Lee's story took far less time to tell than Lyra's, but the afternoon was well underway by the time it ended. Partly because Lyra kept interrupting with exclamations of outrage or apprehension, and partly because the wolves kept coming up and nuzzling them or trying to coax them to play. Except Rattail, who lay down next to Hester and gazed at her devotedly.

'Wolf's got good taste,' was all Hester said.

When it was finished, Lee was parched, and Lyra directed him to a spring concealed in another recess in the rock. Lee was struck by how well set-up her father's camp was but supposed if he'd been sheltering here for a decade, he'd had time to make the place comfortable.

He took a long drink of water so cold it made his teeth ache and turned round to see Lyra stuffing things in a battered old knapsack – rope, a knife, crampons.

'Lyra, I hope you're not planning on doing what I think you're doing,' he said.

'Depends on what you think,' Lyra muttered, continuing her preparations.

'Offhand, I'd say you're planning to go back to Jordan College and rescue your pa,' Lee guessed – though there was no guesswork about it.

'I am, and you're not stopping me,' Lyra growled, almost literally. 'The wolves will hold you back if you try.'

Lee glanced down at Nose-scar, who was standing alongside him. The wolf heaved an eloquent sigh.

'Leave it to me, buddy,' Lee whispered to him. Then, louder: 'I'm sure they will. But what will they do when you get yourself caught or injured? Are they going to come and save you? Hide out here and hope for the best?'

'I won't get caught,' Lyra proclaimed, stopping what she was doing at last and turning to glare at Lee. 'I told you, I know all the ways in and out of Jordan, and I'll keep an eye out for security this time. I'll sneak in, find my father and get him out of there. Tonight.'

'Okay, fine. So, you sneak in,' surmised Lee, taking care not to sound too sceptical. 'I accept that will be easy. But after? Do you know where your father is being held? If you find out, will you be able to get him out of there? I guarantee, they've got him locked up tight. I mean cages, constant surveillance, you name it. He might even be sedated to keep him quiet. And should you manage to get in there, and get hold of him, you still need to get him out of Jordan, out of Oxford and then back here with the Magisterium and the police on your tails – no pun intended.'

He paused then, hoping his reasonable words would overcome Lyra's mulish intent. Pantalaimon, currently shaped like a little black cat, looked at Lee for a long moment and then up at Lyra.

'Lyra, I think we ought to listen to him,' he said.

'Damn right you should,' Lee remarked. 'Lyra, what you're about to try is suicide. I've gone up against the Magisterium before, and those guys are no joke. Not to mention whatever the City Council has in store. You'll get yourself killed or caught, and how's that going to benefit your pa?'

Lyra threw the knapsack on the ground, her eyes blazing with temper.

'So what do you want me to do?' she demanded. 'Hide here and forget about him? Leave him to rot?'

'No,' Lee answered, raising his voice just a little. 'I want you to simmer down and think. If you go charging in now, no plans, no information, you'll be killed. What you need to do is prepare. We need to scout this place out. Find out exactly where your father is being held. Who's guarding him. Who might be willing to look the other way if you slip them a few dollars. And that's gonna take some time, true, but it's what we need to do if we're going to have a hope in hell of succeeding.'

'And just abandon my father?' Lyra scowled. Lee just about resisted the urge to smack himself in the head in frustration.

'You're not dumb, Lyra, so stop acting like you are,' he growled back. 'I never mentioned abandoning him. I meant working so we actually stand a chance of getting him out of there alive. If you'd been caught, and your father had to rescue you, do you think he'd go in all guns blazing? No, from what you've told me, he'd use his head and work out a plan. Because he's smart.'

'He's right, Lyra,' said Pan, twining between her legs. 'We have to take time and plan this.'

Lyra continued to scowl at Lee, but he sensed the danger had passed. He seated himself on the stone bench again and waited.

Lyra stared and the ground and pouted. Pantalaimon nipped her on the ankle, and she yelped. Hester chuckled.

Defeated, Lyra walked back over to the bench and sank to sit beside Lee. She propped her elbows on her knees and her chin on her fists, managing to look both depressed and resolute. The watching wolves made consoling whimpers. Nose-scar walked over and nuzzled against her in sympathetic fashion.

'So, what now?' Lyra asked Lee.

'Well,' Lee sighed. 'Now we do reconnaissance, like I said. First of all, we need to find out exactly where your father's being held. Jordan seems likely, but we need to be certain. Then, we find out the security measures in place. Guards, for certain, but there might be alarm systems, or he could be locked up somewhere. We need to gather information. Then, we make a rescue plan.'

