A belated announcement of the contest winners for our competition to win a copy of Navigating the Golden Compass, a collection of essays on the themes of His Dark Materials. Winners from North America were Kayla, Guido and Ben; whilst Great Britain and Ireland winners were Jess, Emma and Scott. Well done to all, who should hopefully have their books by now or very soon. Read a few of the best winning entries here.
The challenge was to interpret the following..

You are on a battleship making its way to the Skagerrak strait, just south of Norway, to intercept a Tartar ship that has strayed into Holy European waters. Docked for the evening on the nearby coast, the captain wants to know why the vessel is encroaching and what to expect when you come in range of it. You consult your alethiometer and the needle flickers to:

Angel, Helmet, Candle, Owl, Griffin

What is the alethiometer saying?

The 'correct' answer which the alethiometer gave drew from various levels of meaning on the device.

The Angel signified the third meaning, disobediance; which nearly all entrants got correctly – perhaps immediately thinking of pirates or mutiny when considering the ship based context. The Helmet was the very obvious war; with Candle qualifying this further by involving fire – so there would be an attack with fire. The action foresawn, the Owl gave the time of attack – nightime; whilst also combining with the Griffin, watchfulness, to say that there was no need to fear now that the crew and captain knew what to expect.

That exact meaning could of course not be discerned by any other than a master alethiometrist, but none-the-less the entries received were extraordinarily close to the meaning, and very entertaining; Kayla wrote hers as a story, whilst Jess' was delivered in a particularly exuberant style. Here's a selection of those best:

Kayla

The captain had moved back on deck, shouting orders to all keep watch on that ship. I ducked inside a nearby cabin room and shut the door. Sliding down to sit on the floor, I pulled out the alethiometer. I wondered myself why the Tartar ship and come into these waters. The dangerous bay that we were in had jagged rocks thrusting out of the bluish gray water, and the waves caused more to appear and then disappear. The fact that the only hiding place would be in fog made my wonder increase even more.

Pushing a lock of hair behind my ear, I fell into the oh-so-familiar trance that occurs when reading the golden instrument. To a person that is unfamiliar with this phase, it may have looked like I was taking a nap. Really though, I felt like I was drifting along through rows and rows of information. I felt like I knew everything, and was one with everything. In fact, I was barely aware of turning the dials and distantly kept in mind the symbols that the needle stopped on. Then, suddenly, the feeling was gone, and I was left with a complicated riddle of pictures. The Angel, the Helmet, the Candle, the Griffin, and the Owl. And unfortunately…it all made sense.

I pushed myself off the cold, damp wood floorboards and made my way up to the main deck. Our captain was looking off the bow of the boat, staring off at the ship a few 100 yards away.

“Captain, we have an extremely big problem.”

The handsome captain looked at me with cold eyes. He didn't speak to me much, being a woman and my only use was the alethiometer. But he trusted me, and that was what kept me aboard this ship.

“Speak.”

“When I finished reading the alethiometer, five symbols were pointed to: the owl, griffin, angel, helmet, and candle. Unfortunately, I have an idea what it means.”

He continued to stare with curiosity hinted in his eyes. “Continue.”

“I believe we have a traitor on our boat.”

His blue eyes widened. “Impossible!”

“'Tis true sir. The angel says there is a disobedience occurring on this vessel. The owl says fear. The person disobeying fears being found for his treacherous deeds. The helmet says war. A war is going to be started if what is predicted comes true. The candle says faith. The person disobeying is faithful to one group, and only one, no matter what act he puts on. And finally, the griffin says watchfulness meaning he is a very watchful person. Whether that is his job or if he is being watchful.”

The captain stared dumbfounded for a second, then composed himself.

“So, what are you saying?”

I shuddered to think of what the captain's reaction might be if he hears what I am about to say. But unfortunately, it makes sense.

“Well, the person shared valuable information on our location on where we were going to be tonight. The person told the Tartars. The person is faithful to the Tartars because they promise him gold and riches. Sir, he sold us out. And that person… works in the crow's nest. That person, that boy, is your son sir…”

Ben

The Tartar ship is carrying a message to a tartar-like tribe on the Southwestern tip of Norway. Unbeknownst to you, the Northern Tartars have made a pact with the southern tribe and plan to wage war on the lands of the south (with their main target being both Oxford, which they've traced Marisa Coulter and the church to, as well as a small expedition to a number of small Witch outposts) behalf of Stanislaus Grumman, their fallen Shaman. This explains both the angel (messanger ship), the helmet (war), the candle (faith; the church). The attacks are to occur simultaneously (maximum amount of planning available) the coming winter. The winter attack alludes to the owl. The griffin is a warning to our own ship, which tells us that there are scouts travelling a day in front and behind the boats, watching to make sure the message is delivered (if one ship falls, another must be sure to get the message to the southern tribe).

This is the explanation for the alethiometer's message.

Jess

Right, the Tartar ship wasn't meant to invade European waters at all, but the captin of the Tartar ship disobeys orders (the Angel) and decides attack the sacred waters of Norway to gain glory for himself and the Tartar Empire. He believes the gods will help him in his task, being a religious fanatic and narrowminded (the Helmet). He plans to attack at dawn, using the misty foggy waters of Norway to help spring his suprise attack (the Candle, aka candle light)

HOWEVER! the second in command of the Tartar ship *knows* the attack will fail, as he once belonged to the European Royal Navy and is wise (the Owl) and knows an aleithometer will be being used against them. He also knows a munity aboard will bring far less shame to the tartar empire and that if he can overthrow the zealous captain, he will gain favour within the Empire – and end the segregation he feels because he was not born a Tartar.

So….gathering courage (the Griffin), he uses the strength of the ship mates (Griffin again) to beat the captain to death; he turns around the ship, and they sail back from whence they came.

So, there is no reason to prepare for an attack, because there wont be one.

THE END!