But before he could speak, the aeronaut put in:
«Lord Faa, if lorek Byrnison takes the little girl, she'll be as safe as if she was here with us. All bears are true, but I've known lorek for years, and nothing under the sky will make him break his word. Give him the charge to take care of her and he'll do it, make no mistake. As for speed, he can lope for hours without tiring.»
«But why should not some men go?» said John Faa.
«Well, they'd have to walk,» Lyra pointed out, «because you couldn't run a sledge over that ridge. lorek Byrnison can go faster than any man over that sort of country, and I'm light enough so's he won't be slowed down. And I promise, Lord Faa, I promise not to be any longer than I need, and not to give anything away about us, or to get in any danger.»
«You're sure you need to do this? That symbol reader en't playing the fool with you?»
«It never does, Lord Faa, and I don't think it could.»
John Faa rubbed his chin.
«Well, if all comes out right, we'll have a piece more knowledge than we do now. lorek Byrnison,» he called, «are you willing to do as this child bids?»
«I do your bidding, Lord Faa. Tell me to take the child there, and I will.»
«Very well. You are to take her where she wishes to go and do as she bids. Lyra, I'm a commanding you now, you understand?»
«Yes, Lord Faa.»
«You go and search for whatever it is, and when you've found it, you turn right round and come back. lorek Byrnison, we'll be a traveling on by that time, so you'll have to catch us up.»
The bear nodded his great head.
«Are there any soldiers in the village?» he said to Lyra.
«Will I need my armor? We shall be swifter without it.» «No,» she said. «I'm certain of that, lorek. Thank you, Lord Faa, and I promise I'll do just as you say.»
Tony Costa gave her a strip of dried seal meat to chew, and with Pantalaimon as a mouse inside her hood, Lyra clambered onto the great bear's back, gripping his fur with her mittens and his narrow muscular back between her knees. His fur was wondrously thick, and the sense of immense power she felt was overwhelming. As if she weighed nothing at all, he turned and loped away in a long swinging run up toward the ridge and into the low trees.
It took some time before she was used to the movement, and then she felt a wild exhilaration. She was riding a bear! And the Aurora was swaying above them in golden arcs and loops, and all around was the bitter arctic cold and the immense silence of the North.
lorek Byrnison's paws made hardly any sound as they padded forward through the snow. The trees were thin and stunted here, for they were on the edge of the tundra, but there were brambles and snagging bushes in the path. The bear ripped through them as if they were cobwebs.
They climbed the low ridge, among outcrops of black rock, and were soon out of sight of the party behind them. Lyra wanted to talk to the bear, and if he had been human, she would already be on familiar terms with him; but he was so strange and wild and cold that she was shy, almost for the first time in her life. So as he loped along, his great legs swinging tirelessly, she sat with the movement and said nothing. Perhaps he preferred that anyway, she thought; she must seem a little prattling cub, only just past babyhood, in the eyes of an armored bear.
She had seldom considered herself before, and found the experience interesting but uncomfortable, very like riding the bear, in fact. lorek Byrnison was pacing swiftly, moving both legs on one side of his body at the same time, and rocking from side to side in a steady powerful rhythm. She found she couldn't just sit: she had to ride actively.
They had been traveling for an hour or more, and Lyra was stiff and sore but deeply happy, when lorek Byrnison slowed down and stopped.
«Look up,» he said.
Lyra raised her eyes and had to wipe them with the inside of her wrist, for she was so cold that tears were blurring them. When she could see clearly, she gasped at the sight of the sky. The Aurora had faded to a pallid trembling glimmer, but the stars were as bright as diamonds, and across the great dark diamond-scattered vault, hundreds upon hundreds of tiny black shapes were flying out of the east and south toward the north.
«Are they birds?» she said.
«They are witches,» said the bear.
«Witches! What are they doing?»
«Flying to war, maybe. I have never seen so many at one time.»
«Do you know any witches, lorek?»
«I have served some. And fought some, too. This is a sight to frighten Lord Faa. If they are flying to the aid of your enemies, you should all be afraid.»
«Lord Faa wouldn't be frightened. You en't afraid, are you?»
«Not yet. When I am, I shall master the fear. But we had better tell Lord Faa about the witches, because the men might not have seen them.»
He moved on more slowly, and she kept watching the sky until her eyes splintered again with tears of cold, and she saw no end to the numberless witches flying north.
Finally lorek Byrnison stopped and said, «There is the village.»
They were looking down a broken, rugged slope toward a cluster of wooden buildings beside a wide stretch of snow as flat as could be, which Lyra took to be the frozen lake. A wooden jetty showed her she was right. They were no more than five minutes from the place.
«What do you want to do?» the bear asked. Lyra slipped off his back, and found it hard to stand. Her face was stiff with cold and her legs were shaky, but she clung to his fur and stamped until she felt stronger.
«There's a child or a ghost or something down in that village,» she said, «or maybe near it, I don't know for certain. I want to go and find him and bring him back to Lord Faa and the others if I can. I thought he was a ghost, but the symbol reader might be telling me something I can't understand.»
«If he is outside,» said the bear, «he had better have some shelter.»
«I don't think he's dead,» said Lyra, but she was far from sure. The alethiometer had indicated something uncanny and unnatural, which was alarming; but who was she? Lord Asriel's daughter. And who was under her command? A mighty bear. How could she possibly show any fear? «Let's just go and look,» she said.
She clambered on his back again, and he set off down the broken slope, walking steadily and not pacing any more. The dogs of the village smelled or heard or sensed them coming, and began to howl frightfully; and the reindeer in their enclosure moved about nervously, their antlers clashing like dry sticks. In the still air every movement could be heard for a long way.
As they reached the first of the houses, Lyra looked to the right and left, peering hard into the dimness, for the Aurora was fading and the moon still far from rising. Here and there a light flickered under a snow-thick roof, and Lyra thought she saw pale faces behind some of the windowpanes, and imagined their astonishment to see a child riding a great white bear.
At the center of the little village there was an open space next to the jetty, where boats had been drawn up, mounds under the snow. The noise of the dogs was deafening, and just as Lyra thought it must have wakened everyone, a door opened and a man came out holding a rifle. His wolverine daemon leaped onto the woodstack beside the door, scattering snow.
Lyra slipped down at once and stood between him and lorek Byrnison, conscious that she had told the bear there was no need for his armor.
The man spoke in words she couldn't understand. lorek Byrnison replied in the same language, and the man gave a little moan of fear.
«He thinks we are devils,» lorek told Lyra. «What shall I say?»
«Tell him we're not devils, but we've got friends who are. And we're looking for…Just a child. A strange child. Tell him that.»