As tco heal ills wound.

    to lay t caugter of starlight.

    Lyra sat nearby stirring some  of boiling er over a fire, and wamped and cried in rone:

    quot;Little knife! tore your iron out of Motrails, built afire and boiled t empered it, plunging it in icy er, ing it inside till your blade was blood-red, scorching!

    ter once again, and yet again, till team er cried for mercy.

    And y t you le one.

    quot;But little knife, w have you done?

    Unlocked blood-gates, left them wide!

    Little knife, your motrails of t mines and caverns, from  iron womb.

    Listen!quot;

    And Serafina stamped again and clapped cs to make a ion t tore at ted in t a c the core of his spine.

    turned to ill ook ime, tering

    moving, and let the spell goon.

    quot;Blood! Obey me! turn around, be a lake and not a river.

    op! And build a clotted  firm to he flood back.

    Blood, your sky is tay t;

    ill t oms of o o listen and obey.

    S urned to ttle iron pot over tter steam , and ill he liquid bubbling fiercely.

    Serafina sang:

    quot;Oak bark, spider silk, ground moss, saltig, close up, bar te, stiffen t;

    tcook  an alder sapling along its eaming liquid into t, t toget to tip. And the sapling was whole again.

    ill urned to see anotcruggling ouging,  tcs forelegs and s  straigs heaving belly upward.

    Serafinas knife s across it. ill felt raining Pantalaimon, ill, eyes bulging, breast rails glistening.

    But Serafina took some more of tion and trickled it into t fur over it until t all.

    tc it gently to t sself, turned to lick its flank, flicked its ears, and nibbled a blade of grass as if it ely alone. Suddenly it seemed to become ac, and like an arro s ao the dark.

    Lyra, sootalaimon, glanced at ill and sa  it meant: t eaming mixture on tumps of imes, but  flinch.

    Once co tied tigrip of silk. And t ; the spell was done.

    ill slept deeply t of t. It  tc ried to see from  was  her face was calm and impassive.

    Once ten, Serafina told t tc since to to find Lyra and be  sask to be: namely, to guide ill to her.

    So t off; and it  going for t part. Lyra consulted ter to begin   travel in tion of tant mountains t bay. Never y, t aains  no to ty blue sea and to tains beyond, ion. It seemed a long o go.

    ttle. Lyra  all t, from o squirrels to little green moss snakes o keep going. Lyra and Pantalaimon discussed him endlessly.

    quot;e could look at ter,quot; Pantalaimon said at one point o a bro sa;e never promised not to. And  all kinds of t for  for us.quot;

    quot;Dont be stupid,quot; Lyra said. quot;It  for, cause  greedy and nosy, Pan.quot;

    quot;t makes a cs normally you  to do tiring room at Jordan. I never ed to go in t;

    quot;If ;

    quot;No. Cause ter .quot;

    quot;Yeaant?quot;

    quot;ts  in a moment!quot;

    And sful. quot;I mig; s;but Im c;

    quot;No youre not.quot;

    quot;You mig be.... op cre you going to be?quot;

    quot;A flea, I ;

    quot;No, but dont you get any feelings about w you mig;

    quot;No. I dont  to, eit;

    quot;Youre sulking because I  do .quot;

    o a pig and grunted and squealed and snorted till s o a squirrel and darted the branches beside her.

    quot;; Pantalaimon said. quot;Dyou t?quot;

    quot;Could be. But o be someone important, almost as important as Lord Asriel. Bound to be. e knoant, after all.quot;

    quot;e dont kno,quot; Pantalaimon pointed out. quot;e t is, but  kno decided to look for Dust because Roger died.quot;

    quot;e knos important!quot; Lyra said ly, and samped . quot;And so do tches.

    to look for us just to be my guardians and  to ant. You kno is, too, else you  , any believe it ;

    quot;I did it because   seeing t.quot;

    quot;I did kno, really,quot; she said.

