Chapter Twenty-Five: High Mountain Cradle

Marcel Delamare studies routes to Karamakan and realizes the Tien Shan makes a direct advance impossible. Airlifts are thwarted by deadly oghâb-gorgs and gryphons. On his dæmon’s advice, he consults Felix Murad, confirms gryphon politics and their gold-obsession, and orders Schreiber to redeploy to his headquarters.

Concurrently, Olivier Bonneville languishes in a squalid Lesser Caucasus jail, fearful for the alethiometer seized with his rucksack. After rough handling by guards, a senior officer offers negotiation. Bonneville asserts diplomatic status, demands conditions to read, and is moved to an office where his alethiometer lies intact.

On the Baku headland, Lyra and Malcolm witness a larger motor yacht arrive. Ionides and Leila willingly board, greeted by uniformed men under a lamp-emblem flag, suggesting Magisterial authority. Yusif, their boatman, is threatened but spared at Leila’s word; Lyra compensates him. Shocked by Ionides’s departure, Lyra reels as Gulya arrives with news: Prince Keshvād goes south to herald Sorush’s death, the freed captives, and the troves of gold.

Gulya flies Lyra, Malcolm, and Asta to a safer coastal headland to rest, promising to guard them. The witches are absent, likely returning to report Sorush’s death. Under moonlight, Lyra collapses into sleep, unsettled by Ionides’s apparent defection and Leila’s allegiance.

Pressed by the brigadier, Bonneville conducts a strained reading. He reports the Karamakan research station is active again, likely by a former investigator, and that Lyra is near a mountainous coastline, probably the Caspian. Claiming the process is physically taxing, he stalls for time, but when brought to the brigadier’s office, he discovers Delamare waiting, revealing the President’s direct oversight.