Episode 5 - Chapter 100

When is a scheme more than a scheme, what gives it value, what makes you dream, if a dream isn't broken why should we fix it and what kind of cream would go with this biscuit? It may seem like aeons ago, three princes met, all in the know, a plan was formed, written in snow, melting away in the light of the day, evidence gone, done nothing wrong. Who planted the scheme into a dream? Who left that dream under a house? Was it the mouse? Dirty louse. Now that dream was ready to fly, scheme taking hold of mind's eye, that's where we started, before we departed, all's left to say is bye... bye...

Episode 5 - Chapter 99

“No,” Fiona replies, suddenly, unaccountably, confident. “You are.” She's not sure where her confidence is coming from, but suddenly it's there. “You will leave me alone.”

Both women look at each other before returning to their chairs.

“Time to move on,” Fiona says. Captain Bear walks through the door, carrying a dress draped from a hanger, which he hands to her with a smile.

“She really is a wake walker,” he says to Larry, Curly and Mo, as each of them drops down the fireplace, narrowly missing the flames, to assemble before her.

Fiona quickly changes into the clothes. “We need to get out of here,” she says.

Episode 5 - Chapter 98

Fiona yelps, from the shock of being struck as much as the pain and being knocked over. The two women tower over her, one of them wielding the poker from the fire.

“Get away from me,” she screams, “Get away from me now!”

“You don't speak ill of the prince,” one of them says murderously, “Not in this house. You'll have to be punished now.”

She raises her arm to strike Fiona again. Fiona herself screams “No” with all she has. As she does, she feels an energy rushing out of her, from where she doesn't know. The two women teeter in its force, staggering backwards as if pushed by an invisible hand. This only makes them angrier, instantly charging back toward her.

“You're really going to get it now, girlie,” the nearer one threatens.

Episode 5 - Chapter 97

The temperature of the room has dropped to freezing before Fiona has finished speaking, despite the roaring fire. Both women clamber to their feet, faces set with hatred and loathing.

“Don't you dare mock us,” says one, towering over her. “Your hopeless existence will be very much shorter if you take that tone with us. You, dancing with the prince, as elegant and entertaining as he is? The very idea is tantamount to treason and will lose you your worthless head.”

“Elegant and entertaining?” Fiona asks. “I thought he was rather dull.”

The blow that follows is swift and brutal, a backhanded slap by a slab of a hand adorned with many rings, gouging through Fiona's cheek and nose, sending her backwards into the door frame, cracking her head.

Episode 5 - Chapter 96

Fiona finds the stairs and begins her careful ascent, not entirely trusting the balance of the heavily laden tray. After only a few steps she can hear raucous shrieking and cackling, the volume increasing as she gets closer. She knocks loudly when she arrives, but unsure if she'll be heard, decides to let herself in anyway. Opening the door, she finds two of the fattest, ugliest women she has ever seen, sat in front of a roaring fire, hideous mirth stretched across their powdered faces.

“What took you so long?” one demands coldly, any sense of humour evaporating.

“It took a few moments to prepare,” Fiona replies, setting the tray on a table between them.

“You really are the laziest of scrubbers,” the other accuses. “We should have you whipped. Can't you see you're serving ladies of the court. I danced with the prince tonight, for a minute or two.”

“Really?” asks Fiona. “I danced with him for an hour.”

Episode 5 - Chapter 95

A cupboard door swings open and Larry, Curly and Mo fall out, rolling across the kitchen floor until each is upright and moving with purpose. Larry heads straight to the kitchen table, grabbing a large round tray as he goes. Curly brings him first plates, then cups, and finally knives and napkins. Mo emerges from the larder door, meat balanced precariously atop bread in one hand, an overflowing jug of wine in the other. Larry arranges the tray very precisely, testing its balance on his shoulder more than once. Once he's satisfied he gestures for Fiona to take it. “First floor, second door,” Strauss tells Fiona, “And you'd best be quick, they get uglier if you keep them waiting.”

Episode 5 - Chapter 94

The carriage departs the courtyard. Fiona is considerably surprised to find that everything around her begins to melt away. One moment she is in a carriage, the next she's sat on the floor of a simple medieval kitchen. A fire is slowly dying in a hearth in front of her. She realises immediately her clothes have changed too. Where once there was a fancy gown, now there are tattered ash smudged rags. There's battered sandals on her feet, and her hair is tied with a dish cloth.

“Okay,” she says to herself, looking for her companions. “That's quite a... change.”

Somewhere above her a door bangs open and a shrill voice cries out. “Girl? Where are you when a lady needs a drink? Bring wine at once, you wretched hideous girl.”

“And bread,” comes a second, “And mutton.”