Their motley group made it to the cellars without encountering anyone and fled through the arch down to the river. Bram and Tony were waiting by the boats, and as they approached Lee saw Lyra standing up, eager for a glimpse of Asriel.

'What happened?' cried Bram as Lord Faa leapt into his boat and handed Wilf over to Reuben. Liam only paused to undo the mooring rope before leaping in himself. Lee dragged Van Buskirk over to the craft where Iorek and the others were waiting, shoving the scholar in headfirst when he balked at the sight of the armoured bear. He followed Liam's lead, undid the rope binding them to the post and jumped in himself, Hester alongside him.

'Where's my father?' demanded Lyra, ignoring Ma Costa's efforts to make her sit down. 'And what's Dr Van Buskirk doing here?'

'Get going, Derrick, Reuben! We need to leave here fast!' called Lord Faa. The Gyptians started the engines, and the boats began to move. Lyra was searching the entrance to the college with frantic eyes, and for a frightening moment Lee thought she was going to leap ashore and go to fetch her father.

Ma Costa fastened strong fingers on the back of Lyra's coat and pulled her back down into the bottom of the boat, just missing Iorek. Lee breathed a little easier.

'Sit down, or you'll unbalance us!' Ma Costa hissed. 'Mr Scoresby, what's happened? Where's Asriel and the witch?'

'Asriel? I bloody knew it!' swore Van Buskirk, then cursed again as the boat swayed in the current and nearly tipped him over the side.

'Things got complicated,' Lee admitted to Ma Costa as the boat picked up speed. 'We ran into Mrs Coulter and some Magisterium muscle. We managed to get Asriel out of the lab, and that poor boy Lord Faa's got with him, but Asriel was drugged, and he took off without us. Serafina's looking for him now.'

'No!' cried Lyra. 'They'll try to kill him! We have to find him!'

'Let's get out of here first,' Ma Costa said firmly. 'Then we'll search for Asriel.'

Lyra looked distraught, but she didn't make any further protests, realising their futility. Pan, in the form of a spaniel, snuggled against her, trying to comfort her. Lee set his jaw and peered into the darkness ahead, trying to make out where they were going. He could see the purplish, yellow-edged glow of night up ahead. A few moments later the boats emerged from underneath Jordan College and out into the fresh night air of Oxford.

Lee sucked in a few deep breaths, savouring the cool breeze on his face and the loveliness of the water glimmering below them, and then he turned to face the riverbank on his side of the boat.

'Everyone keep your eyes peeled for Asriel or Serafina,' he said. Lyra turned at once to scan the opposite bank, and despite the unlikelihood of the intoxicated Asriel heading along the river, they searched for any sign, any movement that might have indicated a wolf or its daemon.

The boats chugged along for a few more minutes with no sign of Asriel or Serafina Pekkala. Then Lee realised they were veering off down a narrow culvert, away from the high walls of the Oxford colleges. The lead boat, which held John Faa, Wilf, Bram, Tony and Liam, stuttered to a halt. Derrick drew alongside and cut the power to the engine, leaving the boats bobbing on the dark water. Iorek's white fur was almost luminous even in the shadows, and Derrick threw the tarpaulin back over him as cover.

'We need to split up,' Lord Faa said without preamble. 'Mr Scoresby, Bram, Liam, we four will search for the wolf and its daemon. The rest of you must head back to St John's Lock and hide until it's safe. You, scholar –'

'Julian Van Buskirk.'

'Van Buskirk, I'll let you go ashore here if you wish. But given your actions against Mrs Coulter tonight, I strongly advise you to come with us. She isn't a forgiving woman from what I've seen, and she has the power to hurt you. We can hide you.'

Van Buskirk faltered, looking from Lord Faa to the riverbank. Lithiel hopped up onto his shoulder and whispered to him.

'We should go with them,' she said. 'At least for a while. It isn't safe back at Jordan. It hasn't been for a long time.'

'What, I should just run away and leave my life behind?' Van Buskirk protested.

