"Lyra, can you see that instrument to read it?" he said.
查看中文翻译
"Yes, I can see all right," she said. "But I know where most of the symbols are by now anyway. What shall I ask it, Lord Faa?"
查看中文翻译
They traveled for several hours and then stopped to eat. While the men were lighting fires and melting snow for water, with lorek Byrnison watching Lee Scoresby roast seal meat close by, John Faa spoke to Lyra.
查看中文翻译
The moon itself had long set. The light from the Aurora was brighter than moonlight, but it was inconstant. However, Lyra's eyes were keen, and she fumbled inside her furs and tugged out the black velvet bag.
查看中文翻译
"I want to know more about how they're defending this place, Bolvangar," he said.
查看中文翻译
Without even having to think about it, she found her fingers moving the hands to point to the helmet, the griffin, and the crucible, and felt her mind settle into the right meanings like a complicated diagram in three dimensions. At once the needle began to swing round, back, round and on further, like a bee dancing its message to the hive. She watched it calmly, content not to know at first but to know that a meaning was coming, and then it began to clear. She let it dance on until it was certain.
查看中文翻译
"It's a telling me something else. In the next valley there's a village by a lake where the folk are troubled by a ghost."
查看中文翻译
"What, child?"
查看中文翻译
"It's just like the witch's daemon said, Lord Faa. There's a company of Tartars guarding the station, and they got wires all round it. They don't really expect to be attacked, that's what the symbol reader says. But Lord Faa…"
查看中文翻译
John Faa shook his head impatiently, and said, "That don't matter now. There's bound to be spirits of all kinds among these forests. Tell me again about them Tartars. How many, for instance? What are they armed with?"
查看中文翻译
"There's sixty men with rifles, and they got a couple of larger guns, sort of cannons. They got fire throwers too. And… Their daemons are all wolves, that's what it says."
查看中文翻译
That caused a stir among the older gyptians, those who'd campaigned before.
查看中文翻译
Lyra dutifully asked, and reported the answer:
查看中文翻译
"The Sibirsk regiments have wolf daemons," said one.
查看中文翻译
John Faa said, "I never met fiercer. We shall have to fight like tigers. And consult the bear; he's a shrewd warrior, that one."
查看中文翻译
While the aeronaut came to the sledge, Lyra slipped away and spoke to the bear.
查看中文翻译
"How long would it take you to get there, then?"
查看中文翻译
"Too far. Not at all far for me."
查看中文翻译
Lyra was impatient, and said, "But Lord Faa, this ghost -- I think it's the ghost of one of the kids!"
查看中文翻译
"Once," he said in that deep flat voice.
查看中文翻译
"For me," she said.
查看中文翻译
"There's a village near, en't there?"
查看中文翻译
"Because, lorek, listen: I got this symbol reader that tells me things, you see, and it's told me that there's something important I got to do over in that village, and Lord Faa won't let me go there. He just wants to get on quick, and 1 know that's important too. But unless I go and find out what it is, we might not know what the Gobblers are really doing."
查看中文翻译
"Is it far?"
查看中文翻译
"Well, even if it is, Lyra, I don't know what anyone could do about it. Sixty Sibirsk riflemen, and fire throwers… Mr. Scoresby, step over here if you would, for a moment."
查看中文翻译
"Over the ridge," he said, looking up through the sparse trees.
查看中文翻译
"For you or for me?"
查看中文翻译
"I could be there and back three times by next moonrise."
查看中文翻译
"lorek, have you traveled this way before?"
查看中文翻译
Pantalaimon spoke: "Can you take us there and catch up with the sledges later on?"
查看中文翻译
"I could. But I have given my word to Lord Faa to obey him, not anyone else."
查看中文翻译
"If I got his permission?" said Lyra. "Then yes."
查看中文翻译
The bear said nothing. He was sitting up like a human, his great paws folded in his lap, his dark eyes looking into hers down the length of his muzzle. He knew she wanted something.
查看中文翻译
She turned and ran back through the snow.
