Malice in Wonderland Bundle 3

by Lotus Rose

  And behind and to her left, Malice hears the sound of something whoosh through the air and whap against something, followed by the sound of that same wizard-sounding man yelping in pain, followed by him saying, “Thank you, Mistress.” Followed by that whoosh-with-thwap sound. “Yes! I deserve to be punished. Another, please!” Whoosh. Thwap.

  The man is moaning in pain, as the Tin Knight steps out in front of Malice. “So, we meet again, Alice.”

  Thwap! (And a squeal of pain.)

  “Crikey. What’s going on back there?” Malice says.

  “Dorothy is playing with the Wizard. She’ll be along shortly.”

  Thwap. Squeal. Moan.

  “Playing with him?” Malice says. “It sounds like she’s torturing him!”

  “He yearns to be punished.” the Tin Knight says.

  Now, behind Malice, and to the left, Dorothy says, “That’s enough for now. Now stay here and think of how pathetic you are.”

  Malice hears the clattering of high heels, before Dorothy steps in front of her, frowning, holding her riding crop in one hand.

  “Let me go,” Malice says with a quivering voice.

  “No, not until we talk. I just want to talk to you.” Her face softens.

  “Talk to me about what?”

  Dorothy looks tenderly into her eyes, reaches her hand out to stroke Malice’s cheek with the back of her hand. “I’ve missed you.” And Malice can’t turn away, so she scrunches her face in a pained expression. “Are you still mad at me, my dearest Alice?”

  “I keep telling you. I’m not Alice. Alice is in the Outside World, far away from here, and I don’t know how to find her.”

  Dorothy lowers her hand and sighs. “Why do you lie, my dear? Can’t you just talk to me? It’s been so long. I’ll admit you look a lot different from before—older, but we both are. But this is what I’ve been waiting for, all this time.”

  Malice’s brow furrows in worry. “What are you talking about?”

  “I never gave up on you, Alice. I stayed away, but now that you’re almost at the age of consent, the time has come for us to reunite. We have to, because we’re too much alike—only we share these special sexual abilities we have.”

  “But I made sure those powers in me shall never be unleashed. I had the Wizard permanently freeze my age to below the age of consent.”

  “I know, dear. But the Wizard serves me, and I can have him raise your age just by asking, right, Wizard?”

  “Yes, mistress,” comes the voice of the man who had been squealing before.

  Malice gasps. “You can’t do that! I’ve been told terrible things could happen if our powers combine!”

  Dorothy scoffs. “Not terrible, my dear—wonderful things shall happen. Our powers shall combine and grow and shoot outward throughout the land. You’re the only girl who that can happen with, whose sexual energy would be powerful enough. Can’t you see that means we were meant for each other?”

  “Well if she’s the only girl that can happen with, you’re going to be disappointed. Because you’ve got the wrong girl.”

  A puzzled expression forms on her face. “But I can feel your sexual energy within you, because my energy is connecting with it. Yes, your power is being repressed, but it is like it’s being held taut, brimming with immense power, one moment away from being unleashed.”

  “That’s because I’m like Alice’s twin. I may have the same powers, but I’m not her.”

  Dorothy’s facial features collapse. In a shaky voice, she says, “Don’t be like that, dear. Don’t turn your back on what we shared together when we were younger. I wanted to talk to you, because I want to get back what we had. I want to ask you to join me, to rule by my side. We can have what we had before, and share the glorious power that can only arise from us as a pair. Imagine all the kinky fun we could have together with both of us at last above the age of consent.”

  “I share none of that past with you, because, as I keep trying to tell you, I’m not Alice. Or does it not even matter to you? As long as I look like her and have the same powers, is that all that matters to you? Will you beat me with that riding crop until I only answer to Alice’s name?”

  Dorothy winces. “Of course it’d matter if you weren’t my beloved Alice. If you truly were her twin, I wouldn’t even want your sexual powers unleashed, even though the end result would be the same.”

  “That’s good news for me. But, praytell, why not?”

