An Opus Alchymicum Vol 1: The Experimental Theologian's Apprentice

Ice Station Zebra

'Ice Station Zebra'

Hermione looked up at the huge, snow-covered letters of the sign above the entrance door to the complex, just as Iorek came to a stop and allowed her to slide off his back. It had been a surprisingly smooth ride, and Hermione's dainty self weighed little more than a feather to the powerful bear, so they had made good time. Serafina and her witches had pulled the sled using some spell or another, and Lyra and Mal now busied themselves unloading their cargo, just as the wind began to pick up again.

Papageno was there too, somewhere, just hidden out of sight. Hermione could feel him close, just on the periphery of her mind and vision. She kept the Bluebell Flame jar in sight at all times, just so he could see it, too. How he had managed to follow them, Hermione couldn't guess, unless he had just snuck onto the sled, or masked himself as one of the snow-dogs.

Either way, he was there with them ... and Hermione was hopeful that very soon he'd come back to her.

But for now she distracted herself by assessing her surroundings. The Portal Station was a most unremarkable-looking thing, so nondescript that Hermione thought you'd probably miss it if you didn't know it was there. Then she realised that this was probably the very point. It was a large, dome-shaped metal structure, a little bit like an upside-down ice cream cone, with seven flat-panelled sides that came to an apex level with the tops of the surrounding trees. The dark grey metal blended in with the snow and the rugged sides of a sheer ravine that orbited it from the West.

It wasn't the most welcoming of locations.

"Are you afraid, Miss Hermione?"

Hermione turned to face Iorek Byrnison, King of the panserbjorne, who had spoken to her. His gruff, growl of a voice had frightened her when they first met, but now she sought solace in the power it commanded, and took an example from his strength and bravery. Or, at least, as much as an eleven-year-old new witch could.

"A little bit," Hermione confessed. "Do you ever get scared, King Iorek?"

"Not often, but it happens," the great bear replied. "And when it does, I defeat it."

"How do you beat fear?" Hermione asked. "Because fear for you must be something very great indeed. I cant imagine what could scare the panserbjorne."

"We have fears enough, but they would not be of your understanding," Iorek continued. "But when I meet fear, I accept it. I face it like any other enemy, and master it as such. You would do well to do the same, for where you are going, you will face one of the most challenging types of fear - the unknown."

"Would that scare you?"

"To begin with, yes," Iorek answered. "To go to a place where I didn't know myself, where my own kind was different, despite looking the same - that would be challenging, indeed. I have heard that bears there are not like they are here - they have no armour, they struggle for survival, they allow humans to put them in cages and charge money to be seen as curiosities. That is no life for a bear."

"Or any other animal," Hermione agreed. "I cant understand how any creature can make a slave of another. It's horrible to even think about it."

"You will go far, young witch," Iorek observed in his rolling growl. "If you maintain such an attitude. You will be a Silvertongue daughter of great worth to the world."

Hermione blushed at that. "Thank you, King Iorek. And thank you for coming to rescue me. I cant remember if I said thank you for that or not."

"You did, but I will accept your thanks again," Iorek replied. "Lyra and Queen Pekkala tell me you have great deeds to achieve in your life. Even a bear is not insensible of making formidable alliances with such a human. I would not be sorry to cross paths with you again, young witch. If you have need of me in the future, Lyra will know how to find me."