Wanton Wonderland

by Eva Chase

  A roar echoed through the walls, and the hairs on the backs of my arms jumped up. That minor mystery could wait for another day. I dashed toward the street to see how I might have my queen’s back now.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Lyssa

  In the morning, we’d fled the city. Now, between streaks of amber lamplight, I was bringing the Clubbers home. While I watched their faces as we walked past the first buildings, as they breathed in the clearing air and took in the burnt piles the jabberwocks had reduced the Queen’s roses to, a glow lit up inside me—a sense of accomplishment more potent than anything I’d felt before.

  In some ways, the Queen of Hearts had stolen these people’s home from them. She’d turned it into a place where they had no choice but to live in a drug-addled daze. I’d freed them from her and given back everything she’d taken from them.

  Almost everything she’d taken from them. I couldn’t say they really had their freedom until I’d managed to strip her guards of their weapons and her of all her power. But for now, this felt like a pretty epic victory.

  The jabberwock lumbering along beside me let out a faint snort. I patted its feathered leg. When I’d first called out to the creatures I’d thought of as monsters, I’d been terrified underneath. But the connection I’d been able to form with the ones we’d encountered on the Checkerboard Plains, to calm them and tame them, had come even more easily now that I held the scepter and believed in my right to use it.

  As the cleansing glow of the scepter’s ruby had dispelled the storming emotions behind the blazing eyes and the teeth like shards of glass, I’d gotten a taste of their turmoil. The jabberwocks were more anxious than raging. I had to wonder whether they’d always been monstrous or if the tyranny of the Hearts’ rule had driven them to viciousness like it had warped so much else in Wonderland.

  I sensed a faint impression of the other three I’d summoned, which I’d asked to patrol the fringes of the city on the palace side and to frighten off any guards who tried to journey along those roads. If the guards didn’t frighten, they might find themselves barbequed or skewered. I was leaving the choice up to them.

  A thin wail caught my ears. The jabberwock shivered but stayed at my side. I peered down a side-street and spotted a little girl, no more than six or seven, hugging her knees where she sat at the side of the road.

  The jabberwock would probably only scare her more. I looked into the violet eye closest to me and made a motion for it to stay put. Then I hurried over to the girl.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked, crouching down in front of her. “Do you need help?”

  She swiped at her damp cheeks. Her hair was tangled and her face smudged with dirt, presumably from weeks of roaming around amid the revelers. The drug had left the city people barely able to look after themselves.

  “I don’t know where my mom and dad are,” she said, and jabbed her thumb at the building behind her, a spindly yellow structure that zigzagged back and forth across its five storeys. “This is my house. I came back a couple hours ago, but they aren’t here. Maybe they went off somewhere without me. Everything’s gone so confusing.” She rubbed her forehead.

  An ache closed around my heart. “We’ll try to find your parents,” I said. It was possible they were among the Clubbers the guards had taken to be pearled. I couldn’t bring myself to mention that to her, though.

  One of the city people, the woman who’d been so hesitant to trust the Spades before, came up beside me. “I can help her look,” she said, with a tight but warm smile at me. “And if we can’t find them tonight, I’ll make sure she has somewhere comfortable to sleep.”

  “Thank you,” I said, with a swell of resolve. I hadn’t been totally sure what to say to the city people we’d rescued now that we were here. Why not give them a purpose?

  I let my gaze sweep over the crowd when I came back into the main street we’d been walking along. “You can all go back to your homes, of course,” I said. “If you want to help the city recover, though, I’d be grateful if you could check in on your friends and neighbors and help anyone in need as much as you’re able too. We’ve destroyed all the roses, but the effects of the drug aren’t likely to wear off completely until sometime tomorrow, and even once people’s heads have cleared, they’re going to be confused. Let’s really take back the city.”

  A murmur of agreement spread through the Clubbers. A few of them headed off down other streets right then, I guessed toward their own neighborhoods.

