It was desperately1 hard for Lyra and Will to leave that sweet world where they had slept the night before, but if they were ever going to find their daemons, they knew they had to go into the dark once more. And now, after hours of weary crawling through the dim tunnel, Lyra bent2 over the alethiometer for the twentieth time, making little unconscious sounds of distress3, whimpers and catches of breath that would have been sobs4 if they were any stronger. Will, too, felt the pain where his daemon had been, a scalded place of acute tenderness that every breath tore at with cold hooks.
How wearily Lyra turned the wheels; on what leaden feet her thoughts moved. The ladders of meaning that led from every one of the alethiometer's thirty-six symbols, down which she used to move so lightly and confidently, felt loose and shaky. And holding the connections between them in her mind...It had once been like running, or singing, or telling a story: something natural. Now she had to do it laboriously5, and her grip was failing, and she mustn't fail because otherwise everything would fail...
"It's not far," she said at last. "And there's all kinds of danger, there's a battle, there's.. .But we're nearly in the right place now. Just at the end of this tunnel there's a big smooth rock running with water. You cut through there."
The ghosts who were going to fight pressed forward eagerly, and she felt Lee Scoresby close at her side.
He said, "Lyra, gal6, it won't be long now. When you see that old bear, you tell him Lee went out fighting. And when the battle's over, there'll be all the time in the world to drift along the wind and find the atoms that used to be Hester, and my mother in the sagelands, and my sweethearts, all my sweethearts... Lyra, child, you rest when this is done, you hear? Life is good, and death is over..."
His voice faded. She wanted to put her arms around him, but of course that was impossible. So she just looked at his pale form instead, and the ghost saw the passion and brilliance7 in her eyes, and took strength from it.
And on Lyra's shoulder, and on Will's, rode the two Gallivespians. Their short lives were nearly over; each of them felt a stiffness in their limbs, a coldness around the heart. They would both return soon to the world of the dead, this time as ghosts, but they caught each other's eye, and vowed8 that they would stay with Will and Lyra for as long as they could, and not say a word about their dying.
Up and up the children clambered. They didn't speak. They heard each other's harsh breathing, they heard their footfalls, they heard the little stones their steps dislodged. Ahead of them all the way, the harpy scrambled9 heavily, her wings dragging, her claws scratching, silent and grim.
Then came a new sound: a regular drip-drip, echoing in the tunnel. And then a faster dripping, a trickle10, a running of water.
"Here!" said Lyra, reaching forward to touch a sheet of rock that blocked the way, smooth and wet and cold. "Here it is."
She turned to the harpy.
"I been thinking," she said, "how you saved me, and how you promised to guide all the other ghosts that'll come through the world of the dead to that land we slept in last night. And I thought, if you en't got a name, that can't be fight, not for the future. So I thought I'd give you a name, like King Iorek Byrnison gave me my name Silvertongue. I'm going to call you Gracious Wings. So that's your name now, and that's what you'll be for evermore: Gracious Wings."
"One day," said the harpy, "I will see you again, Lyra Silvertongue."
"And if I know you're here, I shan't be afraid," Lyra said. "Good-bye, Gracious Wings, till I die."
She embraced the harpy, hugging her tightly and kissing her on both cheeks.
Then the Chevalier Tialys said: "This is the world of Lord Asriel's Republic?"
"Yes," she said, "that's what the alethiometer says. It's close to his fortress11."
"Then let me speak to the ghosts."
She held him high, and he called, "Listen, because the Lady Salmakia and I are the only ones among us who have seen this world before. There is a fortress on a mountaintop: that is what Lord Asriel is defending. Who the enemy is I do not know. Lyra and Will have only one task now, which is to search for their daemons. Our task is to help them. Let's be of good courage and fight well."
Lyra turned to Will.
"All right," he said, "I'm ready."
He took out the knife and looked into the eyes of his father's ghost, who stood close by. They wouldn't know each other for much longer, and Will thought how glad he would have been to see his mother beside them as well, all three together...
"Will," said Lyra, alarmed.
He stopped. The knife was stuck in the air. He took his hand away, and there it hung, fastened in the substance of an invisible world. He let out a deep breath.
"I nearly..."
"I could see," she said. "Look at me, Will."
In the ghost light he saw her bright hair, her firm-set mouth, her candid12 eyes; he felt the warmth of her breath; he caught the friendly scent13 of her flesh.
The knife came loose.
"I'll try again," he said.
He turned away. Focusing hard, he let his mind flow down to the knife tip, touching14, withdrawing, searching, and then he found it. In, along, down, and back. The ghosts crowded so close that Will's body and Lyra's felt little jolts15 of cold along every nerve.
And he made the final cut.
The first thing they sensed was noise. The light that struck in was dazzling, and they had to cover their eyes, ghosts and living alike, so they could see nothing for several seconds; but the pounding, the explosions, the rattle16 of gunfire, the shouts and screams were all instantly clear, and horribly frightening.
