Chapter Twenty-Eight: Double Thunder

The witch–gryphon alliance advances with complementary tactics: witches scout swiftly and independently while disciplined gryphons range by day. Sala Riikola flies ahead into the Tien Shan foothills and discovers a vast Magisterium camp. Tracking a night party into a ravine, she witnesses soldiers chaining a drugged prisoner as bait for the oghâb-gorgs.

As the murder-birds descend in a frenzy, soldiers detonate wired boxes: a silent bloom of red, then a devastating double thunder that kills only a few birds while most are flung clear and return to feed. The officer attempts measurements but retreats under the birds’ renewed savagery. Sala withdraws and reports.

Back with Prince Keshvād, Malcolm, Lyra, Gulya, and the witches, Sala’s account confirms the bomb’s limited effect in open air. Malcolm predicts they will try a tighter ravine next; Lyra recalls a dragonfly guiding swallows, proposing that a leader could steer the flock’s mob behavior. The allies debate options and settle to rest in the cold.

Through the night, Lyra and Malcolm share warmth and speak quietly. Malcolm recounts his two times falling in love with Alice Lonsdale and how they later remained close friends; Lyra reflects on Will and recognizes she is not in love with Malcolm, though they trust each other.

Meanwhile, Pan and Tilda Vasara push along the Tien Shan’s northern edge, avoiding the murder-birds’ heights. Exhausted, they descend onto glacier ice; Tilda breaks taboos to cradle Pan so he can sleep, prioritizing survival over custom.

Elsewhere, Olivier Bonneville is dragged from his cell before dawn by Magisterium officers. Beaten and hurried into a van, he learns only that the President wants him moved east, and is driven away under guard.