查看中文翻译
"Lord Faa! If lorek Byrnison takes me over the ridge to the village, we can find out whatever it is, and then catch the sledges up further on. He knows the route," she urged. "And I wouldn't ask, except it's like what I did before, Farder Coram, you remember, with that chameleon? I didn't understand it then, but it was true, and we found out soon after. I got the same feeling now. I can't understand properly what it's saying, only I know it's important. And lorek Byrnison knows the way, he says he could get there and back three times by next moonrise, and I couldn't be safer than I'd be with him, could I? But he won't go without he gets Lord Faa's permission."
查看中文翻译
There was a silence. Farder Coram sighed. John Faa was frowning, and his mouth inside the fur hood was set grimly.
查看中文翻译
But before he could speak, the aeronaut put in:
查看中文翻译
"But why should not some men go?" said John Faa.
查看中文翻译
"You're sure you need to do this? That symbol reader en't playing the fool with you?"
查看中文翻译
"It never does, Lord Faa, and I don't think it could."
查看中文翻译
"Lord Faa, if lorek Byrnison takes the little girl, she'll be as safe as if she was here with us. All bears are true, but I've known lorek for years, and nothing under the sky will make him break his word. Give him the charge to take care of her and he'll do it, make no mistake. As for speed, he can lope for hours without tiring."
查看中文翻译
"Well, they'd have to walk," Lyra pointed out, "because you couldn't run a sledge over that ridge. lorek Byrnison can go faster than any man over that sort of country, and I'm light enough so's he won't be slowed down. And I promise, Lord Faa, I promise not to be any longer than I need, and not to give anything away about us, or to get in any danger."
查看中文翻译
"Yes, Lord Faa."
查看中文翻译
"Very well. You are to take her where she wishes to go and do as she bids. Lyra, I'm a commanding you now, you understand?"
查看中文翻译
"I do your bidding, Lord Faa. Tell me to take the child there, and I will."
查看中文翻译
"Well, if all comes out right, we'll have a piece more knowledge than we do now. lorek Byrnison," he called, "are you willing to do as this child bids?"
查看中文翻译
John Faa rubbed his chin.
查看中文翻译
"You go and search for whatever it is, and when you've found it, you turn right round and come back. lorek Byrnison, we'll be a traveling on by that time, so you'll have to catch us up."
查看中文翻译
The bear nodded his great head.
查看中文翻译
"Are there any soldiers in the village?" he said to Lyra. "Will I need my armor? We shall be swifter without it."
查看中文翻译
"No," she said. "I'm certain of that, lorek. Thank you, Lord Faa, and I promise I'll do just as you say."
查看中文翻译
Tony Costa gave her a strip of dried seal meat to chew, and with Pantalaimon as a mouse inside her hood, Lyra clambered onto the great bear's back, gripping his fur with her mittens and his narrow muscular back between her knees. His fur was wondrously thick, and the sense of immense power she felt was overwhelming. As if she weighed nothing at all, he turned and loped away in a long swinging run up toward the ridge and into the low trees.
查看中文翻译
lorek Byrnison's paws made hardly any sound as they padded forward through the snow. The trees were thin and stunted here, for they were on the edge of the tundra, but there were brambles and snagging bushes in the path. The bear ripped through them as if they were cobwebs.
查看中文翻译
It took some time before she was used to the movement, and then she felt a wild exhilaration. She was riding a bear! And the Aurora was swaying above them in golden arcs and loops, and all around was the bitter arctic cold and the immense silence of the North.
查看中文翻译
They climbed the low ridge, among outcrops of black rock, and were soon out of sight of the party behind them. Lyra wanted to talk to the bear, and if he had been human, she would already be on familiar terms with him; but he was so strange and wild and cold that she was shy, almost for the first time in her life. So as he loped along, his great legs swinging tirelessly, she sat with the movement and said nothing. Perhaps he preferred that anyway, she thought; she must seem a little prattling cub, only just past babyhood, in the eyes of an armored bear.
查看中文翻译
She had seldom considered herself before, and found the experience interesting but uncomfortable, very like riding the bear, in fact. lorek Byrnison was pacing swiftly, moving both legs on one side of his body at the same time, and rocking from side to side in a steady powerful rhythm. She found she couldn't just sit: she had to ride actively.
