A/N: Wow, only one chapter after this! Plus the epilogue, but still, only one full chapter. I can't believe it! I may actually get this all done before I leave in a week!

Disclaimer: I do not own His Dark Materials in any way

"Iorek Byrnison!" An armored bear at the front roared.

Iorek stepped forward. "What do you want Iofur! You are not supposed to be here!"

"I want my daemon as was promised to me!"

"What have you done with them Iofur?" Iorek asked.

The bear curled his lips in a smirk. "Well, I'm keeping the one I want. The other goes to my second in command."

"And who's that?"

"Bru,"

"Who is Bru?"

A bear, a bruin, stepped forward next to Iofur with Kirjava in his jaws. He laid her down on the ground and smirked. "I am you old fool!"

"Where's Pan?!" Lyra yelled.

Iofur stepped to the side to reveal Pan who was unconscious just like Kirjava. "Right here, and he's my daemon now!"

"No he's not!"

"And Kirjava's not yours either!" Will cried.

"Neither of them are yours!" Mari yelled at the strange bear.

"Look! Another daemon to take!"

Klitus took a step closer to Mari as he growled.

"Don't worry friend, he won't get you." Mari murmured to him. "Too bad if you even try taking him it'll kill the both of us! You should know that Iofur!"

The bear growled at her in anger.

"Enough!" Iorek growled. "Let's settle this our ways Iofur,"

The anger melted into that smirk again. "You can't fight me and win Iorek. I'm invincible!"

"What about light?" Iorek asked.

"What do you mean?"

It was Iorek's time to smirk, before he roared, "Fire!"

The catapults and slingshots were shot into the ranks of the ghost animals. Shrieks were heard from the animals and those who were hit disintegrated into mist, as if they were a daemon who was dying.

Klitus shivered at the sight.

"That won't be for many years," Mari whispered to him.

"Let's fall back!" Will called through the screeching of animals.

"What about Pan and Java?!" Mari yelled.

"We'll get them, just fall back!"

Mari couldn't believe what she was hearing. "No," She whispered. She glanced down at Klitus and he nodded. Mari knew it was not appropriate to touch another person's daemon, but this was an emergency. They rushed forward right up to Iofur and Bru, and dodged the attacks aimed at her. Klitus picked up Pan and Mari scooped up Kirjava in her arms and they raced back.

"Are you a bloody idiot!" Will yelled as she caught up with him and Lyra. She handed Kirjava to Lyra without thinking, and Will suddenly covered his mouth as if to stop from crying out.

"Sorry Will!" Lyra panted as the now conscious Kirjava jumped into Will's arms.

"Quite all right love," He yelled back.

Mari was curious as to what she had done wrong, but didn't ask. "I wanted to make sure neither of them would get hurt!"

"I do have to agree with Will, Mari, that was reckless,"

Mari rolled her eyes. "You've been through a lot though Lyra! More than I'll ever be through, that was nothing!"

"You could've been killed!" Will yelled as they came to a stop by Iorek.

"Yes, but you both have your daemons now, and they're safe."

Klitus carefully laid Pantalaimon down. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," he said as he leaped into Lyra's arms.

"What's happening?" Mari asked Iorek.

"When we began attacking it was fine, now they've discovered a pattern and are dodging our attacks."

Mari closed her eyes deep in thought. "What can we do?"

"Change the attack patterns!" Will told Iorek. "They won't expect it, and we may be able to hit them."

"The snow also seems to be putting out the fires,"

An idea suddenly hit Mari causing her to look up at the mighty bear. "Do you happen to have a bow and some arrows around here somewhere?"

Iorek nodded to a younger bear who ran off. "You'll have them in a moment,"

"Are you an archer?" Lyra asked.

Mari nodded. "I never thought I could use those skills, but here's my chance. I'll stand somewhere where I'll be safe and fire arrows through their ranks. Hopefully it'll pass through them and hit the others behind them and have the same affect as the fire we're shooting at them."

Lyra shook her head. "We need to help," She looked around.

