The Molten Pendant

Chapter 4 - The search

Lyra lay on her bed in Jordan College, reading the book Dr Polstead had given her. She was up to Chapter Two (the first chapter had given her an overview of the Pendant and its powers). This chapter discussed how to locate it. Although she had completed this chapter several times already, she was determined to solve the riddle the book gave her. Each line hid a different location somewhere inside it. At each location would be a piece to help find the pendant. The first line read:

Sail around the ice then across a wide expanse. Past the spices then dig your marker into the orange sand.

Lyra understood the first part well enough. She wasn't too keen of a sailor, but she would do it if that was what it took to find the first piece of the puzzle. But the second part stumped her. What did it mean by spices, and where would she find orange sand? Lyra stared out her window, eyes glazed over with concentration. She sat there thinking for a while, considering the different meanings for each of the words. But she just couldn't figure it out and slowly her eyes slid back into focus. She was looking directly at the Oxford Berg, a column of ice that floated in the Oxford Canal and never moved. It sat about a kilometre away from Jordan. 'Ice!' Lyra thought. She flattened her face and craned her neck so she could see out of the far left of her window. There was a small footbridge which crossed the canal to: 'Port Meadow! A large expanse!' she thought to herself. On the far side of the meadow was the Oxford International Museum. She knew that was where she had to go to get the first piece.

Ten minutes later Lyra found herself standing outside the museum. The once white pillars off the entrance were now grey and brown with mould and dirt. The stairs were covered in a thick layer of dust, and Lyra's footprints were clearly visible as she walked up to the door. A sign on it said 'Open', but it didn't seem like anyone had visited for years. The atrium was cold and dank, and smelled like rats. The old attendant didn't even look up as she walked past the front desk. "He's probably deaf," Lyra whispered to Pantalaimon. At the end of the hall there was a big map of the museum. Lyra felt that it would be an important part of the search, and was drawn to it. Her eyes flicked across the map, looking for something that would help. She spotted it. In the back corner of the museum there was an exhibit called The Spice Nations: The Javan Islands and Siam. 'Spices!' she thought. She ran around to the exhibit and tried to call the next line of the riddle from the back of her mind. "Then dig your marker into the burning sand," Pantalaimon reminded her. Behind the Spices Exhibit was another one called: The Austral Empire: A Desert Kingdom. At the centre of the exhibit was a diorama complete with stuffed creatures and plants. There were several strange animals, including one that stood on its hind legs and had a long drooping tail, and another that looked like a squirrel with a duck's beak. In a different situation Lyra would have been fascinated by these creatures, but all that she noticed was the ground they were standing on. It was sand! Bright orange sand! "But where's the marker?" she murmured to herself. Pantalaimon leapt from her arms and scurried around, investigating. "Lyra! Come over here!" he said. On one side of the diorama was a large flag which bore a green star on a gold canvas.

Lyra hurried over to where Pantalaimon was looking. Carved into the metal at the base of the flagpole were the words Eagles Ironworks Marker type 2. "The marker," Pantalaimon breathed. Suddenly it popped into Lyra's brain exactly what she had to do. She stood up and seized the pole at a point about halfway down. She then forced her hands downwards, moving the pole with them. Lyra flinched and looked away as metal creaked and grinded, and sparks flew. The flag sunk lower and lower into the sand, while at the same time a small square in the floor was being opened. The grinding noise stopped suddenly and Lyra looked back. Where the flag used to be, there sat a small opening in the floor with a box in the middle. With trembling hands, she reached down and gently picked it up. Pantalaimon jumped up onto her shoulder for a closer look. Lyra flipped a catch on the box and slowly raised the lid.

Inside the box there lay a small key lying on green velvet. Wrapped around the key was a brown, worn piece of parchment. With two fingers Lyra lifted it from the box and unravelled the paper. On one side it said:

I chose the empire because I wanted to represent the place of my origin. I was born to a native mother by the name of Kewilla.

Lyra flipped over the paper. On the other side was written in a scrawnier text:

Well done on finding the key. I have another riddle for you. It goes like this: As the canals contain many burial sites, so do their overthrower. But to find the one here you will not need to dig, but instead a bottle of rum.

Confused, Lyra stuffed the paper in her pocketand exited the museum, throwing a bottle cap into the donation bucket as sheleft.