Once Upon a Time in the North by Philip Pullman

struggling to swing the barrel back round, and then Iorek shoved again and the gun went off with a flash of fire and smoke and a deafening bang, sending a shell skipping across the water, right into the side of the quay beside the coal tanker. It exploded with a plume of water, and rock hurled high into the air, scattering the ship's crew and the crane driver. But few noticed them, because the blast of the gun had infuriated Iorek, and now he had his claws under the rear of the carriage, and while the engine roared and the caterpillar tracks screamed on the stone, the bear straightened his back with an immense effort and heaved the whole weapon and its three-man crew into the water with a huge splash. One of the men jumped clear; the other two disappeared with the gun.
    Cheers from the ship's crew, a yell of delight from Lee.
    The bear dropped to all fours again and sauntered along to join Lee at the schooner.
    "Well, I'd hate to see you get angry, York Byrnison," said Lee.
    Across the water, the crew of the coal tanker were cautiously inspecting the damage to the wharf. The crane driver was shaking his head at the bosun, who was yelling at him to get back to work, and the driver in charge of the rail trucks was running back from the engine to see what had happened. Even the dredger had stopped work for a minute, but presently the steady chugging resumed.
    For the moment, no one was moving among the crowd further down the quay. Lee looked around more carefully. To his right as he faced towards the town loomed the bulk of the warehouse: a three-story building in gray stone, with a row of windows on the top and middle floors. The massive doors were of steel, and opened inwards. Projecting from the center of the wall above the top floor, just under the eaves, was a beam and tackle for lifting goods directly up. The sun was bright now, for the clouds had blown away, and it shone full on the warehouse front from over Lee's left shoulder when he faced down the quay.
    Behind him, the Captain was shouting orders, and Lee heard a muffled bang from belowdecks, followed by a coughing throb, which told of the detonator starting the heavy-oil engine. On the foredeck, two sailors were busily removing the cover from the forward hatch, while another man was checking the tackle on a derrick that had been rigged over it on the foremast.
    Suddenly Hester said, "Top floor right, Lee."
    He swung the rifle up towards the warehouse and saw what she'd seen: a flicker of movement behind the third window in from the end. He kept the rifle trained directly on it, but saw no more movement.
    Iorek Byrnison stood beside Lee, glaring down the length of the quay towards the crowd. The Captain and the mate came down to join them.
    "Now, Mr. Mate," said Lee, "how you going to move that cargo of yours?"
    "It's on trucks," the mate said. "We set it all up ready before they locked us out. It won't take half an hour."
    "Right. Captain, tell me this: what's the layout in the warehouse? What do we see when we open the door?"
    "The space is fully open. There are columns, I don't know how many, stone columns supporting the floors above. On the ground floor at present there are mostly bundles of furs and skins. My cargo is near the far wall on the left-hand side, stacked ready on trucks."
    "These bundles of skins—how high are they stacked? Can I look right across the whole space in there, or are they too high to see over?"
    "Too high, I think."
    "And what about stairs?"
    "In the center at the back."
    "And the upper floors?"
    "I don't know what—"
    "Lee! Top left!" said Hester, and in the same moment Lee caught a flash of sunlight as a window opened.
    He swung the rifle up, and that must have put the sharpshooter off, because the one snatched pistol shot went past him and thudded into the deck of the schooner. Lee fired back at once. The window shattered, scattering broken glass down three floors to the ground, but there was no sign of the gunman.
    Iorek Byrnison