“I see they told you about the escape tunnel as well, General White,” added Dendroba, oblivious to the exchange that had occurred only a few moments before.
“We’ve a way out of the castle! The tunnel leads out well past the Bloodthorns,” answered Snow White. She welcomed the sudden interruption and was relieved to focus on any other subject, purposely not allowing Rapunzel’s outburst to sink in. “Call everyone to the main courtyard. We can evacuate people; and the dwarves,” Snow White pointed to the dwarven leaders standing nearby, “can provide a guarded escort to somewhere safe,” she said excitedly. “Call a meeting Henry, get everyone!”
CHAPTER 30
MY NAME IS THE WHITE RABBIT, IF YOU PLEASE
near the burned safe house, marchenton. one day earlier.
“Traitor! That back-stabbing, grinning bastard!” the rabbit hissed to himself furiously. “How dare he bring her to be the Red Queen?” It was all he could do to stay hidden and try to learn how far this treachery went before he jumped out to challenge someone as powerful as the Cheshire Cat.
“I accept your offer, Cheshire,” the Maldame said. “There would have been no way for me to escape from the Bloodthorns if not for your arrival. For that, I hold a measure of gratitude to you. Truly, your magic is more extraordinary than I ever imagined.”
“Step through to your new home, Maldame, I mean...my Red Queen,” Cheshire grinned as he gestured his paw towards the Looking Glass. The Maldame cautiously stepped through the frame, from the kingdom of Marchenton into Wonderland. The Cheshire Cat followed, his body with a newly-grown tail fading out as it neared the mirror’s face.
“Damn,” the rabbit cursed under his breath; his thoughts raced. He stood betrayed, his own selfish plans undermined by the Cheshire Cat. Without his own favored candidate to take the Wonderland throne, Rabbit would lose any measure of royal influence; possibly he would even be imprisoned or killed by this new queen.
Indeed, should they complete the coronation; the Maldame would become the new queen. But the coronation could only be complete once the previous queen was killed. It had been planned that Rabbit was to take Alice down during this invasion. For Cheshire to succeed in his plan, Alice would still need to be killed. Jack would try to save Alice, Rabbit guessed, by stopping the Cheshire’s Red Queen from taking the throne. If that happened, Rabbit would have more time for his plan to kill Alice and take control himself. Or, he surmised, Jack would most likely be killed trying to stop the Red Queen’s ascension. Either outcome was fine with the White Rabbit. He would return to Queen Alice’s side, for now.
***
present day, the white rabbit at the burned safe house.
“Oh, my dear boy Jack, what a mess you’ve made of things,” Rabbit chuckled to himself as he stood by the burned out frame of the old barn.
The early morning dawn burned off the morning fog a bit, turning the cool night’s frost into glistening dew. There was a chattering of birds nearby ready to start the day, to stir awake the stillness of the previous night.
Morning started as it always does- innocently enough. It was always Rabbit’s favorite part of the day, usually he would sit in the grand gardens of Castling, the royal palace of Queen Alice that was built upon the ruins of the old red queen’s castle. Many mornings Rabbit would enjoy a warm pot of tea amid the scents from the royal kitchens that lofted about on the breeze mixed with wondrous smells of impossible flowers. The gardens were vivid with every color imaginable, as tiger-lilies woke and chatted with roses, daisies and larkspur. Bread-and-butterflies darted about the flowers and snap-dragonflies and rocking-horseflies buzzed and danced in the morning light.
Wonderland was so alive, thought Rabbit; the land itself would seem to wake up every morning. But this realm, he wrinkled his nose in disdain, smells of dirt and stagnation, he groused aloud, empty of the magic of wonder. A barbaric place this is, Rabbit thought and it had made him nostalgic for a moment. It seemed like a lifetime ago, Rabbit mused. Such simpler times, he thought. When the possibility of everything was there, instead of the reality of what would not be possible had not settled in. Rabbit recalled a fateful conversation he had with Alice. It was some time ago, in the royal gardens during his morning tea. It was a conversation that would change everything for him.
