Chapter Three
The Shard and the Master
The next day, Will walked over to the Botanic Garden and (after making sure no one was watching him) clambered over the fence Kirjava moved through the bars in her sleek, cat-like way. Though he couldn't quite explain it, the shard was pulling him here…here of all places. It was as if the shard had its own intentions. The warning of Iorek Brynison resurfaced in his mind, but he shook it off. The Knife was broken now, and the Infinity Star, Will was certain, was something entirely different. In his later years, Will would laugh at himself for the stupidity he'd evoked then. "Be careful," Kirjava purred, "you remember what Iorek told you." Will huffed, "Can you read my mind or something?" Kirjava rolled her cat-eyes, "Maybe."
Ignoring Kirjava's joke, Will walked further and further into the garden, following the path that the shard was telling him to follow. It was as though the shard were a person that spoke to him. It spoke to him in a voice that Will couldn't help but trust. It just told him: Find her. Will, of course, knew who "her" was: Lyra. But there was no way to find her, the windows into the other worlds had been sealed off by the angels, and the Subtle Knife had been broken into pieces. Yeah, and my father just told me there was a mystical jewel in the tip of the knife, Will thought to himself, trying to remind himself that almost anything was possible at this point.
Then, after taking him on a roundabout trip through the garden, the Infinity Star led him to the bench that he and Lyra were to meet on Midsummer's Day…each in their own worlds. Why had it led him here? Will opened his hand. The blade tip, which had been quivering in his hand, now lay very quiet. Will looked around.
"I have a bad feeling about this, Will…" Kirjava said.
"Quiet." Will whispered. In the distance, he heard the sound of the gate being unlocked and heavy footsteps entering. Will gasped in horror. "See! See!" Kirjava nearly screamed. "I told you we shouldn't have listened to a blade tip." Will clutched his hand around the blade tip and wanted more than anything to escape…somehow. But it was impossible. The only way out was the main door, as the back and side walls of the garden were too high to climb over, and Will heard the footsteps coming down the two paths to the door. Suddenly, however, Will had no reason to be worried of the footsteps. Instead, he had a new problem.
He and Kirjava were being pulled up into a shaft of light. They reached the top, and Will could see all of Oxford, stretched out over miles. He clutched Kirjava close to him as he blacked out.
It was a dark, stormy night. Will stood in the Botanic Garden again. Behind him he heard the sound of Lyra's giggling and then, out of the corner of his eye, saw her dash behind a wall of vines. "Lyra!" He called out, but this was responded to by more giggling. He followed the silhouette through the garden, eventually heading her off at the fountain. "Lyra." He breathed. And it was her, in all her beauty and love. They came together in a passionate kiss. For a moment, Will closed his eyes. When he opened his eyes again, he broke away from her lips in fear. Before him was still Lyra, there was no mistake, but she was dead. Her face was pale gray and worm-eaten and the radiance of her smile was replaced with blackened and jagged teeth. Empty sockets looked back at him from where once were beautiful eyes. Will screamed. The zombie-Lyra then held the Subtle Knife aloft in her hand and cut an opening that was as wide as Will was tall. All the Specters in the Universe gushed out of it and attacked Will. They ripped into his flesh and severely mutilated him. He turned, screaming in pain, and saw his mother kneeling beside him, weeping. Will called out for her help, but his mother did not answer. Instead, she stopped weeping, got up, and then underwent a frightening change.
Will's mother was replaced by the menacing figure of Mrs. Coulter, who laughed cruelly as the Specters mutilated him to death…
Will regained consciousness in the Garden again. He got up and the first thought that struck him was: Where are they? Then the memory of the shaft of light returned to him, and he looked around desperately for Kirjava, who was lying on the ground beside were he was standing. Will scooped him up and began to look around. This was indeed the Botanic Garden, but something was different about it. Instead of tall, modern buildings about it, there was a medieval air to these buildings. The gate was of a material that Will had never laid eyes on before; it was a silvery metal, not the iron that gated the garden in his world. Those were the first two things that tipped him off. The third thing was the man who walked by with a black-furred monkey on his shoulder. The monkey was talking to the man. Will could not hear the speaking, but it did not matter. After that, Will knew exactly where he was. He was in Oxford: Lyra's Oxford.