  “Because it would mean the real Alice is still out there. It is her I want to combine my energy with. The result of our two energies playing off each other would be massive and powerful. But if all three of our powers were active at the same time? I can’t imagine how extreme the results would be—I can only say the effects would be downright perverse, perhaps too powerful to control.”

  “That sounds beastly,” Malice says. “I hope that never happens. And Alice, who is not me, by the way, is somewhere in the Outside World, where you can’t reach her. You shall never be reunited.”

  “Oh, but we shall. We are destined to, because we were made for each other—both girls who came from the Outside World, both gifted with the same powerful sexual energy coursing through us. We’re soul mates, my dearest Alice—don’t deny the connection between us, and all we’ve shared together in the past...” She reaches out and softly caresses Malice’s cheek with her fingertips. “Don’t you remember all the good times, all the experiences we shared? Don’t tell me you’re still mad, sweety...” Dorothy is gazing deeply into Malice’s eyes, and despite herself, Malice is losing herself in feelings of affection, and a warm desire to hold Dorothy within her arms. But she can’t turn away, she can only mentally fight these strange, inappropriate feelings. “Listen to your heart, darling,” Dorothy coos, she presses the palm of her hand to the side of Malice’s face—her skin tingles, and her heart quickens. “Listen to your body. I know you haven’t reached the age of consent yet, but that power is still inside you, hidden away...yearning for release.” She drops her riding crop and presses her other palm—holding both sides of Malice’s face and staring intensely.

  “Remember?” Dorothy says in a whisper.

  And Malice is losing herself in the eyes of this girl—this beautiful girl, this deadly girl, whimpers, “No,” as she tries to shake her head, though she can’t, futilely trying to fend off these inappropriate feelings.

  A small grin tugs at the side of Dorothy’s mouth. “Remember all the good times? All the fun times? We can have those again. I want my Alice back.” She glances at Malice’s lips, and says breathily, “Mine...” Dorothy leans in—Malice’s heart pounds in her chest—feels Dorothy’s soft, pillowy lips against her own.

  And Malice’s eyes close and she moans—no longer wishing to turn away, she only regrets she can’t lean further in.

  Abruptly, the pleasure ends. Malice opens her eyes to see Dorothy backing away, with a frown on her face.

  “You’re not her,” Dorothy says, and shakes her head.

  “No,” Malice says softly, feeling oddly guilty. “How could you tell?”

  Dorothy turns her head away. “You enjoyed it too much.”

  “Oh,” Malice says, at a loss for words.

  “But I shall get my Alice back. I shall find her, and summon her.”

  “Summon her?”

  “I shall conjure a special tornado.”

  “But if Alice is brought back, it may doom Wonderland! She must be prevented from doing so, to stave off the bleak future timeline that will result if she returns.”

  “We are all fools for love,” Dorothy says resignedly. “You must go, and join your team. You’re on an important mission, yes?”

  “Yes, the fate of the jabberwocks hangs in the balance.”

  “Yes,” Dorothy mutters. “You’re needed elsewhere, so I won’t hold you. And killing you would only upset Alice. Wizard! Release her from her bonds and prepare the portal!”

  “Yes, mistress,” the man says before the glowing light disap
pears from around Malice.

  “Queen Malice, I shall release you to join your team. You’re not my enemy, but I warn you to stay out of my way. We needn’t interact any more, save for one thing—one day I may call upon you to deliver the Queen of Hearts to me, but other than that, let’s stay out of each other’s way.”

  “What do you want with the Queen of Hearts?”

  “Farewell, Queen Malice. Now go before I change my mind.”

  Malice nods and walks toward the portal—the orb she’d thought was the Wizard still hovers quietly in the air. She doesn’t see the man that Dorothy had been striking—she assumes he’s hidden behind the curtain.

  Malice looks at the Cat and says, “Let’s go.” She looks to the Tin Knight, reaches into one of her pockets, says, “Catch,” and tosses the ticktock heart to him.

