AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Alice stopped in her tracks, but Hatter grasped her by the waist and turned to watch the spectacle that was unfolding before us.
“You can watch them with me, if you want to,” he said, shooting a wild-eyed look of amusement at Alice. “They’re not here for us.”
Sure enough, the pink bunnies were swarming the bodies of the dead soldiers. Within a matter of minutes, the flesh was stripped off the bone, and then the bones were gnawed away into oblivion. Gruesome as it was, it was too fascinating for any of us to look away.
The only thing that remained of the queens’ men was their armor. While the fuzzy pink bunnies groomed their blood-stained fur, the vines and plants of the forest quickly grew over the soldiers’ armor and hid all traces of their existence from view.
“We should probably go now that the bunnies are fed and full,” I said to Alice and Hatter. After walking in a small circle, trying to gauge which way we’d come from when the soldiers had found us, I looked at my old friend. “Hatter? Are we still headed in the right direction?”
Hatter turned his wild, mismatched eyes to me, and I found myself faltering at the madness that bloomed within them. His mouth spread into a wide grin, and felt my Cheshire smile fading away.
I didn’t want to say it out loud, but I was...concerned.
Our guide was starting to lose his grasp on reality.
I couldn’t let Alice know.
Not now.
Not when she was riding so high on such a wave of confidence.
No, it was my job to keep her morale up, and to keep Hatter focused. He was the only one who knew where the Vorpal Sword was hidden.
“If we’re not here, then we’re there...but soldiers might be anywhere,” sang Hatter, his wild eyes darting about. "But as long as we stay ahead of the Red Queen's minions, it matters little where we find ourselves."
“All valid points. Remember to keep your guard up," I said, my own senses on high alert. "We've already killed four of the Red Queen’s soldiers. As soon as she realizes they’re missing, she'll be coming for us with all she has."
As we began our hasty retreat from the site of the battle, I couldn't help but marvel at the bond that had formed between us. Three unlikely allies, brought together by fate and bound by a common goal: to bring down the Red Queen and restore balance to Wonderland.
And as the sinister landscape stretched out before us, I knew that together, we just might have a fighting chance.
* * *
ChapterNine
ALICE
The air hung heavy with the scent of decay as Chess, Hatter and I trudged through the twisted landscape of Wonderland. The ground beneath our feet was slick with slime and rot, making each step a precarious endeavor.
I slipped more than a couple of times and was luckily caught by my two companions. Hatter and Chess walked alongside me, protective as ever, their eyes watchful in the dark and the gloom.
“Hey, guys...I’m curious,” I said, my voice laced with frustration, "why has Callister been so completely unhelpful when I've gone out of my way to prove what I’m capable of? Doesn't he want to save Wonderland?"
"Callister has his reasons," Hatter replied, his voice distant, as if he were lost in thought. "He's not one to trust easily."
"Maybe he's just an asshole," I said under my breath, recalling the countless snide remarks Callister had thrown my way since we'd met.
“You’re not wrong about that,” Chess agreed, his green eyes glittering mysteriously in the murky light. "But it’s not without reason. He's seen what the Red Queen can do firsthand."
“What do you mean?”
“The Red King was Callister's brother, and their loyalty to each other ran deep," Chess began, his voice somber as we continued our trek through the decaying forest.
“It still runs deep, even in death,” Hatter added. “When The Red Queen ordered the king to lose his head, it nearly destroyed Callister and the rest of Wonderland."
“The king was the only person who could temper the Red Queen’s irrational fits of rage,” Chess explained.
“That’s awful,” I replied, feeling a deep ache in my heart.
