As darkness fell, tood.

    In  toention tle figure beside tone resonator, and every ot ed, every part of ed to t came to tone under t.

    King Ogun in ter, sly  a plan to counter tentions of torial Court,  from t. tor . tial tting troops on t ers er t till some way behind.

    In torial Court, ttending to t. teen bolts a minute. t a spin and made te as a rifle. It ,  advantage.

    Mrs. Coulter lay arance to tless, and frustrated: ts  to torment.  by Mrs. Coulters sleeping bag, scratctle  t settled in the rock.

    Lyra lay  and almost as restless, but deep, deep asleep, locked into oblivion by t  ime, and no urned, and little ic resolution s and , making Pantalaimon grind  teethy.

    Not far aossed pines on t patoried to explain to Ama  , and  sed. o move calmly and speak quietly in order to keep o let ake to tell  o be used. In to say simply, quot;Keep very quiet and follo; and  she would.

    Iorek, in ing to o give ill enougime to  Lord Asriels force ime to time brougant clatter to Ioreks ears, but w zeppelin engines sounded like, er, and .

    Balt o tell t ill roubled about  to o , distracted, and sullen. And t, in turn, made it o talk to Ama.

    As to t;Balt;

    quot;Yes,quot; said tunelessly.

    quot;Baltay ay close and ;

    quot;I  abandoned you yet,quot; said the angel.

    t  ill could get out of him.

    Far above in ting midair, tialys and Salmakia soared over trying to see doo tly as told, but t easily cope ossed about dangerously in ter of trees, and to brancaking thering dark.

    ill and Ama crept up in t to t point t ill out of sig o be be off t a he air.

    tion of ground o a bleace ground s cratered ttering sounds over a wide silence.

    Ama folloect  must be ing tly place; and ing at once, became a lizard and scampered over t.

    ill sa  t moonligern once ers cave. o open it quickly, pull Lyra t again at once. t was safer.

    opped on to Ama: quot;e must be very quick and completely silent. No noise, not even a w;

    Sood, tened. ttle packet of po: s a dozen times, and sask so often t s in total darkness.

    te rocks, ill measuring tance carefully until imated t the cave.

    took t t possible window humb and forefinger.

    o it quickly to keep t out and looked t all  sky; er, asleep, ail, trailing negligently over the sleeping bag.

    C see oo close?  t ep or two, and opened again.

    S there.

    quot;Listen,quot; o Ama and ;t see o find  t. So stand back, keep out of t accidentally cut you uck t by t;

    quot;e s; Ama said, quot;because I knoter too.quot;

    ubborn, ogets clenc slowly around his neck.

    ill said, quot;O e silence, and you do exactly  once, you understand?quot;

    Sted  yet again to che medicine.

    ill made a small opening, lo sly, getting t on  beogeten seconds.

    taking some moments to adjust from t rees, but belo oo. It   far away.

    it hand, ill balanced himself carefully and looked around.

    Ama ; but Lyra  at t about it.

    ill raised ook a long, steady look doorance, wer and her daemon lay deep in sleep.

    And t sank. tretc in t next to Mrs. Coulter. tlines  seen her.

    ill touced.

    quot;ell just o do it very carefully,quot; he whispered.

    Sometside. trees, and lig, too, s Lyra out, tter, and t meant darting doer ting to safety, and closing again.

    to Ama. She nodded.

    t to move, Mrs. Coulter woke up.

    Sirred and said sometantly to . ill could see te in ttentive, and ter  up, s t outside.

    ills left ig. Mrs. Coulter got up, fully dressed, lit, not at all as if s been asleep. Perime. Scening, as t from to side above treetops and ts, male voices  clear t t, very fast.

    ill squeezed Amas  and darted forcumbled, running fast and low.

    t Lyras side, and salaimon around  carefully, and a second later to pull Lyra to safety…

    But  Mrs. Coulter. Surned around silently, and ted off t  it   all; it   t, and o the ground.

    It was broken.

    No  at all.

    o Ama, quot;ake  no;

    tood up, ready to figrangle t monkey first. ensed to meet its leap, and ill  of t least  to  h.

    But ttack eiter. Stle to let t from outside sol in  some of t s Ama o rils by using ail as a brush.

    ill side: te no sounded familiar, like an intrusion from ter of a er. ts s across trees outside, in a brilliant green scatter of radiance.

    Mrs. Coulter turned briefly as to  too briefly for ill to jump and seize t ill  blinking, crouco spring.

    Lyra  doing o him.

    Outside t, and a man fell out of to land  five yards from trance to ter didnt flinc urned back to ill. A moment later ter t, a storm of sing broke out, and ts of gunfire.

    Lyra ruggling up into consciousness, gasping, sigo fall back alaimon retc to one side as o act.

    As for ill, most care for time to  o gat up safely. As ed it carefully, every nerve in  into te easily, because tal caugside: seven of t being t itself. urned back to try and make sense of t outside.

    Some t difficult for ts to  steady. Meaners o land one at a time, and to make t  from the swaying zeppelins.

    By time, botroops. Some rees. But neit reacill t lay er.

    ill said above the noise:

    quot; are you going to do?quot;

    quot;ive.quot;

    quot;, as ages? ake any notice of t? t to kill us all any;

    quot;One force does, certainly,quot; s;but Im not sure about t ;

    Sside, ill saw her face full of joy and life and energy.

    quot;You broke t; he said.

    quot;No, I didnt. I ed it .quot;

    Lyras voice came urgently: quot;ill?quot; stered. quot;Is t ill?quot;

    quot;Lyra!quot;  quickly beside  up.

    quot;s ; Lyra said. quot;;

    quot;ere in a cave. Dont move too fast, youll get dizzy. Just take it carefully. Find your strengt;

    ill  se to be aing aking muc. Ama cimidly, for no trange girl isfaction: she was here, she was real.

    t on a rock. Lyra held his hand and rubbed her eyes.

    quot;s ; she whispered.

    quot;Ama  some poo ; ly, and Lyra turned to t time, and put ;I got ; ill  on, quot;but some soldiers did, too. I dont kno as soon as ;

    Outside, t; one of ters aken a fusillade from a zeppelins mac on top, and it burst into flames, not only killing t also preventing ters from landing.

    Anot o reinforce tion. Mrs. Coulter ing it ook careful aim before firing. ill sa side.

    If s again, , Ill rusurned to o Balt tead, ill sa trembling and whimpering.

    quot;Balt; ill said urgently. quot;Come on, t  you! And you o , you kno, youre not a coward, and we need you...”

    But before thing else happened.

    Mrs. Coulter cried out and reaco aneously tc someth a snarl of glee.

    A voice, a  somee, came from the monkeys paw:

    quot;tialys! tialys!quot;

    It iny  one of  s in pain. Ama kneop till orn it off, but ill leapt forers hand.

    And  t ter fell still, and ill became arange stalemate.

    ter terly motionless. orted  s move, because standing on iny man   ening  o cry out a moment before.  ung her ankle.

    But ttle man couldnt  Mrs. Coulter anymore, because of tner  t tle man dug o Mrs. Coulters jugular vein. None of them could move.

    Breato govern ter turned ear-daso ill and said calmly, quot;So, Master ill, ;