'You won't have a life to leave if you go back,' Lee interrupted, not seeing the point in diplomacy. 'The woman's insane. She'll kill you for defying her.'

Van Buskirk blanched, but his daemon nodded her agreement.

'She's right, Julian,' she murmured. 'We have to flee. We always knew this day might come and now it's here.'

'I – very well, I'll stay with you,' Van Buskirk blurted. Lee nodded approval and turned to climb ashore. Ahead, he saw Lord Faa and the Gyptians doing the same.

'Let me come with you!' Lyra cried as he set foot on the bank. But Lee shook his head.

'Not part of our deal, Lyra,' he said shortly.

'But I can – mmph!'

Ma Costa had reached for Lyra and enfolded her in a fierce embrace.

'Oh no you don't!' she informed the squirming Lyra, as her daemon shrieked agreement. 'You're coming with us!'

'Thanks ma'am,' Lee said, relieved. 'Lord Faa, where should we start looking?'

Lord Faa was about to take command of their ramshackle rescue party, when a scream sounded from somewhere in the vicinity of the colleges, back across the river. A heartbeat later, Serafina Pekkala landed upon the waterside.

'I found Asriel,' she said without pausing for greetings. 'Kasia is watching over him and his daemon. But I could not persuade him to come with me – whatever drugs he has been given, they have stolen his understanding. He's running through Oxford searching for an escape. He's already been spotted, and it won't be long before the forces of the law are hunting him.'

'Hell,' cursed Lee. 'We need to get him out of there as quick as we can.'

'Could we lure him out – with food, perhaps?' suggested Lord Faa.

'No,' rumbled Iorek from beneath his tarpaulin. 'He will not pay attention if he's running for his life.'

'Do we have tranquilisers anywhere?' queried Bram.

'Even if we did, and we somehow managed to shoot him, how the hell are we supposed to get a wolf and a leopard daemon out of Oxford without being seen?' demanded Liam.

'What about trapping him in a net?' piped up Derrick. Tony shook his head.

'We didn't bring any, and it'd take too long to fetch them,' he pointed out.

Everyone fell silent, stymied. Then Lyra squirmed out of Ma Costa's grasp and jumped onto the riverbank.

'Can you make me sleep?' she demanded of Serafina, her expression fierce.

'Whatcha got in mind, kid?' asked Lee before the witch-queen could respond.

'You say Father's not understanding us, that he's operating on instinct,' Lyra explained hastily, words tumbling over each other in her urgency. 'That means he won't trust any humans, especially ones he doesn't know. But he'll trust a pack member. He'll trust me as a wolf.'

'Ah, dammit,' said Lee, more in exasperation than anger. For Lyra was right, he saw that straight away. Their options had narrowed to two: firstly, leave Asriel to find his own way out of town and hope for the best, something that would almost certainly result in Lyra's father being killed by police or hunters. Or secondly, Lyra could turn wolf and lead her father to safety. As much as Lee hated the idea of Lyra running such a risk, she was the only one with a hope of rescuing Asriel.

'Lyra is right,' said Serafina Pekkala at once. 'Asriel will follow another wolfwalker, especially his daughter. It is his only chance.'

'What? No, you can't!' cried Ma Costa.

'We've no choice, ma'am,' said Lee, his tone so authoritative than even Lord Faa didn't offer any dispute. 'It's Asriel's only chance, and Lyra's the only one who can do it. Serafina, ma'am, can you put us to sleep?'

'Sleep? Both of you? Why?' blurted Derrick, eyes and mouth round with surprise. Lee spied Van Buskirk out of the corner of his eye, watching them avidly. The scholar was about to get the surprise of his life. Lee hoped like mad that the good doctor could keep his mouth shut.

'I can,' Serafina confirmed. 'Once I have done so, I will fly above Oxford and help you however I can.'

'Much appreciated,' said Lee. Lyra grinned roguishly, and Lee was torn between grinning back and shaking some sense into her.

'Ma Costa, me and Mr Scoresby are going to fall asleep now, and we need you to take our bodies back to St John's Lock,' said Lyra, spinning round and climbing back into the boat in readiness, ignoring the poor woman's obvious worry. 'We'll come back as soon as we've rescued my father.'

