The Book of Dust, #3
The Rose Field
by Philip Pullman
Contents
Chapter Thirty-Five: Dust and Roses
Overview
The door to the rose-world portal locks just before a bomb obliterates it. Inside, Olivier Bonneville murders Marcel Delamare as Colonel Schreiber’s team dies, and Delamare’s owl dæmon dissolves. Outside, Lyra, reeling, uses her steel needle to find a surviving micro-tear and cuts it open, bringing Pantalaimon back.
Summary
At the portal structure, Lyra and Malcolm find the door inexplicably locked. As they listen, a blast rips the building apart, throwing them down the slope.
Inside the ruin, Colonel Schreiber and several soldiers die. Olivier Bonneville, in terror and rage, stabs Marcel Delamare to death; as Delamare dies, his owl dæmon dissipates. The bomb has shattered the copper-roofed folly and pulverized the opening between worlds into a cloud of glittering fragments.
Outside, deafened and dazed, Lyra and Malcolm struggle to orient themselves. Asta reports workers approaching and then returning to their duties. Realizing the portal is destroyed, Lyra recalls the steel needle she once used to pick a lock and retrieves it from her pocket.
Fighting dizziness, Lyra steadies herself on a fallen willow and studies the air for specks that do not move—tiny surviving tears between worlds. She and Malcolm call for Pantalaimon; faintly, Pan answers from the other side.
Lyra locates a stationary glint and, bracing her injured hand, inserts the needle’s tip, slicing the minuscule gap open. The air parts, revealing her own world long enough for Pantalaimon to tumble through into her arms, reuniting dæmon and human.
Who Appears
- Lyra SilvertongueStunned by the blast; methodically finds a micro-tear and cuts it open to reunite with Pan.
- Pantalaimon (Pan)Separated on the other side; answers Lyra’s call and returns through her newly cut opening.
- Malcolm PolsteadInjured but supportive; shields Lyra, coordinates with Asta, steadies her during the delicate cutting.
- AstaGuides Lyra, prompts her to use the needle, and reports on workers and surroundings.
- Olivier BonnevilleMurders Marcel Delamare in panic and fury; clutches his wounded dæmon afterward.
- Marcel DelamareMagisterium leader; mortally stabbed by Bonneville; his owl dæmon vanishes upon death.
- Colonel SchreiberBomb officer killed in the explosion that shatters the inter-world opening.