One of Hunith's friends was sitting with her in the seats under the eaves when Freya got up the next morning. She vaguely recognized him. She'd seen him around, and sometimes left parcels of herbs at his cottage on the other side of the town. He was a doctor. His name was Gaius. It was a little embarrassing; everyone knew her, even people from the little villages up in the mountains, but she only knew about half Ealdor by sight. She knew every animal, though. She liked animals. They were more honest than people.

"You haven't been sleeping well, so I asked Gaius to make you something to help you sleep," said Hunith, looking closely at Freya as she sat down in the sun.

Freya could feel the old man's eyes on her. She turned her head slightly. His sharp gaze was fixed on her bracelet.

"Have you been having nightmares?" he asked.

"Yes."

"The same one?"

"Pretty much."

"Hmm."

"The bracelet helps a bit. I'm more powerful than she was. It doesn't block them."

Gaius looked surprised. "How do you know that?"

Freya shrugged halfheartedly. "I used to dream about her. That's how I know what not to do." That was a bit of a lie. Actually, she'd used her crystal rose to look back on Morgana's life. But she had had nightmares about some of the things she'd seen.

Gaius held out a little glass bottle to her. She took it. It was full of a dark liquid, and sealed up with wax in exactly the same way Merlin had taught her to do. She rubbed a finger slowly across the seal. Thalassa came padding up and sniffed at it.

"That's your dragon?" he asked.

"Her name is Thalassa," said Hunith. "She's a good girl."

"It's certainly . . . different, keeping a dragon in the house like any other creature." Gaius sighed. "Intelligent beings, dragons, but they used to be kept chained up in caves."

"Big caves with lots of stairs and doors going down from the cellars, and a chain thicker than me," Freya said absently, still turning the bottle over and over in her hands. "It broke apart in blue flames when I set him loose. I had to steal a sword from the enchanted knights to cut it."

"What?" Gaius's voice was sharp. It jerked her abruptly from her daydream.

"Sorry."

"What did you say?"

"I - er . . . just, stuff, you know? Like, bits of old stories or something. In my head. Like, like memories I don't remember getting. Mostly just knowledge. Wulfric says it's all stuff Emrys knows. I'm taking over from him," Freya stammered. "I can't help it."

The stare Gaius was giving her was unnerving her.

"I never remember anything too personal. It's not as weird as it sounds."

"Good." He turned away from her. She escaped back into the house. She'd never had a conversation with him before, just nodded to him in passing. Why had he stared at her like that?

0000

The medicine helped a little. She could sleep just about every other night now. On the nights she could not, she often got up and went out into the fields outside the village and called for Aithusa. The two of them would float high above the mountains and forests, watching over the land.

Freya was starting to like flying now. She could keep her balance as Aithusa rose and dropped, and even had stood up on his back a few times. Now she lay stretched out on his back between his wings, her head between his ears, her arms around his neck. She'd discovered that that was the most comfortable position for both of them on long flights. His scales were rough enough for her to grip with her knees, and she didn't get in the way of his wings.

She rested her cheek on his warm skin and looked down. The little groups of lights and fires below her looked just like the sky, like constellations. It was a warm dark night, filled with the billowing wind. Aithusa flapped his wings and spiraled higher on a column of warm air. They could see the towers of the castle on the horizon.

'Haven't we come too far?' she asked.

'We are safe. No one can see us.'

'I suppose not. But - what's that?'

Aithusa turned to look. There was someone else up here with them, a shadow flying just below the clouds. They hadn't been there a second before. The air around them shimmered and wavered. They heard a voice.

"Crivens!"

"Quiet! What happened?"

"Dinna ask me, mistress."

"Hello?" Freya called.

"Er - hello?" came a reply. "Could you tell us where we are, please?"

"About three hundred feet above Camelot."

"What? I thought that was from a story! Is that a dragon?"

"Yes. It's - it's - look, what's your name?"

The shadowy figure drifted a little closer. "Tiffany. Um - I think something really weird has happened."

"Tiffany Aching?"

"Yes! Do I know you?"

"I don't think so. I'm Freya."

"Freya Pendragon?"

"I could be," Freya said cautiously. "He hasn't acknowledged me yet. Arthur, I mean."

"What? I thought you were married to his brother!"

Now they had come close enough to see each other. Tiffany was a girl of about Freya's age, wearing green and blue, a very thick dark brown cloak, and a pointy hat. She was riding a broomstick. A small figure was jumping up and down on the bristles, making it rock perilously.

Broomstick and dragon drifted on side by side, slowly coming closer to each other.

"He doesn't have a brother," Freya said absently. "Is that a Nac Mac Feegle?"

The little blue man bowed. "Rob Anybody, mistress. How do ye ken who I am?"