'I will guard you both as you sleep,' growled Iorek.

'Thanks, old fellow,' said Lee, and stepped back into the boat. He squeezed himself alongside Lyra, Van Buskirk and Ma Costa shuffling backwards to make room, and lay down, Hester curling up on his chest as she always did.

'You coming with us, Hester?' he murmured to her.

'Don't talk stupid, Lee. I'll be with you all the way.'

He pressed a quick kiss to her head and leaned back. A moment later, he saw Serafina leaning over him and Lyra. The witch placed one hand on his forehead and one on Lyra's.

'Close your eyes, both of you,' she told them, and Lee did so. He heard Serafina reciting something in an unfamiliar language, something that turned all his limbs to smoke, left him feeling weightless and insubstantial. Lee felt his awareness fade, as his mind began to drift from the waking world into the sleeping world. For a moment, all was dark and utterly silent.

And then he felt himself rising upwards, out of the dark and the quiet and back into the wild strange night, surrounded by a scholar and an armoured bear and a witch and Gyptians and found himself a wolf on the riverbank. Lyra was standing beside him, also a wolf.

Come on, Mr Scoresby! Lyra cried, and ran off down the riverside, Pantalaimon as a hare beside her. Lee took off after her, Hester running alongside him, the exclamations of shock and amazement from the humans in the boats chasing them as they ran. They bolted down the culvert, back to the tributary leading under Jordan. As soon as they reached it, however, Lyra veered away from the water, heading inland.

There's a bridge across the river and into town just up ahead, she explained as they sped across the scrubland that lay between the colleges and the river. We'll be in the centre of town in no time.

And out of it in no time, I hope, Lee said in return, and ran as fast as he could after Lyra and into the blazing lights and treeless streets and high stone walls of Oxford, as alien to wolves as the forest at night was to humans.

Except Lee Scoresby wasn't just a wolf, and he wasn't just a man, not any longer. He was something else entirely, something ferocious and powerful, and he'd protect Lyra with his life. And with that thought foremost in his mind, he ran on.

#

Lyra took the lead into Oxford. Although she'd been gone for a year, her memory of its streets and buildings and layout was flawless, almost innate, and she ran along the alleyways and pavements with utter surety. Above them, Serafina Pekkala flew at a low height, so as to pass unnoticed by any humans but allow the wolves to keep her in view as she directed them towards Asriel.

The streets were quiet for the most part around the colleges, save a tipsy under-scholar or two. The wolves moved so fast they vanished in an eyeblink, leaving the under-scholars to wonder if they were hallucinating. But the further into Oxford Serafina led them, the busier it became. There were plenty of people out on the streets, despite the late hour: drinkers, revellers, men and women working the night shift, police officers patrolling. Lyra and Lee stuck to the shadows as much as they could, running swiftly past onlookers, hoping they'd be mistaken for dogs.

We're heading towards Jericho! Lyra cried as she leapt over a stack of crates and bolted down a side alley. That's in the direction of the woods, Father's going the right way even if he doesn't know it.

Let's hope that makes our job easier, kid.

As if to give the lie to Lee's words, shouts and screams rang out from a few streets ahead. Lyra quickened her pace. Despite her smaller size, she had a tremendous turn of speed and Lee had to work hard to keep up. He was glad Lyra knew Oxford so well, for it was dizzying, disorientating, racing through the city as a wolf. Everything was out of proportion, at the wrong angle, and the noise and the odours and the glare of a thousand naptha and anbaric lights were dazzling. Without Lyra to focus on, to guide him…

Something smashed on the cobbles across the way, and Lee flinched away from it, from the sharpness and suddenness of the noise. He stumbled and nearly lost his footing, but abruptly Hester was there in front and to the left of him, slowing ever-so-slightly so she could look him in the eye.

'Steady, Lee!' she cried as she ran, not even breathing hard. 'Follow me!'

