"Let me see the knife," said Iorek Byrnison. "I uaal. Nothing made of iron or steel is a mystery to a bear. But I have never seen a knife like yours, and I would be glad to look at it closely."
Will and the bear-king were on the foredeck of the river steamer, in the warm rays of the setting sun, and the vessel was making swift progress upstream; there lenty of fuel on board, there was food that Will could eat, and he and Iorek Byrnisoaking their seeasure of each other. They had taken the first already.
Will held out the koward Iorek, handle first, and the bear took it from him delicately. His thumb claw opposed the four finger claws, letting him manipulate objects as skillfully as a human, and now he turhe khis way and that, bringing it closely to his eyes, holding it to catch the light, testing the edge, the steel edge, on a piece of scrap iron.
"This edge is the one you cut my armor with," he said. "The other is very strange. I ot tell what it is, what it will do, how it was made. But I want to uand it. How did you e to possess it?"
Will told him most of what had happened, leaving out only what ed him alone: his mother, the man he killed, his father.
"You fought for this, and lost two fingers?" the bear said. "Show me the wound."
Will held out his hand. Thanks to his fathers oi, the raw surfaces were healing well, but they were still very tehe bear s them.
"Bloodmoss," he said. "And something else I ot identify. Who gave you that?"
"A man who told me what I should do with the khen he died. He had some oi in a horn box, and it cured my wound. The witches tried, but their spell didnt work."
"And what did he tell you to do with the knife?" said Iorek Byrnison, handing it carefully back to Will.
"To use it in a war on the side of Lord Asriel," Will replied. "But first I must rescue Lyra Silvertongue."
"Then we shall help," said the bear, and Wills heart leapt with pleasure.
Over the few days Will learned why the bears were making this voyage into tral Asia, so far from their homeland.
Sihe catastrophe that had burst the worlds open, all the Arctic ice had begun to melt, and new and strange currents appeared ier. Sihe bears depended on id on the creatures who lived in the cold sea, they could see that they would soon starve if they stayed where they were; and being rational, they decided how they should respond. They would have to migrate to where there was snow and i plenty: they would go to the highest mountains, to the rahat touched the sky, half a world away but unshakable, eternal, and deep in snow. From bears of the sea they would bee bears of the mountains, for as long as it took the world to settle itself again.
"So youre not making war?" Will said.
"Our old enemies vanished with the seals and the walruses. If we meet new ones, we know how to fight."
"I thought there was a great war ing that would involve everyone. Which side would you fight for in that case?"
"The side that gave advao the bears. What else? But I have sard for a few among humans. One was a man who flew a balloon. He is dead. The other is the witch Serafina Pekkala. The third is the child Lyra Silvertongue. First, I would do whatever serves the bears. Sed, whatever serves the child, or the witch, or avenges my dead rade Lee Scoresby. That is why I will help you rescue Lyra Silvertongue from the abominable woman Coulter."
He told Will of how he and a few o