  The man with the hound’s head sidled closer to me. “Are you sure the guards won’t come back to take some sort of revenge?”

  “They won’t know any of you were ever with us once you’re back at home,” I reassured him. “And I’ve got more of my new friends protecting the city for us so that the guards can’t get this far anyway.”

  He gave the jabberwock a glance that was both awed and horrified. I’d take that combination.

  Most of the Spades had come back to the city with us too, some of them scouting along the edges to make sure we hadn’t missed any guards and others here with me. Theo ambled over as more of the Clubbers dispersed.

  “Where are you planning on spending the night?” he asked. “We’ll want to make sure you’re fully protected.”

  “I haven’t decided yet,” I admitted. He’d probably like it if I joined him in his Tower, assuming that was where he was going, but like often before, it felt too claustrophobic to me. Too difficult to escape from if the guards managed to break through. And now, on top of that, I couldn’t help thinking of how distant it would put me from the people I wanted to have faith in me.

  It’d be better if they could see me as much as possible, better if they knew I was standing right here with them, ready to defend them the moment any threat raised its head.

  “I have a few ideas for adding to our protections along the city borders,” the former Inventor went on. He rubbed his jaw, his eyes going distant with thought. “I think some of the Clubbers who came with us are ready to take on some minor responsibilities now. We can get more people on rotation around the most vulnerable points of entry. I’ll equip them as well as I can.”

  “I don’t plan on us having to hold the city like this for very long,” I said, lowering my voice. “Once everyone in the city has had time to recover, we’re going to gather as many willing volunteers as we can, and then we’re marching on the palace. I’m sure a lot of them will be ready to step up after how the Queen of Hearts has treated them and after we’ve saved them. Between them and the jabberwocks, we’ve got to be able to make it to the throne.”

  Theo nodded, the corners of his lips curling upward. “I believe we will,” he said. “If not tomorrow, maybe the next day. We just want to be sure of holding the city that long.”

  His vote of confidence gave me another burst of assurance. It lasted about half a minute. Then Chess came dashing down the street toward us, his face flushed, running so fast he’d lost most of the grace his brawny body usually held. My heart skipped a beat.

  “We scouted closer to the palace, keeping a safe distance,” he said between pants for breath after he’d reached us. “We saw—they’re preparing fresh carts of the roses. The first ones were already heading out when I left. They’ve assembled some new weaponry, too—arrows and a few catapults—I think they mean to try to fight the jabberwocks directly.”

  A memory flashed through my head of the previous Knave, the one with the sharkish face, charging at one of the jabberwocks on the Checkerboard Plain after I’d distracted it in my attempt at calming it. I was pretty sure he’d killed the poor creature. I couldn’t let the ones I’d summoned, the ones who’d offered me their help at the sight of my scepter and the sound of my voice, meet the same fate now.

  At the thought of projectiles flying through the air, heat crept over my chest. The rubies on my armored vest had started to glow. I gazed down at them, a tingle of power racing over my skin. Before I’d been sure of myself as queen, before I’d been abl
e to get the Red royal artifacts to work for me consistently, this vest had propelled back a bunch of guards who’d been racing to attack me. It’d protected me from the worst of a speeding truck’s impact.

  I didn’t let myself second-guess the idea that had popped into my head. I rubbed the jabberwock’s leg, and it lowered its head to peer at me.

  “So, they’re not scared of the jabberwocks anymore,” I said. “I’ll give them something even more terrifying to deal with.”

  Chess raised his eyebrows, and Theo cocked his head. “What’s that?” the Prince of Hearts asked.

  I shot him a nervous grin. “An avenging queen on a jabberwock.”

  It was probably a good thing that Hatter was off on patrol elsewhere in the city, because I suspected he’d have had a few critical remarks to make about this decision. I slid my hand up to the jabberwock’s shoulder above my head and tugged lightly on the gold feathers there, holding its gaze at the same time.

