer, making ill back aill rapped in to.

    Lyra oed for as o t: agonist tumbled backedly, falling over Lyra to craso t o be frig ime to see t once into t a first, ance t o butter. It plunged as far as t and stopped suddenly.

    And ted over and reac at once, but ill flung o fig scy of occasion for it, once t tter  t of a sc  to gain points for style but to force your enemy to give in, o  someone else, too, and  t not many people o it; but  he was.

    So t unfamiliar to   foug a nearly gro all costs  keep t up no .

    ill ted o ted and flung  ill ig roared  oo muc ills body, and in the man pulled free.

    ill dropped to ter,   stay tried to stand —and in doing so,   tely on t o t not leg  out into empty space; t of him was safe.

    and scrambled to . t  ime to pull it out of to cing like a . But s srying for, and  up, he knife in his hand.

    Lyra o one side, alaimon a  noeeth bared, beside her.

    ill faced tly and saime. t: , and he knife was in his hand.

    But ill  her.

    , and noion against t his

    antagonist o squint and blink. Even better, tructure t reflections into  for a moment  blinded.

    o t, a  taken care to aim, and  connected  do and ted away awkwardly.

    ill leaped after ever parts o o top of tairs...

    time t  came do ills feet. ill stamped on it at once,  and tigamped a second time.

    t go of t once ill kicked it a, luckily for  spun across to rest in tter just beside a drainage o be a surprising amount of blood from some!quot; sed Lyra, but ill was ready.

    At t o ttered at once, and t too. air it o support it anymore, and it gave way. he fell downward, and more glass fell all around him.

    And ill darted back to tter, and picked up t  and battered, clambered up tep, and saanding above ared urned and fled.

    quot;A; said ill, sitting do;A;

    Somet noticed it.  o angle of rope  a;Your fingers!quot; Lyra breat;O;

    tle finger and t to it fell ahe rope.

    rongly from tumps  t great, and a part of ered t  ent, deep , sy w yourself superficially.

    so . Lyra o  up to look at t sick. t ill couldnt see o him.

    quot;If only  better, ill, I could. Look, Im going to tie t of rope around your arm, to stop t tie it around ie it to. ill.quot;

    , tation mark on the lead. he laughed.

    quot;; s;stop t. Get up no some medicine, some salve, I dunno  is. You got to come doairs. t ot t ;