Episode 5 - Chapter 26

Robert sinks to his knees, blinking, as the pain begins to recede.

“Oh God,” he gasps, “I remember.”

“Jolly good,” replies the voice he remembers as Tom. Robert is sure he recognises the voice, but it's different as well. The accent has changed for a start, so has the tone. In the meadow he'd sounded like a stoned American teenager, while now he sounds like a private school master or professional butler. “How are you feeling?”

“Like I lost myself. What happened?”

“You drifted off is the simplest way to explain it. That's what happens in the collective subconscious, all that is you fades from view. My fault, of course, I thought you'd be immune, given your background and everything. Terribly sorry. You're going to need a mnemonic after all.”

Episode 5 - Chapter 25

When he hears another snatch of this strange music, Robert realises that he should be able to understand it if he concentrates.

“.....name is Robert,” says a voice he thinks he might recognize. “You are in the corridors of the subconscious, in the Weave, looking for your wife. Crikey it's hit you bad, you're not as resistant as I thought you would be.”

“Is somebody there?” Robert asks, looking round.

“Oh for heaven's sake,” the voice replies, irritably. “It's me, Tom, from the meadow. You're looking for a red door.”

Robert clutches his head as the most intense pain sears through his mind, his memory abruptly crashing back to him.

Episode 5 - Chapter 24

Robert is still walking when he hears a new noise. It's difficult to describe, sounding almost like a piece of short music, masculine in tone, with a rich undertone.

He smiles as he walks, using muscles in his face he hasn't needed for a very long time. He remembers that he used to smile more.

The sound comes again, same tone but a different score. Robert smiles again, he likes this one more, it's caring somehow. He wonders for a moment how a sound could care.

“Words,” he says out loud, speaking for the first time since his journey began. “They're words.”

Episode 5 - Chapter 23

Robert keeps walking, looking at the endless corridor ahead of him, hearing only the sound of his own footsteps and the tiny buzz of the lights. He has no way of knowing how long he's been going walking. He doesn't tire or feel hunger, never stops, just keeps walking past door after door after endless countless door.

He wonders if he died and this is his hell, this endless walk to nowhere. He wonders if he's gone mad and that somewhere else he is sat catatonic in a straight jacket. But he keeps walking nonetheless, because that is what he's always done, his entire life. He walks.

Episode 5 - Chapter 22

Time passes, Robert walks. Along the same faceless corridor, past an infinite number of identical doors, illuminated by flickering yellow light, Robert walks.

All he knows is that he must keep walking.

Sometimes he wonders if the lights are trying to tell him something, if there's some code or pattern in their flickering that relates to him. He wonders if their barely audible drone is actually whispering to him, telling him the secrets behind each door. He wonders if eventually his shoes will wear out and he'll be reduced to walking bare footed.

And sometimes he wonders where it is he's going, but he knows that wherever it is, he must keep walking.

Episode 5 - Chapter 21

Robert walks.

And he walks.

Along a drab and mundane corridor without end, past countless faceless doors, Robert walks. He has no idea how long he's been walking, or how long it is since he spoke to Tom. He isn't tired, so he doesn't think it can have been too much, but already it's starting to feel like forever. The lights throb with perpetual monotony, not quite bright enough to truly brighten the corridor, flickering erratically, creating odd shadows and dark corners.

He begins to wonder if he's walking at all, or just standing still as the same doors roll eternally past him. He isn't sure that he hasn't simply swapped one cage for another.

Episode 5 - Chapter 20

“Maybe it's the frozen vampire!” I giggled.

“Mary!” Edward scowled, making that face he does when I do something he disapproves of.

“The what?” Oak demanded over the steady rumble.

“The frozen vampire,” Edward told him. “Just ignore her.”

“No,” Oak replied, “I think I should know everything about this 'frozen vampire'.”

“It was a thing with the children,” I explained, “When he was little, James was terrified of the cellar. Had proper tantrums about going down there. Turned out his brother had told him it was a coffin with a vampire in it. We told him if there was a vampire, he'd be frozen stiff. He still wouldn't go anywhere near it, mind. I think it was me that started it. If I wanted something from the freezer, I'd declare I was going to ask the frozen vampire for it.”

Oak's face darkened. “That is not good news,” he said.

Episode 5 - Chapter 19

“What?” Raven asks. “What girl made of dreams? What dark place?”

“The girl...”

“...from the house...”

“...where we first...”

“...smelled you...”

“...grumpy not man.”

“You mean Fiona? She's here in the Weave?”

The cats purr.

“Where was this dark place?”

“Back there...”

“...somewhere.” They both gesture behind them in different directions.

“We did not like...”

“...the dark place...”

“...it was full of doors...”

“...and a baby...”

“...not baby...”

“...screaming.”

Raven turns to the Author. “Is there a wake walker in the Weave?”

“Why yes,” he replies, “I met her myself, very uncouth. Why?”

“Ask your first question. I think the Lord of Doors has captured the girl I entered the Weave to save.”

