CHAPTER 3- TRAVELLING NORTH
Thorold went to Jordan with a letter for Master. He had orders to then continue via normal route. Lyra wasn't entirely sure what normal route meant, but they apparently weren't taking it.
"There are more comfortable ways to travel north," told her Lord Asriel. "Although I used to go North this way all the time, when I was younger. My father always insisted that I should go by a zeppelin. I always went by boat or I hired an aeronaut, just to defy him. I found other things to defy later."
They were supposed to hire an aeronaut in Trollesund. But for now she was stuck on a ship. And she made the best of it. Lord Asriel immediately introduced her to one of the crew members, a man named Jerry. Jerry was a stout and placid man. He was friendly enough and he always told her interesting stories. She often followed him around, wanting to learn more about sea life. She thought, maybe one day, she could be a sailor. She would explore oceans like her uncle was exploring the North.
But Lyra still had plenty of free time. So she found herself staring at the alethiometer more often than not. She had many questions and the alethiometer could finally give her answers. Her uncle explained to her what she couldn't understand from the books and she already learned the basic meaning of all the symbols, intuitively seeing other meanings behind them as she watched needle flicker from symbol to symbol. She randomly moved three needles thinking about the ways she could ask questions. She felt like she finally found something beside climbing the rooftops that she could be good at. It was coming very slowly, but Lord Asriel told her that it usually took years, even decades to learn how to properly use alethiometer and even then the scholars who read it needed proper books. She had some of those books. She used them when she needed confirmation of some symbol. When he wasn't busy, Lord Asriel often watched her as she was working with an alethiometer, something unidentifiable in his expression.
"How do you do that?" he asked her once.
"Reading alethiometer?"
"Yes."
"Asking isn't that hard. I find three most important words and I think about which of the symbols it resembles the most. It's easier now that I remember basic meanings. If I'm not sure I look it up. To get answers is more complicated. I mostly write down symbols and try to think about how they can connect to my question and to each other. I write down the ideas and look for other similar meanings in the I just sort of connect them. I don't always succeed in finding the right combination of meaning but I can always come back to it the next day and I usually figure it out eventually. I almost always ask silly things, or things that I already know the answers to because that way I can verify if I translated symbols correctly and I often learn new meaning of this or that symbol. It's much easier to remember it this way as opposed to trying to remember everything in the books. But you know how to read Alethiometer, right? Alethiometer told me you do."
"It was mild interest of mine for years. I can use it with enough time and proper books but there are people who can do it much more quickly and more precisely. I never saw someone do it as intuitively as you can, though. I think you accidently found that you have rare talent, Lyra. I also think that, with enough time and more studies you can be one of the best, if not the best in this field. "
"Thank you, uncle Asriel."
The one thing she tried to avoid was sleep. Sleep was where the memories started to creep in. She dreamt about her father and sometimes she dreamt about the golden woman. She dreamt about the big house. And she dreamt about a boy with straight black eyebrows, dark hair and a strong, jutting jaw. He had fierce dark eyes and she knew that he was her best friend. But she dreamt about the darkness at the end of every night. Darkness so powerful that it could swallow the whole universe. She always woke up with the memory of that darkness, sweaty and confused. She couldn't fall asleep afterwards, so she got out on the deck, walking around, trying to calm down. Lyra had to remind herself in which world she was, but the borders between two worlds, once so clear, started to blur. She knew that Pantalaimon was real, because he was always right beside her, but she couldn't be sure about anything else. Was her best friend Roger Parslow or Will Parry? Was Lord Asriel her father or her uncle? She had to remind herself over and over so she could give people the right answers, although she knew that everything she remembered was true and she couldn't pretend otherwise. Pan has changed and she had to change too. Accept who she was.
"What will we do, Pan?" He was right there, pine marten, watching the night sky beside her. At that moment she thought that even if all other things went wrong, he would be there, always beside her. Inseparable.
"We will do whatever will need to be done, Lyra. Whatever will be kind and right thing to do. But beyond that I'm not really sure, Lyra. Sometimes when I'm in this form, I have this weird feeling of nostalgia. Like this is who I was supposed to become. But then I have this weird feeling that I will never be able to. That we changed too much. Something was given to us, but at the moment, it sure seems that a lot has been taken from us too."
"Remember when we didn't want you to stop changing? It seems so long ago, but it isn't, really. And suddenly I wouldn't mind it. But it seems like some choices were taken from us. Like I can never be the person I was."
"I guess that's the price for knowledge," whispered Pantalaimon, now curled up in Lyra's hands. He was slowly falling asleep and Lyra knew she was too so she returned to her bed. The sleep always creeped on her in the end.
One night she found a woman with black hair talking to Lord Asriel. They were standing close to each other and her daemon, bluethroat, was flying around Stelmaria. The woman turned around almost immediately, looking at her with the sparkling black eyes. Her daemon abandoned Stelmaria to sit on her shoulder.
"Is this the child?"
"Yes," Lord Asriel replied stiffly.
"Interesting."
"How did you get here?" asked impatient Lyra.
"I'm a witch. We can use cloud pines to fly. I came here to talk with Lord Asriel."
"What are you doing here, Lyra? It's the middle of the night," asked Lyra her uncle.
"I couldn't sleep so I came here," answered Lyra, still looking at a woman. A witch. She noticed that she wasn't wearing any furs, despite the fact that it was cold outside as they neared the north. "What's your name?"
