The Wee Free Men

And there was a different way, involving people paying a little more attention to Miss Robinson. It wasn’t perfect, and not everyone was happy, but it worked.

Tiffany smelled the scent of Jolly Sailor outside the hall when the meeting was over, and thought about the Baron’s dog. ‘Remember this day,’ Granny Aching had said, and, ‘Ye’ll have cause to.’

Barons needed reminding…

‘Who will speak up for you?’ Tiffany said aloud.

‘Speak up for me?’ answered the Queen, her fine eyebrows arching.

And Tiffany’s Third Thoughts said: Watch her face when she is worried.

‘There isn’t anyone, is there?’ said Tiffany, backing away. ‘Is there anyone you’ve been kind to? Anyone who’ll say you’re not just a thief and a bully? Because that’s what you are. You’ve got a… you’re like the dromes, you’ve just got one trick…’

And there it was. Now she could see what her Third Thoughts had spotted. The Queen’s face flickered for a moment.

‘And that’s not your body,’ said Tiffany, plunging on. ‘That’s just what you want people to see. It’s not real. It’s just like everything else here, it’s hollow and empty—’

The Queen ran forward and slapped her much harder than a dream should be able to. Tiffany landed in the moss and Wentworth rolled away, yelling, ‘Wanna go-a toy-lut!’

Good, said Tiffany’s Third Thoughts.

‘Good?’ said Tiffany aloud.

‘Good?’ said the Queen.

Yes, said the Third Thoughts, because she doesn’t know you can have Third Thoughts and your hand is only a few inches from the frying pan and things like her hate iron, don’t they? She’s angry. Now make her furious, so that she doesn’t think. Hurt her.

‘You just live here in a land full of winter and all you do is dream of summers,’ said Tiffany. ‘No wonder the King went away.’

The Queen stood still for a moment, like the beautiful statue she so much resembled. Again, the walking dream flickered and Tiffany thought she saw… something. It was not much bigger than her, and almost human, and a little shabby and, just for a moment, shocked. Then the Queen was back, tall and angry, and she drew a deep breath—

Tiffany grabbed the pan and swung it as she rolled onto her feet. It hit the tall figure only a glancing blow, but the Queen wavered like air over a hot road, and screamed.

Tiffany didn’t wait to see what else was going to happen. She grabbed her brother again, and ran away, down through the grass, past the strange figures looking round at the sound of the Queen’s anger.

Now shadows moved in the shadowless grasses. Some of the people—the joke people, the ones that looked like a flaps-on-the-pages picture book—changed shape and started to move after Tiffany and her screaming brother.

There was a booming noise on the other side of the clearing. The two huge creatures that Roland had called the Bumble-Bee women were rising off the ground, their tiny wings blurring with the effort.

Somebody grabbed her and pulled her into the grasses. It was Roland.

‘Can you get out now?’ he demanded, his face red. ‘Er…’ Tiffany began.

Then we’d better just run,’ he said. ‘Give me your hand. Come on!’

‘Do you know a way out?’ Tiffany panted, as they dashed through giant daisies.

‘No,’ Roland panted back. ‘There isn’t one. You saw… the dromes outside… this is a really strong dream…’

‘Then why are we running?’

‘To keep out… of her way. If you… hide long enough… Sneebs says she… forgets…’

I don’t think she’s going to forget me very quickly, Tiffany thought.

Roland had stopped, but she pulled her hand away and ran onward, with Wentworth clinging to her in silent amazement.

‘Where are you going?’ shouted Roland behind her.

‘I really want to keep out of her way!’

‘Come back! You’re running right back!’

‘No I’m not! I’m running in a straight line!’

‘This is a dream!’ Roland shouted, but it was louder now because he was catching her up. ‘You’re running right around—’

Tiffany burst into a clearing…

…the clearing.

The Bumble-Bee women landed on either side of her, and the Queen stepped forward.

‘You know,’ said the Queen, ‘I really expected better of you, Tiffany. Now, give me back the boy, and I shall decide what to do next.’

‘It’s not a big dream,’ mumbled Roland behind her. ‘If you go too far you end up coming back—’

‘I could make a dream for you that’s even smaller than you are,’ said the Queen, pleasantly. That can be quite painful!’

The colours were brighter. And sounds were louder. Tiffany could smell something, too, and what was strange about that was that up until now there had been no smells.

It was a sharp, bitter smell that you never forgot. It was the smell of snow. And underneath the insect buzzings in the grass, she heard the faintest of voices.

‘Crivens! I cannae find the way oot!’

Chapter 11 Awakening

On the other side of the clearing, where the nut-cracking man had been at work, was the last nut, half as high as Tiffany. And it was rocking gently. The cracker took a swipe at it with the hammer, and it rolled out of the way.

See what’s really there… said Tiffany to herself, and laughed.

The Queen gave her a puzzled look. ‘You find this funny?’ she demanded. ‘What’s funny about this? What is amusing about this situation?’

‘I just had a funny thought,’ said Tiffany. The Queen glared, as people without a sense of humour do when they’re confronted with a smile.

You’re not very clever, thought Tiffany. You’ve never needed to be. You can get what you want just by dreaming it. You believe in your dreams, so you never have to think.

She turned and whispered to Roland, ‘Crack the nut! Don’t worry about what I do, crack the nut!’

The boy looked at her blankly.

‘What did you say to him?’ snapped the Queen.

‘I said goodbye,’ said Tiffany, holding on tightly to her brother. ‘I’m not handing my brother over, no matter what you do!’

‘Do you know what colour your insides are?’ said the Queen. Tiffany shook her head mutely.

‘Well, now you’ll find out,’ said the Queen, smiling sweetly.