  An irrational yearning grips her, a desire to run into Dorothy’s arms and hold her tight. But Malice contains herself, refrains from taking a last look at the beautiful Chief Dorothy, before stepping through the portal.

  Book Three: Mama’s Gonna Give You Wings To Fly

  CHAPTER ONE

  By this point in her adventures, Malice has stepped through many a portal, and this one is much the same as the others.

  The transition of locations is instantaneous and painless. She steps out of the Wizard of Oz’s room in the Emerald Palace, in which she had recently kissed Chief Dorothy—good thing the portal was there to whisk her away from that awkward situation.

  The other side is brighter, and she shields her eyes as she steps onto grass. The Cheshire Cat’s floating head hovers next to her. They are outside, the sun shining down through the treetops.

  Her teammates are about five feet away, slightly to her right. They’ve set up a campsite near one of the trees.

  Sleepy B is seated on the picnic blanket that has been spread on the ground—Humpty is seated next to her.

  “Maly’s here!” Sleepy B calls out, while pointing, just before Malice senses the portal close and shut behind her—indicated by its slight hum and crackle suddenly going quiet and its shining light cutting off.

  Malice beams a big smile at Sleepy B, and says, “Yes, here I am, love, and I’m older and wiser!”

  “I’m here, too,” says the Cat.

  The Jabberwock, who’s sitting with his back against the tree, says, “Hey there, Cat. So Maly, did the Wizard make you...over...or under?”

  Malice says, “I’m one second under, so you’ll have to lay off the raunchy talk in my presence.” She takes a long look at the Jabberwock’s new body. “Though, you now have the body of a toddler, so I’m not quite sure...”

  The Jabberwock says, “I still have the same adult brain in my old head, despite my temporarily immature body. The Wizard said it shall grow quickly, and I believe him, because I’m currently feeling a hunger you wouldn’t believe.” And to support his words, his stomach takes the moment to growl loudly, causing Sleepy B to giggle. He adds, “I feel like I could eat a horse...if we’d bothered to bring one.”

  Malice says, “So perhaps we should hunt up some grub. What sort of wildlife lives here?”

  “All delicious sorts,” the Jabberwock replies. “Hatter is currently fishing in the pond down yonder. I was thinking of joining him. We three were waiting for you to come through the portal.”

  Within minutes, the team is sitting on a small hill that gently slopes into the water of a pond—they’re using branches as fishing rods, with hooks and fishing line that Hatter had been keeping inside his magic satchel.

  Malice can’t help but stare at Hatter from time to time because of how different he looks in his new body, now aged one second above the age of consent. As they fish, they chat—the area they’re in, the Jabberwock informs them, is Jabberwock Valley, an area of hilly forest land, about twenty miles wide and over seventy miles long. Tall mountain ranges capped with snow lie to the north and south, visible in the distance.

  “This valley is inhabited and controlled by the jabberwocks,” the Jabberwock says. “There are various regions and areas. There used to be a grand king who ruled over them all, but he was overthrown by a jabberwock named Goklam, whose soldiers killed the entire royal family so that there would be no heirs to the throne, then he declared himself to be Emperor of the entire valley, but he really doesn’t have a lot of power. There are also various little regions and towns inhabited by the humans. The jabberwocks and humans tend to stay clear of each other—they are no longer at war, but there is much tension—an uneasy truce. Excuse me, I really am quite starving.” He says this last bit, because he’s holding a piece of beef jerky, which he sets to stuffing in his mouth.

  “You must be,” Sleepy B comments, “to voluntarily eat that tripe...oops, I mean, jerky.”

  The Jabberwock swallows a mouthful and says, “Well I wouldn’t have to if anyone could catch a fish!” he says jokingly.

  The Jabberwock gorges on a bunch of jerky, reluctantly stopping so as not to deplete the stores too much.

  They manage to catch some fish, and allow the Jabberwock to eat his fill, figuring he needs it for his growing body.

