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37: IN THE COLD LIGHT OF DAY

In which our Heroes are away with the fairies.

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The sunburnt man led them across the barren earth, flanked by his two heavies. If the presence of the guards was meant to deter them from running, Harriet wasn't sure why he'd bothered. There was nowhere to run to in this Day-forsaken place.

Day-forsaken. Harriet laughed bitterly at herself. How could we have been so wrong? All those stories about Day and its beauty, when really it looked like... this.

This was an arid wasteland, charmless and hard. Ochre dust kicked up around them with every step as the vampires and Harriet struggled on, small stones shifting under their feet. Occasionally they would pass a scraggly bush or stunted tree, but these were few and far between and looked as though they'd rather not be there either. How did anything live here, let alone fairies? Harriet did not know. Maybe there were no fairies; maybe that was just some joke. She ducked her head and slogged miserably along behind Rupert.

I should never have left home, she thought. I thought Father was bad, but at least he never actually put me in bonds.

Harriet was so sunk in her gloom that she didn't notice, at first, when the ground began to soften under her feet. Nor did she immediately realise that the parched earth was growing greener, fresher, more lush. Nor did she see the raggedy shrubs gradually being replaced by leafy shrubs, blossoming trees, and banks of wildflowers. So when Rupert stopped abruptly in front of her with a soft gasp, she bumped right into his back.

"Rupert, what-"

Harriet stopped. Harriet stared.

While she had been sunk in her thoughts, the landscape had transformed. Her feet rested on emerald grass, around her rolled gentle hills, and a deep blue sky, studded with sun-blushed clouds, arched overhead.

"Oh," she breathed. She looked at Rupert. This time, overcome with wonder himself, he did catch her eye. "How?" Harriet asked.

He shrugged. "I guess... this is the real Day."

Harriet gazed around her. "I guess it is," she said.

But the landscape was not the only wonder. For ahead of them, a building had come into sight, resting in a dip between two gentle hills. Harriet's eyes widened even further. Built out of white stone and fronted with stately pillars, it was as grand an edifice as she'd ever seen. Sunlight reflected dazzlingly from its golden domed roof. Oddly enough, it had no windows that she could see, but at its front tall double doors of gold-inlaid wood stood invitingly open.

The sunburnt man stood in front of them. "That's enough gawking," he told them. "Come on, you lot."

They no longer needed much persuading as the man chivvied them along to the building. Harriet craned her neck as they passed between the pillars at the front of the building, marvelling at the curling figures that were carved into their trunks. But the sunburnt man did not give them much chance to admire the view, marching them straight through the open doors and into the space beyond.

"Oh, my."

Harriet stood dumbstruck, gazing around her, as beside her the vampires did the same. And no wonder. Inside, everything sparkled. It took Harriet a couple of minutes, and much blinking, to work out what she was seeing. The doors opened into one huge hall, the domed golden ceiling stretching up overhead. In the centre of the ceiling, at the very apex of the dome, a circular hole in the roof directed a thick shaft of sunlight into the space. Affixed a foot or so beneath the hole was a shimmering net. As the sunlight hit the net, it emitted glittering sparks, creating quick bursts of light in the cavernous space. Harriet had to shield her eyes to look up at it, and it took her a moment to work out what was happening. At each burst of sparks, a shining crystal appeared, as though called forth from the very sunlight itself. Some of the crystals caught in the net, but as more and more were formed they dislodged others, making them tumble through the gaps. These fell in a glittering stream to land in a huge circular vat, raised in the centre of the hall. Behind the vat, a vast wooden wheel turned slowly, worked by a magnificent unicorn, its muscles bunching beneath its gleaming white coat as it walked patiently within the wheel. The motion of the great wheel powered a series of wooden beaters, which churned the crystals in their vat. Harriet was puzzled, until she saw the fairy-dust. Six channels radiated from the central vat like the spokes of a wheel, sloping downwards to the floor. Fairy-dust, sparkling and radiant, flowed down them. Although the only sunlight in the huge space came from the central hole in the ceiling, the whole hall glimmered with the light of the dust.