Chapter Eight
Oxford
As Will awoke he noticed that he was tied to a chair, he struggled silently until he realised he couldn't move at all. Kirjava stirred on his lap. Seeing that she was safe he took stock of his surroundings.
He was in a dimly lit room that resembled a cellar with workbenches and shelves covered in bottles and jars full of different liquids, and books left open and lying around higgledy-piggledy. He noticed the room smelt dingy and almost damp.
Then a man came threw the door followed by, an angel! But it was not Xaphania, it was an angel Will had never met before, though when he thought about it he hadn't met very many angels anyway. The man turned to face him and said,
"Hello, you must be Will Parry," Will did not reply but stared coldly at him with his jaw jutting, just as Lyra remembered, "Well, anyway, I'm called-" he stopped abruptly and started to cough very loudly causing spit to land on the floor in front of him, "Ah-hem, as I was saying I am Mr. Makepeace, I understand you are in the possession of an item that may be able to help me."
An image of the knife flashed through Will's mind, which was, as he was about to find out, exactly what Mr. Makepeace wanted. "I am of course talking about the subtle knife, you may be wondering how I know about this," again Will said nothing, "I am of course from another world, the one your old companion is from," Will winced at the thought of Lyra, did Makepeace intend that? No, how could he know of their love… "I need to-" again he cut of to cough loudly, he cleared his throat "I need to find a way to return to my world, so, in return for retrieving the knife from you I have been granted travel to my world." Will stared blankly at them, then turned to the angel, and without answering Makepeace said,
"Angel, what is your real name?"
"I am Nindareth."
"Why do you want the knife?"
The angel smiled, though it did not reach its eyes, and answered, "I am one of the angels who was pledged to Metetron and the Authority, and we want the knife so as to make a return to power."
"But Metetron is dead, and you will not be able to use the knife anyway, only I can do that."
"Metetron may be dead but his beliefs are not, and we do not need the knife, it is only so that the other side cannot use it against us again." Will turned back to Makepeace,
"Why do listen to these lies?"
"Lies? This is an angel, a being of spirit why would they lie?" Will realised the angel had told Makepeace nothing of it's plans, and he got an idea.
"And why then do you not just overpowered the angel?" Will noticed the angel looked agitated at this hearing remark.
"Me, overpower an angel, even if I were in a good physical state, it is an angel!" Will decided now was when he should tell Makepeace before the angel caught on.
"Yes but angels are weaker than mean, that is why they seek to overpower us and intervene in our …" Will looked at the man whose mouth was hanging open and a look of sheer astonishment plastered across his face, "You haven't told him what you plan to do, have you?" he said addressing the angel with a hard stare.
The angel slapped will hard across the face, and instead of the soothing cool he felt when Balthomos touched him, he felt a searing burn.
Makepeace was now sitting in an armchair muttering to him-self.
"Where is the knife?" shouted the angel.
Will grinned. After a few minutes when the only sound was of the angels heavy breathing, for Makepeace had fallen silent now.
"I broke it." He said coolly.
The angels face was distraught with so much anger and pain it was more a mask than a face. It was as if Will had dealt a physical blow to the angel.
"You did what?" The angel was almost bellowing by this point, "W-why h-how…" The angel had started to pace the room; he then lifted his head and looked straight into Wills eyes. "I will make you wish you had never been born!"
The angel raised his hands as if to hit will but before it could fall it seemed to freeze as Makepeace who had risen, up with fury written in every line of his body, grabbed the angels' forearm.
"You lied to me!"
"Let go of me!" the angel tried to brake free but the man was much stronger than him even in his weakened state, who just bent it back almost as far as too brake it.
"You lied to me!"
There was a loud snapping from the angels shoulder. Then Makepeace kicked him in the stomach and once he was bent over he lifted a large glass bottle on the table and smashed it over the angels head with such force that the angel was sprawled across the floor unconscious.
"Whah… What happened…" he shook his head as if to clear it of snow. "The last thing I remember was opening the door to find… I can't even remember who was there… W-who are you?"
"Un-tie me and I'll tell you everything."
As Makepeace was un-tying Will the angel rose silently, and Kirjava shouted, "Look out Will!"
"Argh! I'll kill you!" Nidareth was ran at Will full pelt, but before anyone could do anything, there was a loud crash and a lot of barking as the dogs they saw earlier burst through the window and lunged at the angel who then pinned down by them, and the dog's started tearing at anything they could get there jaws on. Then there was a long howling sound from the angel and then it was gone, the dogs cast around for their prey and finding nothing they turned to the now opened door which was closed after they left by Will.
Several hours later, Will had accounted his part of the story, and found that Mr. Makepeace, with much astonishment from Will, was actually from Lyra's world and that his cat was actually his daemon. They both had to guess about the loss of memory on Mr. Makepeace's behalf. It also turned out that he also knew a lot about other worlds, the war and him and Lyra, at the mention of which Will turned a slightly pale. They also Went on to talk about the dogs.
"Well, maybe Oxford is looking out for you, seeing as the dogs attacked the angel on both occasions…"
"Mmmm… Maybe…"
Later that night, after a long conversation with Makepeace, Will and Kirjava headed home, and before going to bed they left the remainder of the nights dinner in the garden, then Will and Kirjava went to bed with the pie in the garden for the dogs.
Well that's the chpt re-writen please tell me if it's better/worse please!
Thanx for all other reviews as well!