  “I’d like to ride you,” I said. “We’re going to take on more of the people who’d want to hurt you. But I’ll make sure they can’t touch us at all. We’ll send them all running or burn them up. What do you say?”

  I wasn’t sure how much the creature comprehended my words or just could read my meaning in my expression or tone. One way or another, it understood me enough. It sank down until its broad belly rested on the cobblestones. The Clubbers still with us stared as I climbed onto the massive feathered form using the bends in its front leg for leverage.

  A rumble trembled through the jabberwock’s body when I’d settled into what felt like the most secure position I could find, between its stunted wings just above its shoulder blades. My legs dangled on either side of its long sinewy neck, and the scabbard with my sword rested on the feathers beside me. I rubbed the beast’s tensed muscles. “I’m ready. Let’s go teach them a lesson.”

  The jabberwock heaved itself to its feet at those words. I swayed a little but kept my balance with a squeeze of my legs and my hands gripping the coarse feathers in front of me. My pulse thumped faster as the beast rose to its full height. I was level with the third floor windows on the building beside me.

  Oh, yes, those guards had better be afraid.

  At my nudge, the jabberwock lurched forward. It fell into a shuffling jog, a little faster than its earlier walk. But Chess had said the guards were already on their way, and we had a lot of ground to cover. As soon as I felt stable enough at that speed, I patted the creature’s back behind me to urge it faster.

  It broke into a full-out run. The buildings in all their vivid colors whipped by on either side of us. The wind tossed my hair.

  When we came to the next major cross-street, I directed the jabberwock in the direction of the palace with another light nudge. The thrum of its pulse and the anticipation shivering through its body echoed into me. I wasn’t sure it needed my touch at all to pick up on where I wanted it to go.

  We rushed on, taking another turn, and another, the quickest route to the palace road I knew where my unusual steed would fit. Ahead of us, the buildings gave way to the sparse forest where I’d spent more time than I’d have liked in the last couple months. I urged the jabberwock even faster.

  We charged past the last of the buildings in time to see a swarm of guards who’d just come up over the crest of the hill. Several clusters of them pulled carts of roses and others were hauling the catapults Chess had mentioned.

  The jabberwocks I’d sent on patrol prowled closer at the sight of me. One of them looked toward the guards and hissed through its jagged teeth. Blood seeped over the golden feathers on its neck where it must have taken a hit. They were hanging back now, waiting for my instructions.

  I didn’t think I could shield all of them, and I didn’t want to send them forward to be battered. We’d have to see if my steed and I could manage this on our own.

  I stroked the jabberwock’s shoulder encouragingly. “Go for it,” I said. “Burn up the flowers, the carts, the weapons. Burn the guards up too if they won’t fall back. I’ll keep you safe.”

  The rubies on my vest flared hotter and brighter. A ripple of energy ruffled the jabberwock’s feathers. It hummed through the air around us.

  Please let it be enough to ward off their attacks.

  The jabberwock barrelled up the road toward the guards. The ones at the forefront gave a shout. Panic blanched some of their faces—and others just trudged on with the same dull expression. How many pearl-heads did the Queen of Hearts have fighting for her now? Had Carpenter sent back even more since this morning?

  My gut twisted, but I couldn’t focus on that now. The people they’d once been had already been murdered. I had to protect the city’s people, the ones still living, first.

  I pointed toward the nearest cart. “Light them up!”

  My body swayed with the hitch of the jabberwock’s stride. A burst of flame shot from its mouth to swallow up an entire cart and all its contents. The guards hollered to each other, the ones at the catapults fumbling with the controls. A line of pearl-heads strung bows with arrows and raised them toward us with robotic precision.

  The jabberwock managed to cough out another spurt of flame that turned one of the catapults into charred wood. Three more of the massive weapons launched spiky metal balls at us while the arrows whined through the air. I dug my fingers into the jabberwock’s feathers and willed all the power I had in me through the rubies on my vest.

