"I t do very much myself. My heart is diseased beyond the powers of anyone in this world to cure it. I have one great effort left in me, perhaps. But I know something Lord Asriel doesnt, something he o know if his effort is to succeed.
"You see, I was intrigued by that haunted world where the Specters fed on human sciousness. I wao know what they were, how they had e into being. And as a shaman, I discover things in the spirit where I ot go in the body, and I spent much time in trance, expl that world. I found that the philosophers there, turies ago, had created a tool for their own undoing: an instrument they called the subtle k had many powers—more than theyd guessed when they made it, far more than they know even now—and somehow, in using it, they had let the Specters into their world.
"Well, I know about the subtle knife and what it do. And I know where it is, and I know how the one who must use it, and I know what he must do in Lord Asriels cause. I hope hes equal to the task. So I have summoned you here, and you are to fly me northward, into the world Asriel has opened, where I expect to find the bearer of the subtle knife.
"That is a dangerous world, mind. Those Specters are worse than anything in your world or mine.
We shall have to be careful and ceous. I shall not return, and if you want to see your try again, youll need all your ce, all your craft, all your luck.
"Thats your task, Mr. Scoresby. That is why you sought me out."
And the shaman fell silent. His face allid, with a faint sheen of sweat.
"This is the craziest damn idea I ever heard in my life," said Lee.
He stood up in his agitation and walked a pace or two this way, a pace or two that, while Hester watched unblinking from the bench. Grummans eyes were half-closed; his daemon sat on his knee, watg Lee warily.
"Do you want money?" Grumman said after a few moments. "I get you some gold. Thats not hard to do."
"Damn, I didnt e here fold," said Lee hotly. "I came here ... I came here to see if you were alive, like I thought you were. Well, my curiositys kinda satisfied on that point."
"Im glad to hear it."
"And theres anle to this thing, too," Lee added, and told Grumman of the witch cil at Lake Enara, and the resolutioches had sworn to. "You see," he finished, "that little girl Lyra ... well, shes the reason I set out to help the witches in the first place. You say yht
me here with that Navaj. Maybe thats so and maybe it aint. What I know is, I came here because I thought Id be helping Lyra. I aint never seen a child like that. If I had a daughter of my own, I hope shed be half as strong and brave and good. Now, Id heard that you knew of some object, I didnt know what it might be, that fers a prote on anyone who holds it. And from what you say, I think it must be this subtle knife.
"So this is my price for taking you into the other world, Dr. Grumman: not gold, but that subtle knife. And I dont want it for myself; I want it for Lyra. You have to swear youll get her uhe prote of that object, and then Ill take you wherever you want to go."
The shaman listened closely, and said, "Very well, Mr. Scoresby; I swear. Do you trust my oath?"
"What will you swear by?"
"Name anything you like."
Lee thought and then said, "Swear by whatever it was made you turn down the love of the witch. I guess thats the most important thing you know."
Grummans eyes widened, a