THIRTY - THE CLOUDED MOUNTAIN
tention craft ed by Mrs. Coulter. S.
tric altimeter tle use in torm, but situde rougc blazed ling rain, till flaring difficult, eitning t flickered around tain served as a brilliant beacon. But so avoid till fighe rising land below.
S use ts, because sed to get close and find some s became more violent, ts more sudden and brutal. A gyropter o tention craft sly ing he Peaceable Ocean.
Cautiously so climb, peering forruments and flying by siginct. from one side of ttle glass cabin to to t and rigo antly. tning, great ss and lances of brilliance, flared and cracked above and around t all stle aircraft, gaining little by little, and alohe cloud-hung palace.
And as Mrs. Coulter approactention dazzled and beure of tain itself.
It reminded ain abominable orial Court. ed t tial dimensions t on a very small scale, to seven or eig t to examine directly. ructed a model to s er before it aining and being contained: its inside side ed ing space itself to enfold and stretc into galleries and terraces, cc and vapor.
S a strange exultation ime o bring t safely up to terrace on ttle craft lurcrained in turbid air, but so land on terrace.
t sill noruck ts; but t . It came from tance of tain itself, wher-of-pearl radiance.
oman and daemon got do and looked around to see whey should go.
S otance of tain itself ion. S see tives of colonnade, staircase, terrace, and facade.
Before so go, ster.
As tention craft and stopped. tered, and some of t and fear.
Mrs. Coulter ter: an angel, s, and indescribably aged. easy to see, because tter al t glittered and t of tain, but serrifying decrepitude, of a face sunken in rembling h and rheumy eyes.
tured s tention craft, and cackled and muttered to ly at tered a Mrs. Coulter o cover her ears.
But evidently task to do, for terrace, ignoring tter. a o fly, carrying tter betil t to Mrs. Coulters sighe swirling vapors.
But t time to t t. S staircases, crossing bridges, al, t t sense of invisible activity all around til finally turned a corner into a -ed by an angel h a spear.
quot; is your business?quot; he said.
Mrs. Coulter looked at ers of men, so long ago.
quot;No, no,quot; sly, quot;please dont e time. take me to t at once. ing for me.quot;
Disconcert t, keep t knoives of ligil to an antecered, s kno ter a brief pause, somet of her opened like a door.
o t. , but soo dazzled to see. to hide her eyes.
Metatron said, quot;er?quot;
quot;Ive come to tell you, my Lord Regent,quot; she said.
quot;If s ;
quot;S, but ;
quot; be?quot;
quot;I satron, Regent, tle, my eyes are dazzled...quot;
of till pretended to be dazzled by ly like a man in early middle age, tall, poell because of t nothing else.
quot;Please, Metatron, come from Lord Asriel. to searc;
quot; does ;
quot;to keep il s knoo elling you trut me, great Regent, as I cant easily look at you. Look at me clearly, and tell me ;
t searcion Marisa Coulter er and deceit ripped aogety of Metatrons gaze.
And s ure h her whole life.
quot;Yes, I see,quot; said Metatron.
quot; do you see?quot;
quot;Corruption and envy and lust for poy and coldness. A vicious, probing curiosity. Pure, poisonous, toxic malice. You years s calculating urn to your advantage. You ortured and killed regret or ation; you rayed and intrigued and gloried in your treac of moral filt;
t voice, delivering t judgment, ser profoundly. S s, too, and no it a little gusriumph.
So him.
quot;So you see,quot; s;I can betray o ing into your ;
S t of vapor about ed ice.
quot;; ;I y, but none ;
quot;;
quot;y-five years, and ty took me to ;
quot;And you ;
quot;I loved tood it y. But t;
quot;And you kno;
quot;I of t;
quot;And is it not time you ?quot;
t s most exposed and in most danger. But srusted to o trange trut angels, pered it and longed for contact . And Metatron o gaze at texture of o touch scalding hands.
trange sound, like t w youre hearing is your house on fire.
quot;tell me w Lord Asriel is doing, and w; he said.
quot;I can take you to ; she said.
tter left tain and fleatrons orders o take ty to a place of safety atlefield, because ed alive for a rats, ttention, rusted to ty of torm, calculating t in tances, a small party han a large one.
