by Lotus Rose
“I have an idea, but first, we must test my theory.”
“How?”
The Queen of Hearts chuckles, obviously amusing herself with her own inner thoughts. “I must challenge your heart to struggle ever-so-hard to force you to remain nice.”
“How?”
“The most direct and effective way I can think of is for me to slap you.”
“Rubbish!” Malice exclaims.
“Please. It’s the only way I can think of. Insults and taunts simply wouldn’t work. You know the saying: sticks and stones and such. Truly, I hate to impose.” She smirks.
Malice narrows her eyes, but now her heart causes her to put on a pleasant demeanor. “If you want the tears, you shall conduct yourself honestly, yeah?”
“But of course. I’m only trying to help you, child, to reach my prognosis.” She seems to be struggling to maintain a straight face.
“Oh, fine. But you shan’t slap too hard, right?”
“Of course, child. I won’t cause any permanent damage, merely a great deal of pain, I promise.”
“You seem to be enjoying this entirely too much. But let’s get on with it.”
“Let’s do. But you’ll have to come closer so I can reach your face. And...again I hate to impose, but I must request that the guard hold your arms in case your heart fails and you attempt to harm me.”
“What? Me harm you?” But her heart does its thing, and she smiles. “Of course. It is an understandable precaution.”
“Indeed. I heard what you did to that poor F-me Shoes girl. She was so traumatized, she ran off to the Outside World!”
Malice sighs. “That was regrettable. But I’m here to fix my behavior, though. Guard, hold my arms and don’t allow me to strike or harm the Queen.”
The guard card sets the tears and his spear on the ground. He holds Malice’s hands behind her back. She takes a couple steps and leans her face forward. She closes her eyes.
“Are you ready?” the Queen of Hearts says.
“Do it!”
Malice feels the painful slap across her cheek. And she hears the rattling chains.
“Crikey!” Malice exclaims, her eyes popping wide open. She is greeted with the pleasantly smiling half-clown face. Malice attempts to rub her stinging cheek, but the guard is restraining her.
The Queen of Hearts says, “Is your heart working hard to keep you kind?”
“Yes. But it seems to still be working.”
“Let’s have a listen, then...” She presses down the stethoscope.
Malice hears the Cat’s voice off to her right side, saying, “What’d I miss? I say, why do you have a handprint on the side of your face?”
The Cat has apparently chosen this moment to pull one of his sudden appearance acts. Malice shushes him.
The Queen of Hearts says, “Ah, I can hear a difference now. It’s beating irregularly, as if it’s straining itself. But I must challenge it more to meet my test. I must strike you again.” She throws a scowl at the Cat.
Malice merely nods, and closes her eyes.
She can hear the Cat murmuring worriedly to himself—but he’s trying not to interrupt—he always claims he follows a non-interference policy.
Malice feels another painful slap on the opposite cheek.
I must tolerate this, for the Queen of Hearts is trying to help me.
But, oh, my kind thoughts must mean my heart is still working. It needs to be strained more.
“Another!” Malice shouts.
“Heavens, why?!” the Cat whimpers.
With her eyes still closed, Malice feels another stinging slap against the other side of her cheek.
“Ha! Your face is aglow!” the Queen of Hearts exclaims.
Malice can feel her hateful thoughts struggling to break free. “And another!”
“Certainly!” the Queen of Hearts exclaims before giving another slap to the opposite cheek.
The Cat whimpers, “No...”
“Is that all you’ve got?!” Malice shouts.
“Not hardly,” the Queen of Hearts answers before delivering another slap.
Malice says, “Yes, my heart is really struggling to keep me kind. I can hear the competing thoughts fighting each other in my mind.” Finally she opens her eyes.
The Queen of Hearts has a huge grin on her face. “Fabulous, my darling, I shall have a listen... Ah yes, I hear it now, the heartbeats are sputtering, going slow then fast, with irregular beats, and I must say, the mechanisms seem to be running roughly.” She removes the stethoscope and meets Malice’s eyes.
