Elle smiled. “Do not be downcast for me, darling heart. The master of this place and I are about to enter upon a contest. He will seek to dull me and I will strive to brighten him. If I succeed, gaps will open again and again, and one day he will weary of the battle and I will be coming home to Valley.”
Such was the power of her personality that Rage could almost believe her.
“But to choose darkness and winter,” Shona wept. “How can this be a good ending for the story of our journey to the summerlands? That we sacrificed the golden lady who was our champion in order to gain the sun?”
“I am no sacrifice,” Elle said firmly. “You mustn’t think it, any of you.”
“Oh, Elle,” Nomadiel cried. She let go of her father’s hand and flung herself into Elle’s arms.
“Do not weep, little one. Grow well and expect me to come to visit you one day. But mind, I will expect a royal feast and many fine songs and stories.”
“You shall have them,” Nomadiel whispered.
Elle straightened. “You had better go now before the master of this place discovers what a bad bargain he has made. He will arrive soon with the last prisoners, and you must be ready to tend them on the other side of the door.”
Rage could see nothing through the door, but she hoped that the summerlanders would be stepping into a blaze of sunlight. The crowd diminished as more and more streamed through the door.
“Maybe Rage can dream us to visit you,” Billy said.
“I am afraid that cannot be,” the wizard said. “You see, the magic that Rage is using to dream-travel is not hers but a magic the firecat stole from me in its desire to bring me aid, though I did not want it. The dream-traveling spell will wear off before long. Indeed, it is a wonder to me that it has not done so sooner. No doubt the firecat meddled with it.”
“Where is the firecat?” Mr. Walker asked. “Didn’t you say that you would need it to help you close the door?”
“I will force it to come to me when the time is right, but being here in a land steeped in despair will torment it because of its own hungers. I do not wish it to suffer more than it needs to,” the wizard answered.
At last, it was their turn to pass through the door. Before any of them could speak, there was a blinding flash of bluish light, and the Stormlord, clad in his heavy gray robes, stood in front of them.
“Now he will betray us,” Puck muttered.
The Stormlord ignored him. “I have listened to your words, Lady, and I find myself…troubled. You spoke of a challenge, and it comes to me that my decision to keep you here was a challenge. Perhaps I do need a real contest to remind me of what I meant to do with this world. Things became confused once I began to put Null-landers into my machine. Since it has fallen silent, my mind is clearer. I still believe that conquering what you represent, Lady, will cleanse me and purify my world. But I desire the challenge to be more honorable.”
“What do you mean?” Elle asked.
“You will remain here, as we have agreed, for six months. In this time, we will contest. But if at the end of that time you retain the will and desire to leave Null, I will open a true gateway to your land, and you will pass through it. There you will remain for six months so that we can gather our strength, and then you will come again. So it will continue until I do not desire you to come to Null, which means that you will have won, or when you lack the will to leave Null, and you will have lost.”
“Six months here and six months there?” Elle asked. The Stormlord inclined his dark head. “Very well, I accept your renewed terms, my Lord. Gladly.”
The Stormlord bowed to her and then lifted a long, thin hand toward the winter door. There was a flash of light, and suddenly a line of people was shuffling toward the door. The remaining prisoners. Most did not even look to see where they were walking.
“Where is the creature who created the false door?” the Stormlord asked.
The wizard lifted his hands into the air and made a twisting motion with his fingers. There was a hissing burst of light, like that of a rocket that had not been released. The firecat appeared, a spitting, screeching brightness hurtling through the winter door.
“No! Not coming. Hateful place. Hurting!”
“Firecat! Hear your master. I have told you that you must help us to dismantle the door you created.”
“Letting go! Must going! Hurting!” it shrieked.
“Be calm. The sooner you help, the sooner we can leave this place,” the wizard said firmly.
“Wizard not leaving firecat?” Rage saw its red, slanted eyes clearly for a moment, beseeching but filled with fury.
