I am grateful to that one person who reviewed- and I heartily agree- people must not read the HDM section much, or they haven't discovered my little nook. Either way, I shall grace the world with another chapter! Please, review, and then I'll write even more!

Disclaimer: I take only the clarineto, the world of tall trees, and the characters as my own invention, all else belongs to Phillip Pullman.

Chapter Six

Splashing nearby offered a welcome distraction, and then Nialliv led his soldiers out onto the bank surrounding the cesspool. I took a small amount of pleasure seeing him arrayed with pieces of litter, but the quick grin I allowed caught his eye, and he slapped me hard, sending me backwards where I fell into a pile of rotting food. Involuntarily, I let out a shriek as the filthy matter enveloped me. The soldier's raucous laughter rung in my ears as I struggled to my feet.

I forced my way through the body of the still laughing soldiers to the filthy water and jumped in, washing myself of the filth and gaining a new layer of dirt and oil before I re-emerged. Nialliv was furious with me, and wanted me bound hand and foot until we reached the Magisterium headquarters. His dæmon looked as if she would like nothing better than to rip Konstantin apart. However, Mackenzie was blocking her way, and Logan was calmly speaking with the raging Captain.

Konstantin nudged me and I knew what he was thinking. I just needed to Nialliv angry with me once more, and then we could escape. I walked up to Nialliv, careful to keep my back to the water so that I would fall in and began taunting him. "Nialliv!" I shouted, gaining his attention easily. "How did a dimwit like you ever get promoted? I bet you en't a true soldier- your parents paid your way so that you could be important in the service."

"Shut up, stupid brat!" he shouted, blushing furiously. His soldiers had stopped laughing at me, and were beginning to chuckle at Nialliv.

"Your mother was a lazy slut in the red-light district, and your pa was a fat pompous bureaucrat that had too much time on your hands, and-" I would have continued insulting him, but finally he snapped and shoved me backwards, into the water. Konstantin leapt in after me, and I gave a wink to Logan and a salute to Nialliv before diving under. We swam down and down, and I thought we had missed the window when the water got warmer and we swam up, emerging back on the sandy shore.

"Where should we go?" I asked Konstantin. He looked around and a grin appeared upon his face. "What is it?" I asked him.

"There's an petrol boat near by," he replied. "From the scent, it's got plenty of fuel, and it's got extra tanks with it." I grinned as well, and we ran to the waterline and walked down the beach until we had reached a pier. At the end of the pier, I saw the boat, and we quickly hopped into it. Luck was smiling upon us, for we also were able to discover food and a bunk underneath the deck. Without hesitation, I started the motor and throttled away from the dock quickly.

We were out in the middle of nowhere when I was forced to change fuel tanks, and there was no sign of land at all- no birds, the sky was clear, no a hint of green upon the horizon.

"Try the clarineto," Konstantin suggested. "It made a way through that wall- I'll bet that it can get us far away from the window where the soldiers are."

I pulled it out of my pocket where I had fastened it, and I was no longer surprised to see the black velvet cloth covering it dry and clean. Konstantin gave it a curious sniff before my fingers found the clarineto. I put the instrument to my lips and thought of what I desperately needed most at that point in time- to get away from Nialliv and his troops and, for all the pain he had caused me, Logan.

I blew, and the saddest tune I could have imagined emitted from the bell. It was the song of the pain and sorrow and fear I was feeling, the sadness that Logan had betrayed me, the fear of what the Magisterium might inflict upon me if it caught me. The notes converged around Konstantin and I, and I saw a vision of a harsh, wintry place that was far away but too uninhabitable to allow me to live. I mentally dismissed the image, and I saw a warm desert village consisting of adobe houses. It was perfect, but I saw no real plant life, something I had always wanted to be surrounded with. The next vision was of majestic trees, each large enough to contain a great cathedral, towering hundreds of feet over the ground. I could practically smell the sweet sap, and I knew that this forest was where I wanted to be.

The music grew louder, my fingers flew, and suddenly, I was standing on a wooden platform outside of a wooden house with large stained window that surrounded a tree trunk. Curious, I walked to the edge of the platform and looked over. If Konstantin hadn't been there to bite into my clothes to keep me on the platform, I would have fallen at least ten levels before coming close to hitting the ground.

Cackles met my ears as I turned around, and I pocketed the clarineto swiftly. The cackling had originated from a bent old man, and as I approached him, I realized that he had no dæmon. Horrified, Konstantin pressed himself against my leg, and I crouched down so that I could hold him in my arms.

