Escapes

With a hood over her hair and Aster hiding around her neck like a furry scarf, Mia walked carefully through the streets of Oxford, peering around for Lyra and Viktor. She did her best to keep a distance from any strange looking people like the policemen. She dreaded getting caught. She wanted to scream out 'Lyra' but she knew that would get her caught. She decided to peer around the streets they walked through yesterday but there was no sign of them. She thought she might look around the college they went to but she stopped herself when she saw security patrolling the place. She turned back, walking towards the Botanic Gardens. Lyra and Viktor were nowhere in sight.

Just then, she saw the same man whose car she had sat in yesterday straight ahead.

"Turn back," Aster whispered in her hood. She swerved around and tried to mimic the walk of a normal person.

Just then she heard, "Stop right there!" behind her. Her heart jumped. The blood drained from her face. It was the policeman behind her. "Turn around!" She didn't turn.

"I said 'Turn around!" he shouted louder. Mia's heartbeat accelerated when she heard him approaching her quickly.

"Run," Aster hissed. Instantly Mia shot off.

"Hey! Stop right there!" he shouted.

Mia sprinted as fast as she could away from the parks into the crowded streets. Aster flew out of her hoodie, taking the form of a snowy owl. She followed him as they rushed through crowded straights but still, the man was hot on their tail.

Viktor peered at the murderer's house from across the road, behind a tree. For hours, he had searched every street until she found that car. Luckily he remembered the numbers on its plate by heart. He just had to wait for the man who abducted Lyra to pull away in his car. Then he could find Lyra and get them home. It was her fault for getting her into this mess. He was not going to make the same mistake again. Just then, he saw the dark-skinned killer enter his car. Quickly he hid behind the tree. He heard the roaring of the car's engine and he watched it roll away into the streets. Now was his chance.

"What are we going to do Lyra?" Pan asked inside the room of confinement.

"I don't know," Lyra cursed. "Ugh. This is all my fault. We never should have come here,"

"I can't believe Viktor abandoned us," he cursed.

Suddenly they heard Viktor's voice. "Lyra! Lyra where are you?!"

Her muscles tightened hearing the voice of the boy who abandoned them just so he could get revenge.

"Lyra. Answer it," Pan implored. "He's here to save us," Lyra looked down at her daemon and saw hope in his eyes. Against her better nature, she rushed to the locked door and banged on it. "I'm in here!"

"Hang on! I'll have you out of there," he answered back. They heard clicking. They stood back. The door opened. "There you are Lyra," he was relieved. Lyra was the opposite. In a fume of range, she lashed out at him and I punched him in the face.

"How could you leave me like that?!" she exploded.

"Lyra please!" he begged.

"No! I'm not listening to you! Not after you left us behind!"

"I came here to save you,"

"How did you find me?"

"I recognised the man's car,"

"How could you leave us like that?"

"Look I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. I just..."

"Allowed revenge to cloud your judgement? What were you thinking?"

He was at a loss for words. "Lyra...I am so, so sorry. That man killed the only friend I ever had. All I've been feeling is pain and rage. But I allowed it to consume me. But now I'm here to get you back to Citagatzze,"

"How did you sneak in?"

"I climb roofs remember. Now come on,"

"No! We have to find my Alethiometer. Boreal took it,"

"Who's Boreal?" He asked. "We don't have time to search. He'll back any minute now,"

"But without it, we'll never find Will's father or where you belong,"

"Lyra...he might have taken it with him,"

Suddenly we heard the roaring of a car engine.

"Oh no," Pan gulped.

Quickly they rushed out the door and to the open window that Viktor had climbed through. He quickly shut it. They peered through the glass, bending down a little. They looked down and saw Boreal's car pull into the driveway.

"Now we really have to go," Viktor said. "Once he enters the house, we make a run for it," They watched through the glass as Boreal entered. Instantly, Viktor opened the window and he swung his legs over the ledge. Lyra watched him stand onto a rooftop section below. He turned to her. "Come on,"

But Lyra didn't move.

"Lyra please," he begged. "I promise you we will come back for the Alethiometer. But right now, we need to get out of here,"

Still, she refused to move. She refused to listen to him.

"Lyra please," Pan begged. "We have to trust him,"

Lyra looked into Viktor's eyes and saw deep regret in them. She didn't see a distrustful vengeful boy anymore. She saw a determined selfless boy approaching manhood who was just trying to help her. She had to trust him. She nodded. She sat on the window ledge and swung her legs over and stood down next to him. He reached in to pull the window closed when suddenly Boreal from down the corridor appeared. He gasped. Instantly he sprinted towards us shouting, "Stop!"

"Time to go," Vitor said. Grabbing Lyra's hand, he pulled her and they climbed gently down the tiles towards the drainpipe. "Just follow my lead,"

She watched him gracefully slid down the pipe to the floor below. "Come on,"

Lyra was nervous. This was a little difficult compared to her Oxford.