Lee did as she said, focusing on Hester's long-legged form sprinting ahead of him. He'd always thought of his daemon as a gangly, scruffy creature for all that Hester was beautiful to him, but now he saw her anew. Hester's speed, her grace and fluidity, the sheer strength those thin legs contained… Being a wolf was making him see a hell of a lot of things differently. It was… good.

Then he forgot his changing views of the world as he and Lyra skidded round a corner and were confronted with an open square, thronged with people. Luckily most of them had their backs to the wolfwalkers, and he and Lyra brought themselves to a halt and slunk off to one side of the square, camouflaged by shadow. The crowd was agitated, milling round, jostling for a better view or to put distance between themselves and something else. They were noisy, muttering, shouting, shrieking, yelling suggestions or demands. And they were afraid. Lee could smell their fear, a reek of sweat and blood thrumming beneath skin and clammy flesh. A moment later, Lee heard the reason for their fear.

Two roars of absolute fury ripped the night apart. One was high-pitched, almost shrill and unmistakeably feline. The other was deeper, rougher and consisted of pure, unalloyed viciousness. A good many people screamed.

Hell! Lee cursed. Lyra, can you see him anywhere?

No! she cried back. Come on, this way!

She led the way around the outskirts of the crowd, generating a few shrieks of surprise as she went. Lee was aware that he was attracting unwelcome attention due to his size. He could see people's shocked faces in the periphery of his vision, of shouts and exclamations from the stupefied townsfolk.

Despite the horde of people, they managed to navigate to the opposite side of the square. The crowd wasn't so dense here, and Lee could see past the milling people to an empty spot in the centre. A great brown wolf was standing there, every hair on its back standing on end, snarling like a devil and at its side was a great snow leopard-daemon, yellow eyes blazing, and teeth bared. They both looked enraged beyond all reason.

The crowd surged forward, and one unlucky man was shoved towards Asriel, his arms windmilling. The wolfwalker, seeing a threat, snapped at the man's arm with enough force to sever a hand. His teeth caught in the man's sturdy leather jacket and ripped a piece from it, though thankfully Lee couldn't smell any blood. The man screamed and threw himself backwards, everyone in the crowd jostling and pushing as they tried to retreat. The situation was rapidly descending into a riot.

Lyra, we've got to get him outta here, or someone's gonna get killed! Lee exclaimed.

We need him to see us! Lyra said, preparing to dart forward. But even as she spoke, Asriel crouched in readiness for a spring. Lee realised what he was about to do a moment before he did it.

Lee bolted forward as Asriel leapt for the man whose jacket he'd torn. The poor fellow's terrier daemon howled in fear. Lee didn't waste time on thought. He bounded straight for Asriel and the two wolves collided in mid-air.

Asriel was knocked sideways and went sprawling on the cobbles. Lee landed heavily on his feet, but without injury. Asriel's daemon growled at him, fearless in her rage, and Hester scuttled beneath Lee's belly to hide from both the crowd and the leopard-daemon's vengeance.

A gunshot rang out and a bullet sparked off the cobbles near Lee. More howls of fear, and Lee winced at the noise.

'Hold your fire you idiots!' yelled someone official-sounding. 'There's too many people about!'

'Aye, don't shoot!' cried one man in Lee's line of sight, a grizzled old man with a great black dog for a daemon, one not unlike a wolf. 'Can't you fools see the black one's protecting us?'

Thanks sir, thought Lee, even though the man couldn't hear him. Then he startled as he realised a burly man with a bulldog daemon was pointing a revolver at him, lips curled in a derisive smirk.

Lee tensed for another spring, but before he could do more than think about it, a hazy shadow darted down from the night sky, hovered before the gunman for an instant, and then rocketed upwards, leaving the man blinking stupidly at his now empty hand. Lee growled at him, and the man gulped and fell back a few paces.

Lee turned back to where Asriel was climbing to his feet, shaking himself and peering at Lee. He was still frightened, confused, angry but he made no further moves to attack and Lee hoped the blow had knocked some sense into him.

Then Lyra was there, Pantalaimon a mouse clinging to her fur. She ran over to Asriel, though she didn't dare nuzzle against him.

