Consistorial Court of Discipline

We are at an important meeting of church dignitaries. Mrs Coulter, Fra Paval, Lord Boreal and the President of the Consistorial Court of Discipline are present. Mrs Coulter is asking for permission to be the person who leads the hunt for Lyra. The president is not easily convinced.

Lord Boreal makes an important statement about a very special knife that he is worried Lord Asriel will use to destroy the Authority. It is a knife of astonishing sharpness. It can cut through air. It can cut through spirit with ease. There was one other attempt to destroy the Authority many years ago which failed, mainly because the Authority, being made of spirit, could not be harmed by any physical weapon. But this knife is thought to have the power to bring him down.

The president demands Lord Boreal goes and gets the knife. But Lord Boreal explains it is in a city guarded by spectres that destroy the souls of adults, so that only a child could capture the knife. Lord Boreal says he knows of a child who can do this and names Will.