John Parry's ghost and the ghost of Lee Scoresby recovered their senses first. Because both had been soldiers, experienced in battle, they weren't so disoriented by the noise. Will and Lyra simply watched in fear and amazement17.
Explosive rockets were bursting in the air above, showering fragments of rock and metal over the slopes of the mountain, which they saw a little way off; and in the skies angels were fighting angels, and witches, too, swooped18 and soared screaming their clan19 cries as they shot arrows at their enemies. They saw a Gallivespian, mounted on a dragonfly, diving to attack a flying machine whose human pilot tried to fight him off hand to hand. While the dragonfly darted20 and skimmed above, its rider leapt off to clamp his spurs deep in the pilot's neck; and then the insect returned, swooping21 low to let its rider leap on the brilliant green back as the flying machine droned straight into the rocks at the foot of the fortress.
"Open it wider," said Lee Scoresby. "Let us out!"
"Wait, Lee," said John Parry. "Something's happening, look over there."
Will cut another small window in the direction he indicated, and as they looked out, they could all see a change in the pattern of the fighting. The attacking force began to withdraw. A group of armed vehicles stopped moving forward, and under covering fire, turned laboriously and moved back. A squadron of flying machines, which had been getting the better of a ragged22 battle with Lord Asriel's gyropters, wheeled in the sky and made off to the west. The Kingdom's forces on the ground, columns of riflemen, troops equipped with flamethrowers, with poison-spraying cannons23, with weapons such as none of the watchers had ever seen, began to disengage and pull back.
"What's going on?" said Lee. "They're leaving the field, but why?"
There seemed to be no reason for it: Lord Asriel's allies were outnumbered, their weapons were less potent24, and many more of them were lying wounded.
Then Will felt a sudden movement among the ghosts. They were pointing out at something drifting in the air.
"Specters!" said John Parry. "That's the reason."
And for the first time, Will and Lyra thought they could see those things, like veils of shimmering25 gauze, falling from the sky like thistledown. But they were very faint, and when they reached the ground, they were much harder to see.
"What are they doing?" said Lyra.
"They're making for that platoon of Asriel's riflemen...”
And Will and Lyra knew what would happen, and they both called out in fear: "Run! Get away!"
Some of the soldiers, hearing children's voices crying out from close by, looked around startled. Others, seeing a Specter making for them, so strange and blank and greedy, raised their guns and fired, but of course with no effect. And then it struck the first man it came to.
He was a soldier from Lyra's own world, an African. His daemon was a long-legged tawny26 cat spotted27 with black, and she drew back her teeth and prepared to spring.
They all saw the man aiming his rifle, fearless, not giving an inch, and then they saw the daemon in the toils28 of an invisible net, snarling29, howling, helpless, and the man trying to reach to her, dropping his rifle, crying her name, and sinking and fainting himself with pain and brutal30 nausea31.
"Right, Will," said John Parry. "Let us out now; we can fight those things."
So Will opened the window wide and ran out at the head of the army of ghosts; and then began the strangest battle he could imagine.
The ghosts clambered out of the earth, pale forms paler still in the midday light. They had nothing to fear anymore, and they threw themselves against the invisible Specters, grappling and wrestling and tearing at things Will and Lyra couldn't see at all.
The riflemen and the other living allies were bemused: they could make nothing of this ghostly, spectral32 combat. Will made his way through the middle of it, brandishing33 the knife, remembering how the Specters had fled from it before.
Wherever he went, Lyra went, too, wishing she had something to fight with as Will was doing, but looking around, watching more widely. She thought she could see the Specters from time to time, in an oily glistening34 of the air; and it was Lyra who felt the first shiver of danger.
With Salmakia on her shoulder, she found herself on a slight rise, just a bank of earth surmounted35 by hawthorn36 bushes, from which she could see the great sweep of country the invaders37 were laying waste.
The sun was above her. Ahead, on the western horizon, clouds lay heaped and brilliant, riven with chasms38 of darkness, their tops drawn39 out in the high-altitude winds. That way, too, on the plain, the enemy's ground forces waited: machines glinting brightly, flags astir with color, regiments40 drawn up, waiting.
Behind, and to her left, was the ridge41 of jagged hills leading up to the fortress. They shone bright gray in the lurid42 pre-storm light, and on the distant ramparts of black basalt, she could even see little figures moving about, repairing the damaged battlements, bringing more weapons to bear, or simply watching.
And it was about then that Lyra felt the first distant lurch43 of nausea, pain, and fear that was the unmistakable touch of the Specters.
She knew what it was at once, though she'd never felt it before. And it told her two things: first, that she must have grown up enough now to become vulnerable to the Specters, and secondly44, that Pan must be somewhere close by.