Father! She cried. Father, it's me, Lyra! Come with me! Come with us back to the forest!

Asriel stared down at her, not approaching her but not growling or backing off either. The snow leopard-daemon forgot to menace Lee and turned to look at Lyra, standing small and fearless before Asriel and a crowd that could turn nasty at any given moment. Lee glanced anxiously at the people surrounding them, every instinct, human and wolfish, urging him to flee, hide, do anything but stand here. Only the sheer strangeness of the three wolves in the centre of town was holding the multitude in suspense.

Father! Lyra said again, creeping a little closer. It's Lyra! I know you're confused, but you must listen! Come with me now!

There was a shuffling in the midst of the crowd, and Lee's ears picked up the heavy tramp of men marching in unison – police, or Magisterium guards.

Lyra, we've gotta hurry this up, he said. Lyra didn't acknowledge him, wholly occupied in coaxing Asriel to go with them. Lee gritted his teeth. Every moment they were exposed out here, they were in terrible danger, even with Serafina Pekkala serving as reinforcements.

'Lee, we're gonna have to make a break for it any moment,' whispered Hester.

Lyra will never leave her father! Lee realised, stomach sinking.

'You'll have to grab her and drag her with us. She'll struggle, but you're big enough to carry her.'

It was the only thing he could do, Lee realised. There was no sense in three dying if two could live, no matter how much Lyra might hate him for it –

Then Asriel's daemon spoke.

'Lyra?' she asked, so quietly that only the wolfwalkers could hear her.

Yes! It's me, Stelmaria! Lyra exclaimed, tail wagging with excitement. Now, you've got to run! There's danger here!

'Yes… yes!' Stelmaria murmured. 'Run. We must run!'

By her side, the brown wolf pricked its ears up and gazed round, seeming to take in its surroundings properly for the first time: the crowds, the public space, the two wolves standing before it, the approach of the guards –

'Let us through! We shall slay these foul beasts!' shouted someone. No, not someone.

Danvers, groaned Lee. Now it's a real party. Asriel, Lyra, come the hell on!

A voice that was not Lyra's echoed in his mind then.

I will… I will follow.

Good! Let's go! Lyra yelped. She bolted away towards the edge of the square, and the leopard daemon followed her. The brown wolf, still dazed, didn't move at once, but as the bond between him and his daemon tugged at him, he snarled and began to run, paws sliding on cobbles but at first but then beginning to run with greater confidence.

Lee turned to follow, risked a quick glance over his shoulder to where Danvers, at the head of a column of Magisterium security forces, had just burst onto the scene. Danvers's face was contorted in a peculiar kind of triumph.

'They are agents of the devil! Shoot them!' the Alderman cried, and the closest guards obediently raised their rifles to their shoulders. A few brave people shouted 'no!' or 'wait!' but most people tried to run, pushing and shoving, knocking others over their haste to get to safety.

'Time to go!' shouted Hester, and together they ran after Lyra and Asriel. They dodged round a few gawkers, leapt over a fox daemon who'd flattened himself against the ground, ducked under a railing dividing square from pavement and charged down a street branching off from the square. He heard Danvers shrieking orders, people screaming and shouting and then gunfire –

Bullets struck and ricocheted off the paved street directly behind him. Others sailed past him, seeking out living things to embed themselves in. Horribly, Lee could hear cries of pain from the square, where some bystanders must have been shot. And above the clamour, the thud-thud-thud of men running, of pursuit.

Lee ran after Lyra and Asriel, their flight witnessed by dozens of people and their daemons silhouetted in doorways, leaning out of windows to watch and marvel. They were attracting too much attention, Lee thought grimly. Even if they succeeded in leaving Danvers and his troops behind, sooner or later they would encounter police officers or hunters or just some trigger-happy citizen and then things would turn bloody and potentially fatal.

Lyra, we need to get off the streets, Lee called to her.