查看中文翻译
"Look up," he said.
查看中文翻译
Lyra raised her eyes and had to wipe them with the inside of her wrist, for she was so cold that tears were blurring them. When she could see clearly, she gasped at the sight of the sky. The Aurora had faded to a pallid trembling glimmer, but the stars were as bright as diamonds, and across the great dark diamond-scattered vault, hundreds upon hundreds of tiny black shapes were flying out of the east and south toward the north.
查看中文翻译
They had been traveling for an hour or more, and Lyra was stiff and sore but deeply happy, when lorek Byrnison slowed down and stopped.
查看中文翻译
"Witches! What are they doing?"
查看中文翻译
"Are they birds?" she said.
查看中文翻译
"They are witches," said the bear.
查看中文翻译
"Do you know any witches, lorek?"
查看中文翻译
"Flying to war, maybe. I have never seen so many at one time."
查看中文翻译
"Not yet. When I am, I shall master the fear. But we had better tell Lord Faa about the witches, because the men might not have seen them."
查看中文翻译
Finally lorek Byrnison stopped and said, "There is the village."
查看中文翻译
"I have served some. And fought some, too. This is a sight to frighten Lord Faa. If they are flying to the aid of your enemies, you should all be afraid."
查看中文翻译
"Lord Faa wouldn't be frightened. You en't afraid, are you?"
查看中文翻译
They were looking down a broken, rugged slope toward a cluster of wooden buildings beside a wide stretch of snow as flat as could be, which Lyra took to be the frozen lake. A wooden jetty showed her she was right. They were no more than five minutes from the place.
查看中文翻译
Lyra slipped off his back, and found it hard to stand. Her face was stiff with cold and her legs were shaky, but she clung to his fur and stamped until she felt stronger.
查看中文翻译
He moved on more slowly, and she kept watching the sky until her eyes splintered again with tears of cold, and she saw no end to the numberless witches flying north.
查看中文翻译
"What do you want to do?" the bear asked.
查看中文翻译
"There's a child or a ghost or something down in that village," she said, "or maybe near it, I don't know for certain. I want to go and find him and bring him back to Lord Faa and the others if I can. I thought he was a ghost, but the symbol reader might be telling me something I can't understand."
查看中文翻译
"If he is outside," said the bear, "he had better have some shelter."
查看中文翻译
"I don't think he's dead," said Lyra, but she was far from sure. The alethiometer had indicated something uncanny and unnatural, which was alarming; but who was she? Lord Asriel's daughter. And who was under her command? A mighty bear. How could she possibly show any fear?
查看中文翻译
"Let's just go and look," she said.
查看中文翻译
She clambered on his back again, and he set off down the broken slope, walking steadily and not pacing any more. The dogs of the village smelled or heard or sensed them coming, and began to howl frightfully; and the reindeer in their enclosure moved about nervously, their antlers clashing like dry sticks. In the still air every movement could be heard for a long way.
查看中文翻译
As they reached the first of the houses, Lyra looked to the right and left, peering hard into the dimness, for the Aurora was fading and the moon still far from rising. Here and there a light flickered under a snow-thick roof, and Lyra thought she saw pale faces behind some of the windowpanes, and imagined their astonishment to see a child riding a great white bear.
查看中文翻译
At the center of the little village there was an open space next to the jetty, where boats had been drawn up, mounds under the snow. The noise of the dogs was deafening, and just as Lyra thought it must have wakened everyone, a door opened and a man came out holding a rifle. His wolverine daemon leaped onto the woodstack beside the door, scattering snow.
查看中文翻译
The man spoke in words she couldn't understand. lorek Byrnison replied in the same language, and the man gave a little moan of fear.
查看中文翻译
Lyra slipped down at once and stood between him and lorek Byrnison, conscious that she had told the bear there was no need for his armor.
查看中文翻译
"He thinks we are devils," lorek told Lyra. "What shall I say?"
