It  pressed on Lyras eyes so  s felt t of tons of rock above t tail of t s  long before.

    So  on ills s and rembling creature, feeding it first on crumbs of biscuit and t, s; but it rate on placing  safely and avoiding t parts of the rock above.

    No-Name to a system of caves t o t point in to anots. tunnel ed, as to the young.

    quot;Is it muc; said Lyra quietly. quot;Because tll go out.quot;

    topped and turned to say:

    quot;Just follo see, listen. If you cant ;

    ;Yes, I  Im not as strong as I used to be, and Im not brave, not very any stop. Ill follo;

    turned back and moved on. tting dimmer by te, and Lyra kne ely gone.

    But as sumbled for beside her, a familiar voice.

    quot;Lyra, Lyra, c;

    And surned in delight.

    quot;Mr. Scoresby! Oo  is you, I can see, just, oouc;

    In t, faint lig texan aeronaut, and s own accord, in vain.

    quot;Me too,  listen to me, trouble out ts aimed at you, dont ask me ;

    ill  o see t noo look at t beside  once  tting jahe same way of holding his head.

    ill was speec her said:

    quot;Listen, time to talk about t do exactly as I say. take t from Lyras ;

    one , and ill didnt e time asking w her.

    quot;No,quot; said ill, quot;take your  see.quot;

    And in t gleam, : just above  temple, ttle patc .

    quot;?quot; said Lyra. quot;And...”

    quot;; said ill, and asked , quot; must I do?”

    quot;Cut t  doo  it carefully, every single  miss even one. t to it, and t again. Do it no once.quot;

    tcs be faces in tened and being old o t in t.  a little  all tiny golden o it, and replaced the window.

    And to ser of turning on itself like a vast mills of stone began to fall from tunnel. to one side. ill seized Lyras arm, and toget began to s and slide, and loose pieces of stone came tumbling past, bruising t...

    t to t, and too breato cry out. tons of rock tumbling and rolling dohem.

    Finally t stopped, till tumbling and

    bounding do  been te before. Lyra  arm. it  for t ill t .

    quot;tialys? Salmakia?quot; said ill shakily.

    quot;Bot; said the Chevaliers voice near his ear.

    t, and of te smell of smas o see: the dragonfly was dead.

    quot;Mr. Scoresby?quot; said Lyra. quot;e cant see anyt ;

    quot;Im ; said Lee, close by. quot;I guess t off, and I guess it missed.quot;

    quot;Bomb?quot; said Lyra, frig t;Roger, are you t;

    quot;Yea; came ttle w;Mr. Parry, o fall, and  ;

    quot;Look,quot; said t of Jo;But ill to t move.quot;

    t range faint golden glimmer, like a luminous misty rain falling all around t rike ts ablaze  lit up o t, to erfall.

    It  black emptiness, like a s into t darkness. t floo it and died. t it o t, a slope of rougones, loose and precariously balanced, rose o ty gloom.

    to  even a ledge, just some lucky  abyss, and t except fortered rocks and teetering boulders, est toucling down below.

    And be cleared, more and more of ts oo frigo move. Only took to to reassure till in tunnel, flying ao searc.

    Lyra c least ter le face, and said:

    quot;Come on, till  been . And  least. So just keep going, just keep on moving. e cant go any ot; Sured at t;So  got to keep going a keep on till  be scared, dont give up, dont lag beell t look back all time because I got to c to trust you to come on steady after us, all rig;

    ttle g nodded. And so, in a s took, neit o forget. t it seemed to pull t doo it, and a gly dizziness s footion, t loose slope of gravel, and kept t it pulled, it tempted, and t o it, only to feel tilting and t ss.

    From time to time te line of t of ts faces to ts, aged fattle ccs of t, young boys and girls of Rogers age keeping stauncill ohe open air.

    But some didnt trust t cold heir

    s and trails, and they heard vicious whispers:

    quot;;

    quot;ere frig;

    quot;e s least back in ttle ligtle company, t;

    quot;You did a o our land! You sayed in your oed to die before you came doo disturb us!quot;

    quot;By ;

    ill ed to turn and denounce t Lyra ened, she said.

    t emptiness.

    quot;Friends, be brave! Stay toget Lyra can find it. Be patient and c, dont fear!quot;

    Lyra felt rengt ention. And so toiled on, .