Lyra sat up straight and nodded. Lee was beginning to understand she'd follow directions if she saw the sense in them, which was something of a relief. He didn't fancy having to try and wrangle a wolf-girl and her daemon into obedience. Oh, he'd win in the end – Lee was contrary as a mule when he had a mind to be, as Hester had observed more than once – but it would be a real time waster.

'You keep saying we,' Lyra said without preamble, jolting Lee from his thoughts. 'You mean you're going to help me rescue my father?'

'I guess I do,' answered Lee. Lyra looked confused.

'But why? I've never done nothing for you,' she protested. Lee's heart ached a little.

'Well, kid, I hauled you out of the fire twice, and I suppose that makes me a bit responsible for you,' Lee answered honestly enough. ''Sides, the Magisterium's involved in this and I can't say as I like them much. I'd welcome the opportunity to put a burr up their noses.'

Lyra looked at him quizzically.

'You're a strange man,' she said thoughtfully. Hester snickered.

'Lyra!' Pantalaimon protested.

'What?' she exclaimed. 'It was a compliment!'

'I'll take it as one,' Lee remarked, standing up and stretching. 'Let's get the ball rolling. First thing tomorrow, Lyra, we're doing some scouting round Jordan. We need to find out where your father is exactly. And then we need to find out what it'll take to get him out.'

'What about tonight?' Lyra suggested, but Lee shook his head.

'We gotta sleep sometime, kid. Besides, by the time we make it back to Oxford it'll be growing dark, and we won't be able to do much. You can explain hanging round the colleges in daylight, but at night...'

Lyra looked unhappy but didn't protest. Lee, seeing her misery, cast about for a distraction.

'Lee! Get her to tell you about the wolves!' whispered Hester.

'Say, why don't we set up camp for tonight and you can introduce me to these fellas?' Lee suggested without missing a beat, jerking his thumb to indicate the wolf pack. 'If we're going to be allies, I wouldn't mind knowing a bit more about them.'

Lyra perked up slightly.

'Would you tell me about the north, too?' she asked. 'I always wanted to go north. I hoped my father would take me sometime, but he's wanted to stop here ever since he took me away from Jordan.'

'Deal,' said Lee. 'Now, can we risk a fire?'

#

It turned out there was no need to risk a fire, as the camp had a naptha stove. Lee, who was familiar with such devices, heated it up while Lyra rummaged through the supplies in search of something for supper.

Lee, who had probably talked more that afternoon than in the three weeks preceding it, continued to ask questions about anything he thought might be relevant: Jordan College, the layout of its buildings, its cellars, the fastest route out of Oxford, and so forth. He also asked for information on Dr Van Buskirk's research and the City Council, hoping to work out precisely how they slotted into whatever was transpiring with the wolfwalkers.

Lyra supplied the information willingly where she had it – though she was forced to admit she'd never paid the slightest bit of attention to Dr Van Buskirk's research, even when he'd been tasked with teaching her. She'd liked the man, however, as instead of trying to shoehorn facts into her head he'd usually just surrendered to the inevitable and given her a book from his substantial private library. The books were always about something exciting like explorers in Greenland or the Andean Nations or folk tales of Brytain, and Lyra had devoured them.

Likewise, Lyra couldn't tell him anything about the City Council or Alderman Danvers, but she was a tremendous authority on anything to do with Jordan College. Lee sharpened a stick with his penknife and scratched a rough map of the college's layout in the dirt. The sheer size of the college – its multitude of buildings and passageways and cellars – was discouraging. Lyra's father, assuming he was being held there, could be in any number of locations.

One thing that intrigued Lee, however, was the revelation that a tributary of the Isis flowed under Jordan and had been used to deliver supplies to the college since time immemorial. He tucked the information away in his mind, sure it would come in useful somehow.

Lyra also told him about her wolfpack as requested. Lee could already recognise Nose-scar and Rattail. Of the six others, the grey excitable one was Towser, the omega of the pack, who wasn't so much the lowest ranking wolf as a court jester, always the first to initiate play. Two of the bigger wolves were cubs from a previous litter, a male and female. Quill, the female, had a black stripe along one flank, hence her name. White-paw, the male, had a white left hind paw. The remaining three wolves were nearly grown cubs from the latest litter, two females and a male, only one of whom had a name. This was Acorn, named by Lyra, a beautiful young female wolf with unusual light brown eyes.

'The others are too daft to have names,' Lyra said with teasing affection, rubbing one of the nameless wolves on the belly.

'Hard luck, pal,' Lee remarked to the other, who yipped and ran off to play with Towser.

'They'll get names when they're ready for them,' Lyra continued.

'How do you know when they're ready?' Lee queried.

'We just do, somehow,' said Lyra, and Lee had to be content with that.