"Here, now, girl. What's wrong with you? That's a demon creature, that is," he said. "Foxes ain't good for no one."

"S-sir," I managed to say weakly. "W-why don't you have a dæmon?" Konstantin was eyeing the old man with both horror and curiosity.

"Dem-" the man began and then a look of horror and shock spread over his own face. "No… You've got the clarinet, don't you...You couldn't have gotten here without it…" Quickly, he motioned for me to follow him around the side of the stained-glass window and with Konstantin still close to me, we entered the colorful house.

There was a hammock strung, and the walls that weren't stained glass were covered with bookshelves. There was a table with two chairs, and the strange man bade me to be seated while he disappeared to delve into an old wine rack stuffed with scrolls rather than bottles of alcohol. Konstantin hopped up onto my lap as the man returned.

"Pull out the clarinet," he ordered as he unrolled and weighted down a scroll. I pulled out the clarineto and set it down upon the table. He laid it upon the scroll next to the drawing of an identical clarineto as well as drawings of a violin made of dark brown striped wood. "Do you know what these do?" he asked as he reverently laid the violin of the picture on the table.

"We figure that the clarineto does whatever you want it to while you play it," Konstantin said.

"These are the only two instruments of such power created. Only the wandering ronin that created them can embody such power in any man-made creation, and he died during his last visit in this world. The Magisterium hunted him even then. I was unable find the clarinet because it wasn't in this world, but if the Magisterium gets either of these instruments… I won't even think of what could happen," the man said. He leaned across the table and caught my eyes. "Never, never let the Magisterium get ahold of the clarinet. Never. Die before you will give it up. Understand me, girl?" he demanded.

I thought of Logan, of Nialliv, and of Roth. "I understand you, sir. I will never give it up. No matter what," I promised grimly. "May I stay here?" I asked him. "I've no where else to go right now."

"I shouldn't allow it," the shrunken old man said. "The villagers will kill me if they find out. Use the clarinet and get out of here."

"Please, sir," I begged. "Not yet- it's too soon. Let me stay just a week."

"One week," he said. "No more. Let me go find you something to wear."

He disappeared out the door, and Konstantin leapt from my lap to the table and looked at the drawing and violin. "We should go tomorrow," he said. "This man is strange, and if his people are all dæmon-less and believe foxes to be evil, we will be discovered quickly."

I sighed. "Where will we go?"

Before Konstantin could answer, the old man reappeared with clothes for me. There was a pair of sandals with two buckles that buckled across the main body of the wearer's feet, and there was no thong separating the wearer's toes and there was no supporting strap to keep the sandals in place. The sandals were comfortable looking, and I put them when the man handed them to me.

"I'll leave now and get food. You can get changed while I'm gone," he said as he handed me the rest of the clothes. He left, and I quickly slipped into the new clothes. The shirt was soft, with no itchy spots at all, and it was dyed a light green. The skirt had a relatively shallow and square pocket, not big enough to fit the clarineto. I decided to ask the man how I could store the clarineto when he returned. We sat at the table and waited for him to bring the food.

The old man entered carrying a covered basket and a small wooden block. He set the basket on the table and handed me the wooden block. "It's a case for the clarinet," he said. "I've also gotten new reeds for you, because the one you have now is chipped and cracked."

I pulled out the clarinet and looked at it with curiosity. "How do I get it apart?" I asked him, afraid to break the keys. He shook his head at me and then took it from my hands and swiftly disassembled it. Then he showed me how to reassemble it and how to change reeds. I repeated the disassembly process and put it in the case. Much to my delight, the case was lightweight, even with the clarineto in it, and it fit the pocket perfectly.

"Girl, you've got to leave after we eat," the man said, dishing out some food.

"Why?" I asked. "You said earlier that we had a week."

"I don't know how they got here, but there's a platoon of Magisterium soldiers here. Their commander is rather vicious, and he's looking for you."

I gasped. Only Nialliv had reason to look for me. Quickly, I grabbed some bread loaves and a bottle of water and thrust them into a rucksack lying nearby. "Thank you for your hospitality," I told the man. "I'll leave now, before you get in trouble for hiding me."

Wondering why the man hadn't said anything about Logan, I swiftly opened the door. Konstantin barked in alarm, and I found that someone was blocking my way. Looking up, I realized that it was Logan.

So here's Chapter Six, and review and I'll make Chapter Seven happen… It's off to school for me now…