"You're in a book. Just a story. I don't understand - "

"But you're in a book, too," said Tiffany. "Roland gave it to me as a wedding present. You're amazing!"

"Er. Thanks. So are you. How you dealt with the Wintersmith - that was pretty awesome."

"I know what's happened noo," said Rob Anybody. "We've slipped sideways. It's like the crawstep, but easier this way for bigjobs." He sat down on the bristles.

"What?" said Tiffany.

Freya pointed behind them, to where the sky was broken and trembling like heat waves. "A door to your world must have opened up in the sky. Sorry about that."

"It's nae a problem," said the Feegle cheerfully. "We Feegles has the knowing all about that kinda stuff, mistress."

"I know."

"Look, if I'm in a book," said Tiffany slowly. "How far have you read?"

"Well - " Freya hesitated. She thought she knew what Tiffany was getting at. If they'd each read the other's story, they could know something of the other's future. Perhaps the stories already knew what would happen. "Has the old Baron gone yet?"

"Yes. And I met the Cunning Man."

"That's as far as I've gotten. I can't find the next book."

As far as Freya could tell in the moonlight, Tiffany looked disappointed. "Oh. I wish - but maybe it's for the best. It's always nerve-racking knowing your own future."

"Mmm. How far have you read for me?"

"I - look. This is dangerous. I think I've read ahead. You ask me a question."

"All right. Do I know Emrys?"

A strange expression crossed Tiffany's face. "Shut up, Rob," she said quickly. "Yes."

"I do?"

"Aye, mistress. He's -"

"I said shut up!" Tiffany scolded. "Yes, you do."

"Do I have to kill him?"

"Well - he - you - look, that's a touchy question."

"Tiffany, please. I need help. You should know that," Freya said desperately.

"No. You don't. Your task isn't to take his place. That's just something that happens on the way. I think everyone around you is losing sight of that. First Sight. You have it, Freya. You just don't use it. You really need it. What is it you need to do to protect your steading?"

"Mistress," said Rob Anybody. He'd stopped fidgeting and was looking behind them.

"I don't know! I'm so confused!" said Freya. "I want to protect my people, not kill them!"

"Good. So what threatens them? It's more than just everyday stupidity. There is a real threat. Like the Elf Queen," Tiffany prompted.

"The doors?"

"Right! The Other Side. It's trying to engulf you, but that won't work the way they're trying it. You need to become part of it. Only once this world is put back together can it solve its problems."

"Mistress! I ken this is verra important hag business, but the doors are closing!"

"Put back together?" Freya said slowly.

"Oh, drat. Look, you think this land splintered off from the outside world. It didn't. It just moved around a bit in space. There are four dimensions and from outside this place, time looks like width. You're still where you started, but you're in a tiny space, like - " Tiffany saw Freya's blank look. She sighed. "Look, it's like wrinkles in a wet shirt. If you don't unfold it before you wash it, dirt gets stuck in them. But you don't see the dirt until you spread it out, and then suddenly there are areas of shirt you couldn't see before but were there all along."

"I think I understand. We're still where we were before we went to sleep, just a lot thinner. So I need to expand the land again?"

"Yes! Basically. Mind you, it won't be easy. An entire island got folded in. Two entire islands, actually. That's a lot of power. When you get back to where you're supposed to be, you'll still be islands, by the way, so you don't have to worry about being in the middle of another country. Remember Brittania from that book about the soldier? That's this land."

"Oh!"

"What is it?" Tiffany said impatiently, turning to Rob Anybody, who was jumping up and down.

"Yon door's closing, mistress!"

Tiffany and Freya both turned to look at the patch of sky where she had broken through from her world. There was only a faint shimmer left.

"Go!" said Freya. "Quick! I'll try to hold it open."

Tiffany nodded. She steered her broomstick up close enough to reach out and take Freya's hand. Freya felt something cold and metallic in her palm. She opened her hand.

"You can't give me this!"

"You will need it more than me. Wear it and think of me, and remember that our lands are in our bones. We have a duty, Freya. You have kept me going through these last few months."

"Then take this." Freya yanked at her collar, wrenching the crystal rosebud off of it. Then she held out the collar, the silver spiral still gleaming in the moonlight. Tiffany took it.

"Thank you. I will keep it always." She smiled, drawing further away. "And if you find a door, don't hesitate to drop in for a cup of tea!"

"I won't! And thank you!" Freya called, tucking both trinkets into her jacket pocket. Then she closed her eyes, bending all her strength and will to keep the door open. The weight of it was like a landslide.

'She has gone,' said Aithusa. Freya let the door slam shut and collapsed full length on his back. Her searching fingers found the little trinket in her pocket and closed tightly over it.

"When I'm old, I shall wear midnight," she said, looking up at the stars. She felt the darkness flow over her like a blanket, and fell back into it as it rose up and surrounded her.

