Episode 4 - Chapter 51

“I'm afraid I don't have time,” Raven tells the old woman. “I must find a market.”

“There's no market hereabouts, 'n' night'll draw in soon. You don't want to be abroad in these woods, not at night. Come 'n' rest yourself a while, 'n' give old Nan some company.”

Reluctantly, Raven approaches the cabin. “You live here on your own?” he asks.

“Yes, little birdie,” she replies, “It's just me. You've nothing to fear from me.”

“I'm sure I haven't,” Raven replies. “But I'm lead to believe my company is a dangerous thing.”

“Old Nan's got nothing to fear, not in these woods. Come 'n' sit, you'll be safe here.”

Episode 4 - Chapter 50

“Why is that?” I asked. “Why are these accounts not to be trusted?”

Oak looked at me with ancient eyes. “Because they are given by agents who have entered the Weave. An agent only enters the Weave when invited, or when they have renounced the Forest. The Weave is unlikely to invite its enemy in for a nice cup of tea and a chat. Which means that all we know are the words of traitors.”

“You seem very certain of that.”

“I make a point of speaking to all of those that return.”

“Well what about Raven, then? He was invited.”

“I mean no offence when I tell you this, but I only have your word for that.”

Episode 4 - Chapter 49

“What kind of a problem?” Fiona asks.

Strauss walks down a few more steps and gestures before him. Fiona sees that their staircase is descending into a very large cave mouth. Beyond the mouth is a hedge, well over nine feet in height, with only a single opening. Looking further afield, she can see there are more hedges of equal height, and walkways between them. She realises that she is looking at a maze, the kind you find in the gardens of English stately homes, only this one stretches beyond the horizon.

“When I came through here to rescue you,” Strauss tells her, “The bushes were merely shrubs.”

Episode 4 - Chapter 48

As they approach the door, Strauss reaches out to open it, but Fiona catches his arm.

“You're sure it's safe?” She asks.

“Perfectly,” he replies, reaching forward and grasping the handle with both hands. With a grunt he turns it, then leans backwards to drag the door open, revealing a staircase beyond. The stairs descend beyond their line of sight, widening as they go.

“This way m'lady.” Strauss begins to descend.

“Well,” says Fiona, “You appear to know where you're going.”

As they walk down, Fiona begins to feel a light breeze brushing her face, when Strauss stops.

“I'm sorry, m'lady,” he says, “There may be a slight problem.”

Episode 4 - Chapter 47

As they get closer, Fiona begins to make out some details. The door is not like any of the doors they have passed on their journey, bland and white with a simple handle. The door in front of them is old and wooden, with patterns carved into it and a huge ornate handle. In short, it is a door that would be more at home in a medieval castle than at the end of a bland white corridor.

“I don't like the look of this,” Fiona tells Strauss, unease coiling in her stomach.

“Relax, m'lady,” he replies, “This is where I came in.”

Episode 4 - Chapter 46

“I'm sorry,” Fiona says, “I'm afraid I don't understand the distinction.”

“M'lady, as I understand it, the Warp has a very rigid structure. A corridor would be inside a building or structure of some kind. But we are not in the Warp, and here a corridor can be simply that,” Strauss gestures around him. “A corridor. It can lead from one place to another, or it can lead no place at all. It could even lead to the belly of a dragon.”

They take another turn to the left into another new corridor. But this one is different, Fiona realises. For although it is very long, Fiona can see that it leads to a door.

Episode 4 - Chapter 45

“We are not free of danger yet, m'lady,” Strauss tells her. “If you would be so good as to follow me.”

“Lead on, McDuff!”

Strauss is about to reply when Fiona cuts him short. “Nevermind,” she tells him, “Let's get going.”

He leads her down the corridor for some distance, passing any number of plain doors. When their corridor intercepts another equally bland and sanitary corridor, Strauss pauses for a moment, then turns left. They continue like this for a while, occasionally turning left or right, occasionally continuing on, but walking and walking and walking.

“How big is this building?” Fiona asks.

“M'lady we are not in a building,” Strauss tells her, “We are in a corridor.”

Episode 4 - Chapter 44

“I believe that we have, m'lady” Strauss tells her as Curly climbs on top of Larry, followed by Mo climbing up and standing on both of them.

“Why would the Weave need an air conditioning system?”

“It is not so much that it is needed,” Strauss replies, as Mo places hat on head and the liquid cape flows over all three. “Simply that it exists in the human psyche. If it is there, then it is here, somewhere.”

“And you knew it would lead you to me?”

“It is safe to say, m'lady, that I know more than I should about the...” Strauss pauses, searching for a word, “What you might call 'infrastructure' of the Weave.”

“Well, I guess that was lucky for me. Well then, Mister Strauss, where now?”

Episode 4 - Chapter 43

Fiona crawls through the tunnel, Curly walking in front of her, Larry and Mo bringing up the rear. The tunnel walls and floor are metallic and silver, she can make out a dim reflection of herself.

“Not the most dignified I've ever looked,” she says.

“Beg your pardon, m'lady?” Strauss asks.