“Of course not,” the wizard said gently. “Now will you help us willingly, or must I cast a spell to make you obedient?”
“No! Not making ssspell. Firecat doing what isss wanted. Nice wizard.” It began to snarl and weep.
The wizard gave a sigh and turned to the Stormlord. “We are ready.”
“Are you ready, Lady?” the Stormlord asked Elle.
“I am ready,” Elle said. She crossed the little space between them to stand beside the Stormlord, bright flame alongside dark flame.
The wizard lifted his hand and nodded gravely to Elle.
“Farewell, my friends.” She gave a flashing smile. “Look for me in six months!”
“Goodbye,” Thaddeus called.
The others did the same, then they turned to pass one by one through the door: Thaddeus, Mr. Walker, Nomadiel with Rally on her shoulder. Billy passed through the gate before Rage. She turned to look one last time at Elle, who smiled.
Weeping, Rage stepped through the winter door. There was a moment of extreme coldness, then she was stepping onto the hillside in Valley.
It was dark and raining heavily. The snow underfoot was a muddy slush, and Rage slipped. Billy caught her arm and held her steady. He shouted over the rain that the others had gone up to the wizard’s castle. Then the wizard stepped through the door, the firecat struggling in his arms. Its heat did not seem to trouble the wizard, and he seemed not to notice the rain as he turned to face the winter door.
At that moment, Gilbert came dashing out of the darkness with an armful of umbrellas that he promptly dropped in the mud. He fell to his knees to gather them up. The wizard helped him up and said a little water never hurt anyone.
The wizard turned back to the door. “Now, to complete the spell, firecat, you must desire the door to be gone. I will send the power through you to make it so.”
“Door gone!” the firecat shrieked.
There was a flare of light. For one moment, Rage saw them through a slit-shaped hole: Elle with her bright golden hair, and the tall, pale-faced Stormlord as he held out a formal hand, and Rage saw Elle look at him and then lay her own hand in it.
Then the Stormlord lifted his free hand and pointed toward the slit.
The door vanished.
“Wetnesss! Horrible cruel wetnesss and coldnesss!” the firecat hissed.
“Go and find a fire to curl up by,” the wizard said wearily, and he released it. The firecat vanished in a fizzing flash of light. “I shall have to do something about that firecat,” he murmured, “else I will spend the rest of my days being enmeshed in its mischief.”
“Come out of the rain,” Gilbert said. “There is hot soup and fresh-baked bread and warm fires back at the castle. I’m afraid I didn’t know so many would be coming, and I was so upset about Elle not coming back that when I tried to create enough food for them all, I misspoke, and the castle is full of purple chickens. I can’t seem to remember how to make them go away. I am sorry, master.”
“Dear Gilbert, how I have missed you!” the wizard laughed, and threw a long arm around the bedraggled faun’s shoulders.
“I am glad to see you, too, master,” Gilbert said. He looked at Billy. “You have grown so much,” he marveled, then his pale eyes watered. “Was there really no other way but to leave her?”
“I don’t know if there was another way, but Elle chose
this way,” Billy said. “But Gilbert, maybe no one has thought to tell you that the Stormlord of Null changed his mind. Elle will not remain there forever now, but only for six months at a time.”
“You mean that she will come back here…”
“For six months. But then she must return to Null for the next six months. This will go on until the Stormlord desires her not to return to Null, or she desires not to return here,” the wizard said. “Well, we seem to be wet enough that we might have gone bathing in our clothes. Let us go and try your soup and deal with these chickens.” He turned to Rage. “Will you remain awhile with us? I can ensure that you do not wake until you desire.”
“Just for a little while,” Rage said, torn between knowing Logan was waiting anxiously and knowing this might be the last time she could be in Valley. “Until day comes.”
“Day…” The wizard’s face was transformed by longing. “Oh, to see day again, even if it is a day full of gray skies and rain.”
“Maybe it won’t rain,” Gilbert said.
