As if we weren't already stressed enough, Pullman has us on pins and needles and the fantasy elements of this store come to the fore. Your Materialists are SMITTEN with the Gallivespians and I bet you are too.
As chapter five opens, four angels pursue Baruch through a lake of molten sulfur on his way to Lord Asriel’s fortress, the Adamant Tower. Baruch keeps low to the ground, which has kept him safe but added time that he doesn’t have to his journey. Fearing his message will arrive too late, Baruch risks taking to the skies. Almost immediately, two of Metatron’s angels attack and the three struggle in midair, rising and falling among the rocks. At the western end of the saw-toothed mountains, a great fortress seems to rise and burst out of the ancient lava flows. Through a small sentry gate, a wounded Baruch is assisted by three hooded figures who take him to Lord Asriel. Gravely injured, Baruch tells Lord Asriel that the Authority has retired deep inside the Clouded Mountain and no longer attends to the daily affairs of the Kingdom. The Authority believes that conscious beings have become perilously independent, and the church, corrupt and weak, so Metatron is going to more directly intervene in human affairs starting by destroying Asriel’s Republic. Baruch continues; he tells Lord Asriel about the subtle knife and reveals that the boy who wields it is none other than the son of Stanislaus Grumman. Moreover, the boy, Will, is friends with Lyra and is looking for her. Asriel asks Baruch if he knows where Lyra is and to show him on a map. Suddenly, a soldier bursts through the door. Already struggling to keep himself together, the draft proves too much and Baruch dissipates into the air, whispering Balthamos’ name with his last breath. Immediately, Lord Asriel summons several of his allies. Meanwhile, Fra Pavel sits in front of the Consistorial Court, one of several warring factions inside the Magisterium, and tells them that Lyra is with Mrs. Coulter somewhere in their Himalayas. Knowing that she is to be the new Eve, and fearful of the implications, the Court sends a lone assassin, Father Gomez, to find and kill her. It is understood that once he leaves the safety of the Court, Father Gomez will be disavowed by all involved. Father McPhail gives him one last piece of advice: Do not look for the girl; rather, look for the Tempter, for in doing so she will lead him straight to Lyra.