Episode 7 - Chapter 94

“Well then,” Raven says, “Time to deliver our gift to the prince, then we can finally find out what the Angel is up to. Have a shufty about the place, see if we can rustle me up a uniform of some sort.”

“But I liked my face,” the girl says to no one in particular.

“Tough,” Raven snaps, “Yours wasn't a face that'd live happily ever after.”

“You don't really think it'll be that easy do you?” Fiona asks him.

“What?” Raven asks, “Presenting her to the court? I imagine it'll be a doddle.”

“No,” she replies, “Getting the truth from the Angel?”

“No, probably not,” he says, “But the only way to find out is to go and see.”

“Why does it have to be you?” Robert asks, “That presents her at court, I mean.”

“Because” Raven sighs, “You insulted the prince, not that long ago either. So you're out. And she can't.” He points at Fiona. “I dread to think what ideas he'd get if he saw two of them.”

Episode 7 - Chapter 93

“I wouldn't have thought it possible,” Raven comments, “Even in here.”

“Did it work?” Robert asks, opening his eyes.

“Aye lad,” Raven replies, “It worked.”

The girl blinks a couple of times, then scrunches her face. “I feel very odd,” she says, letting go of Robert's hand to touch her face.

“I wouldn't do that just yet,” Robert says, grabbing her hand once more to keep it from her face. “Better give it a few moments, let it settle.”

“Let what settle,” she asks, distress creeping into her voice. “What have you done to me?”

“Good grief,” says Fiona, “Do I really look like that?”

“I'll be blunt,” Raven says to the girl, “We've changed your face so the prince will love you?”

“When we get home,” Fiona continues to herself, “I've got some serious gym time in my future.”

“What was wrong with the face I had?” the girl asks.

“It wasn't the face the prince wanted.”

Episode 7 - Chapter 92

“Just try to relax,” Robert tells the girl, breaking his incantations to do so. “This will all be over very soon, I promise.”

Raven quietly shuffles his way round the huddled figures to get a better look at her. At first glance there seems to be no change, she looks as she did when they picked her. It's not long, however, before he notices her features aren't as sharp or defined, as if her head were carved from ice, slowly melting. In a matter of moments her hair shortens, nose lengthens, lips become fuller, shoulders relax. Before his eyes, he realises, she is becoming Fiona.

“What happening to me?” she asks, “Why is my face so itchy?”

Episode 7 - Chapter 91

Raven had been surprised when the cats appeared, and frankly astonished at the news they brought, but he wasn't the kind to look a gift horse in the mouth.

“Cats with allegiances,” he chunters to himself, “Whatever next?”

Turning his attention back to his companions, he watches as Robert and Fiona try to change the girl's appearance. Robert has his eyes closed, his face etched with concentration, intoning “This girl looks like Fiona” just under his breath. Fiona's eyes are also closed, but her face is more relaxed as she repeats “She looks like me” to herself.

The girl herself has her back to him, so he can't see what she's doing, but it bemuses him that they haven't asked her name. “If this works she'll be a Fiona soon enough,” he mutters when she cries out.

“Please,” she pleads, “What's happening to me? My face feels all fuzzy.”

Episode 7 - Chapter 90

Mere moments after the cats had departed did they return. If I'd thought their ninja poses had been bizarre, what they did next just looked ludicrous. They rushed into the room, in their human guise, and began to circle Oak, meowing loudly.

The expression on his face changed quickly from mildly wary to intrigued to astonished. His body seemed to tense for a moment, I heard a crack, then watched him stand, free of our home made shackles.

“Well now,” he said, removing his gag, “That is what I believe you'd call a turn up for the books.”

“Why?” I asked, “What's happened?”

“We have had word from Raven,” he said, nodding at the cats.

“You see,” I said, “I told you he'd surprise you.”

“Oh that's not the surprise, no, no, not at all.”

“Then what is?” Edward demanded.

“The cats,” Oak replied, rubbing his wrists, “The cats have chosen a side.”

Episode 7 - Chapter 89

“Do I have to close my eyes or anything?” Fiona asks.

“I've found that it helps me,” Robert replies, “But you do what's best for you.”

“Okay,” she says, “Let's do it.”

A thought pops into Roberts mind with an unexpected urgency. “You know, it might help,” he says, “If we all hold hands.”

He takes his wife's left hand in his right, and vice versa with the girl, encouraging them to do likewise.

Robert closes his eyes. “That girl looks like my wife,” he begins to tell himself, but he's soon interrupted. Opening his eyes, he's surprised to see the cats whispering hisses at Raven, to which Raven whispers a reply and the cats quickly depart.

“Right,” he mutters to himself, closing his eyes once more. “This girl looks like Fiona.”

