It was just after Lyra had been taken, just after Will had e down from the mountaintop, just after the witch had killed his father. Will lit the little tin lanteraken from his fathers pack, using the dry matches that hed found with it, and crouched in the lee of the rock to open Lyras rucksack.
He felt ih his good hand and found the heavy velvet-ed alethiometer. It glittered in the lantern light, and he held it out to the two shapes that stood beside him, the shapes who called themselves angels.
" you read this?" he said.
"No," said a voice. "e with us. You must e. e now to Lord Asriel."
"Who made you follow my father? You said he didnt know you were following him. But he did," Will said fiercely. "He told me to expect you. He knew more than you thought. Who sent you?"
"No o us. Ourselves only," came the voice. "We want to serve Lord Asriel. And the dead man, what did he want you to do with the knife?"
Will had to hesitate.
"He said I should take it to Lord Asriel," he said.
"Then e with us."
"No. Not till Ive found Lyra."
He folded the velvet over the alethiometer and put it into his rucksack. Seg it, he swung his fathers heavy cloak around him against the rain and crouched where he was, looking steadily at the two shadows.
"Do you tell the truth?" he said.
"Yes."
"Then are you strohan human beings, or weaker?"
"Weaker. You have true flesh, we have not. Still, you must e with us."
"No. If Im stronger, you have to obey me. Besides, I have the knife. So I and you: help me find Lyra. I dont care how long it takes, Ill find her first and then Ill go to Lord Asriel."
The two figures were silent for several seds. Then they drifted away and spoke together, though
Will could hear nothing of what they said.
Finally they came close again, and he heard:
"Very well. You are making a mistake, though you give us no choice. We shall help you find this child."
Will tried to pierce the darkness ahem more clearly, but the rain filled his eyes.
"e closer so I see you," he said.
They approached, but seemed to bee even more obscure.
"Shall I see you better in daylight?"
"No, worse. We are not of a high order among angels."
"Well, if I t see you, no one else will, either, so you stay hidden. Go and see if you find where Lyras gone. She surely t be far away. There was a woman, shell be with her, the woman took her. Go and search, and e bad tell me what you see."
The angels rose up into the stormy air and vanished. Will felt a great sullen heaviness settle over him; hed had little strength left before the fight with his father, and now he was nearly finished. All he wao do was close his eyes, which were so heavy and so sore with weeping.
He tugged the cloak over his head, clutched the rucksack to his breast, and fell asleep in a moment.
"Nowhere," said a voice.
Will heard it in the depths of sleep and struggled to wake. Eventually (and it took most of a minute, because he was so profoundly unscious) he mao open his eyes to the bright m in front of him.
"Where are you?" he said.
"Beside you," said the angel. "This way."
The sun was newly risen, and the rocks and the lis and mosses on them shone crisp and brilliant in the m light, but nowhere could he see a figure.
"I said we would be harder to see in daylight," the voice went on. "You will see us best at hal