0000

Aithusa landed in the garden and waited for Freya to slide off his back. She was limp and unmoving. He twisted his head around to look at her.

Mordred was woken up by Thalassa standing on his chest and licking his face. She was whimpering. He followed her down the ladder and out into the garden. Freya was lying on the ground, sheltered by Aithusa's wings. He knelt beside her.

"What happened?" he demanded.

"Elf Queen," Aithusa said painstakingly. He was slowly learning to speak Human. "Doors. On fire."

"She saw them and tried to close them?"

"No. After. I saw." Aithusa's vocabulary was not large enough to say much else.

Mordred gently tried to unclasp Freya's fingers. They were clenched tightly around something. He picked her up and carried her into the house. Hunith was just coming to the door.

"I heard Thalassa crying -" she began, and then saw Freya. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know," said Mordred. "She's out cold. And I can't get her to open her hand."

They laid her on her bed and covered her with the blanket. Thalassa jumped up and curled up by her side. Hunith put her hand on the girl's cheek.

"She doesn't feel sick." She turned away and looked on the table beside the bed, frowning. "Her collar's gone."

Mordred went through the pockets of Freya's jacket. They'd taken it off of her before putting her to bed. He held the crystal rosebud and turned it over in his fingers. "She took it off in a hurry. Look, the ring that snapped into the chain is bent. And she's got something in her hand." He put the flower down carefully on the table and pried at her fingers again.

Freya's hand uncurled. On her palm was a little silver necklace, the representation of the spirit of a horse.

"How did she get that?" Mordred asked blankly.

Hunith glanced at him. "You recognize it?"

"It looks like the necklace from the Tiffany Aching books."

Freya's head turned slightly. When she spoke, her voice seemed different - more resonant and edged. "And remember, you promised me. You'll give me time to get him out and you won't hunt him." There was a pause. "If you do, I'll kill you. I will. I'd do anything to keep him safe. I don't care how many lives it costs. There's been enough deaths already. One more won't matter to me."

"That doesn't sound like her," Hunith whispered. Mordred nodded, frowning. He was turning his head from side to side. He stuck a finger in his ear and twisted it.

"Is that noise in my head?" he asked.

"Hurry up then," Freya said. "I have to be back by the time the alarm goes."

Mordred dropped to his knees, shaking his head. Freya screamed, thrashing around and tumbling off the bed onto the floor. Hunith looked helplessly at them.

"Mordred! Are you all right? What's happening?"

He looked up, his face white. "Didn't you feel it? It felt like everything turned inside out, just for a second."

"I didn't feel anything." Hunith was looking at Freya now. The girl opened her eyes blearily. Then she sat up abruptly.

"Did she get back before they came through?"

"Who?"

"Tiffany! I hope she -" Freya looked down at the little silver horse twinkling in the candlelight. She smiled. "So it wasn't a dream, and somewhere all stories are true." She slipped the chain through the ring of her crystal and fastened it all around her neck. "While I am young, I will wear starlight."

"You met Tiffany Aching?" Mordred said in disbelief.

"Yes. She fell through a door that opened suddenly in the sky. I had to hold it open long enough for her to go back home. It was heavy." Her face clouded. "And it opened because someone somewhere here just ripped a hole in space and time that was nearly big enough to make this world fit back into place again. And something came through. Something big. You all know the damage wandering bands of a dozen men have done. This time, it's an army." She stood up unsteadily. "They're going to Camelot. There will be a battle."

"You were talking in your sleep, but it didn't sound like you," Hunith said anxiously, looking into her eyes. "Are you sure you're normal?"

Freya nodded. "I felt his mind for a moment. That's how I know what happened. He was there. He helped open the door. That woman couldn't have done it alone. She doesn't have the strength or the power."

"Do you mean Emrys?"

Mordred looked up sharply. He was still pale. "That fits with what you said," he muttered. "He'd never do anything to hurt Arthur. He saw the invasion coming and thought this was the best way to deal with it."

"You know who Emrys is?" Hunith asked, surprised.

"I have always known."

Freya looked at him expectantly. "Tell me where to find him. I need to know now. He's just betrayed Camelot to the Other Side."

Mordred's face went deadpan. "I can't."

"I need to know! That's an order, Mordred." Freya's voice was ice.

"No."

"Tell me now."

"It isn't time for you to know. I cannot tell you now. But I will go with you when you find him," he added.

She glared at him.

"Shouldn't we be telling Wulfric about this?" Hunith suggested. Mordred and Freya were trying to stare each other down. That could go on for hours.

"Yes," Freya said at last.

"I should think everyone in the world felt that door open," Mordred said coldly. "But he needs to know where the blow will fall first."

As the two of them hurried out into the night, the first notes of the warning bell began to sound, tolling out the signal for all druids to gather in the Cave for an emergency meeting.