"Come on Lyra!" Viktor shouted.

"Go on Lyra! Hurry!" Pan pushed her. He turned into an ermine and sat on her shoulder. "I'll help you balance!"

Swallowing her anxiety, she turned around and gently gripped the drainpipe whilst positioning her boots against the wall. She jumped and she slid down. "Ow!" She scraped her knee against the wall. Pan cried out too.

Viktor caught her at the bottom. "Your leg," he said. Lyra looked down and saw she got a straight cut against her leg. Suddenly they heard the door opening.

Quickly Viktor grabbed her hand and he pulled her towards the gates. They were closing. Just in time, they squeezed through. They looked back and saw Boreal losing a fit.

They sprinted and sprinted as fast as their legs could carry them. But they heard the car closing up behind them.

"He's after us!" Pan screamed. Lyra struggled to keep up with Viktor as he pulled her. Her leg was stinging from the sore wound.

"Pan! Fly up and scout!" she shouted.

"Kind of difficult to do that when you've got a cut!" he complained.

She began to panic. She saw the car catching up to us with Boreal inside. I couldn't let him catch us. I couldn't be taken back to my mother.

...

Viktor looked ahead as they sprinted. Just then, he saw a nearby park with a closed gate. A car wouldn't fit through. "Quick over there!" he shouted. "We can lose him in there!" He pulled Lyra towards the gate. He hated how she was dragging her behind her on a bleeding leg. He cursed himself for forcing her to run. They made it to the gate. He pushed it open and they squeezed through. He shut it as he saw the car was braking to a stop. Boreal was not going to give up.

Quickly they ran along the paths, past colour trees and a long wiggling stream. They saw historic buildings towering over it. They had entered a social area. But they had no time to blend in.

"Come back here!" Boreal shouted.

Still, they wouldn't give up. Just as they turned a corner, out of his sight, Viktor pushed Lyra towards a short hill where a grove of bushes dominated a seating area. They hid behind them. He gently shushed her. She stayed quiet. They crouched behind the leaves and pressed their hands to the grass, keeping incredibly silent. Looking to his side, Viktor saw Pan hiding behind in Lyra's coat.

They heard footsteps. Looking through some gaps in the branches, he saw Boreal's shoes. He pressed his hand over his mouth. Lyra did too. Boreal's shoes stood still. He raised his head a little and saw him staring around. He hadn't seen them. He walked forward. He breathed in relief. Suddenly he sneezed.

"Viktor," Lyra hissed.

His heart jumped when he saw Boreal's feet appear again. He had heard him. He approached slowly.

"I know you're there Lyra. And I know you're there too Viktor. I thought you'd be dead. After that spectre started to devour you," he sounded admirable. Nevertheless, he was a monster. A murder. A maniac.

The two shuffled back a bit. Lyra's head was exploding with questions. What was Boreal talking about? How had a spectre attacked Viktor when he was still a child? Was that wound he kept covered made by a spectre? She felt her pulse beating up under her skin as they saw his feet approach them. She crouched back a bit further. Suddenly she felt herself falling backwards. She screamed. Viktor screamed. Next thing they knew they were splashing into a sea of salty water.

Lyra swam to the surface and gasped for breath. "Pan!" she shouted. Pan appeared above the surface in the form of an otter.

"Viktor!" Lyra twisted her head around. "Viktor!" They didn't see him surface. Had he drowned?

Viktor splashed out of the water in front of me, spitting out water. "Lyra!" he cried out. "You okay?"

"I'm fine!" she said. She coughed. She had never done this before. She had done a bit of swimming before but not in the ocean. She stared around. "Where are we?" I looked up a saw a line of light. "Did we just..."

"We fell through another window," Viktor traded water to stay afloat. "Look there's land!" Tracing his line of vision, she saw a shoreline just ahead of us. "Swim!"

"Grab onto me!" Pan turned into a dolphin. She grabbed onto his fin.

"Are you sure you can swim us there?" Viktor asked uncertainly.

"Just grab on," Lyra said.

Viktor grabbed on. With a flip of his tail, Pan swam them to shore. Lyra turned her head back at the line of light shining vertically above the ocean. She wondered if Boreal would come through. "Doesn't look like he's coming," she said. "I can't believe we didn't see that door,"

"Good thing we came across it," Viktor said in relief.

The sky had turned dark and Mia was still dodging the policeman. She just turned a corner when she found herself at a dead end. She tried to turn back but the man was right there. The chase was over.

"There you are," he sneered. He dangerously approached them. "Nowhere to go," Aster descended and turned into a snow leopard.

"Your daemon doesn't scare me," he insulted.

She stared at him. How does he know about daemons?

"You're going with me," he said. "Or you can just make it easier on yourself and tell me where Will Parry is,"

She glared. "Never," she declared.

"Very well," he had reached his limit. "You've given me no choice," He pulled out a baton. Mia gulped. Was it legal for a guy like him in this world to harm a child, even a criminal one?