***
morning tea at the royal gardens of castling palace,
in Wonderland, some time ago.
“Dear Rabbit, shouldn’t a Queen of Wonderland have a king? The queen of Hearts had a king and both the Red and White Queens?” Alice asked as she sat down with Rabbit at his small white table in the royal garden. The two were alone and rabbit gave a slight nod and a welcoming smile.
“Tea for the queen?” Rabbit offered dutifully instead, not answering her question. He tried to keep his focus on his readings, yet his heart skipped a beat at the sight of her. “You look lovely today. The morning light catches your hair just so.”
Alice smiled at him as she sat down on the white wooden chair. “Thank you, Rabbit. You are always so flattering. I shall pour my own tea.”
Nearby, but closer to the garden was a sundial that stood on a short, fluted pillar. On the grass below was a small pile of twigs and leaves, arranged like a nest that rested up against the base of it. Alice settled in and watched as a small creature the size of a badger, but with more lizard-like features, nervously scurry about, lifting its head in the air and flicking its corkscrew-like tongue out in a curious twisting motion. Alice held down a piece of cheese, wiggling it and softly speaking to the small animal. The creature tentatively approached, just close enough to reach out and snatch the cheese, then it scampered quickly back to its nest, where it sat, watching Alice as it ate its delicious prize. Alice shifted back in her seat. “The Tove is rather friendly this morning,” she remarked to Rabbit.
“You’ve grown into quite a beautiful woman from the child I once knew,” said Rabbit, glancing up from his readings, his gaze paused, locking with Alice’s for a moment then he looked away, his whiskers shifting ever so slightly.
Alice set about her cup, plucking up the white and gold teapot and daintily pouring herself a cup of the hot tea.
“About my question?” Alice reminded him, “A king for the Queen of Wonderland?”
“I’ve explained this before,” Rabbit said. “Wonderland is a matriarchal-based rule. Every reign has been more streamlined than the previous ruler. The Queen of Hearts rose from a four suit ruling system. Did you know, dear Alice, she was the first one to even attempt a single party rule? The Queen of Hearts eliminated all of the other suits, off with their heads and all that, and would have had absolute rule had you not come along like you did. Thanks in part to me, for the foresight to bring you to Wonderland at all,” Rabbit boasted. “After you left, a much more controllable two party system was developed based this time on chess; the two queens, Red and White. When you returned, you eliminated both the Red and White Queen and became Queen Alice. ”
“Well, the Red Queen yes, I shook her into submission, but the White Queen did escape… Although she had already resigned by turning into a sheep,” corrected Alice. “But I didn’t come here for a lesson of the history of Wonderland’s ruling parties,” she said, and then insisted, “I Think the Queen of Wonderland should have a king.”
“Well consider the historical context. Kings in Wonderland don’t matter, so why should you want one? Now we have efficiently whittled it down to one sole person, You, Alice—The Queen of Wonderland. And by official Decree of the Lion and the Unicorn, I might add. There’s no need to muddy up the rule again with a king.”
“Yes, but the other queens had kings—” Alice started to say.
“True, but the Kings held no real power; it was just an elevation of station,” Rabbit earnestly tried to explain. “The King of Hearts was the only one who at least tried to do something more, but he was quite overshadowed by that boisterous and demanding blowhard queen of his, if you recall. The Red King preferred naps to ruling and th
e White King did little more than get in the way of everyone else. The Queens have always held the real power in Wonderland. You should not want for such a silly thing as a King. It is beneath you, dear Alice.”
“Well, if it is a silly thing with no real power why can’t I have one? I should mean a husband then,” said Alice. “What is there to call the husband of the queen but a king? I’ve been here for quite a while; I would think I would have a proper husband by now. What of the rumors of another offlander that has come to Wonderland, they call him… Jack? I would like to meet him. I shall task my favorite Ace to track him down and invite him to meet with me, Dear Rabbit.”
