Stardust Chapter 4 Summary

"Can I Get There by Candlelight?"

• Tristran follows the path into Faerie. He grows sleepy, and begins to have a trippy dream about being in school and needing to recite the names and reigns of the kings and queens of England.
• A voice interrupts his dream and asks him to not dream so loudly. When Tristran wakes up, he finds a hairy little person next to him cooking breakfast, which he shares with Tristran.
• Tristran tags along with the little dude (who seems not quite human?), who sort of introduces himself as Charmed.
• After chatting a bit, the hairy little guy asks Tristran what he's doing there. Tristran says he's there to retrieve a fallen star for his love; his new friend thinks Victoria sounds like she's not worth all the trouble.
• The little guy also advises Tristran not to mention the whole fallen-star thing since some folks are a little too interested in that topic (but lying is bad in Faerie, so just be vague or something).
• As they walk and talk, the "How many miles to Babylon" rhyme comes up, and the little dude tells Tristran that it's not just a kid's rhyme.
• Suddenly, the wind grows cold and the little dude says they've walked into a trap—there's totally like a skeleton nearby. Bad news, yo.
• They're apparently in a serewood, which is like a Venus flytrap but for people. A leaf falls onto Tristran's hand, stinging it, and when Tristran pulls it off, he sees blood.
• The little dude says that if they could find the true path, they'd be able to get out, but the serewood has hidden it from them. Somehow, though, Tristran knows that he can find the path out. Sure enough, he's right, and they escape.
• Next up: The little dude picks Tristran's brain about where he's from and why he can do the path thing. Turns out Tristran can point in the direction of any location in Faerie, even if he's never heard of it before, so long as the little dude names it for him. Weird.
• Anyway, the little dude promises to help Tristran find the fallen star, since Tristran helped him out of a tight spot and all.
• In another part of Faerie, the three lords of Stormhold set out together to find the fallen star. They hole up for the night at an inn, and act weird, not letting anyone else pour the wine for them (sounds paranoid, if you ask us).
• Tertius slips some money to the chambermaid, Letitia, and she meets him in his room to shack up for the night. She pours some wine, which Tertius drinks, and promptly dies. Oops.
• Turns out his brother Septimus gave Letitia the wine to share with Tertius. One less brother to contend for the throne, eh? Septimus flees with a horse in the night, and Primus sets out the next morning on his own.
• Next we meet Brevis, a boy who's taking his family's only goat to the market to sell, in the hopes that they'll get enough so they won't starve.
• At a crossroads, he meets a woman in scarlet. She buys his goat, but then turns Brevis into a goat too so that she has a matched pair to pull her little cart. Twinsies.
• Another change of scenery: Tristran waits in the woods while the hairy little man takes his clothes, which are ripped from their encounter with the serewood.
• Tristran throws his hat at some tiny fairies who sing annoying songs at him, full of nonsensical lyrics about his origins and how he'll soon face his true love's scorn.
• The little man comes back with clothes that he traded Tristran's for, in bright crazy colors that definitely wouldn't fly in Wall.
• Additionally, since Tristran's dad did a favor to the little man, the little man is going to help Tristran out by helping him find his fallen star. He gives Tristran a candle to help him travel, and a little silver chain to wrap around his wrist until he needs it later.
• He also reminds Tristran not to tell anyone his true name or his destination.
• The little man lights the wax candle, telling Tristran not to dawdle because there's not much left of the candle stub. As Tristran begins to walk, each step takes him farther away, through mountains and forests and caves.
• Finally he reaches a glen, and the candle takes him no further; he doesn't see a star, but he does hear someone crying.
• He sees a young woman, her eyes red from crying, sprawled beneath a tree. She throws clods of dirt at him to keep him away, even though he says he won't hurt her.
• He asks if she's seen a star; she replies that her leg is broken. Finally it dawns on him: She is the fallen star. He slips a loop of the chain around her wrist, but before he can get her out of there by candlelight, the candle dies.
• So they're stuck there in Faerie, at least a six-month walk from Wall. She insults him a few more times, and then they go to sleep.