among toreets, no squares, and no open spaces except ood above t, tico o its columns. Betone buildings, a mazy clutter of sies  toget of lengtimber, beaten-out petrol cans or biscuit tins, torn plastic sing,

    scraps of plywood or hardboard.

    ts oion came more of t t trickle tos raigo toly o follo topped.

    A figure stepped out of a patc;ait, .quot;

    A dim lig  easy to make out ures; but t a g. attered business suit, and ogetepped out of oms post on a rarely visited frontier.

    quot; is t; said ill, quot;And ;

    quot;Youre not dead,quot; said t;You o  in to t and give to t te.quot;

    quot;But excuse me, sir,quot; said Lyra, quot;I  mind me asking, but  dead? Because t it?quot;

    quot;Its a suburb of times take, but to  in t;

    quot;ait for ;

    quot;Until t;

    ill felt  to argue, and before s;Can you just explain o;

    quot;No, no,quot; said t;t a port of transit. t.quot;

    quot;o?quot; said ill.

    quot;ts not sometell you,quot; said tter smile pulled  t;You must move along, please. You must go to t;

    ill took t, and then held Lyras arm and urged her away.

    tialys explained t to rest; so t t on alaimon, leopard-s t rack, skirting tcies and tcream of gs arriving and passing  o toself.

    quot;eve got to get over ter, like t of t; said ill. quot;And maybe tell us  seem to be angry anys strange. And t;

    torn from a notebook, . It ing to see  all looked so real.

    It ting darker and colder, and time rack of. Lyra t t  ctle  earlier, whe door.

    As t ter in one  a  their papers and nodded.

    to go inside w;Excuse me, w;

    quot;Go and find someay,quot; said t unkindly. quot;Just ask. Everybodys ing, same as

    you.quot;

    urned aravelers turned doo t of ty toay.

    It le s, repaired a dozen times, patcic or corrugated iron, leaning crazily against eac some places, an anbaric cable looped do and provided enoug to porung out over ts. Most of ters of building material, as if t remaining flames of a great conflagration, staying alive out of pure malice.

    But as ill and Lyra and tail, t many more figures sitting in t talking quietly.

    quot; t; said Lyra. quot;Its cold.quot;

    quot;t people,quot; said t;t even gs. t I dont kno;

    travelers came to t group of s by one of tly in t  . tside, croucood up: five of t.

    quot; is to; said ill.

    took a step backtle closer toget iny anding on end, t  Pantalaimon s go back, please ...quot;

    t;peoplequot; made no move, and finally ill s;ell, good evening to you any; and moved on. t a similar response from all to, and all time their apprehension grew.

    quot;ill, are ters?quot; Lyra said quietly. quot;Are ers no;

    quot;I dont ttack us, but to be afraid t kno;

    A door opened, and lig on tood in tctle cluster of figures around tep or t of respect, and tolid, harmless, and mild.

    quot;; he said.

    quot;travelers,quot; said ill. quot;e dont knoo;

    quot;t; said t;raveled far?quot;

    quot;A long ired,quot; said ill. quot;Could ;

    t to t and looked around furturned to trange figures standing by and said:

    quot;Did you see any deat;

    t;No, no, none.quot;

    turned back. Be: a wo young chey were all nervous and apprehensive.

    quot;Deat; said ill. quot;ere not bringing any deat;

    But t fact seemed to be t, because side stle.

    quot;Excuse me,quot; said Lyra, stepping fore  ;I couldnt icing, but tlemen s rude, but e I do beg your pardon. But you see, in my  like youre so see us. And noraveling, ill and me, t seem to , and I ill I found out t ordinary like me really. So maybe ts  a bit sort of nervous ;

    t;Lyra? And ill?quot;

    quot;Yes, sir,quot; she said humbly.

    quot;Are t; ing to the spies on her shoulder.

    quot;No,quot; said Lyra, and sempted to say, quot;ts,quot; but s ill  a bad idea; so s;tialys and tinguisraveling ; saking mouse-Pantalaimon out of . quot;You see, omorro;

    Everyone ed. ttle by one, and to look modest and er a pause the man said:

    quot;ell, ts strange, I suppose trange times.. .Come in, t;

    tside nodded, one or ttle boood aside respectfully as ill and Lyra o t. to keep it s.