Episode 7 - Chapter 88

“You're saying I look like her?” Fiona demands of her husband, her blood beginning to boil, “Seriously?”

“No, not at all,” Robert replies patiently, “But she is the same height as you, and she does have your figure.” He pauses for a moment, trying to gauge which way his wife's mood might go. “And that's all I'm saying,” he concludes.

“Right then,” Raven says, once more taking charge, “If you two have finished having a married moment, maybe you could get on with whatever hoodoo you're planning.”

“Okay,” Fiona says, “What do I have to do?”

“You have to think about this woman,” Robert tells her, “And as you think about her, you have to imagine and believe that she looks like you.”

Episode 7 - Chapter 87

The twelve women are released from their cages and dutifully fall into line. Raven then proceeds to walk behind them, inspecting as he goes.

“Nope,” he declares as he passes the first, “Too tall.”

By the second it's “Too short,” and the third, a plump farm girl is “Too much.” The fourth gets a “Maybe,” while five and six are dismissed without comment or explanation. Seven is judged “Better.” Eight, nine and ten just elicit shrugs, but eleven draws a sigh, “Now we're in business,” he says.

“What do you mean,” Fiona asks, almost outraged, “She's nothing like me.”

“Stand back to back with her,” Raven commands. When Fiona complies, he looks at Robert. “Well?” he demands.

Seeing the look on his wife's face, Robert is reluctant to comment. “He's right,” he tells her after further prompting, “She's the closest match.”

Episode 7 - Chapter 86

“Well?” Raven addresses the silent women. “One of you must fancy it. Got to be better than going back to some hovel somewhere and living up to your armpits in muck?”

“What are you doing?” Robert asks him.

“Seeing if I can drum up a volunteer,” is Raven's reply, “Better for everyone if the girl wants to do it.”

“But they've got to be the right shape and size,” Robert says, nodding at his wife, “The hair could match as well.”

“Then let's hope we get a good one,” Raven turns back to the cages, “Any takers? Who wants to live in pampered luxury for the rest of their lives?”

“I could give it a go,” says a voice at the back.

“And me,” says another.

“It should be me,” a third girl insists, then another, and another until there are twelve all eager to take on the role.

“Let's have you in a line then,” Raven commands them, “See what we've got to work with.”

Episode 7 - Chapter 85

“Can I have your attention,” Robert declares loudly to all the imprisoned women.

“Is it her?” One shouts back.

“Will she marry him?” Another calls.

“This is all her fault,” asserts a third, “She should be hung for the trouble she's caused.”

“Please,” Robert shouts again, “We know you're all frightened, but we're going to put things right.” Sadly, his words are lost in a sea of muttered questions and accusations that has swept through the dungeon since their arrival.

“If you could all just calm down,” Robert tries again, to very little effect.

CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG!

Raven has found a metal rod with which he's beating the cage bars until the women are silent.

“Right,” he demands, “Who wants to be Queen and live happily ever after?”

Episode 7 - Chapter 84

As soon as Robert realises where he is, he rushes straight to the bars of the nearest cell.

“You, you there,” he appeals to the nearest girl, a plump blonde shivering with fear, “Have the executions begun?”

The blonde girl looks at him blankly. “The imposters,” he implores, “Have any of you been killed yet?”

The girl continues to be unresponsive, but a voice behind him speaks up. “Not yet,” it spits, “You're still in time to enjoy the spectacle.”

“Spectacle?” he says, turning, “Oh no, you have us wrong. We're going to make sure none of you are harmed.”

“And how would you propose to do that?” The speaker is tall, thin and elegant.

“Simple,” Robert replies cockily, “We're going to give the Prince exactly what he wants.”

Episode 7 - Chapter 83

Without further ado, Robert watches as Raven finds a wall upon which he outlines a door.

“We don't all need go,” he says as he works, “It's not a bloody field trip. We'll be quicker if it's just you two,” he nods at Robert and Fiona, “And me.”

Door complete, he grabs Robert's hand. “We left the palace via the dungeon,” he says, “So that's probably our best bet. Can you remember the way back to the throne?”

“I think so,” Robert replies.

“Then grab your wife, son,” Raven replies, “And lets go fix a story.”

Robert barely manages to grab Fiona's hand before he hears Raven mutter “And best we be in time...” when he finds himself once more in the Prince's dungeon.

Episode 7 - Chapter 82

“How did you do that?” Fiona asks Robert, marvelling at the flower in her hand.

“You have to kind of imagine and believe,” he says, “All at the same time.”

“It's the reason,” the Angel interrupts, “That you've managed to do some of the things you have, like getting into one of the archetypes. Those places are sealed, yet you just came and went.”