“Nothing,” she replies, “Just talking to myself. How much further will I have to crawl?”

“We are almost there, m'lady.”

Shortly after, they come to a grill set into the floor. Then Curly leans over to prise it open, revealing a very sanitary white corridor below. Fiona wastes no time in lowering herself to the ground, with Larry and Mo following.

Looking up, Fiona asks “Have we been crawling through the air conditioning ducts?”

  

Episode 4 - Chapter 42

Curly takes the lead. The hole they've torn in the wardrobe allows him to walk through upright.

Fiona drops to her knees, crawling through the assorted debris usually found in a child's cupboard: discarded clothes, toys and footwear. She's about to put her head into the hole when something soft bounces off it. Looking round, she finds herself face to face with a teddy bear without eyes.

“Poor blind thing,” she says, taking the time to sit it upright. She then pushes herself forward, wriggling and writhing, pulling and struggling her way through. It takes a few minutes, because the hole is barely adequate, but eventually she crawls into the tunnel that lies beyond.

Episode 4 - Chapter 41

In the bedroom of a child, Fiona stands idle and useless while her companions tear at the wardrobe. There is the occasional grunt and groan, and she's sure the sound of wood splintering will draw unwanted attention, but it's not long before the one she thinks is Larry is standing before her.

“We believe,” he says, “that enough room has been created to accommodate your passage.”

Fiona peers into the wardrobe, examining the hole at the back.

“It's a tight squeeze,” she says, “but I should get through.”

“Then let us make haste,” he replies, “before our efforts are wasted by the cruel light of discovery.”

Episode 4 - Chapter 40

“You must be able to tell us more than that?” My wife can be persistent when she's of a mind.

Oak sighed, and for the first time since he'd arrived, I saw a chink in his armour of stony authority. “It has been described to me as a garden of wonder and delight,” he told her.

“Well that certainly doesn't sound too bad,” she replied.

“And as a living, breathing hell,” he continued. “As the greatest city ever built, the darkest hour of the longest night, a library of the impossible, a psychopath's wet dream, an ocean of chaos, an endless corridor lined with nightmares and, by one very lost soul, as home sweet home. As I said, accounts vary, and none of them are to be trusted.”

Episode 4 - Chapter 39

“What?” Robert exclaims. “How do I do that?”

“Okay,” says the voice, “The trap works by perception reinforcement. You see something, you believe it's real, right? Because you believe it's real, man, it continues to be something you see.”

“So I just have to tell myself it's not real?”

“Dude, seriously? You've already seen it collapse, the perception has already started reinforcing itself.”

“Then how do I uninforce it?”

“By not perceiving it at all.”

“And I do that by....?”

“Man, you're slow. Don't look at it, dude. You walk over there not looking, not listening and not thinking about where you're going.”

Episode 4 - Chapter 38

“Well,” Robert says, “What do you suggest I do now?”

“Dude, you've got yourself caught in a trap, right? It's a trap designed specifically for you.”

“For me?” Robert asks, alarmed. “Why would anyone set a trap for me?”

“Relax, dude, it's not for you, you. It's more of a cage for any wake walkers that might turn up. There's some stuff going down among the fears, man. Heavy stuff. One of 'em doesn't want wake walkers wandering around on their own, so traps have been set, cages made ready.”

“I don't think I understood most of that,” Robert admits, “but I get that I'm in a trap. How do I get out?”

“Easy,” says the voice, “You just have to get to the cottage before it collapses.”

Episode 4 - Chapter 37

“What did you say?” Robert asks, startled, looking round for the source of the voice.

“I said you're not going anywhere with such a bad attitude,” comes the reply. “This is the Weave, man, attitude is everything.”

“And how do you think my attitude could be improved?” Robert is looking all around, but he is beginning to realise that he's talking to a voice coming out of the air.

“You could try being a little more bad ass,” comes the reply. The voice is young, if it had a body it would be a man in his twenties, maybe even late teens. “I mean, here you are, a wake walker, in the Weave, man. The question is not what you can do, but really what you can't.”

Episode 4 - Chapter 36

“Where did that come from?” Robert asks, staring at the fence. It is solidly constructed without a single gap. As Robert looks, he realises the fence surrounds the entire meadow, turning it into his prison.

He approaches the fence cautiously, wary of other changes to his environment while hoping that close inspection might reveal some flaw that he can use to his advantage. But his hopes are soon dashed; the fence is perfect, seamless, its surface not simply smooth but polished to the shiny slipperiness of a freshly waxed floor.

“Now what am I going to do?” he asks himself. “Some rescuer I'm turning out to be.”

“Dude,” says a voice beside him, “You're not going nowhere with an attitude like that.”

Episode 4 - Chapter 35

Robert keeps walking until he sees the smoke stop coming from the chimney and the pot lean to one side. “You're wasting time...” he mutters to himself, but his curiosity has taken charge. Staring at the chimney, he begins to slowly walk backwards. He stops at the exact moment the chimney the chimney corrects itself, then rocks back and forth on his feet, watching it move.