Episode 5 - Chapter 18

“Fine,” Raven sighs. “What is it that you wish to know?”

“Why does the Forest allow...” the Author begins, but he's interrupted by the approach of two beautiful young women.

“Thank goodness...” says one of the cats from the house, “...we have found you...” her companion continues, “grumpy not man,” and the first completes the sentence.

Raven sees the Author sour again at the interruption. “My apologies,” he says, turning to the cats. “Yes, you've found me, what of it?”

“Have you seen...”

“...the girl made...”

“...of dreams. We lost her...”

“...in a dark place.”

Episode 5 - Chapter 17

“Done,” Raven snaps, “Five it is. But they'll have to be later. Their Lordships will know where I am by now, so I need to get moving.”

“I understand your concerns, but they will not move on you while you are here.”

“No, but you can be sure the more time they have, the readier they will be when I leave.”

“Then you are asking for credit?” The Author considers this for a moment. “There will have to be a deposit, of course, and interest. You will answer one enquiry now, and five at a future point yet to be determined.”

“I really don't have time...”

“These are my terms, accept or decline.”

Episode 5 - Chapter 16

The Author considers the question for a moment before replying. “Information,” he says, “What you have is information.”

“Very well then,” Raven replies, “In return for a collapsible door, or a suitable alternative, I will answer... shall we say three questions.”

The Author's face sours for the first time. “No. If I help you, I put myself on the wrong side of one or two of the Fears. That's a risky position. The price, therefore, should be much higher. You will provide full and thorough accounts to five lines of enquiry.”

“Four,” Raven replies.

“This is not a negotiation, Corvus. Remember you came to me. The price is five full accounts. Pay it, or don't.”

Episode 5 - Chapter 15

“You're looking for what?” The Author asks, incredulously.

“A collapsible door,” Raven replies. “Or a hole in the ground that I can take with me. And don't even begin to tell me such a thing could not exist because even I have seen children's cartoons. Failing that, anything that would help me move around while staying off his radar.”

“If I were to have just such a thing, what would you give me for it?”

“What would you ask? I obviously have no coin, or item of value to trade, but I suspect such things are of little interest to you.”

“That is correct.”

“Then you tell me, what do I have that is of interest to you?”

Episode 5 - Chapter 14

“Very well,” says the Author, “I grant you leave to remain.” He snaps his fingers, and a studious young man approaches, scroll and pen in hand. “Let it be known to all concerned parties of trade that the mighty Corvus is a friend of the market.”

The boy scribbles on his parchment, which he then presents to his master for a signature. Once signed, the boy hurries away into the depths of the market.

The crowd is already dispersing, weapons have been returned to their rightful places, people getting on with their business. A handful remain, obviously curious to see what will transpire.

“Now,” says the Author, “What is it you seek to purchase?”

“I'm looking for either a collapsible door, or a portable hole.”

Episode 5 - Chapter 13

“You've shown scant interest in the Warp,” Raven continues, “Unlike your siblings, so we have never come into conflict, which means you don't have a personal grudge against me. Nor, I think, do you fear me, which is as it should be. You're the only one of your lot I even begin to understand.”

“Careful, my dear Corvus,” the Author replies, “Lest I feel slighted by your claims to understand me and turn you over anyway.”

“I said 'begin' to understand; the need for order and whatnot. I'm sure you have an agenda, your kind always does, but I don't think it is one that should concern me.”

Episode 5 - Chapter 12

“I don't for sure,” Raven tells the Author. “But I'm willing to gamble you wont.”

The watching crowd is static, merely observing for the moment.

“Risky,” the Author replies, “Explain to me your thinking.”

“I don't think you have a reason to hand me over, nor would it suit your purpose. In fact, I believe that giving me to Doors would be counter productive to your purpose.”

“Go on...”

“To begin with, I was invited into the Weave, so there's no issue over the protocols. That, I think, would be the only time you'd definitely hand me over.”

“I would do it without a second thought.”

Episode 5 - Chapter 11

“Bold?” Raven asks, turning to face the Author. “Hardly. There's something I need, and this is a market. The market, where you can buy anything that's ever been imagined, if you believe the rumours.”

“But to use such an entrance, a door, when their master searches for you, that requires some bravado. And to use it to enter my realm...”

“I told you, there's something I need,” Raven replies, keeping his eyes on the crowds and their diverse weaponry. “Something that would only be traded here.”

“What makes you think,” the Author of the Market asks, “That I wont just hand you over to His Lordship to curry favour and be done with it?”

Episode 5 - Chapter 10

My wife and I looked at each other as the rumbling got louder. We both recognised it instantly, though we hadn't heard it for years.

“How the blazes...” I began, starting to rise from my chair.

“You know what that sound is?” Oak asked.

“Oh yes,” I replied, “I bloody well know what that sounds like. That's the noise our old chest freezer used to make, the one we had when we first moved here. It was on its last legs even then. What I want to know is how it's making a sound at all.”

“And why is that?”