查看中文翻译
"Tell him we're not devils, but we've got friends who are. And we're looking for… Just a child. A strange child. Tell him that."
查看中文翻译
lorek Byrnison said, "He asks if we have come to take the child away. They are afraid of it. They have tried to drive it away, but it keeps coming back."
查看中文翻译
As soon as the bear had said that, the man pointed to the right, indicating some place further off, and spoke quickly.
查看中文翻译
The man explained, gesticulating fearfully. Lyra was afraid he'd fire his rifle by mistake, but as soon as he'd spoken he hastened inside his house and shut the door. Lyra could see faces at every window.
查看中文翻译
Lyra followed. She was horribly nervous. The bear was making for a narrow wooden shed, raising his head to sniff this way and that, and when he reached the door he stopped and said: "In there."
查看中文翻译
"Where is the child?" she said.
查看中文翻译
"Tell him we'll take it away with us, but they were very bad to treat it like that. Where is it?"
查看中文翻译
Lyra's heart was beating so fast she could hardly breathe. She raised her hand to knock at the door and then, feeling that that was ridiculous, took a deep breath to call out, but realized that she didn't know what to say. Oh, it was so dark now! She should have brought a lantern…
查看中文翻译
"In the fish house," the bear told her, and turned to pad down toward the jetty.
查看中文翻译
But he wouldn't, and he wouldn't speak either. She had never seen him like this except once, when she and Roger in the crypt at Jordan had moved the d^mon-coins into the wrong skulls. He was even more frightened than she was. As for lorek Byrnison, he was lying in the snow nearby, watching in silence.
查看中文翻译
There was no choice, and anyway, she didn't want the bear to see her being afraid. He had spoken of mastering his fear: that was what she'd have to do. She lifted the strap of reindeer hide holding the latch in place, and tugged hard against the frost binding the door shut. It opened with a snap. She had to kick aside the snow piled against the foot of the door before she could pull it open, and Pantalaimon was no help, running back and forth in his ermine shape, a white shadow over the white ground, uttering little frightened sounds.
查看中文翻译
"Come out," Lyra said as loud as she dared. "Come out!"
查看中文翻译
"Pan, for God's sake!" she said. "Be a bat. Go and look for me…"
查看中文翻译
Not a sound came in answer. She pulled the door a little wider, and Pantalaimon leaped up into her arms, pushing and pushing at her in his cat form, and said, "Go away! Don't stay here! Oh, Lyra, go now! Turn back!"
查看中文翻译
Trying to hold him still, she was aware of lorek Byrnison getting to his feet, and turned to see a figure hastening down the track from the village, carrying a lantern. When he came close enough to speak, he raised the lantern and held it to show his face: an old man with a broad, lined face, and eyes nearly lost in a thousand wrinkles. His daemon was an arctic fox.
查看中文翻译
"Ask him if I can borrow his lantern," Lyra said.
查看中文翻译
Lyra thought suddenly: what if the child is Roger? And she prayed with all her force that it wouldn't be. Pantalaimon was clinging to her, an ermine again, his little claws hooked deep into her anorak.
查看中文翻译
He spoke, and lorek Byrnison said:
查看中文翻译
The bear spoke, and the man handed it to her at once, nodding vigorously. She realized that he'd come down in order to bring it to her, and thanked him, and he nodded again and stood back, away from her and the hut and away from the bear.
查看中文翻译
"He says that it's not the only child of that kind. He's seen others in the forest. Sometimes they die quickly, sometimes they don't die. This one is tough, he thinks. But it would be better for him if he died."
查看中文翻译
The little boy was huddled against the wood drying rack where hung row upon row of gutted fish, all as stiff as boards. He was clutching a piece of fish to him as Lyra was clutching Pantalaimon, with her left hand, hard, against her heart; but that was all he had, a piece of dried fish; because he had no da; mon at all. The Gobblers had cut it away. That was intercision, and this was a severed child.
查看中文翻译
She lifted the lantern high and took a step into the shed, and then she saw what it was that the Oblation Board was doing, and what was the nature of the sacrifice the children were having to make.
查看中文翻译