'Say, Lyra, how is it that you can talk to them?' he continued, as Lyra brought out a rabbit, already cleaned and skinned, to be made into stew. She paused, pursing up her mouth thoughtfully.

'It's difficult to explain,' she answered. 'I think at them, mostly, and they hear me somehow. And then they think back at me, and I hear them.'

'And you understand them?' Lee asked. Lyra shrugged.

'Mostly. Wolves think differently to us. They don't have a lot of words for things. They say things like deer, hunt, now. Or just hungry. Towser says that a lot. They don't always understand me, either, but I've got better at saying stuff to them. It's easier when – easier at night. And my father and me can have whole conversations by thinking at each other, when…'

'When you turn into one of them?' Lee prompted gently. Lyra nodded.

'Is that's what's going to happen tonight?' Lee asked. Lyra nodded again.

'Probably. Sometimes I don't if I'm too tired. But usually I do.'

'And what about Pantalaimon?' Lee asked. His curiosity about this had been raging. He couldn't imagine being separated from Hester, even for a few moments, and nor did he wish to.

'He nearly always comes with me,' Lyra said. 'Sometimes he's tired too, and he stops with my body when I sleep. I never go too far when that happens, though, in case he needs me.'

'Isn't that a bit… strange?' Lee asked, though strange wasn't nearly strong enough to covey what Lee meant. A human being without a daemon was like a person with no face, or a disembodied head still talking and seeing. Something utterly wrong and unnatural. Though perhaps Lyra wasn't entirely human, now he thought of it.

'It was at first,' Pantalaimon piped up. 'But we got used to it.'

'Hmm,' remarked Lee. 'Perhaps you're like the witches in the North. They can separate from their daemons. Sometimes they travel hundreds of miles away from each other.'

Lyra's expression at this revelation was one of pure wonderment, and Lee quietly resolved that he'd see it much more often in future.

'That's amazing,' Lyra murmured. 'It's a little like me and Pan. He can't go too far from me when I'm a wolf – he has to stay either with me or with my body. But he has the choice.'

'Doesn't sound much like Serafina Pekkala and her sisters to me,' said Hester. 'Their daemons come and go as they please, doesn't matter about distance. Bit unnerving till you get used to it.'

'You mean you've actually met a witch?' Lyra exclaimed. Pantalaimon turned himself into a magpie and chattered with excitement.

'Sure,' Lee said, setting an iron pot atop the stove and pouring in water to boil the rabbit. 'A witch-queen, as a matter of fact. Did her and her clan a service, just before I travelled here.'

'Tell me,' Lyra demanded, and Lee grinned.

#

Lee told Lyra and Pan the story as they all prepared dinner. Encountering Serafina Pekkala in Iceland where he'd been stranded by bad weather, helping her fend off the locals who were harassing her, convinced she'd brought them bad luck. How she'd confided in him, needing a human's assistance.

It transpired that some of Serafina's clan-sisters were desperately ill with some strange malady, and none of their spells or blood moss could cure it. Serafina had travelled to Iceland in search of a rare herb, that grew on the mountain slopes there. However, she was unable to collect it as no witch could set foot on the mountains of Iceland due to the Huldufólk – the Hidden Folk.

('What are they?' asked Lyra.

'Invisible beings. Well, invisible to us regular folk. They're magical creatures, who live in the mountains of Iceland. The natives there live alongside them. You've got to be careful not to offend them, or they'll make your life a misery. And you can't see them, unless they want you to.')

This was the root of Serafina Pekkala's difficulty. The Hidden Folk had been at war with witches for as long as even the exceptionally long-lived witches could recall. The source of the conflict was known only to a few, but from the little Serafina told him, Lee guessed that long ago a witch had insulted the Hidden Folk. They never forgot a slight and refused to tolerate the presences of witches on their land, even if they came in peace. Serafina's sisters were in danger of death, and worse, the illness had spread to some of the residents of Iceland, hence their hostility to her.

Lee, upon hearing this tale, volunteered to gather the herbs she needed. It was a tricky operation, but he succeeded. He'd had strange dreams before setting out for the mountain, of sitting drinking with a huge, black-haired man dressed in grey, who had cautioned him to show respect to the Hidden Folk. And when he was walking up the mountain, he found his way blocked by a broad-shouldered, black-haired woman dressed in grey, who rudely bade him to find another way.

Recalling the dream, Lee had tipped his hat to her and done as he was bid. He'd searched for hours and found the herb just as mist descended on the mountain, as thick as molasses, hiding the way back. He was at a loss, but then had spotted a strange blue light that had glowed in the fog, an eerie lantern. It had danced and writhed before him, urging him to follow.