"Will, Will...” she cried.
He heard her and turned, knife in hand and eyes ablaze45.
But before he could speak, he gave a gasp46, made a choking lurch, and clutched his breast, and she knew the same thing was happening to him.
"Pan! Pan!" she cried, standing47 on tiptoe to look all around.
Will was bending over, trying not to be sick. After a few moments the feeling passed away, as if their demons48 had escaped; but they were no nearer to finding them, and all around the air was full of gunshots, cries, voices crying in pain or terror, the distant yowk-yowk-yowk of cliff-ghasts circling overhead, the occasional whiz and chock of arrows, and then a new sound: the rising of the wind.
Lyra felt it first on her cheeks, and then she saw the grass bending under it, and then she heard it in the hawthorns49. The sky ahead was huge with storm: all the whiteness had gone from the thunderheads, and they rolled and swirled50 with sulphur yellow, sea green, smoke gray, oil black, a queasy51 churning miles high and as wide as the horizon.
Behind her the sun was still shining, so that every grove52 and every single tree between her and the storm blazed ardent53 and vivid, little frail54 things defying the dark with leaf and twig55 and fruit and flower.
And through it all went the two no-longer-quite-children, seeing the Specters almost clearly now. The wind was snapping at Will's eyes and lashing56 Lyra's hair across her face, and it should have been able to blow the Specters away; but the things drifted straight down through it toward the ground. Boy and girl, hand in hand, picked their way over the dead and the wounded, Lyra calling for her daemon, Will alert in every sense for his.
And now the sky was laced with lightning, and then the first almighty57 crack of thunder hit their eardrums like an ax. Lyra put her hands to her head, and Will nearly stumbled, as if driven downward by the sound. They clung to each other and looked up, and saw a sight no one had ever seen before in any of the millions of worlds.
Witches, Ruta Skadi's clan, and Reina Miti's, and half a dozen others, every single witch carrying a torch of flaring58 pitch pine dipped in bitumen59, were streaming over the fortress from the east, from the last of the clear sky, and flying straight toward the storm.
Those on the ground could hear the roar and crackle as the volatile60 hydrocarbons61 flamed high above. A few Specters still remained in the upper airs, and some witches flew into them unseeing, to cry out and tumble blazing to the ground; but most of the pallid62 things had reached the earth by this time, and the great flight of witches streamed like a river of fire into the heart of the storm.
A flight of angels, armed with spears and swords, had emerged from the Clouded Mountain to meet the witches head-on. They had the wind behind them, and they sped forward faster than arrows; but the witches were equal to that, and the first ones soared up high and then dived into the ranks of the angels, lashing to left and right with their flaring torches. Angel after angel, outlined in fire, their wings ablaze, tumbled screaming from the air.
And then the first great drops of rain came down. If the commander in the storm clouds meant to douse63 the witch fires, he was disappointed; the pitch pine and the bitumen blazed defiance64 at it, spitting and hissing65 more loudly as more rain splashed into them. The raindrops hit the ground as if they'd been hurled66 in malice67, breaking and splashing up into the air. Within a minute Lyra and Will were both soaked to the skin and shaking with cold, and the rain stung their heads and arms like tiny stones.
Through it all they stumbled and struggled, wiping the water from their eyes, calling in the tumult68: "Pan! Pan!"
The thunder overhead was almost constant now, ripping and grinding and crashing as if the very atoms were being torn open. Between thunder crash and pang69 of fear ran Will and Lyra, howling, both of them, "Pan! My Pantalaimon! Pan!" from Lyra and a wordless cry from Will, who knew what he had lost, but not what she was named.
With them everywhere went the two Gallivespians, warning them to look this way, to go that way, watching out for the Specters the children could still not fully70 see. But Lyra had to hold Salmakia in her hands, because the Lady had little strength left to cling to Lyra's shoulder. Tialys was scanning the skies all around, searching for his kindred and calling out whenever he saw a needle-bright darting71 movement through the air above. But his voice had lost much of its power, and in any case the other Gallivespians were looking for the clan colors of their two dragonflies, the electric blue and the red-and-yellow; and those colors had long since faded, and the bodies that had shone with them lay in the world of the dead.
And then came a movement in the sky that was different from the rest. As the children looked up, sheltering their eyes from the lashing raindrops, they saw an aircraft unlike any they'd seen before, ungainly, six-legged, dark, and totally silent. It was flying low, very low, from the fortress. It skimmed overhead, no higher than a rooftop above them, and then moved away into the heart of the storm.
But they had no time to wonder about it, because another head-wrenching throb72 of nausea told Lyra that Pan was in danger again, and then Will felt it, too, and they stumbled blindly through the puddles73 and the mud and the chaos74 of wounded men and fighting ghosts, helpless, terrified, and sick.
