The Book of Dust: The Secret Commonwealth (Book of Dust, Volume 2) by Philip Pullman

Author:Philip Pullman [Pullman, Philip]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2019-10-03T00:00:00+00:00

Malcolm’s eyes were giving him trouble. The spangled ring, which he thought of as his personal aurora, had been trembling just out of sight for days; not continuously, but for longer than usual, and never quite appearing. It was as if the world was being projected by a magic lantern on a screen that wasn’t quite securely fastened. Asta too, although she couldn’t see the ring as he could, was aware of something uneasy in their vision.

They reached Geneva late on a windy afternoon, when the skies were dark with both the approaching evening and a threatening storm. The city was busy, because the Magisterial Congress was just coming to an end. In truth, Malcolm had no need to go through Geneva, and doing so could even have been called reckless; but it would be useful to learn what had been discussed. Besides, he knew that Simon Talbot was attending the congress, and he wanted to find him if he could.

He planned to leave the city by train, but he arrived by bus, because bus stops were less often watched by the authorities than railway stations. He and Asta got off in a dreary suburb, an area of small factories, market gardens, timber yards, and the like. The road ran along the lakeshore for a short way, and in the rapidly gathering dark they could see the lights across the water on the fashionable side of the city, and the great snow-covered mountains beyond, ghostly under the moonless sky. There was a yacht club or something of the sort over there, and in the blustery air they could hear the tapping of the rigging wires against the masts, like a thousand Swiss clocks.

They walked on a little way. Malcolm stopped and rubbed his eyes.

“I can feel it too,” said Asta.

“It’s as if the damn thing snapped and all the spangles got blown everywhere. If it doesn’t make its mind up, we’ll have to lie down, but I’d much rather not.”

“Talbot.”

“That’s right. I want to…Wait a minute.” He was peering at the rusty padlocked gate of a large house behind a stone wall.

“What is it?” she said, and jumped up to his shoulder.

“Something there…”

It was nearly dark. Something was moving or fluttering on the gate. He thought at first it was a leaf caught in a spider’s web, and next that it might have been some kind of glowworm, but then it resolved into something familiar: the spangled ring itself. It was flickering in the semi-darkness, over the heavy padlock, and it drew him towards itself as if it were reeling in a fish. He went willingly. Asta couldn’t see it herself, but she felt the old excitement that came to him.

He reached out towards the twisting, shimmering vision. He wanted to pick it up and hold it in the palm of his hand, knowing that of course he couldn’t; but as he touched the padlock, the shackle slipped out of the body with a smooth click, as if it had been recently oiled.

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