Will grabbed a torch and Lyra followed and soon they were running out into the thick of battle.

"Be careful!" Mari called.

Klitus jumped around anxiously afraid he would be stepped on.

"Calm down!" Mari said. "If you keep jumping then you'll have a better chance of being stepped on!"

He tried, but to no avail.

The young bear returned with a bow and arrows in his jaws, which he dropped at Mari's feet.

"Thank you," She called after him as he ran off. Mari noticed that he had left some grasses and a flint to use to light on fire and attach to the tips of the arrows. She quickly found a spot off to the side and began to prepare to shoot the first arrow. She was careful not to shoot at any animals near Lyra or Will, so she aimed at those further back. She strung the first arrow, and quickly put the grass onto the tip, which she lit, quickly took aim and fired. This continued for a few hours, a few arrows went out before they even reached their targets, but she just restrung an arrow and shot again.

Few were left, it seemed the only the strongest remained. Mari suddenly saw that Bru was sneaking up behind Will and Lyra, and she quickly took the arrow she had and aimed it at him. It flew with deadly accuracy and struck where his heart should have been. He roared in pain as he began to collapse to the ground, but he disintegrated before he even hit the ground.

Iofur seemed to be unaffected by the torches Will and Lyra were waving at him.

"Mari!" Klitus barked suddenly. "Shoot him in the heart! Quick!"

Without thinking she aimed her final arrow at the bear who had reared up to strike Lyra and Will. She quickly let the arrow go, and it flew towards it target.

Just as Iofur was about to hit Will who was shielding Lyra, the arrow struck Iofur in the chest. He let out a roar of pain and began to fall towards the two adults, who jumped out of the way.

Mari watched as he tried to get back up, only to fall down and slowly disappear.

'This isn't over!' His voice rang in her head.

Mari shook her head in terror, but froze when she looked at the battle field; the animals who had been helping Iofur seemed to be frozen in terror and disappearing just as their leader had.

"You did it Mari!" Klitus barked happily.

She clutched her head as if she had a bad headache and tried to smile at her daemon. "Yes, it's- it's all over now." The two made their way over to Lyra and Will who were holding each other, whether if it was for joy or for the thought of almost losing each other again Mari never knew. Iorek followed meeting the humans there.

"Well done," He said.

"Is anyone injured?" Mari asked quickly.

"Just a few scratches, nothing serious." Iorek smiled, which was rare, at Mari. "It seems you may have a place here among us."

Mari bowed her head. "Thank you King Iorek, but I don't think the others would approve of me staying. And I don't think Klitus would enjoy staying here for very long."

Iorek chuckled. "Very wise, Marianne Flamearrow."

Mari looked confused for a moment, then smiled. "Y-y-you mean...?"

"You are a friend to these lands as is Lyra Silvertongue."

Lyra smiled at her student.

Mari curtsied as she had when she first met Iorek. "Thank you King Iorek,"

"We best be getting back to the city. I think we've had enough of an adventure for this trip, and I think the rest of the class will be almost as tired as we are."

"Why's that?"

A beautiful goose suddenly landed on the ground near Lyra. "Lyra Silvertongue,"

"Nice to see you Kaisa,"

"And you. I've brought news that your... class is ready to head back to Oxford. I think we may have scared them a bit."

Lyra chuckled. "Well, none of them were expecting to stay with one of the witch clans of the north. I suppose we should get them and get back Oxford,"

Mari nodded. "Yes, I just want to send a letter before we leave,"

"I'll take it," Kaisa offered. "It'll arrive long before those mail carriers can deliver it."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm positive,"

Mari nodded, and quickly wrote a letter to Andrew letting him know she was coming home.

"I'll bring the reply back soon," Kaisa said as she lifted into the air.

"Thank you! So much!" Mari called after the goose as he lifted into the air.

"It seems you do have someone who cares for you back in Oxford." Lyra said with a smile. "Or at least someone you care for,"

Mari blushed, but never responded to that comment. She simply turned away and smiled to herself.