Lord Asriel said, "Marisa, wake up. Were about to land."
A blustery dawn was breaking over the basalt fortress as the iion craft flew in from the south. Mrs. Coulter, sore asick, opened her eyes; she had not been asleep. She could see the angel Xaphania gliding above the landing ground, and then rising and wheeling up to the tower as the craft made for the ramparts.
As soon as the craft had landed, Lord Asriel leapt out and ran to join King Ogunwe on the western watchtn Mrs. Coulter entirely. The teis who came at oo attend to the flying mae took no notice of her, either; no one questioned her about the loss of the aircraft shed stolen; it was as if shed bee invisible. She made her way sadly up to the room in the adamant tower, where the orderly offered t her some food and coffee.
"Whatever you have," she said. "And thank you. Oh, by the way," she went on as the man turo go: "Lord Asriels alethiometrist, Mr. ..."
"Mr. Basilides?"
"Yes. Is he free to e here for a moment?"
"Hes w with his books at the moment, maam. Ill ask him to step up here when he ."
She washed and ged into the one shirt she had left. The cold wind that shook the windows and the gray m light made her shiver. She put some more coals on the iron stove, hoping it would stop her trembling, but the cold was in her bones, not just her flesh.
Ten minutes later there was a kno the door. The pale, dark-eyed alethiometrist, with his nightingale daemon on his shoulder, came in and bowed slightly. A moment later the orderly arrived with a tray of bread, cheese, and coffee, and Mrs. Coulter said:
"Thank you for ing, Mr. Basilides. May I offer you some refreshment?"
"I will take some coffee, thank you."
"Please tell me," she said as soon as shed poured the drink, "because Im sure youve been following whats happened: is my daughter alive?"
He hesitated. The golden monkey clutched her arm,
"She is alive," said Basilides carefully, "but also..."
"Yes? Oh, please, what do you mean?"
"She is in the world of the dead. For some time I could not interpret what the instrument was telli seemed impossible. But there is no doubt. She and the boy have goo the world of the dead, and they have opened a way for the ghosts to e out. As soon as the dead reach the open, they dissolve as their daemons did, and it seems that this is the most sweet and desirable end for them. And the alethiometer tells me that the girl did this because she overheard a prophecy that there would e ao death, and she thought that this was a task for her to aplish. As a result, there is now a way out of the world of the dead."
Mrs. Coulter couldnt speak. She had to turn away and go to the window to ceal the emotion on her face. Finally she said:
"And will she e out alive?, But no, I know you t predict. Is she, how is she, has she..."
"She is suffering, she is in pain, she is afraid. But she has the panionship of the boy, and of the two Gallivespian spies, and they are still all together."
"And the bomb?"
"The bomb did not hurt her."
Mrs. Coulter felt suddenly exhausted. She wanted nothing more than to lie down and sleep for months, for years. Outside, the flag rope snapped and clattered in the wind, and the rooks cawed as they wheeled around the ramparts.
"Thank you, sir," she said, turning back to the reader. "Im very grateful. Please would you let me know if you discover anything more about