Malice gazes back, feeling hatred coursing through her.
The Queen of Hearts says, “I have this theory, that your heart may be like a horse that has been run too hard. It struggles to keep pace, but finally collapses from overwork.”
“Oh, is that what you think, bitch?”
“Quite. And please watch how you address me.”
Malice nods and merely stares, as she feels a sudden pang of coldness in her chest.
The Queen of Hearts sniffs. “But I believe I have a remedy. Much like a delicate sickly horse, who shouldn’t be run hard...I believe I know the way to keep your heart ridden gently, as it were.”
Behind her back, on the ends of her still-restrained arms, Malice’s hands form into fists, and she feels the coldness spreading through her chest. “Are you going to tell me, or tease me?” she says through gritted teeth.
“You promise to use the tears to fix my face if I tell?”
Malice feels rage as she looks at the Queen of Hearts’ smug, mocking expression. “I promise...” She tries to take a few calming breaths, but they are much too shallow. She blurts out, “Did you enjoy slapping me silly?”
“Oh, very much so! Quite enjoyable!”
Malice feels her heart stop beating—it doesn’t mean she’ll die—it means her heartless nature will be unleashed. “That’s it!” She snaps and lunges forward. “I’ll kill you!” But the guard card holds her back.
The Queen of Hearts laughs. “Temper, temper.”
The Cat contributes, “You better hope she doesn’t get free.”
The Queen of Hearts says, “She’s too weak to break free of that big strong guard there.”
Malice shouts, “I’ll choke you, dead!”
The Cat says, “You shouldn’t have made her mad.”
The Queen of Hearts says, “Anyhow. I know of a way to keep your heart from overworking. An ancient way that was used to ‘deaden’ a person’s heart. It used to be considered a poison, but will serve your purpose if you keep the doses small.”
Malice struggles some but is unable to break free of the guard’s arms. She relaxes and sighs. “Well, spit it out, then.”
The Queen of Hearts says, “It is said that ingesting a large dose of the petals of a black rose will cause one’s heart to deaden for several weeks, during which time the person will act like a heartless bitch, like you. A smaller dose, I reckon, shall deaden your heart just enough to keep your heart from overworking. Hopefully, that shall prevent any further embarrassing incidents like this one. I mean really, it’s unbecoming.” And now to be even more condescending and insulting, she tuts.
Malice snaps, let’s out a roar of rage and tugs hard at her hands, catching the guard by surprise. Her hands break free.
“That’s it!” Malice shouts.
Malice lets loose a banshee scream, as she pounces, reaching out at the neck—she watches the Queen of Hearts’ eyes go wide as she lets out a yelp of shock that is cut short by Malice’s hands squeezing around her throat.
“Oh!” the Cat shouts out, delightedly.
“Choke you!” Malice shouts as she tightens her grip.
The Queen of Hearts is stooped over, while Malice, who is shorter, pulls her downward.
“Queen, stop!” She hears the guard say behind her.
The Queen of Hearts attempts to pull Malice’s hands off, but her chained hands can only get a weak grasp.
“Yes!”
the Cat shouts. “Kill her!”
And the Queen of Hearts can only make a squeaky noise instead of yelling, as she seems to want to do. The parts of her face that aren’t covered in pure white clown makeup are now bright red.
“Die! Die!” Malice shouts as she continues her choking. “Only one Queen now! Me!” She stares into the Queen of Hearts’ bulging terrified eyes, and now Malice says, “Hello! I’m the Queen of Wonderland. Oh, and...Goodbye!” She stares creepily into the woman’s eyes, waiting to witness the exact moment when the life leaves her body.
Malice feels something wrap around her torso and tug her back. She looks down to see the guard card’s arms around her waist.
“No!” Malice shouts.
“Stop!” the card shouts. After a couple of tugs, he pulls Malice off.
“Confound it!” Malice shouts as she watches the Queen of Hearts gasp for air.
“Almost...” the Cat says to Malice sympathetically.
