Frank and the Northern Lights - Chapter 9 part 2 - The Spies

The Spies (part two).

One day, while they were talking, they were shocked that Jacob Huismans, the spy, came back seriously wounded. He couldn’t open his mouth due to his injuries. So his demon spoke to Farder Coram about what had happened. Even though it was rare for demons to speak to anyone except their masters, this was such an unusual situation that neither Farder Coram nor Lyra were shocked. His demon, demons usually had a different sex from their maters, said one spy died and another was captured. Also she said the spies had captured three Gobblers and had discovered who they were working for, where the orders came from and so on. However, she said they didn’t know where the kidnapped children were being taken except that it was north.
After that event, John Faa called Lyra to talk. He asked her to go with them to the North and she accepted it. He might have had no choice as she was necessary to the journey.

After that two weeks passed, Lyra was outside just for fresh air and Pantalaimon was flying as the seagull. Suddenly small black widgets started attaching themselves to Pantalaimon’s body. He fell down like a crashed air plane into the river. She was rarely mad but this was one of those times, as Lyra couldn’t do anything. At that moment, something swept past her and she realized Pantalaimon was alive. The tiller man’s demon had saved Pantalaimon’s life. The widgets were still attached to his body although he changed into a cat. Farder Coram knew what they were and informed them that the widgets were pieces of clockwork equipment sent to prevent their journey continuing.

When they were going on with their voyage, she heard one more gyptian spy had gone missing during his work. And finally, she would be able to go to the North by the best way-among friends.