“But I didn't know what I was doing,” she replies, “I was just reacting to all the crazy.”

“That's the power of a wake walker,” the Raven's guide says.

“I'm sorry,” Fiona turns to him, “Who are you?”

“This,” the Angel replies with a flourish that encompasses the full height of the guide. “This is one of my more effective employees.”

“Now that we're all introduced,” Raven grumbles, “Can we just bloody well get on with it.”

Episode 7 - Chapter 81

“So how do we do it?” Fiona asks her husband, “How do we save these girls?”

“I think,” Robert replies, “That we must return to the palace. Once there, we have to imagine that one of those girls looks like you. After that, we just have to draw the prince's attention to her.”

“Imagine a girl looks like me?” she says, “That's it?”

“The human imagination is a powerful thing,” Tom adds.

“Who said that?” Fiona asks, looking around to see.

“The sparkling cloud,” Raven quips.

“His name is Tom,” Robert tells her, “He's been helping me. And he's right, we can do all kinds of amazing stuff when we're here. Look.”

With that, Robert closes his eyes, puts his hand in his pocket and withdraws a blood red rose, which he hands to his wife. “You see,” he says, as she gasps, “We're like superheroes.”

Episode 7 - Chapter 80

What a bizarre sight it was. These two attractive young women, locked in ninja like poses, staring at a blank space on the wall. I mean, I knew they were cats, but that's not how they looked. They looked like statues of two utterly beautiful women. I say statues, but after a moment or two I noticed that their noses were twitching.

Breaking the moment, they both circled Oak on his chair in what seemed like some modern dance piece. “Tricky,” they said in unison, then literally ran out of the door.

“What was that all about?” my wife asked in their wake.

“Mary,” I replied, “You can search me top to bottom, you'll not find your answers.”

Episode 7 - Chapter 79

“Adversities?” Fiona exclaims, “What adversities?”

“He means Doors,” Raven spits.

“Indeed,” says the Angel, “His agents are already at my door, demanding you be surrendered into his custody.”

“Doors?” Fiona asks, “Who is he?”

“The Lord of Doors,” the Angel replies. “He is the first of the Fears, the eldest Lord of the Weave.”

“He's got a peculiar name,” she says absent mindedly.

“He hasn't really moved with the times.” Fiona can't see who is speaking, but she doesn't recognize the voice. “But that's by the by. We really don't want to antagonise him, not right now.”

“Why?” Robert asks, “What's so special about now?”

“The ancient adversary has returned to the Weave,” the Angel tells him, looking at Raven. “I've heard he's so riled that he actually spoke for himself.”

Episode 7 - Chapter 78

“That's...” Fiona finds herself momentarily without words as the reality of Robert's words floods through her.

“I say we should go back,” Robert continues, “You and I, together, we can sort it out. But Raven insists it doesn't matter because they're not real.”

“For the love of the trees, lad,” Raven says, “None of this is real. Did you not understand that yet?”

“It's real to them,” Robert insists, “The suffering, the death. It will matter to them. I can't have that on my conscience.”

“It'll make no difference to the Warp,” is Raven's flippant reply.

“Robert's right,” Fiona finally finds her voice, “I broke the archetype, I caused it to happen, I have to fix it.”

“That would certainly be to your advantage,” the Angel tells them, “When facing the coming adversities.”

Episode 7 - Chapter 77

“Do you remember meeting a prince?” Robert asks his wife.

“At a ball, yes,” she replies, “He was rather boring actually. Why?”

“He's rather besotted with you, I'm afraid. He's spent a year looking for you...”

“Can't be me,” Fiona interrupts him, “I only met him yesterday, or maybe the day before, it's sometimes hard to keep track.”

“Time passes differently in the Weave,” the Angel tells them, “And not in any uniform kind of way. A life can be lived in the blink of an eye, a moment stretched into days.”

“It was definitely you,” Robert tells her, “There was a giant portrait.”

“So he's looking for me,” Fiona says, “What's that to do with unreal girls?”

“He's imprisoned every girl that's your age and shoe size,” he says, “And now he's going to kill them, one a day, until you return.”

Episode 7 - Chapter 76

“What's not real,” Fiona asks.

“The girls,” Raven scowls in reply.

“They seemed real enough to me,” Robert says, coming round the back of the book shelves.

“Robert,” Fiona gasps, suddenly seized by the urge to run to him, to grab him, to never let go.

They hold on tight to each other for what's all too short a time, but the Angel drops a polite “Ahem,” and they end their embrace.

Fiona turns towards him. “You were saying,” she asks, “Somebody powerful?”

