The creature Alice had glimpsed sat in front of the fire, at work with a needle and thread. The swarmer leaned forward for a better view, and Alice felt her breath catch in her throat. The thing was slender and graceful, with pale mauve skin and a thin, elfin build. In place of hair a velvety river of thin purple strands ran from the crown of its head, in a tight bunch down the back of its neck, and then spread broadly across its shoulders like a fall of silky hair. It wore only a pair of ragged shorts, held up by a bit of twine wound round and round its waist.

He – Alice decided the creature must be male, based on his attire, though his skin was as smooth and hairless as a porcelain doll – had his face to the fire, concentrating on his work, and Alice took the opportunity to run the swarmer round the door frame and take shelter in a convenient pile of kindling. One of the sticks snapped under its feet, and the creature looked up. His face was the least human part of him, a perfectly symmetrical oval with a lipless slash of a mouth, a tiny button nose, and two enormous eyes the colour of amethysts, with huge, owl-like pupils. They sparkled in the firelight as though they were made of crystal.

Alice made the swarmer stand stock-still amid the kindling. There was another one of the creatures sitting on the floor in front of the fire. This one was much smaller, half the size of the other, but it looked less like a child than a reproduction in miniature, down to every detail but the colour of its skin, hair and eyes, which were shades of sapphire blue.

The small one made a sort of hissing squeak, and to Alice’s surprise the larger one spoke. His voice had a lilting, musical tone.

What he said was, ‘Hungry, are you? And why not, with a third log burned and Mah-Li not yet returned. I warn you, though, all the lamb is gone, and all the squirrel as well. We’re down to lizards, and not very fat ones at that.’

The little creature made a complaining sort of noise.

‘You don’t have to tell me,’ the other one said. ‘I wasn’t the one who made the bargain. “It’s a place to hide until all this blows over,” Mah-Li said, “and it won’t be for long, anyway. You and I should know better than anyone that the Readers always get what they want in the end.” And here we are, stalking lizards in the long grass instead of proper food.’ He gave a very human-sounding sigh. ‘Do you want the lizard?’