收听单词发音 |
1
desperately
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| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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sobs
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| 啜泣（声），呜咽（声）( sob的名词复数 ) | |
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laboriously
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| adv.艰苦地；费力地；辛勤地；（文体等）佶屈聱牙地 | |
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gal
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| n.姑娘，少女 | |
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brilliance
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| n.光辉，辉煌，壮丽，（卓越的）才华，才智 | |
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vowed
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| 起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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scrambled
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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trickle
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| vi.淌，滴，流出，慢慢移动，逐渐消散 | |
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fortress
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| n.堡垒，防御工事 | |
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candid
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| adj.公正的，正直的；坦率的 | |
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scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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jolts
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| （使）摇动， （使）震惊( jolt的名词复数 ) | |
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rattle
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| v.飞奔，碰响；激怒；n.碰撞声；拨浪鼓 | |
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amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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swooped
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| 俯冲，猛冲( swoop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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clan
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| n.氏族，部落，宗族，家族，宗派 | |
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darted
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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swooping
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| 俯冲，猛冲( swoop的现在分词 ) | |
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ragged
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| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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cannons
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| n.加农炮，大炮，火炮( cannon的名词复数 ) | |
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potent
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| adj.强有力的，有权势的；有效力的 | |
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shimmering
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| v.闪闪发光，发微光( shimmer的现在分词 ) | |
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tawny
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| adj.茶色的，黄褐色的；n.黄褐色 | |
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spotted
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| adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的 | |
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toils
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| 网 | |
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snarling
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| v.（指狗）吠，嗥叫， （人）咆哮( snarl的现在分词 )；咆哮着说，厉声地说 | |
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brutal
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| adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的 | |
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nausea
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| n.作呕，恶心；极端的憎恶(或厌恶) | |
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spectral
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| adj.幽灵的，鬼魂的 | |
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brandishing
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| v.挥舞( brandish的现在分词 )；炫耀 | |
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glistening
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| adj.闪耀的，反光的v.湿物闪耀，闪亮( glisten的现在分词 ) | |
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35
surmounted
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| 战胜( surmount的过去式和过去分词 )； 克服（困难）； 居于…之上； 在…顶上 | |
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hawthorn
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| 山楂 | |
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invaders
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| 入侵者，侵略者，侵入物( invader的名词复数 ) | |
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chasms
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| 裂缝( chasm的名词复数 )； 裂口； 分歧； 差别 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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regiments
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| （军队的）团( regiment的名词复数 )； 大量的人或物 | |
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ridge
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| n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭 | |
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lurid
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| adj.可怕的；血红的；苍白的 | |
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lurch
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| n.突然向前或旁边倒；v.蹒跚而行 | |
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44
secondly
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| adv.第二，其次 | |
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45
ablaze
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| adj.着火的，燃烧的；闪耀的，灯火辉煌的 | |
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46
gasp
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| n.喘息，气喘；v.喘息；气吁吁他说 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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demons
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| n.恶人( demon的名词复数 )；恶魔；精力过人的人；邪念 | |
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49
hawthorns
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| n.山楂树( hawthorn的名词复数 ) | |
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50
swirled
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| v.旋转，打旋( swirl的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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51
queasy
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| adj.易呕的 | |
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52
grove
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| n.林子，小树林，园林 | |
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53
ardent
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，强烈的，烈性的 | |
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54
frail
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| adj.身体虚弱的；易损坏的 | |
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55
twig
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| n.小树枝，嫩枝；v.理解 | |
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56
lashing
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| n.鞭打；痛斥；大量；许多v.鞭打( lash的现在分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
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57
almighty
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| adj.全能的，万能的；很大的，很强的 | |
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58
flaring
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| a.火焰摇曳的，过份艳丽的 | |
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59
bitumen
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| n.沥青 | |
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60
volatile
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| adj.反复无常的，挥发性的，稍纵即逝的，脾气火爆的；n.挥发性物质 | |
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61
hydrocarbons
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| n.碳氢化合物，烃( hydrocarbon的名词复数 ) | |
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62
pallid
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| adj.苍白的，呆板的 | |
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63
douse
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| v.把…浸入水中，用水泼；n.泼洒 | |
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64
defiance
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| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
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65
hissing
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| n. 发嘶嘶声, 蔑视 动词hiss的现在分词形式 | |
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66
hurled
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| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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67
malice
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| n.恶意，怨恨，蓄意；[律]预谋 | |
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68
tumult
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| n.喧哗；激动，混乱；吵闹 | |
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69
pang
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| n.剧痛，悲痛，苦闷 | |
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70
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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71
darting
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的现在分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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72
throb
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| v.震颤，颤动；(急速强烈地)跳动，搏动 | |
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73
puddles
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| n.水坑， （尤指道路上的）雨水坑( puddle的名词复数 ) | |
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74
chaos
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| n.混乱，无秩序 | |
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