    quot;ill,quot; said Lyra after some minutes, quot;can you  ;

    quot;Yes, I can,quot; said ill. quot;But I cant feel it at all. And I tell you somet t s t a  t kind of edge; once youve felt it you never forget it. And I can see it t  t big space dos not anots different. I dont like it. I ;

    quot;You  closed every ;

    quot;No, because I couldnt, some of t I kno big...quot; ured do ing to look. quot;Its ;

    alking togetion aking place a little ialys alking quietly s of Lee Scoresby and John Parry.

    quot;So ;Youre saying o go out into t of me is aco join t of t;

    quot;Yes, and so am I,quot; said ills fat;But I believe t if to figo  be able to to ttle on Asriels side. And if it came at t moment, it mig;

    quot;Gs?quot; said tialys, trying to icism from ;?quot;

    quot;e couldnt  living creatures, ts quite true. But Asriels army is going to contend ;

    quot;ters,quot; said Lee.

    quot;Just  ts ry, Lee.quot;

    quot;ell, Im ;

    quot;And you, sir,quot; said Jo to t;I o ts of your people. ill you live long enougo see t?quot;

    quot;Its true, our lives are s compared to yours. I o live,quot; said tialys, quot;and ttle longer, per to s  be permanent. I o ;

    t abominable fall yaime, and one little slip, one footstep on a

    loose rock, one careless  Lyra, so far doarvation before you ever  ttom, and t o an infinite gulf, o o reac you out, forever conscious and forever falling...

    O   it?

    A strange to  of falling induced a kind of vertigo in Lyra, and s too far to reac aken  at t moment stle flicker of vanity blazed up for a moment in . t to frigigo and one gutter.

    So remind  noo creep along like an insect.

    But ttle boys  dead like us...”

    And it seemed to  t sed, tones moved under , and o slide. In t moment it   as sterly failed to o anytones rolled and tumbled beneato slammed into o fall. to stop  oo late.

    error. S as ry and catco find ling tone t; s kno ill . Instead, ex of roaring fear. Faster and faster sumbled, do bear to cheir eyes and cried aloud.

    ill felt electric co c e ering any more t t stop, shere, she was falling...

    And out of t creature ig. togetra oo mucrong  t and beat and beat, and  of t ing to ills reaching arms.

    igo , feeling t of  against  Lyra just t ill; s a girl, and  a boy. t gulf of deatogets clustered around,  at o oo; and tialys and Salmakia spoke to No-Name, praising hem all, generous one, blessing her kindness.

    As soon as Lyra could move, s trembling for t  speak. All ty  of her.

    till for some minutes. Once terror o subside, t off again, ill ig foresting eac before t any  t t die of fatigue; but t rest, t stop. ,  fearful gulf belohem?

    And after anotoil, o her:

    quot;Look a...quot;

    It rue: tting easier, and it o climb slig t a fold in t really be a ?

    Lyra looked into ills brilliant, strong eyes and smiled.

    tep moving farto roll and t their ankles.

    quot;e must ; ill said. quot;I could try t I find.quot;

    quot;Not yet,quot; said t;Farto go yet. to open. Better place ;

    tly, , , ...trembling , tion. t fe up to t of ttle o the shadow.

    Lyra cook to searcoucouching again.

    quot;A; he said.

    quot;You found an open space?quot;

    quot;I t;

    quot;ill,quot; said , quot;stop a moment. Listen to me.quot;

    ill put dourned. In all t  been able to t it o knoo part for t time.

    quot; ; ill said. quot;ill you just vanis;

    quot;Not yet. Mr. Scoresby and I tle  us into Lord Asriels ;  on somberly, looking at Lyra, quot;youll need to travel t to find your daemons again. Because ts w;

    quot;But Mr. Parry,quot; said Lyra, quot;o my fat;

    quot;I er, itll confirm  remember t daemons,quot; ense and empic. quot;trom o return to  live permanently in mine. torre degli Angeli, o rue, and gradually t.

    quot;And t o me. I  and s possible for a o be. t of my o, and couldnt find t deal in t ten years after I arrived tally sick.

    quot;And ts full life in t ually sicken and die. e can travel, if to ot  enterprise o build there is no elsewhere.

    quot;ill, my boy, you and Lyra can go out no; you need t, and you deserve it; but t come back into t journey.quot;

    ill and Lyra exc a  est they had ever seen.

    t air filled took in a canopy of dazzling stars, and ter somerees, as les, dotting

    the wide savanna.

    ill enlarged to left and rig big enoug to , out of the dead.

    t gs trembled ement passed back like a ripple over ts alike looking up and a and  stars turies so tarved eyes.

    t g to leave took a step forurned to look back at Lyra, and laugurning into t, tarligtle burst of  ill he bubbles in a glass of champagne.

    ts folloness of t air, tars.