Just a bit further! Lyra shouted back. We'll soon be in Port Meadow and then we can cut through to –

The cadre of men with rifles loomed seemingly out of nowhere, blocking their path. Lyra and Asriel balked, skidding to a halt as their paws failed to find purchase on the stone beneath them. Lee, pelting up behind them, saw the two men in the lead raise their weapons, ready to fire.

He gathered all his formidable strength and leapt. He sailed over Lyra and Asriel and their daemons and collided with the two hunters – for they were hunters, he could smell leather and earth and gunpowder – knocking them flat. Their rifles fired, the sound blasting his sensitive ears and the flash from the muzzles blinding him for a brief, precious moment. Then his vision cleared, and his left shoulder screamed, and Lee realised he'd been hit.

He heard Hester whimpering in pain, and his heart ached for her. Then a savage snarl sounded, and a scream of fear from someone nearby.

Lee realised he'd collapsed on top of the two men he'd pounced upon. Both were motionless but breathing. Only stunned, then. He raised his head and saw that Asriel had seized the rifle of another hunter in his powerful jaws. As Lee watched, Asriel tore the man's weapon from his hands and flung it aside, where it slid over the pavement, well out of reach. Stelmaria, enraged, roared at him and the man broke and ran.

There were two men left, and although armed they were panicky, afraid of these wolves who didn't behave like wolves, their rifles waving in the air, unable to decide what to aim at – Asriel, Stelmaria, Lee or Lyra. Asriel growled at them and they retreated a few paces, but raised their rifles, ready to fire.

Then a dark blur flowed past them and abruptly they were empty-handed, defenceless. A moment later Serafina Pekkala landed on the street between them and the wolves, and a chorus of exclamations and shouts went up from the hunters and the people thronging the streets. But Serafina wasn't afraid. She stood tall, an arrow notched to her bowstring, ready to protect the wolves against all threats. Lee felt absurdly grateful for her presence.

Mr Scoresby! Mr Scoresby! Lee! Stand up! Come on, you have to run!

Lyra, frightened and almost tearful. Her pleas brought Lee back to himself, and he stood, favouring his left foreleg. He placed it on the ground and though his shoulder burned, his leg was steady underneath him, so he wasn't too badly hurt.

Hester? Lee called. You all right?

'Fine and dandy, Lee,' she said, hopping into view. 'The bullet grazed you, it's not stuck in there. You've had worse.'

A moment later Lyra was pressing herself against his good side, whining in fear, Pantalaimon a mouse, clinging grimly to her fur. Lee nuzzled her back quickly, and then turned business-like.

Lyra, we need to get off the streets. Can we go over rooftops, or through the sewers maybe?

No, I don't know any routes through – wait, there's a drainage pipe that runs from near here to Port Meadow, they built it years ago, after the Great Flood! Can you run? You have to run!

I'll manage, kid. Get your father and let's go!

Lyra yapped at Asriel, and the brown wolf turned from menacing the hunters to look at her quizzically.

Follow me, all of you! Lyra cried, and took off down an alleyway to her left. Lee followed her and realised with relief that Asriel was trailing them. Better still, the alley was devoid of people, and the wolfwalkers ran unmolested through the crooked passageway and into another, broader street lined with shops rather than private residences. There were fewer people about, and the wolfwalkers ran along the thoroughfare and turned left again into a rundown cul-de-sac, shabby boarded-up storefronts the only things confronting them. At the very end was a high concrete embankment with a battered grate shielding a large pipe – high enough for a grown man to stand upright in.

Come on, quick! Cried Lyra, and limping up, Lee saw that the bottom corner of the grate was bent and twisted upwards, forming a small opening. He regarded it dubiously. As a man he could probably have squashed himself through, but now…

You'll fit! Lyra told him, as if sensing his doubt. Go on, Lee!

Not a chance, kid. You go first. You're the one who knows the way and your father might not follow me.

Lyra whined again, but then slipped through the opening into the tunnel. Asriel went next, and it was a tight squeeze, but he managed it, Stelmaria slithering after him like a ghost. Lee braced himself and inserted head and shoulders into the narrow gap.