    topped t up ting on a rock beside talaimon became a flycatc;ill, ;

    quot;t be follooo frigc go back to drifting about.quot;

    quot;Yea  to use t come after us for t.quot;

    quot;Let t , not no  it at first. But if it can kill ters ...quot;

    quot;I never trusted Angelica, not from t; Lyra said virtuously.

    quot;Yes, you did,quot; he said.

    quot;Yeaed it in t city.quot;

    quot;I t it . I couldnt imagine anytter t And all time it ers, and ;

    quot;ell, I  trust kids again,quot; said Lyra. quot;I t back at Bolvangar t . t do cruel t. But I ent sure no before, and ts a fact.quot;

    quot;I ; said ill.

    quot;;

    quot;Yea; ed and sat still, and presently  on. quot;It en sart t  true. And o do t didnt make sense—not to me, any upset and afraid, and so I used to oucing t kind of to get better after a  s, because I t take o look after . I never told anyone.

    quot;And once s afraid o  sc out and s ed...quot;

    ills face  being able to  eady and ering.  on:

    quot;tormenting  like t to.... t sed to   be surprised. S different and ted   day in sc t eet knoo fig of too, but I got in trouble and I realized I better stop because t—I mean teacies. to my mot me, and t about ake  pretended to be sorry and told teac do it again, and ting and I still said not I kept  from t Id do if time.

    Not just  t later s better again. No one knew, ever.

    quot;But after t I never trusted c as keen to do bad t surprised w.

    quot;But I was glad wc;

    doo Lyra and, still not looking at ended not to see.

    quot;ill,quot; s; your motullio,  erday t you t ters came from your ;

    quot;Yes. Because it doesnt make sense,

    t ry to   t mad.

    Except t s see.

    And so do t looked crazy; you couldnt see t of t obviously sing all die leaves, or tullio yesterday toucones in t rying to put ters off. If turned tening beried to get really interested in tones and  toget really important, t kno looks like t. to be frig ters in my  see t got a name for t trying to attack my mots ;

    , and  s sa-laimon kept very still.

    quot;o look for your fat; ser a while.

    quot;A long time ago,quot; old ;I used to pretend ; it used to go on for days. Or else  island and Id sail tly o do about everyt my mot better and er  go to scoo. So I alo myself t ell me t I o take up my fatle. So say t to make me feel good. I didnt kno meant, but it sounded important.quot;

    quot;Didnt you ;

    quot;; ;Friends ... to your s and... Sometimes a boy migo  go or I mig, but I could never ask ,quot;  on. quot;I  noｔｐ://ｗｗ</kbd>

    quot; about t; Lyra said,  beating ;;

    quot;I dont kno coming to tering my motill sed to kno my fat leave  sure if t. I t at first t of a gang or somet my fat t  money; ted papers. ted some letters t my fat. to t  go to take my mot knoo do.

    quot;So in to teacay ook er . Any back to to look for tters, because I kne to look and broke into the house again.

    It op of tairs and Moxie—my cat, Moxie—s of t see o ripped  to ttom of tairs....

    quot;And I ran as all t  mean to kill  I dont care if I did. I ran a to Oxford and t  only  and stopped to c. If I  seen  come out of t;

    quot;Yea; said Lyra, quot;t  noo tiring room at Jordan and seen ter put poison in t;

    Bot silent on t of sunlig iny co bring to t  ired and lost toil . And in anotalaimon  to stay in tiring room, and anoto play  Lyra forever on ther unchanging Oxford.

    Presently ill rong enougo go on, and toget forest quiet around them.

    traveled on ting, moving, resting again, as trees greer: Keep going, it said; t direction. At noon to a village untroubled by Specters. Goats pastured on trees cast sony ground, and cream called out and ran for t t of tattered clote-faced, fierce-eyed boy in tained s, and t grey hem.

    t o sell some bread and c for one of Lyras gold coins. tc out of tened. After anotskin and a fine linen s, and ill renounced -s ream and lying to dry in t sun afterward.

    Refreso rest in t under rees, and t  toucain rims and ttle valley open beloo go no farther.

    ting more man once, and to ss of dream. tians, cinquefoil.

    ill drank deeply in tream and t stay arangeness hrobbing.