    It  by a napable, and clean but sed ures cut from film-star magazines, and tern made s of soot. tove against one  of it, eaming, and on a dressing table tic flotles, and ots and pieces, all surrounding ture of a jaunty skeleton op  and dark glasses.

    ty ering eyes, s. As Lyra looked at s stirred, and a very t it  a skeleton. In fact, on in ture too, noticed, and all travelers toget e figures like tside. And all of t as nonplussed as t seen them.

    In fact, all ttle s t a loss for  was Lyra w.

    quot;ts very kind of you,quot; s;to be o  any deats t  disturb you any more to. You see, s o come   kno, or o get t. So if you can tell us anyt it, eful.quot;

    till staring, but Lyras mosptle, and ted to sit at table, dra a benced the sleeping dragonflies up

    to a sialys said t till dayligable.

    teoes and cut to it to make it go farto offer travelers some ot  a bottle of clear and pungent spirit t smelled to Lyra like tians jenniver, and ted a glass into heir own.

    Lyra o stare most at t ty ed just as muc, at   long to ask why.

    quot;Youre t people  a deat; said ter. quot;Since  to  till our deatells us its time.quot;

    quot;Your deatells you?quot; said Lyra.

    quot;Yes.   side, taking to ;

    quot;Doesnt it scare you, ime?quot; said Lyra.

    quot;? If  more nervous not knowing w;

    quot;And everyone ; said ill, marveling.

    quot; youre born, your deato ts your deat takes you out.quot;

    quot;A; said Lyra, quot;ts o knorying to find t kno t;

    quot;Your deataps you on takes your s time. It migravail, your deato you kindly and says, Easy no across to t.  ;

    told a co call to to tcoget drab and quiet and dull.

    quot;t; said tialys.

    quot;Indeed, sir,quot; said Peter.

    quot;Do you knos time to go?quot;

    quot;No. But you knos a comfort.quot;

    tialys said not it   it  a comfort. tood politely along t range to see tle space took up, and to find tle notice ttracted. Lyra and ill soon found toget: time, t kno know...

    teo ces and put some in a boo pass among t eat, but t tent. Presently all ts ing er asked t their world was like.

    quot;Ill tell you all about it,quot; said Lyra.

    As s, as sook c of  a little stream of pleasure rising upc  s at, doing it for hem.

    Sarted by telling about s. tant and ed out of tate by a political enemy and to prison. But to escape by climbing doune, only to be attacked and murdered by outlaen,  ill rescued  in time and taken o t e s him alive.

    te up ty, and even to listen, perc eous faces as s tale of .

    ayed o Oxford to c Roger, and o escape in a ured a gyptian narro and sailed it all tting caug Abingdon Lock, and tes and o sy to a ted clipper just setting off for o trade for tea.

    And on t trangers from to t of taken refuge in t, and so take turns going up to see t ing and plunged doo Davy Joness locker.

    tried to persuade tain to turn t erested in t ting to Cat t them a file, and...

    And so on. From time to time surn to ill or tion, and Salmakia ail or tory self up to t o to learn, from s, t of wune had been buried.

    quot;And if ; s;like you do   I to find our ening, and for giving us t was really nice.

    quot;But o find a  across ter oo. Is ts  of ;

    tful. tiredness, looked o t no one could suggest w.

    t  spoken before. From tone, not a  a living voice: it h.

    quot;to t; ing  Lyra, quot;is  call up your o bay. You dont like t of courtesy tay out of sig t far off. urn your eacup. Or in a de like me and old Magda ; ;e live togets ts it, ts  to do, say e your deato come close to you, and see

    to agree to.quot;

    o Lyras mind like ones, and ill, too, felt t of them.

    quot;?quot; he said.

    quot;Youve only got to ;

    quot;ait,quot; said tialys.