"Ruta Skadi."
Lya nodded. "It was nice to meet you, Ruta Skadi." She knew she wouldn't sleep that night anymore, but she went to her cabin anyway. She had a feeling that she shouldn't interrupt them, even if there were many questions burning on her tongue.
In the morning there was no indication that Ruta Skadi or the bluethroat have ever visited Lord Asriel. She didn't want to ask her uncle but she kept staring at him until he was forced to answer. His answer wasn't very telling.
"I needed something for my experiment."
She was finally reminded of the fear of him. There seemed to be more madness in his eyes since he met Ruta Skadi. Impatience and fidgeting. But there was also a resolve, that told Lyra that he will not stop before anything to do whatever it was he wanted to do. She tried to ignore it, but Pan didn't let her. They had to be vigilant. She wouldn't let him do something he would regret.
It was a strange feeling experiencing so much rush after the calming, almost boring travelling on the ship. There was a strange man waiting for them in the harbor. His daemon was a huge black wolf and there was something wrong with the look in his eyes. She didn't feel comfortable near him so she went exploring while Lord Asriel talked to him.
"Tartar from Sibirsk Regiment. I paid him to tell me about Coulter. It seems that Svalbard is a dangerous place nowadays."
"Who did she hire?"
"Armoured bears. Every single one. It will be difficult to avoid them."
"There is one outcast right in the city. Maybe he will have some useful information."
"Alethiometer?"
"I don't need an Alethiometer to know that," Lyra smirked, grinning cheekily. "Everybody is talking about it. He arrived just recently. They got him drunk and then took his armour."
"Ask alethiometer what would he like in exchange for the information."
"I don't need an alethiometer for that either. He would like his sky-iron back. It's the property of a village now."
"I will talk to them. I can buy his armour back."
"Armoured bear is valuable and dangerous even without his armour. Maybe you could just tell him about the armour location. He will owe you a debt."
"Where is it?" asked Lord Asriel.
"In the cellar of the local priest's house."
"He will tear the place down, Lyra."
"Most likely."
"They will blame me. Half of this town is already alert that I'm here and Magisterium's as well as Coulter's spies will be onto us within a few hours. We need to move quickly. We don't need to act for the information of questionable usefulness or significance."
"Armoured bear owing debt is useful whether he holds valuable information or not. I can tell him. They won't suspect it was me. You can find an alibi."
He was looking at her for a very long time before he finally nodded. "Are you sure you can do this?"
"I do. I asked the alethiometer. I know his story, so I know his motivation. I know part of him."
"It's terrifying how much you sometimes resemble your mother. I will go find an aeronaut."
Her mother?
She tried to tell herself that there wasn't a fear in her as she made her way to the sledge depot. Pantalaimon was in the form of a big white wolf to comfort her, but she knew that he wanted to change to a mouse and hide somewhere in her clothes. The great bear was working outside the largest of the concrete sheds. She watched him from afar as he was working on the tractor, removing metal covering the engine, buckling him and turning it in his hands, shaping it one way or another, lifting it as if it were cardboard. She could hear her heart beating as she slowly but steadily approached him. She was clutching Pantalaimon's fur until her knuckles turned white. She thought herself to be ready for this, but he was so massive, so alien...
"Iorek Byrnison." She tried to stay still as he turned around to face her. Pantalaimon softly growled.
"Yes?"
"I have an offer for you."
"What kind of an offer?" The bear didn't seem very welcoming, but he seemed to tolerate her for now. She had to be brief.
"I know something you want to know. You know something I want to know."
"What exactly do you want?"
"Everything you know about Iofur Raknison and his kingdom."
He suddenly landed on all four paws, slowly approaching. She looked at those paws of his. One swing and she would be dead. Did she go too far? Pan started to growl, showing his sharp fangs. "You think I will trade my honor for some useless information?"
"I know where your armour is. Panserbjørne hold their word. I will tell you where it is and if you won't find it you don't have to tell me anything. There's also something else I know. I know that Iofur Raknison used a drug on the bear you fought."
"How would you know all these things? Did Iofur send you?" He was prepared to attack her. She saw it in his eyes. At that moment emotions overwhelmed him. Those eyes were more human than bear's. Suddenly they were available, readable. Not outside her reach.
"I got a symbol reader. It tells the truth but it takes a long time to properly read it. That's why it would be better if you could tell me what you know." He calmed down and she suddenly knew he could tell if she lied or not. She thought it interesting enough to stare for later. Did all Panserbjørnes have this gift or was this something specific to Iorek Byrnison?
"You've got yourself a deal. Where is it?"
"They hide it in the cellar of the priest's house. You will find it easily."
"Thank you, child. What's your name?"
"Lyra Belacqua."
"I owe you a great debt, Lyra Belacqua."
"Not if you give me that information."
He turned and lurched away, swiftly padding across the freezing ground. She knew she shouldn't run after him, but it was very tempting. A girl who came here with Lord Asriel, running after an armoured bear would be too suspicious. Still, she didn't want to miss the spectacle. "You will help me out Pan, right?"
"With your ridiculous, reckless actions? You know I always do."
He changed into a hawk, flew up as far as he could without both of them hurting and scanned streets in front of him. They had an idea where the priest's house was and they could fit in streets armoured bears could not. With a bit of luck they would reach their destination only shortly after the bear.