Lyra was walking out to the Garden, for she had seen a strange, green shaft of light appear there, and then disappear as quickly as it had come. Despite the begging of Dame Hannah, Lyra put on an overcoat and, with Pan at her side, walked out into the calm summer day. They were closing in on the Garden when they heard something trying to clamber over the top railing.
"Oh, for crying out loud!"
"C'mon, Kirjava," came a voice that made Lyra's heart almost stop. And sure enough, Will Parry and his daemon Kirjava were over the wall and onto the grass outside. He dusted off his faded blue jeans and then turned. His eyes met Lyra's. For a long time, neither one of them said anything. Then, when that eternity ended, they rushed into an embrace.
"Will, I missed you." Lyra said, kissing his forehead lovingly. "I know, I missed you too." Will reassured her. They were soon kissing, a moment of perfection that they wanted to last for all time…but then Lyra realized something. "Will," she said in horror, "How-? How did you get here? Won't you and Kirjava die here?" A million questions, and Will had only one answer to them.
" I don't know."
Lyra fixed her face with a quizzical look. "What?"
"I just…" Will began, "It'll take a while to explain everything, let's find somewhere that we can get inside." Lyra took Will's arm and led him into Jordan College for the first time.
After a half hour, Will had finished his tale. "Your father told you?" Lyra marveled. Will nodded, "Err…or, his particles did anyway." Lyra was amazed by the whole business. "The Infinity Star…" she mused. "I don't know anymore about it than you do," Will said, "because my father didn't tell me very much. He dissipated before he could tell me much about it." "But it's brought you here." Lyra said, optimistically. "Yes," Will said, "yes, it has."
"Do you have any idea how?" Lyra asked, still optimistic.
"Well…an idea, I guess." Will said. Lyra's full attention was on him. "I think it heard me think about wanting a way to escape, and it sucked me up into that shaft."
"And me too!" Kirjava said irritably. Pan patted her on the head with one of his furry paws in sympathy.
When the Master of Jordan returned later that evening, Lyra introduced Will to him and had Will recant his tale. The Master exhaled deeply, "This is becoming very dangerous. That," he said, gesturing to the blade tip, which was now on the table, "is very valuable and very dangerous. Men would kill to have something that powerful. It must be kept safe. I'll take it down to the vault." In one moment, he reached out for it. But in the exact next second, he withdrew his hand with a yelp and his fingers began smarting as though a wasp had stung each finger. "Oh, Lord!" He called out. After a few moments, a hesitant Will slowly reached out to grab it. He laid on finger on it, then another. Then, it was in the palm of his hand. Nothing happened.
"It seems," said the Master, having his blistering hand dressed, "that it has appointed you its bearer. So it is up to you to keep it safe." Will nodded and withdrew it back to his pocket. Just then, a boy came into the Great Hall. He was maybe eleven and twelve years old and had a brown robin daemon on his shoulder. "Oh, hello, Jordey." The Master said pointedly.
The newly introduced Jordey bowed politely to the Master and took a seat beside him. The robin on his shoulder leapt down and changed into a mouse and began nibbling on a grape. "This," said the Master, "is my son. Jordey." Jordey waved to Will and Lyra, the latter of which was star-struck. "Your…son?" Lyra mused. The Master nodded. "It is a long story, and I have not the time to tell you it all now. I must rest now." Lyra did notice that the Master's eyes were slightly worn, as though from fatigue. The Master excused himself and then, unceremoniously, let the table and the hall.
"So, eh…" Jordey said in a Cockney accent, "Are you the girl who my dad gave that alethiometer to?" Lyra nodded, "Yeah, that's me." Jordey nodded slowly, as though his opinion of her was greatly increased. Then he then looked at Will. "Who 'err you then?" "I'm Will. Will Parry."
"Will Parry, eh?"
"Yes…that's me."
"Neat."
Will did not like this boy, there was just something he gave off that repelled him. He exchanged a glance with Lyra, who apparently had the same feeling. Pan was examining Jordey's daemon and it took the form that Pan had. Pine marten staring down pine marten, Pan finally gave a facial shrug and curled up beside Lyra.