“Yes,” the Angel replies, “Very powerful, and we didn't want him to know about your husband. If I'd told you he was here, you'd have gone off half cocked looking for him, and that he would have found out.”

She considers his answer for a moment. “Okay,” she says, turning back to Raven and Robert. “Now what's all this about unreal girls?”

Episode 7 - Chapter 75

“This Angel person says you know how to get to his court,” Fiona hears Robert say to Raven. “Is it true.”

She hears Raven's gruff response, but doesn't quite catch what he says.

“Well?” she asks.

“Apparently he does,” Robert replies. “We have some business to finish here, then we'll come to you.”

“Okay,” she says, “Be quick, love you.”

Just as she hangs up she hears Raven demand “What business?”

“Unfinished business,” she tells the Angel. “Seems there's a lot of that about. Like you and your restricted information. Why couldn't you tell me my husband was here in the Weave, me of all people?”

“There is somebody....”the Angel pauses, “Somebody powerful. Somebody.....”

He's interrupted by the sound of a commotion behind one of the book shelves. Moments later, Raven walks round, speaking to someone behind him.

“I've already told you lad,” he's saying, “They're not real.”

Episode 7 - Chapter 74

“The Angel says you should both join us,” Fiona tells Robert before turning sharply back to the Angel. “Did you know?” she demands.

“Know what?” the Angel enquires with a look of honeyed innocence.

“Don't play coy with me,” she rebukes, suddenly enraged, “I imagine there's very little happens round these parts that you don't know about. Did you know that my husband had entered the Weave?”

“I may have had some inkling,” he replies with a glint in his eye.

“And you didn't think to tell me?”

“I'm afraid that information,” the Angel says, “Was restricted to those who needed to know, less it come to the attention of certain other parties.”

Furious, Fiona is about to reply when Robert interrupts. “How do we get to you?”

“Did you catch that?” she asks.

“Tell him,” the Angel replies with another oily smile, “Tell him that Raven will know.”

Episode 7 - Chapter 73

“The court of what?” Robert exclaims.

“Peacock Angel,” Fiona tells him, “He's the one who's been messing with my head all these years.”

“My god,” he says, “Are you all right?”

“I'm fine,” she replies, “He's actually rather charming.”

The Angel, standing before her, smiles. “Why thank you,” he says, bowing deeply. “Is that your husband?”

She nods her reply.

“And is Corvus with him?”

Fiona frowns, not understanding. “Raven,” the Angel corrects himself, “The dark bird?” She nods again.

The Angel smiles broadly. “Then have your husband tell Raven the time has come. They simply must join us as soon as they can!”

Episode 7 - Chapter 72

“Don't worry about Raven,” Robert tells her, “He's with me.”

“You found him?” Fiona asks, and the Angel smiles to himself. “Where was he?”

“I ran into him by accident, while I was looking for you,” Robert replies. “He was in a fairytale kingdom, saving trolls, if you can imagine that?”

“Saving what?” she asks incredulously.

“Trolls,” he confirms, “Yes, I know. Where are you?”

“I'm...” Fiona begins, but a movement of the Angel's finger stops her short.

“I'm not actually very sure where I am,” she continues, “I'm told it moves around.”

“What moves around?” Robert asks.

“Only kidding,” the Angel smiles, “Of course you must tell him.”

“The Court of the Peacock Angel,” she says.

Episode 7 - Chapter 71

“Hello?” Fiona says as she brings the strange block to her ear.

“Fiona?” a strangely familiar voice asks, a voice that she can't quite place. “Is it really you?”

“What?” she asks, “Who is this?” Then realisation slaps her in the face. “Robert?!” she exclaims, “How...”

“I'm here,” Robert interrupts, “In the Weave, looking for you.”

“What are you doing here?” she asks, questions flooding her mind to escape through her mouth. “How did you get here? Where are you?”

“Long story,” Robert replies, “Things got a bit tricky at home, so I came to get you and Raven.”

“I've not found him yet,” she tells him. “In fact,” she continues, frowning at the Angel, “I think I've been led quite the dance.”

Episode 7 - Chapter 70

It was only when I stood that close to my boy, stroking his brow as I was, that I noticed the furious movement behind his closed eyes. His body may have been inert and lifeless, but where ever his mind was, it was certainly very active.

“Come back soon,” I whispered, leaning over to kiss his brow.

“I'm sure it wont be much longer Mary” my husband tried to reassure me. I hate it when he does that, it always sets my nerves off.

“We don't know how long he'll be,” I snapped, “We don't know if he's found Fiona. Or Raven. We don't actually know a bloody thing.”

I got a shock then, nearly jumped out of my skin, as both cats suddenly stood, both tense and alert.

“Something...” said the dark one.

“....is very wrong,” her companion finished.