Malice, in her fury, runs toward the Queen of Hearts, but the card holds her back and Malice’s feet go out from under her—and as her lower body propels forward while her upper body is held back, Malice attempts to kick at the bitch before falling to the ground.
Malice shouts in frustration. She continues to struggle but the card still holds her arms behind her back. “No! I must finish her! Let me finish her!”
The Queen of Hearts still looks slightly shaken, but has managed to recover enough to sneer at Malice, says, “Oh my darling, your behavior is quite unbecoming for a queen. Perhaps you should reconsider whether you’re suited for the station. After all, you hatched from quite common origins, didn’t you, my sweet?” She lets forth two coughs.
Malice’s face scrunches up in rage. “Oooh, guard let me go this instant!”
The guard card answers, “I cannot. You ordered me not to.”
“I revoke those orders,” Malice says.
“I’m sorry, My Queen,” the guard card says.
“Listen to her!” the Cat says.
The card doesn’t respond to the Cat.
The Queen of Hearts chuckles. “I daresay, that’s rather pathetic. What kind of queen cannot get a stupid guard card to obey her? I’m sorry I had to witness such a shameful display. Since I don’t want to completely ruin your self esteem, I suppose I shall politely move on from further remarking upon your disgrace. And so...that vial of tears...I fully expect it to be applied to my face soon, because after all, I met the terms of our agreement, correct?”
The Cat has hovered right next to the Queen of Hearts. He hisses loudly, startling her.
The Queen of Hearts says, “Oh, be gone, you noxious beast.” She tries to swat him away, but is being impeded by her clanking shackles.
Some of Malice’s heart’s kindness programming kicks in. It’s very weak, but enough to lessen her murderous rage a slight amount. She says, “Oh very well, then! Guard, take me away from here, before I finish what I started.”
And as Malice is led away, she has to endure the Queen of Hearts’ additional mocking laughter echoing in the hallway.
CHAPTER FOUR
MALICE SITS IN HER throne. She’d hastily put on her crown and grabbed her scepter, but she was too lazy to put on her poofy royal gown. Instead, she wears her simple slim, plain black dress she wore all during her humiliating morning, in which she’d apologized to the Queen of Hearts for her behavior yesterday. Then Malice had to make good on her promise of applying the tears to the Queen of Hearts’ face. It’d taken almost an hour of soaking for the Queen of Hearts’ face to return to its non-clown form. The Queen of Hearts had been rude and insulting, but Malice had been very polite and kind during the whole procedure, because her ticktock heart was making her act sappily sweet.
With that out of the way, Malice had been preparing for her appointment with the man known as the Storyteller. She’d made the appointment because he has a black rose plant in a flower pot. Malice wants to “fix” her heart as quickly as possible.
Just a few minutes ago, a guard card had informed her that a boy wishes to speak to her concerning an “important” matter that he wants to talk to her about before he forgets. Of course it begs the question, if it’s so important, why would he forget it?
Her interest is officially piqued.
So here she sits, trying to look regal.
I wonder how the Queen of Hearts would’ve composed herself in this situation. I imagine she would scowl and appear menacing. Perhaps she might even allow the boy to speak for a few minutes before shouting, “Off with his head!”
A guard card enters through a door on the far end of the room. He walks up to the dais and kneels. “Your Highness, the boy wishes to approach the throne now.”
Malice waggles her hand in the air. “Yes, yes, bring him in.” She hasn’t been Queen long, and she finds the stuffy formalities to be quite a bother.
The guard scurries away out the door.
A teenage boy enters the throne room. He holds a simple straw hat against his shirt. He’s dressed plainly in trousers with suspenders, and worker’s boots.
He kneels before her, with his head bowed. “Your Royal Highness...”
Malice feels at a temporary loss as to what to do. She’s not yet used to receiving the full royal treatment. “Wotcha, I say as my greetings, peasant. Her Majesty is um, honored, no wait, I am content with your kneeling. Hey, look at me when I speak to you!”
“I apologize, Your Highness.”