His shoulder, already burning, blazed with pain and he couldn't repress a cry of agony, but he pushed with all four of his strong limbs and realised he was moving forward, wriggling through the gap until his wide shoulders were through and then the rest of his slimmer frame followed more easily. Then he was in the tunnel, his wound hurting but otherwise fine. He could hear Hester beside him, paws slapping softly in the trickle of water flowing down the channel.

We did it! Lyra called from up ahead, somewhere in the Stygian darkness that was man's creation, utterly dissimilar to the darkling shade of the forest at night. Now, follow me! Once we get into Port Meadow, it's a quick run to open country, and the security forces won't catch up with us there!

Lee heard her move off and followed after the sound, relying on his wolfish hearing. He could hear Asriel and Stelmaria just in front of him, Lyra a bit further on, could feel the water flowing feebly round his paws. There was no sound of pursuit, no shouts or footsteps or gunshots, and he began to breathe a little easier.

The tunnel was a long one – Lee reckoned about three-quarters of a mile – but the wolfwalkers passed through it speedily. Within a few minutes, the scent of fresh air and grass reached them, and the darkness grew less absolute, fading to grey and then purplish. Then the tunnel exit appeared before them. There was no grate guarding it this time, and the wolves emerged into a culvert filled with shallow, brackish water, surrounded by a few straggling saplings and the detritus of children and teenagers. Sweet wrappers and burn spots where fires had been lit, frayed ropes hanging from tree branches.

But ahead of them lay what must be Port Meadow. Down a steep slope, stretching away into the distance, were verdant grasslands, and about a mile away a river winding its way through the landscape, bordered by tall, proud trees. It was devoid of human presence, yet alive and bustling with a thousand different creatures. Lee could hear them: mice, rabbits, snakes, owls, nightjars, dozens of insects, all going about their business under a moon swelling to fullness.

I think we've gotten away, said Lyra. Come on, through the Meadow. We'll go on for a bit further and then head for St John's Lock. As soon as we're human, I'll heal your wound, Mr Scoresby.

I'd appreciate it, Lee winced, as the wolves began to pick their way down the slope. Asriel was much calmer now, less skittish, and he trotted behind Lyra with no reservations. Lee hoped the drugs were working their way out of his system.

They had just reached the bottom of the slope when Serafina Pekkala materialised in front of them, as if the shadows had coalesced into the form of a woman. Asriel started but didn't retreat or growl at her.

'You've lost your pursuers,' Serafina informed the wolves. 'But I advise you to return to human form as soon as possible. The city is in uproar, and Alderman Danvers is currently rallying forces to search all of Oxford for you.'

Lee, unable to speak to Serafina in his current guise, nodded assent.

Come on, Lyra, back to St John's Lock, he said.

But what about Father? She asked, looking at Asriel worriedly. His body's still back in the den. What if he doesn't remember?

'No,' said Stelmaria, standing beside Asriel, staring intently at Lyra. 'We remember. The forest. Den. We go there now.'

Without another word, she and Asriel whirled round in perfect unison and took off across the Meadow, loping in the direction of Badbury Forest.

Father! Lyra cried, distressed, and made to run after him.

'No, Lyra,' said Serafina calmly. 'I will fly after your father and make sure he is safe. You and Mr Scoresby return to the Gyptians. Wait there for me. I will come and find you, and if possible, bring Asriel with me.'

She leapt into the air and was gone. Lyra, clearly unhappy with this turn of events, whimpered, looking for her father. But he had already vanished into the night, hopefully going to find the den and resume being human.

Come on, kid, said Lee gently. There's nothing more we can do now. Your pa will be fine, with Serafina to watch over him. Let's get back to being human and then, if we don't get word after a few hours, we'll go looking for him.

Lyra, reluctantly, acknowledged the sense in Lee's words. With a sigh, she turned in the opposite direction, ready to head back to St John's Lock, where with any luck, their allies and their human forms were waiting for them.

Author's Notes:

Well, Asriel's free at last and Lee's kept his promise to Lyra... but will that be an end to his new role as Lyra's protector and teacher? You'll have to wait and see!

Till next time, dear readers...