Disclaimer: I do not own the His Dark Materials Series.
A/N: Hey! Here's the next installment of our story. I hope you like it, and please let me know what you think! Thanks so much for reading and for taking such an interest to this story. I feel like so many things could have happened if Lyra stayed with Mrs. Coulter, like the complications with the Magisterium and the entire Lord Asriel-as-a-heretic thing. The Serafina drama was added in purely for flair, so let's see how it all lines up! :)
Luxurious Lies
31.
Flight of Fury
"We still need to get matches, rope, and reindeer skin." His eyes not leaving his list, Lord Asriel exited the tailor shop and made his way into the town square. It was just before noon, and everyone was out and about – kids were playing in the alleyways, traders were closing in on deals, women were running errands, and the occasional old drunk was heading over to the bar. He and Stelmaria had spent the entire morning gathering supplies for their soon-to-come venture back into the North, and they didn't have very much time left.
"When exactly are you planning on leaving?"
"In a day or two. We need to move quickly before the Magisterium finds us."
"But what about Coulter?"
"What about her?"
"What does she intend to do?"
To be honest, Lord Asriel didn't know. Walking in silence over to another supplies store, Lord Asriel thought about how adamant he had always been about stopping the operations and how hesitant she had always been. Surely the entire thing must have meant something to her since she did it for so long, but surely that didn't meant she wanted to keep doing it? After seeing it almost happen to Lyra, surely she would have realized how horrid it all was?
You can never be sure with Marisa. They were in the store now, and Stelmaria let out a long, soft growl. You can never be sure, and regardless of how you may feel, I still don't trust her.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
"You need to come with me, my child." The words had been menacing, threatening, even, but Lyra didn't have a choice. Under the powerful stare of the witch's eyes, Lyra had to scramble down from her crate and follow her, aware that the woman's daemon flew closely right behind Pan. There was a strange sort of tension in the air, and though she had no idea what was going on, Lyra had a horrible feeling that something bad was going to happen.
What are we gonna do? Pan thought wildly to her, taking care to fly slightly behind Serafina yet slightly ahead of Lyra. What does she want with us?
I dunno, Lyra admitted, trying to stay cool. I know she's probably mad about what happened with the Gyptians, but isn't that between her and Uncle Asriel? What do we have to do with anything?
By now, Lyra really didn't understand what was happening anymore. The past few months of her life had been a blur as she blindly followed all of the adults in her life. Mrs. Coulter had told Lyra that she would safe with her and that she would be taken care of, but when Lyra was with Lord Asriel, he said the same exact thing. Lord Asriel had said all throughout Lyra's life that he only wanted to protect her, but by protecting her, he also hurt her. Lord Asriel's idea of protection always seemed to include leaving Lyra alone with strangers, and she didn't appreciate that. At least with Mrs. Coulter, she had always taken care of Lyra herself and never wanted to leave her side. That was better, wasn't it? To have someone take such direct responsibility for you? To have someone truly love you?
But now, blindly following Serafina to the very outskirts of the town behind a giant pile of animal feed, Lyra didn't know what to feel. She barely knew Serafina, and though she had originally liked her and respected her, as of late she was afraid of her. She was the reason why she, Mrs. Coulter, and Lord Asriel had to hide out like this, and from what Lyra overheard when her parents thought she was sleeping, she could possibly go ahead and kill Lord Asriel. Even though Lyra and Lord Asriel didn't always see eye-to-eye, Lyra did love him, and the thought of him getting killed made her heart sink.
"Listen here, Lyra." The witch opened her mouth to speak, and Lyra was in a trance, holding onto her every word. "As you're naturally aware, your father betrayed me, as did your mother. Asriel left me brokenhearted and battered, and the Coulter woman went and got herself involved. I don't appreciate being treated like that, and as a witch, I do not allow it."
She paused to make sure Lyra was listening, and after the girl nodded, she continued. "As punishment, normally we kill the betrayers, but I'm not going to do that this time." A sigh of relief escaped Lyra's chest, but before she could say anything else, her chest tightened up again. "Instead, I'm going to take you with me, and neither Lord Asriel nor Marisa Coulter will ever see you again."
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
It wasn't like Lyra to be out for so long. Checking her watch, Mrs. Coulter's foot started to tap as she realized the girl had been gone for two hours already, and her fingers started twirling absently with the fur of her collar.
"Don't be so dull, Marisa." The monkey grunted impatiently as he basked in the sun from the window, opening one eye to glare at her. "She ran away to play with those children she saw earlier."
"What? I explicitly told her not to do so. She told me she was going to the lobby."
"You've completely lost it, haven't you? Try remembering how you behaved as a child. You disobeyed your mother far more times than I can count, so I don't see how you can possibly be so surprised that Lyra would do the same."
As much as she wished that he was wrong, Mrs. Coulter knew that he wasn't. Sighing, she realized that she had been harsh with Lyra lately and that she had kept her locked up for too long, and she realized how constricting and trying that can be for a child. Lyra didn't always seem to understand or accept Mrs. Coulter's decisions, and Mrs. Coulter supposed that was just a part of raising an adolescent girl. She clearly didn't have much experience with raising children, and as she was discovering, balancing trust was a very delicate matter.
"Should we go look for her?"
Sighing, the golden monkey moved away from the sunlight and jumped up onto her shoulder. "It doesn't matter what I say because you're going to do it anyway. Let's go."
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
It was when he stepped out into the bright sunshine of the afternoon that he saw it – Lyra and Serafina huddled away in a corner.
In an instant, a myriad of emotions surged through Lord Asriel's system. He felt shocked that Marisa had let Lyra out of the hotel room, frightened that Serafina had found him, angry that she had the audacity to talk to Lyra, curious about their conversation – he felt so many things at once that he could merely stand there, frozen.
"But I don't wanna go!" Lyra's voice was high-pitched as she tugged away from Serafina, and with a rush of alarm, Lord Asriel watched as Serafina grabbed her and starting speaking furiously in her ear.
"Asriel?" From a distance, Lord Asriel turned to see Mrs. Coulter running toward him, her eyes locked in horror at Serafina and Lyra, and he then turned back to the witch, calculating his next move.
We have no choice. Breaking out into a run, Lord Asriel and Stelmaria charged over to the witch, tackling her to the ground. We can't risk her ruining everything we've been working for. Practically hissing, Serafina rolled over and jumped away from him, gathering Lyra into her arms as she did so, and her eyes flickered over to where Mrs. Coulter was running toward them.
"What do you think you're doing, Serafina?" She had a wild, mad look about her, and Lord Asriel didn't like the way she clutched at Lyra's shoulders. It was possessive, and there was no reason for her to have any feeling of ownership over the girl. Lyra was his, and he wouldn't let Serafina take her away from him.
"If I had any sense, I would kill you right now, Asriel. I would kill you right in front of your daughter and your mistress." Mrs. Coulter was getting close now, and Lord Asriel knew that Serafina was pressed for time. She cracked her knuckles and kept glancing toward Mrs. Coulter, biting her lip.
"She's gonna take me away! She said she's gonna –"
"Enough!" Slapping her hand over Lyra's mouth, Serafina reached for her cloud pine and mounted it. Mrs. Coulter was only a few yards away now, and as Lord Asriel rushed over to Serafina and tried to knock her off her broom, the witched grabbed him by the arm and kicked off the ground, taking Lord Asriel and his daemon with her.