  The weapons hurtled toward us—and the energy of my vest slammed them backward a few inches from the jabberwock’s snout. One of the spiked balls smacked a guard in the chest, knocking him over with its force. The arrows rattled against the ground. The jabberwock released a furious belch that lit up another of the catapults—and a couple of the guards scrambling around it.

  Their screams made me cringe, but I held on with my jaw clenched. “This city is under the Red Queen’s protection,” I shouted. “You cannot touch us. I don’t want to hurt you, but if it’s that or see my people hurt, I will. Go, before I have to.”

  The other jabberwocks sprang to my side without any orders, emboldened by our success. The guards might have taken them out, but they didn’t know that, and the sight of their enemy suddenly quadrupled must have been too great a test for their resolve. The hollers turned more frantic. A couple of pearl-heads tried to launch one of the remaining catapults, and my jabberwock scorched them in an instant.

  “Retreat and regroup!” a call went up. The remaining guards dashed for the palace grounds, leaving their carts rather than be slowed down hauling them. I gestured to the jabberwocks, and they turned the rest of the drugged roses into a massive flaming pyre.

  My whole body was quivering with exhilaration when I had my jabberwock turn back toward the city. I hadn’t expected to see anyone there except maybe a Spade or two who’d been patrolling with Chess.

  A small crowd of Clubbers, a few Spades mixed in with them, had gathered at the edge of the city. They all stood stock-still in shock. As the reality of our victory must have sunk in, one and then another raised their hands with a breathless cheer.

  A smile stretched across my face that had nothing but joy in it. We hadn’t won the war yet, but damn, winning this battle had felt fucking good.

  I could beat the guards on our ground. Now I just had to figure out how to beat them on theirs.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Lyssa

  Chess was waiting for me on the road when I slid down off the jabberwock—a little less gracefully than I’d have preferred. He caught my elbow when I landed off balance. I shot him a grateful smile and patted the creature’s side. It studied me with its fiery violet eyes. They were actually kind of pretty amid the gold and scarlet feathers, once you got used to their intensity.

  “Keep watch on the palace,” I told it. “Come looking for me if more like that bunch head this way.”

  I could feel in the quiver of energy that had summoned the jabberwocks to me that they would be able to seek me out the sa
me way. No further guards had emerged from the palace grounds as evening had darkened into night, but I doubted that attack would be their last.

  The jabberwock bobbed its head in apparent understanding. Chess gave me an amused grin when I turned back to him.

  “When we first met, you told me you didn’t have many interesting stories to share, lovely. I can’t imagine anyone will ever top the one you just gave me.”

  “We’ll see about that by the time this rebellion is over,” I said, but under my bravado I was way too worn out to even imagine attempting any more epic activities today. I let out my breath, my shoulders sinking from their tensed stance, and Chess slipped his arm around me.

  “I heard some of the Spades were going to meet up in the city park. It would be my pleasure to escort you there.”

  “Sounds good,” I said. My hands instinctively moved to check my sword at my hip and my scepter at my back. My vest’s rubies had cooled again against my chest. Everything was where it should be.

  The crowd of city people who’d gathered to watch me scare off the guards from the jabberwock’s back parted to let us through. Their faces still shone with the elation I’d seen when they’d cheered, but they looked awfully weary underneath that too. For nearly three weeks, they’d been partying and only sleeping in brief spells when they’d gotten exhausted enough to overshadow the high of the Queen’s drug.

  But they seemed unwilling to head off to bed even now. As Chess and I headed toward the park, most of the Clubbers drifted after us.

  I’d just saved them twice over in one day. Maybe they were taking comfort from keeping me in sight. Hopefully that meant Theo was right about more of the city people taking up arms with us, even if right now I found their devotion a little uncomfortable.

  I didn’t want them to swap their blind fear of the Queen of Hearts for blind loyalty to me. I wanted them to believe I’d have their best interests at heart even if they were off doing whatever made them happy.