Suddenly something round and hard bopped him in the back of the head. He fell flat on his face. Behind him was Will Parry with a long round stick.

"Will?" Mia breathed.

"Come on," he begged her to follow him.

Quickly Aster and Mia leapt over the knocked-out police guy and they followed Will into the streets.

"Will. What are you doing here?"

"Saving you of course," he said. "This is why you shouldn't have come here!"

"What was I supposed to do? Just abandon Lyra and Viktor?"

Before they could argue, they heard police sirens in the distance. Will and Mia stopped to take a breath but he clutched her shoulders. "Mia! We need to go back now," he begged.

"No!" she refused. "I can't leave without Lyra!"

"Maybe she and Viktor returned whilst we left," he suggested stubbornly.

Before they could argue again, they heard the screeching of tyres next to us. They twisted their heads and saw the window sliding down. They saw the man named Charles whom Lyra and Mia talked to, the man Viktor wanted to kill.

"Hello Milly," he greeted. "Who is this friend of yours?" he asked.

"Mark," she answered quickly.

"Can I give you two a lift somewhere?" he offered.

"We're fine," Will refused. "We were just about to head home,"

"You know Lizzie is just waiting for you at my house. She and her friend Viktor had a bit of injury today. I can take you to them if you'd like,"

Mia knew they couldn't trust. They couldn't. She wanted to refuse. She could feel Will's tight grip on her shoulders trying to force her to say no. She was about to say no but the ringing of police sirens made her eardrums vibrate harder. They could be closing in on us.

"Yes please," She answered. "Let's go, Mark,"

Before Will could refuse, she pushed him into the car. The car drove away.

Lee Scoresby sat in his cell. Though he remained awake, his eyes were closed as he dreamed of his beloved wife and their daughter. He remembered the day Mia was born, the day he and Meera were beyond overjoyed to be parents to a child who they loved unconditionally the moment she was born. He prayed that both Mia and Lyra were safe together. He was about to fall asleep when he was shaken awake by the cell door bursting open. He opened his eyes and saw Mrs Coulter holding the keys. Looking behind her, he saw the collapsed body of a soldier, her daemon wrangling his snake daemon. He looked up at the cruel woman who was setting him free.

"You stole them from the guard," was all she said. She tossed him the keys. "There is a prophecy about Lyra. Witches speak of it. It means that people will be looking for her and not all of them good. It also tells of three others. These four including her have a large destiny to play. I believe your daughter will be one of them. I will be searching for Lyra myself. But if you find her, keep her safe,"

She turned around.

"I'll let you go. For now," he spoke out slowly.

Mrs Coulter turned around to him.

"But...I'm warning you," Although bruised and blooded, Lee remained strong in spirit as before. "If you ever...go near my daughter again...if you ever harm her...or go near Lyra...I will kill you. Even if you find Lyra...what makes you think she'd want anything to do with you?"

His words didn't move Mrs Coulter though Lee could see a blink of her wicked eyes. All she simply did was turn around and leave through the open door.

Instantly Lee got to work at unlocking his chains.

"Can you walk?" Hester asked.

"Yes. We gotta find Iera, head up the river, find Grumman, then that object, then Lyra and (Y/N) before that woman does,"

"Do you think it is right to let her go?"

"I couldn't kill now even if I wanted to," Lee knew it would have been foolish. "Next time if she hurts Mia or Lyra, she won't be so lucky,"

They snuck out and he grabbed his revolver, long coat, supplies and hat. They came to the side of the building.

"We can't take the balloon," Hester said. "They'll find us too easily,"

"I know. We'll just need to get a boat,"

"Lee, how are we going to get Iera into a boat?"

"We'll think of something," he said. Lee and Hester stayed in the shadows as they began to sneak their way out of town. Just then they heard the shouting of soldiers. Their escape had been discovered. They had to hurry.

Lee's heart jumped when he heard a soldier shouting behind them. "Freeze!"

Not wanting to kill again, Lee grabbed Hester into his arms and they sprinted through the town. Soldiers pursued them. But before they could make it to the outskirts, soldiers appeared with riffles. They were surrounded.

Suddenly, the soldiers at the front were attacked by the fury of Iera. She roared. Some soldiers shot at her but her armour deflected the bullets.

"Lee! Climb on my back!" she shouted.

Without hesitation, Lee mounted the giant polar bear and she charged out of the village.

"Into the forests Iera!" Lee begged.

"But what about your balloon?"

"We have to head up the Yenisei river without it. They'll spot us! Please trust me Iera!"

"I trust you on the oath I owe your daughter," Iera carried him and his daemon at a fast pace into the forests ahead of them. They lost the soldiers. Lee prayed his lead to Grumman would be their goal.

Another chapter is done. Sorry for taking long. I was just finishing off some chapters. But don't worry. I'm back on this. Thank you all so much for your support. I hope you all enjoyed this.