The castle was now an enormous mansion with dozens of bedrooms, which was lucky, given how many guests had arrived through the winter door. Most of those from Null were eating in a great dining hall, for the wizard had conjured a feast tempting enough to dazzle the most numbed senses. Rage, Billy, their companions from Valley, and a few of the summerlanders were sitting in the library by the fire, drinking soup out of big mugs. As they ate, they took turns telling Gilbert and the witch Mother all that had happened. The silver streaks in Rue’s hair shone in the firelight, but despite this, she seemed younger when Thaddeus sat very close to her.
Then they moved on to plans for the future.
“There will be a lot of cleaning up because there will be flooding now that so much snow has begun to melt,” Thaddeus said. “But as the sun is shining and the flowers blooming about us, I won’t mind how hard I work. I have never longed more for the smell and sounds of spring.”
“I, too,” Mr. Walker said. “I will plant a honeysuckle on Feluffeen’s grave. She always liked honeysuckle.”
“Did she?” Nomadiel asked him shyly.
“She did,” Mr. Walker said, reaching out to touch his daughter’s cheek. “And violets, too, but only wild ones. I will show you where she used to pick them.”
“I shall be glad to get back to my little tree house in Wildwood,” Puck said grumpily. “Goodness knows what a mess her squirrels have made in my absence.” He was sitting on the arm of the witch Mother’s chair. She reached out a long hand and patted him like a cat. He cast Thaddeus a sly look of triumph that made the witch man laugh and tweak his ear.
“I will go and tell Fork what happened to Elle,” Nomadiel said softly. “I will sing to it of Elle and her great quest through the winter door into the land of darkness. I will help Fork to win its battle against despair just as Elle helped the Null-landers.”
“I will come with you,” said Shona, her eyes shining. “The Lady Elle told us of this magical city and of her great affection for it. She said there were many empty streets and houses. I should like to live in such a place, if it will have me.”
“I will go to the mountains she spoke of, and run with bears and wolves and foxes,” said the boy Lod.
“There will be a place for all of you here,” the wizard said. Then his eyes turned to Rage and Billy. “For you two also, if you wish to remain, but do not decide now, nor even think of it. Gilbert, why don’t you conjure up some more food? Some good honey mead and a very rich chocolate cake would do nicely.”
“Chocolate?” Nomadiel murmured, then her eyes widened as she remembered that this was what she had drunk from Rage’s flask. “Oh yes, a cake of chocolate would be lovely.”
“I will try,” Gilbert said nervously. He stood up. “All right.” He squeezed his eyes shut and lifted both hands and twisted his fingers in a peculiar fluid way. Then he opened his eyes and stared in wonder at the enormous confection he had created. The smell of chocolate rising from the cake made Rage’s mouth water.
“Is it meant to be purple?” Puck demanded.
“Oh yes,” Billy said quickly. “Why, the very best chocolate is that color.”
“It smells heavenly,” the witch Mother pronounced.
“Well done, my boy,” the wizard said.
Gilbert blushed with pleasure.
At last the wizard rose and suggested that they all go out to watch the sun rise.
It had stopped raining outside and the ground was wet and boggy. Great patches of bare ground showed through the snow, and a mist hazed the air. Rage hoped the Null-landers would not be disappointed, but she need not have worried. When a seam of light opened up on the horizon, they began to cheer wildly.
“Oh,” Shona murmured as the mist thinned and grew pink, “I cannot believe that we are here in the summerlands at last.”
Humans and creatures emerged from the castle, and others came out of Deepwood. Then a bird began to sing, and in a moment others joined in. The Null-landers’ faces were entranced. The sun rose at last, a burnished disk of molten orange, saturating the skeins of cloud in red-gold, pink, mauve, lavender, and peach. Then it rose higher, and grew as radiant as Elle’s hair while the sky turned the brightest and clearest of blues.
Rage marveled herself, for it had been so long since she had seen a sky so blue.