And so it migain cliff-g, busy feasting on a looked up just as a random searc caugal litter.
Sometirred in ts memory. ion of a babbling Arctic fox came to his mind.
At once later t of troop followed.
Xaply all t and some of te crack in tainside to tress, and enlarged it, and noo a series of caverns and tunnels extending a long ress.
It totally dark, as . t source of illumination, like a stream of billions of tiny particles, faintly gloeadily dounnel like a river of light.
quot;Dust,quot; o his daemon.
t togetil quite suddenly tunnel opened out, and top of a vast cavern: a vault
immense enougo contain a dozen catiginously doo pit beloself, and into t streamed t fall, pouring ceaselessly dos billions of particles ars of every galaxy in ttle fragment of conscious t. It o see by.
o, to see t resolved itself: a procession of dim, pale figures picking t. Intent on keeping toget tir at t ts.
quot;Lyra came ; ly to the snow leopard.
quot;tread carefully,quot; was all she said in reply.
ill and Lyra umbling blindly to little gullies reams ran red t uttered a es, and s and limp in Lyras hand.
As tered in one riverbed least, and scooped up o ty mout tialys rouse himself and say:
quot;ill, I can must be t across tream and ;
quot;Come on,quot; said ill to Lyra, and ter and scrambled up t in time. ttered doo drink didnt look like cavalry: to be of tridents, nets, and scimitars.
ill and Lyra didnt stop to look; tumbled over t a croucent only on getting away unseen.
But to keep to see ing an ankle, or s until them.
tures lay glittering in tly taller ts side, a large cage, peral. t it s and rocks, shrieking and yelling.
And before ill and Lyra could stop and run tumbled rigo troop.
tric altimeter tle use in torm, but situde rougc blazed ling rain, till flaring difficult, eitning t flickered around tain served as a brilliant beacon. But so avoid till fighe rising land below.
S use ts, because sed to get close and find some s became more violent, ts more sudden and brutal. A gyropter o tention craft sly ing he Peaceable Ocean.
Cautiously so climb, peering forruments and flying by siginct. from one side of ttle glass cabin to to t and rigo antly. tning, great ss and lances of brilliance, flared and cracked above and around t all stle aircraft, gaining little by little, and alohe cloud-hung palace.
And as Mrs. Coulter approactention dazzled and beure of tain itself.
It reminded ain abominable orial Court. ed t tial dimensions t on a very small scale, to seven or eig t to examine directly. ructed a model to s er before it aining and being contained: its inside side ed ing space itself to enfold and stretc into galleries and terraces, cc and vapor.
S a strange exultation ime o bring t safely up to terrace on ttle craft lurcrained in turbid air, but so land on terrace.
t sill noruck ts; but t . It came from tance of tain itself, wher-of-pearl radiance.
oman and daemon got do and looked around to see whey should go.
S otance of tain itself ion. S see tives of colonnade, staircase, terrace, and facade.
Before so go, ster.
As tention craft and stopped. tered, and some of t and fear.
Mrs. Coulter ter: an angel, s, and indescribably aged. easy to see, because tter al t glittered and t of tain, but serrifying decrepitude, of a face sunken in rembling h and rheumy eyes.
tured s tention craft, and cackled and muttered to ly at tered a Mrs. Coulter o cover her ears.
But evidently task to do, for terrace, ignoring tter. a o fly, carrying tter betil t to Mrs. Coulters sighe swirling vapors.
But t time to t t. S staircases, crossing bridges, al, t t sense of invisible activity all around til finally turned a corner into a -ed by an angel h a spear.
quot; is your business?quot; he said.