He continues to watch for a few moments, transfixed by what he's seeing. Abruptly he snaps out of it. “What am I doing?” he asks himself. “Why do I keep wasting time?”

He turns to walk back towards the trees, but is startled to see the forest has gone, replaced by a forty foot tall wooden fence.

Episode 4 - Chapter 34

Robert storms across the meadow, reaching the trees in what seems like no time at all, feeling that he has somehow been tricked into wasting time. As he does, he turns to look back across the meadow. When he does he gasps with surprise. There at the far end of the meadow is a cottage from the pages of a child's book of fairy tales, with smoke curling out of its chimney. Somehow the cottage has rebuilt itself.

“What the...” he says out loud, then “Maybe. I wonder...”

He turns and walks back toward the cottage, his eyes fixed grimly on the roof.

Episode 4 - Chapter 33

Robert covers the remaining ground quickly, ignoring the wind and laughter. He arrives at the pile of rubble and vegetation quicker than expected, the breeze drops and silence returns as he does.

“Now,” he asks himself, “What am I hoping to find?”

He walks round the perimeter of the collapsed building, closely examining everything he can see, but there's little to grab his attention. There are the remains of household items here and there, but they're badly damaged or rusty.

“As I thought,” he says, “Just a pile of rocks and plants and old rubbish. Waste of time.”

With that, he turns and begins to walk towards the tree line, renewed purpose in his stride and pace.

Episode 4 - Chapter 32

Just as suddenly as it came, the wind dies down and the screaming recedes to quiet giggles and the coin plinks to the ground a few feet from him. He has to step forward to see the result as the coin has fallen into long grass. Bending over, Robert sees that the grass has kept the coin upright, giving him no clear result.

“Bugger,” he says, but the face he can see is heads. “That'll do,” he mutters retrieving the coin and returning it to his pocket. He sighs, and continues walking towards the derelict building, though he can't shake the feeling that he's wasting his time.

Episode 4 - Chapter 31

“Well, I don't think there's any point going any further,” Robert says to himself, looking at the pile of rubble that was once a cottage. “Except I can't help but feel like something doesn't want me to.”

Another strange memory occurs to him. “Chance is your friend,” he says, pulling a coin from his pocket. “Heads I press on, and tails I head for the trees.” With that, he flips the coin into the air.

At that moment the breeze turns into a gust, catching the coin and spinning it away from him, while the innocent laughter becomes a horrifying scream. Robert covers both ears with his hands to block out the noise.

   

Episode 4 - Chapter 30

I made a few sandwiches and a pot of tea, returning to the living room with a head full of questions.

“What's it like?” I asked. “The Weave I mean, what's it like in there?”

Oak stopped pacing before he replied. “I have never been myself, so I cannot answer with any authority, but I am told it is best described as 'chaotic'.”

“You must be able to tell us more than that,” I pressed him.

“The testimony of those of the Forest that have entered the Weave is unreliable at best, and more likely suspicious. Either way it is not to be trusted. Only one of us has been there as an agent, and he has never commented on the incident.”

Episode 4 - Chapter 29

The path twists its way through the forest, in parts overgrown while elsewhere it's well worn. Raven barely pays attention to where he is going, his mind's on other things.

He is surprised when the path leads him directly to the door of an odd looking cabin in a small clearing. Sat outside in a rocking chair is an old woman preoccupied with knitting. Raven pauses, unsure of how to proceed.

The woman sniffs the air, then calls out. “Is there somebody there? Don't be shy, little birdie, old Nan can smell you there.”

“Good day to you, madam,” Raven replies.

The old woman sits up sharply. “Talking birdie? There's a thing if ever there was. Come 'n' sit a whiles, little birdie, tell old Nan of the world.”

Episode 4 - Chapter 28

He sighs for a moment, unusually taken back to a place he loves. “The memory of a lake...” he mutters to himself, before wearily taking to his feet.

“Now then,” he says to himself, “How to move around this place when the Lord of Doors is looking for you?”

He looks out over the lake once more, sighs and turns to walk towards the tree line, contemplating his own question.

“What I need is a collapsible door,” he chuckles to himself, “or maybe...” He pauses as an idea strikes home. “Maybe, indeed.” He says, and begins walking at a brisk pace, pushing through the undergrowth. It's hard going for a while, but luckily it isn't long before he stumbles onto a path.

“That's a bit fortunate,” he says warily. “Never mind, a market. I need to find a market.”

Episode 4 - Chapter 27

“I know you think poorly of me Corvus,” the Angel continues, “but even I am wary of the anger of the Lord of Doors. A word of warning before you go. His hatred for you has not dimmed with age, he will be thorough in his search. I'd suggest you keep moving, and trust no one but me.”

“Trust you?” Raven replies. “I've got more sense than that.”

“Believe it or not, it matters little right now. But I am the only friend you have in the Weave, ironic as that may seem. Now, off you go...”

As the Peacock Angel finishes speaking he sparkles, dissolving to nothing and he's gone, leaving Raven to take in his surroundings. He is sitting on the log of a felled tree, looking over a broad lake at the edge of a pine forest.