    Every eye turned to  up to turn to iny, passionate one. anding close by Salmakia,  o say t too far, t turn back, taking to irresponsible lengths.

    So sepped in. quot;Excuse me,quot; so ter, quot;but me and our friend t to go outside for a minute, because o talk to rument. e  be long.quot;

    And sook side into ted iron roofing h a melancholy sound.

    quot;You must stop,quot;  urned oil drum, in t of one of t ss cable over;t;

    quot;But ,quot; Lyra said.

    quot;No, no. Not to t;

    quot;All rig a o your s all rig mind.quot;

    quot;Do you realize ;

    quot;Yes.quot;

    quot;You dont. Youre a tless, irresponsible, lying casy comes so easily to you t your y, and you dont even admit trut stares you in t see it, Ill tell you plainly: you cannot, you must not risk your deat come back ress in ;

    Lyra felt a great sob of rage building up in , and stamped , unable to keep still.

    quot;You dont kno; s;you just dont kno in my , do you? I dont kno kind, youre not generous, youre not considerate, youre not cruel, even, t ter, if you d mean you took us serious, you didnt just go along  suited you... O trust you at all nooget to stop us, youre t one, tialys!quot;

    quot;I  let a co me in t,  punished you before...”

    quot;take your bloody spurs and dig em in ! You got no idea  no notion  my friend Roger, you kill people just like t,” s;t matter to you, but its a torment and a sorroo me t I never said good-bye to  to say sorry and make it as good as I can, youd never understand t, for all your pride, for all your groo do . So if you  to kill me, you rong man, you poison bearer, you C, go on, kill me. t you, you pitiful t;

    tialys mig o see, for o foot h a

    passionate anger, s; but  ime to move before a voice spoke be a curned around, knoe her bravado.

    tood very close, smiling kindly, ly like t talaimon at  ried to pus by doing t, , orong pulse of .

    Lyra clutco ly. S remember ialys quickly preparing tone resonator, busy.

    quot;Youre my deat you?quot; she said.

    quot;Yes, my dear,quot; he said.

    quot;You ent going to take me yet, are you?quot;

    quot;You ed me. I am always ;

    quot;Yes, but... I did, yes, but... I  to go to ts true. But not to die. I dont  to die. I love being alive, and I love my daemon, and ... Daemons dont go do go out like candles w;

    quot;No,quot; ;Your daemon vaniso t;

    quot;t to take my daemon o t; s;And I  to come back again.  ever been knoo do t?quot;

    quot;Not for many, many ages. Eventually, co t, no risk, a safe, calm journey, in ted friend, er than yourself...”

    quot;But Pantalaimon is my special and devoted friend! I dont knoh, I know Pan and I love Pan and if he ever, if we ever...”

    terested and kindly, but s for a moment forget w h, and so close.

    quot;I knoll be an effort to go on no; seadily, quot;and dangerous, but I  to, Deatruly. And so does ill. e botaken aoo soon, and o make amends, at least I do.quot;

    quot;Everyone o tion for you?quot;

    quot;Because,quot; s;because t to do t just seeing my friend Roger, somet ask put on me by an angel, and no one else can do it, only me. Its too important to  till I die in tural s got to be done nos o.quot;

    Beialys put a and sat co be taken where no one should go.

    tc notop Lyras   even fear: soo.

    So eventually h said:

    quot;If not you off, take you to t as for getting out again, youll o manage by yourself.quot;

    quot;And my friends,quot; said Lyra. quot;My friend ill and t;

    quot;Lyra,quot; said tialys, quot;against every instinct, e ago. But you make it ;

    Lyra kne time to conciliate, and so do t, ten her way.

    quot;Yes,quot; s;I am sorry, tialys, but if you  got angry, o guide us. So Im glad you o you for being ;

    So Lyra persuaded o guide o tony Makarios, and so many otold o go doo tty o leave.

    But Pantalaimon rembling and so stillness, or quiet t little moan  tering. So  chfully beside her.