He looks up at her, and Malice feels awkward again, and in her panic, she royal waves at him, which is a movement where she lifts her arm with her palm out, then slowly rotates it back and forth.
He looks at her with a quizzical expression.
She puts her hand down, and feels her heart’s kindness kick in. “I’m sorry I called you a peasant. Um, please stand, and tell my your name. All that kneeling business quite freaks me out.”
“As you wish, Your Highness. My name is Kingston.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Kingston. Tell me, do you know how to interpret something called Morse code?”
“I’ve heard of it, but I can’t understand it. Why?”
“Never mind. I’m afraid I can’t speak long, as I have an appointment. What did you wish to speak to me about?”
“The Snark. He is scheming to create an allegiance of the monster tribes, and I have reason to believe he may soon attempt an attack upon you.”
Malice perks up in her seat. The Snark is a tentacled creature that is able to take over others’ bodies by latching onto the tops of their heads. The Snark had once taken control of the Mad Hatter by hiding away inside one of his hats, until Malice herself discovered the creature. The Snark had escaped, and Malice hasn’t heard anything about him ever since.
Malice says, “How do you know these things?”
“The Snark came and spoke to me last night. He is currently between hosts right now, so he appeared to me in his own squidy body. He wanted me to help him with his plans. You see, I’m on a short visit from the shifters’ territory. He wanted me to go back and inform my monsters to join forces with him. When I refused to help him, he latched onto my head—he said he was going to suck all the memories of the whole conversation right out of my brain. But I guess it didn’t work.”
“You’re a shifter? Like a werewolf?”
“Actually I’m a werepig. I actually lived here in Wonderland many years ago. I used to be cared for by the Duchess. But she had stolen me away from the shifters, and one day, after Alice picked me up, I shifted into a pig, went off into the forest and kept on trotting off to be with my kind.”
“Oh! I heard about you! But...that must’ve been about six years ago, when Alice was 7. They told me you were just a baby back then, but you look to be in your teens!”
He nods. “Yes. But us shifters mature at a faster rate, due to the animal parts of us. However, I remained a baby much longer than I should have. I only grew after I left Wonderland.”
Malice’s
head wobbles as she attempts to understand what he just said.
Kingston chuckles. “And I can tell I just confused you. Well, you see, the Duchess kidnapped me when I was still an infant—she wanted a cute little baby. And she wanted me to stay that way forever. Well, she was well on her way to getting her wish since no one ages in Wonderland, except for you and Alice. But Alice freed me. There was something special about her that caused me to transform that day. Once I traveled to the shifters’ territory, I started growing again!”
Malice says, “So in your land, the shifters age? Why is it different here?”
“Because the Queen of Hearts didn’t bother applying the age-defying magic upon our land. It’s the same way with Jabberwock Valley—they age too, and the humans there age as well. But your Jabberwock doesn’t age since he lives in Wonderland.”
“So the reason no one ages in Wonderland was the Queen of Hearts’ doing? I never knew that.”
“Well, Your Highness, perhaps they are keeping you in the dark. Have they ever told you of what existed before Wonderland?”
Malice says, “Well, ofttimes when I ask about that, everyone claims they can’t remember, then change the subject.”
“Perhaps they are embarrassed, or ashamed, of all the atrocities committed in the past. Though to be fair, it was the Queen of Hearts who was responsible for everything.”
“What are you referring to?”
“You really don’t know, do you?”
Malice shakes her head.
Kingston sighs. “It’s as if Wonderland has forgotten all about Woeland. All you Wonderland beings are like that—I wonder if someone even might have cast some sort of amnesia spell or something.”
Malice shrugs. “If it’s true, then combined with what the Snark did to you, it’s impressive you can remember anything at all.”
“Well, when I lived in Wonderland, I didn’t know about Woeland. When I went back home, my kinsfolk educated me. They remember what happened, over a century ago, when this castle of yours didn’t even exist. When Wonderland didn’t exist. When this land was known as Woeland, and was ruled over by the monsters—the jabberwocks, the shifters, and the bandersnatches. And the snarks and jubjub birds.”
