The Wee Free Men

Tiffany managed to haul Roland across her shoulder and, staggering across the rocks, made it to the lighthouse door as the water crashed behind her—

— for a moment the world was full of white light—

— and snow squeaked underfoot.

It was the silent, cold land of the Queen. There was no one around and nothing to see except snow and, in the distance, the forest. Black clouds hovered over it.

Ahead of her, and only just visible, was a picture in the air. It showed some turf, and a few stones, lit with moonlight.

It was the other side of the door back home.

She turned round desperately.

'Please!' she shouted. It wasn't a request to anyone special. She just needed to shout. 'Rob? William? Wullie? Wentworth?

Away towards the forest there was the barking of the grimhounds.

'Got to get out,' muttered Tiffany. 'Got to get away...'

She grabbed Roland by the collar and dragged him towards the door. At least he slid better on snow.

No one and nothing tried to stop her. The snow spilled a little way through the doorway between the stones and onto the turf, but the air was warm and alive with night-time insect noises. Under a real moon, under a real sky, she pulled the boy over to a fallen stone and sat him up against it. She sat down next to him, exhausted to the bone, and tried to get her breath back.

Her dress was soaked, and smelled of the sea.

She could hear her own thoughts, a long way off:

They could still be alive. It was a dream, after all. There must be a way back. All I have to do is find it. I've got to go back in there.

The dogs sounded very loud...

She stood up again, although what she really wanted to do was sleep.

The three stones of the door were a black shape against the stars.

And as she watched, they fell down. The one on the left slipped over, slowly, and the other two ended up leaning against it.

She ran over and hauled at the tons of stone. She prodded the air around them in case the doorway was still there. She squinted madly, trying to see it.

Tiffany stood under the stars, alone, and tried not to cry.

'What a shame,' said the Queen. 'You've let everybody down, haven't you...?'

Chapter 13—Land Under Wave

The Queen walked over the turf towards Tiffany. Where she'd trodden, frost gleamed for a moment. The little part of Tiffany that was still thinking thought: That grass will be dead in the morning. She's killing my turf.

'The whole of life is but a dream, when you come to think of it,' said the Queen in the same infuriatingly calm, pleasant voice. She sat down on the fallen stones. 'You humans are such dreamers. You dream that you're clever. You dream that you're important. You dream that you're special. You know, you're almost better than dromes. You're certainly more imaginative. I have to thank you.'

'What for?' said Tiffany, looking at her boots. Terror clamped her body in red-hot wires. There wasn't anywhere to run to.

'I never realized how wonderful your world is,' said the Queen. 'I mean, the dromes... well, they're not much more than a kind of walking sponge, really. Their world is ancient. It's nearly dead. They're not really creative any more. With a little help from me, your people could be a lot better. Because, you see, you dream all the time.You, especially, dream all the time. Your picture of the world is a landscape with you in the middle of it, isn't it? Wonderful. Look at you, in that rather horrible dress and those clumpy boots. You dreamed you could invade my world with a frying pan. You had this dream about Brave Girl Rescuing Little Brother. You thought you were the heroine of a story. And then you left him behind. You know, I think being hit by a billion tons of sea water must be like having a mountain of iron drop on your head, don't you?'

Tiffany couldn't think. Her head was full of hot, pink fog. It hadn't worked.

Her Third Thoughts were somewhere in the fog, trying to make themselves heard.

'Got Roland out,' she muttered, still staring at her boots.

'But he's not yours,' said the Queen. 'He is, let us face it, a rather stupid boy with a big red face and brains made of pork, just like his father. You left your little brother behind with a bunch of little thieves and you rescued a spoiled little fool.'

There was no time! shrieked the Third Thoughts. You wouldn't have got to him and got back to the lighthouse! You nearly didn't get away as it was! You got Roland out! It was the logical thing to do! You don't have to be guilty about it! What's better, to try to save your brother and be brave, courageous, stupid and dead, or save the boy and be brave, courageous, sensible and alive?

But something kept saying that stupid and dead would have been more... right.