“You do not need to go back,” the wizard said softly. “If your mother is too ill to care for you and Samuel has gone away, I can create a door and bring you through to Valley in reality. It will take time and a good deal of magic, but I will do it. You can wait here until your mother recovers enough to take responsibility for you again. I can enable you to visit her in her dreams.”
Rage shook her head. “I am needed back in my own world,” she said at last.
“You have great courage, Rage, and honor, too. Rare things in the human world,” the wizard said.
“Maybe not so rare,” Rage answered, thinking of Logan. “Goodbye, Great-Uncle Peter.”
He blinked and then smiled. “Goodbye for now, Great-Niece Rage Winnoway.”
Rage nodded. Then she turned to Billy. “You could stay here and be human shaped and…”
He shook his head. “Like Elle, I have made my choice. I will stay with you.”
Rage nodded and turned to the wizard. “I would like to go home now.”
The wizard lifted his hand.
The sun-drenched hillside fell away.
Rage did not wake at once. She passed into the dream of snow falling and falling. The landscape seemed vaguely familiar this time. Then she heard the voice calling out for help again. This time she recognized it.
It was the voice of her uncle.
“Help!”
Rage woke to Billy licking her face.
She sat up, and Logan sat up, too, his hair sticking up wildly, making him look like an astonished owl. “What happened?”
“It’s all right. The winter door has been dismantled and most of the Null-landers went to Valley. Elle stayed.” Rage told him briefly what had happened, but she kept thinking of the voice in her dream. Finally, she interrupted herself to say, “You know, what if there was an accident but no one knows about it yet?”
Logan blinked at her in confusion. “What do you mean?”
“My uncle,” Rage said. “What if he had an accident, but no one saw it? That would explain the police saying there hadn’t been any accidents. Maybe he didn’t just leave.”
Logan gave an exclamation. “Come and have a look at this.”
Rage climbed out of her blankets. The room was freezing, which meant the power was out again, or maybe it hadn’t come on. Logan went to the little desk, where two notebooks had been laid out side by side, both open. One was the older stained notebook. The other was the new notebook with the writing ending in the middle of a sentence.
“I’m not much of a reader, Rage, but look. This is the notebook you read, right?” He was touching the new notebook, and Rage nodded. “Well, t
he words on this page are the same as the words on this page.” He tapped the older notebook. “So here’s the thing. I think the stuff in this new notebook is just a copy of what’s in the other one. So it can’t be about leaving you. It just looked that way.”
“But…” Rage stopped. If her uncle had come home when she had been in the hikers’ hut with Billy, he would have gone looking for her. He would have driven round the back of the dam because it would be a lot quicker than walking there. There was an access road that he could have used, and as soon as she pictured it, she was certain that was where she had been walking in her dream. She told Logan what she thought.
“We can’t call anyone since the phone is out, so we’d better go and look, just in case he has had an accident. If he is hurt, there’s no time to lose,” Logan said. Billy gave a bark of agreement. They dressed warmly and ran out into the darkness. It was early morning, but it might as well have been the middle of the night. But one thing had changed.
“Logan, have you noticed?” Rage asked.
“Noticed what?”
“The weather! The air is milder—almost warm. And look how slushy the snow is.”
“It’s like in Narnia after the witch was defeated.” Logan sounded delighted.
The ground was treacherously slippery, but they struggled along as best they could.
“You said he called out for help in the dreams?” Logan panted as they turned off the main road and onto the access road.
Rage nodded, but she thought uneasily how weak the last cry had been.
“If he came back when you were gone, that means he came on Saturday or maybe earlier on Sunday. He would have read your note and come to look for you. That means he might have been hurt for more than a day….” His voice trailed off as he saw Rage’s face.
Rage was thinking that if not for Billy, she would have died unconscious in the snow after her fall. She could only pray that her uncle had stayed in his car. If so, there was hope for him.
After following the access road for some time, Logan suggested they split up. He would continue along the road. She should cut across the hills to the hut and come along the access road from the other direction. “We can cover the ground twice as fast that way. Yell or get Billy to bark if you see anything.”