  The team doesn’t have much of a plan, for they don’t know the whereabouts of the Snark, or what his exact intentions are. The best they can do at present, they figure, is to warn any jabberwocks in a position of power about the threat of the Snark.

  Their immediate goals are to figure out exactly where they are, and to make contact with a jabberwock or two. The Jabberwock is unfamiliar with the immediate area—all he knows is that they are near the front of the valley.

  So they set about looking for hills—since jabberwocks like to make their lairs in hillsides and caves.

  As they wander about, the Jabberwock shouts out a loud call for any nearby jabberwock, which sounds like, “Heyyyyyo!...Hello? Anybody there?”

  There are plenty of hills to be found, but so far, after several hours search, no other jabberwocks.

  It’s rather boring, actually, and the Cat takes off, returning from time to time, hoping for any signs of adventure.

  But no such luck—as night approaches, they make camp, and eat a dinner of jerky, before going to sleep (or slipping into reading, in Sleepy B’s case).

  CHAPTER TWO

  THE DAY BEGINS WITH a breakfast of freshly captured fish and some nuts. Once again the Jabberwock consumes a huge portion.

  And then it’s off again for clueless wandering and mindless yelling. That’s the going plan for now—the Jabberwock figures since this is Jabberwock Valley after all, it’s only a matter of time before somemonster yells back.

  At one point, Malice brings up the question, “What if we run into some of the feral little girls in these parts?”

  To which the Jabberwock replies, “My darling Queen, most of this team is human—I’m sure you’ll get along just fine.”

  “And any jabberwocks we meet shan’t object to so many humans in the team?”

  He hesitates, before saying, “Well, last I checked, the two species are in truce, and well, you have me to do the talking, so just follow my lead.”

  For three hours, they have no opportunity to follow his advice, as they yell, and investigate hills that are uninhabited by jabberwocks.

  The Jabberwock had already started complaining about his hunger about an hour ago, though of course, he’d been quite apologetic about it.

  Now, from off in the distance, a female with a monsterish accent calls back, “Oh heyyy there!”

  “ A jabberwock,” the Jabby says to his grinning teammates, before cupping his hand to his mouth and shouting, “Heyyoo, let’s meet up, whaddya say?”

  “Jollyyyyy goood! Over here then!”

  They spend the next few minutes honing in on each others’ locations.

  The forest isn’t overly thick, but it is thick enough to limit visibility to about thirty feet in any direction, so when they’re about thirty feet away from each other, Jabby calls, “I’m with some humans, but they’re friends. Oh, a
nd I look like a toddler, but I’m not! I’ve the head of an adult.”

  A slight pause, before the other jabberwock replies, “I’ll just have to see, then!”

  The female jabberwock steps out from behind a tree, carrying a deer carcass draped over one shoulder.

  She waves at them, and the team waves back. As they approach each other, Malice is reminded of how tall jabberwocks are. The female jabberwock is around eight feet tall—Jabby had been using a human body for so long, Malice had nearly forgotten how tall the adult monsters are—the toddler version of Jabby is currently about four feet height.

  At about ten feet distance, the female jabberwock exclaims, “Oi! You’re short, I’ll grant, and your head’s mighty large for your body, but we’re all different.” She looks at the rest of the group with a touch of suspicion. “You little girls aren’t going to try to kiss me, though, are ya?”

  The teammates exchange puzzled glances, before Malice replies, “We have no intention of doing that. Why, we don’t even know you.”

  Jabby says, “I assure you, they have no intention of kissing you or doing you harm. We hail from Wonderland, on a peaceful mission of great importance.”

  The female jabberwock’s head tilts to the side. “Wonderland, you say? The humans there have different ways than in the valley. They do not bicker with the jabberwocks there, for there aren’t any, are there? Except for one...” Her head tilts in the other direction, and she squinches her eyes as she stares at Jabby.

  Jabby gives a little grunt. “I am he...”

  The female jabberwock says, “You’re shorter than I pictured. I am Kartala.” She walks up the remaining distance between them.