When he'd followed it, it had led him safely down the mountain to where Serafina Pekkala was waiting. He'd assumed it was a spell cast by the witch, but she'd denied doing any such thing. Lee supposed he must have made a good impression on the Huldufólk.

Serafina distilled the herbs into a remedy, for both her sisters and the Icelanders, and cured them of their illnesses. And promised Lee her eternal friendship, before sending him on his way with a fair wind spelled by her and her sisters.

Lee left out one thing though. Of how, when she'd sworn her friendship, Serafina had also given him a little red flower from the crown she wore to mark her status. She told him that should he ever need her, he had only to hold it and call to her, and she would hear him. Save his balloon, it was the most precious thing he owned, and he wanted to keep it hidden, kept safe, even from a brave wolf-girl. The red flower was a last resort, and Lee didn't want things to go that far, not now.

Lyra was entranced by Lee's tale, and it made for a pleasant evening, eating by the stove and answering her questions about witches and the Hidden Folk, while the wolves napped. Night fell, and Lyra lit some lanterns. They ate while the wolves began to wake up, stretching and trotting round, in preparation for hunting.

'The North sounds amazing,' Lyra said, rather wistfully, after they'd devoured the stew and some rather stale bread from her father's stores.

'It can be dangerous,' Lee said honestly. 'It's a wild place, but the authorities are weaker than down here. It's why I've spent most of my life travelling in the North. A man can live a free life out there.'

'I'll go there, someday,' Lyra murmured, eyelids beginning to droop.

'You will, kid,' Lee answered, firmly believing her, before standing up and rubbing the kinks out of his back. 'Where should I sleep?'

Lyra disappeared into what seemed to be the store-cave and emerged with a sleeping pack.

'I haven't got any spare pillows,' she said apologetically as she handed it over.

'Don't worry,' Lee told her. 'I've slept in far worse places. I'll just use my coat. Let's get some shuteye. We'll have a busy day tomorrow.'

Lyra nodded.

'Thank you, Mr Scoresby,' she blurted out. 'For – for helping.'

'You're welcome, miss,' he smiled. 'Now, get some sleep.'

She smiled back and turned to enter another small, curtained recess in the cliffs that Lee presumed was a bedroom of sorts. He left her to it and unrolled the sleeping pack, balling his coat up as he'd said. He clambered in and lay down, Hester hopping up to lie on his chest as usual.

'Quite a day,' she said.

'Quite a day,' Lee agreed.

'So, what next?'

'Getting the lay of the land,' Lee shrugged. 'Finding where this Asriel is being held, and what it'll take to get him out of there. I've a mind to talk to Iorek, too. He'll probably be willing to help out if the wolfwalkers are involved.'

'He's not exactly inconspicuous.'

'No, but he's got muscle. Good in a fight.'

'You think things will come to fighting?'

'I sure hope not,' Lee sighed. He disliked fighting, he always had, despite the fact that he was good at it. 'But we've got to be prepared for it, Hester.'

They lay in silence for a long moment.

'How'd I get myself into this, Hester?' Lee asked. His daemon harrumphed.

'If I knew that, we probably would've avoided it. Not to mention all the trouble you've gotten us into over the years,' she sniped. Lee rubbed her head.

'But at the end of the day, there's a kid that needs taking care of,' Hester continued. 'You wouldn't be you if you didn't step up.'

'I'm not looking for entanglements, Hester. I just wanted to check on Iorek.'

'Well, we've checked on Iorek and it's a bit late to be worrying about entanglements. You've got one. That girl needs us.'

'Till she gets her father back,' Lee murmured, closing his eyes and beginning to sink into the netherworld between asleep and awake.

'Yeah, we'll get him back for her,' Hester agreed, snuggling close.

They lay together, listening to the sounds of the woods at night. The haunting cries of owls, the sharp bark of a fox somewhere, the trees whispering. The grunts and grumbles of the wolves as they prepared for the hunt. The faint sputtering of the lanterns as they flickered.

Then Lee sank into slumber, and all the world fell away.

Author's Notes: Once again, the pack structure and wolf behaviour in this chapter is taken from Lopez's 'Of Wolves and Men.'

The Huldufólk, or Hidden Folk, in Icelandic folklore are supernatural beings who live in nature, and have to power to make themselves invisible. To this day, some Icelanders still believe in them, though it's not clear how many. But as recently as 2013, road construction in Iceland was halted because the local people believed it would disturb the Hidden Folk.

Sorry about the info dump in this chapter. A better author might have been able to work it into the story elsewhere, but after a few chapters of scene-setting I wanted to get going with the action. Angst and adventure will abound from the next chapter onwards... till next time, dear readers!