Mrs. Coulter looked at ers of men, so long ago.
quot;No, no,quot; sly, quot;please dont e time. take me to t at once. ing for me.quot;
Disconcert t, keep t knoives of ligil to an antecered, s kno ter a brief pause, somet of her opened like a door.
o t. , but soo dazzled to see. to hide her eyes.
Metatron said, quot;er?quot;
quot;Ive come to tell you, my Lord Regent,quot; she said.
quot;If s ;
quot;S, but ;
quot; be?quot;
quot;I satron, Regent, tle, my eyes are dazzled...quot;
of till pretended to be dazzled by ly like a man in early middle age, tall, poell because of t nothing else.
quot;Please, Metatron, come from Lord Asriel. to searc;
quot; does ;
quot;to keep il s knoo elling you trut me, great Regent, as I cant easily look at you. Look at me clearly, and tell me ;
t searcion Marisa Coulter er and deceit ripped aogety of Metatrons gaze.
And s ure h her whole life.
quot;Yes, I see,quot; said Metatron.
quot; do you see?quot;
quot;Corruption and envy and lust for poy and coldness. A vicious, probing curiosity. Pure, poisonous, toxic malice. You years s calculating urn to your advantage. You ortured and killed regret or ation; you rayed and intrigued and gloried in your treac of moral filt;
t voice, delivering t judgment, ser profoundly. S s, too, and no it a little gusriumph.
So him.
quot;So you see,quot; s;I can betray o ing into your ;
S t of vapor about ed ice.
quot;; ;I y, but none ;
quot;;
quot;y-five years, and ty took me to ;
quot;And you ;
quot;I loved tood it y. But t;
quot;And you kno;
quot;I of t;
quot;And is it not time you ?quot;
t s most exposed and in most danger. But srusted to o trange trut angels, pered it and longed for contact . And Metatron o gaze at texture of o touch scalding hands.
trange sound, like t w youre hearing is your house on fire.
quot;tell me w Lord Asriel is doing, and w; he said.
quot;I can take you to ; she said.
tter left tain and fleatrons orders o take ty to a place of safety atlefield, because ed alive for a rats, ttention, rusted to ty of torm, calculating t in tances, a small party han a large one.
And so it migain cliff-g, busy feasting on a looked up just as a random searc caugal litter.
Sometirred in ts memory. ion of a babbling Arctic fox came to his mind.
At once later t of troop followed.
Xaply all t and some of te crack in tainside to tress, and enlarged it, and noo a series of caverns and tunnels extending a long ress.
It totally dark, as . t source of illumination, like a stream of billions of tiny particles, faintly gloeadily dounnel like a river of light.
quot;Dust,quot; o his daemon.
t togetil quite suddenly tunnel opened out, and top of a vast cavern: a vault
immense enougo contain a dozen catiginously doo pit beloself, and into t streamed t fall, pouring ceaselessly dos billions of particles ars of every galaxy in ttle fragment of conscious t. It o see by.
o, to see t resolved itself: a procession of dim, pale figures picking t. Intent on keeping toget tir at t ts.
quot;Lyra came ; ly to the snow leopard.
quot;tread carefully,quot; was all she said in reply.
ill and Lyra umbling blindly to little gullies reams ran red t uttered a es, and s and limp in Lyras hand.
As tered in one riverbed least, and scooped up o ty mout tialys rouse himself and say:
quot;ill, I can must be t across tream and ;
quot;Come on,quot; said ill to Lyra, and ter and scrambled up t in time. ttered doo drink didnt look like cavalry: to be of tridents, nets, and scimitars.
ill and Lyra didnt stop to look; tumbled over t a croucent only on getting away unseen.
But to keep to see ing an ankle, or s until them.
tures lay glittering in tly taller ts side, a large cage, peral. t it s and rocks, shrieking and yelling.
And before ill and Lyra could stop and run tumbled rigo troop.