“Bloody thing hasn't worked for years. It's not even plugged in any more, we use it for storage these days.”

Episode 5 - Chapter 9

The giant teddy swipes and flails through the gap, desperately trying to claw at Fiona, screaming and howling in psychotic agony as it does. With every moment that passes, more of its huge lumbering body pushes its way through the gap, its paw getting closer to grasping her leg as it does.

Fiona tries to push back further, but there's nowhere left to go. The creature pulls the last of its body through the gap, getting to its feet, bellowing in rage and pain. “Poor blind teddy!”

The giant teddy bear looms over Fiona. She struggles to push herself further backwards even though she knows it's useless. The creature leans forward, still screaming with pain, swooping her up in its great arms.

Episode 5 - Chapter 8

Fiona sighs, allowing herself to catch her breath for a moment, but she's caught off guard as the bush next to her is wrenched from the ground. The force of it unsettles the ground, causing her to fall backwards, the air exploding out of her as she lands.

The bear's arm stretches through the gap, but it can't quite grasp her. She pushes herself further backwards, her feet churning up the ground, while the bear pulls a second bush up, closely followed by a third. It lets out a scream of such pain and suffering that Fiona's blood runs cold, renewing the energy of her kicking, scrabbling retreat.

The bear tries to push its way through the gap, but it's still not wide enough, allowing access to only its howling head and shoulder. It swipes at her with a giant paw, but Fiona has managed to get just beyond its reach.

Episode 5 - Chapter 7

The hedge in front of her looks different somehow, not as lush or green as other parts of the maze, almost as if it had been starved of rain. Fiona has little time to digest this observation as her pursuer screams once more. She turns to retrace her steps, only to find she is looking down at it.

Below her is a giant teddy bear, the size of a grizzly, with no eyes. It turns its head upwards to face her, knowing she's there. “Poor blind teddy!” it screams, and leaps towards her.

Fiona feels a moment of dizziness and wobbles on her feet, but somehow the teddy is nowhere to be seen.

Episode 5 - Chapter 6

“Three dimensional maze,” he shouts, “There is vertical now as well as horizontal.”

“How do I get back?” she asks.

“I suspect you cannot,” he tells her. “Keep moving, we will find you.”

A growl not too far behind her brings Fiona to her senses, sends her running once more. The screaming has stopped, replaced by a determined growl, while the tearing at the bushes sounds more ferocious.

Fiona's running blindly now, just turning corners at random, left here, right there, just trying to put some distance between her and whatever is in pursuit. She takes another left and runs straight into a dead end.

Episode 5 - Chapter 5

“I don't understand what that means,” Fiona tells him.

“It means there is no way to plot a course to our exit,” Strauss replies. “The maze is constantly changing, moving. We may have trouble simply reuniting.”

The bellowing and tearing is getting closer, the screams are louder and the ground shakes beneath them.

“Doesn't matter right now,” she replies, “We have to keep moving.”

They run on, Fiona in the lead. She turns left, looking back to make sure Mo is with her, seeing something most confusing for her trouble. She is looking down on Mo from above, and he's looking up to see her.

Episode 5 - Chapter 4

“What?” asks Fiona.

“This clearing,” Strauss replies, “It was not here when we ran past up there.” Mo gestures to the hedge top. “We should have taken another right.”

He scratches his head, looking around him, before his shoulders suddenly droop a little. “Oh no,” he says.

“POOR,” The thing behind them screams again, ripping at the hedge in its path. “BLIND,” it continues, the destruction sounding colossal. “TEDDY,” it crashes on.

“What is it?” Fiona asks, “What's wrong?”

“The Maze, m'lady, it is redesigning itself,” he pauses, struggling to find the right words, “into a three dimensional conundrum based on Escher's worst nightmare.”

Episode 5 - Chapter 3

“Left,” Strauss shouts, “Then two quick rights before it closes.”

“What closes?” Fiona asks as she takes the left turn, stepping quickly to take a sudden right, then right again as she feels a hedge slide into place behind her.

“That,” says Strauss. “Come quick, we are close now. Left.” Mo grabs her hand to drag her along behind him, leading the way as he barks the commands.

Somewhere behind them, something shrieks its rage as it tears up the maze in their pursuit. “Poor blind teddy!”

Mo pulls her left, then right, through an archway into a circular clearing with six arches for exits.

“This was not here a moment ago,” Strauss says.

Episode 5 - Chapter 2

“What the hell was that?” Fiona asks, as the screamed roar reverberates through the hedgerows.

“We cannot see,” Strauss replies through the midget Mo, “But we would imagine that whatever was set to guard your prison has just discovered your escape and is set upon your recapture. Turn left.”

“Poor blind teddy!” Another scream rips through the bushes.

“We've got to get out of here!” Fiona tells her companions. “Find that ladder now.”

Behind them, whatever is pursuing rips a bush from the ground to clear a path. It roars once more and it rips up another.

“We are doing our best, m'lady. Right, then left, then just keep running.”