“Ah yes, of course,” replied Rabbit, then added, “This would mark the first time in Wonderland’s history that here have been two offlanders here at the same time,” he said, with a slight growl of annoyance.
“Yes, he is an offlander after all. Find him for me, please. Just for a meeting. It’s exciting isn’t it? To meet someone like myself … I haven’t had such a thing in so long. Perhaps it’s a sign, Rabbit. Jack could be a husband for me,” Alice teased.
“You don’t even know him. Just because he’s an offlander is he fit to be your husband?” Rabbit cleared his throat, his whiskers twitched.
“I’ve seen that whisker twitch too many times, Rabbit,” observed Alice with a smile. “Does this subject make you uncomfortable?” Alice asked as she leaned in on her elbows.
Rabbit replied quickly. “And why are we having this conversation, now?”
“I awoke this morning from a vivid dream, quite curious—”
“Offlanders and their dreaming, a curious thing indeed,” said Rabbit, shaking his head. “All the magic in this world and you still insist on dreaming.”
“I cannot choose to dream or not to dream or even what to dream,” replied Alice with a giggle. “That’s the best part about dreaming, every dream is like freedom of the mind to do what it wants regardless of your wishes,” Alice took a sip of tea and continued. “In my dream, I was in a small house making dinner awaiting my husband’s return from the market. I had a small child, a boy I think, or maybe it was a darling little girl,” she began to recall. “And it was all so very... normal. Ah, to dream the dream of a normal life,” Alice sat back with a smile as she remembered. “I was just a wife and a mother. He was an offlander, or perhaps I was not in Wonderland anymore.”
“They say only offlanders can dream in Wonderland. But I don’t believe the dreams even exist; what is a dream? Such nonsense,” said Rabbit. “I think you just make up these stories and call them dreams. And normal would not be a very interesting dream,” the White Rabbit was quick to dismiss the conversation. “You should try dreaming something more interesting next time… if there’s a point to your silly dreams at all.”
“Ah, is it I, dreamt of the Red King, or is it that the Red King dreams of me? A conversation I had once with the Tweedle brothers,” Alice reflected for a moment as she took a sip of her tea, “a long time ago. I do think even Wonderland wants to dream some time.”
“Wonderland is the dream,” Rabbit countered. “For this place to sleep would be the death of us all. Even Wonderland has legends. The day the caterpillar turns into a butterfly is the day we all awake from our dreams and the dream of Wonderland will be no more.”
The White Rabbit paused, thinking; as he did he tapped the table nervously. Should I tell her now? He thought to himself. Rabbit was suddenly very flustered and looked into his empty cup.
“I seemed to have upset you, dear Rabbit,” Alice realized. “These talks of dreams and things do bother you to distraction. I am sorry. It was just a silly dream and nothing more,” she offered. “I do love our conversations, Rabbit. I could talk with you about anything all day.”
Rabbit folded his hands on his lap, and drew a long breath. With hesitance, Rabbit spoke again in a soft but more serious tone, “Regarding your question about a husband … is there no one here in Wonderland that would be deserving of your love?”
Alice cocked her head slightly, tucking a long strand of hair behind her ear.
“You mean not marry another offlander?” Alice was puzzled.
“Well I mean… could you love someone here?” asked the rabbit. “If someone here were to love you, let’s say? Could you love them back?”
Under the table hidden from Alice’s view Rabbit nervously flipped his pocket watch end over end, in his paw.
“I suppose…” Alice mused. She was intrigued with Rabbit’s questions. “I hadn’t really thought about it. It’s hard to see anyone as equal to me. As I am queen here and everyone else is a subject to me.”
“Perhaps someone who you’ve known for a while here, anyone close to you?”
Alice stared at the White Rabbit with quiet pause as realization washed over her face.
“Never mind,” said Rabbit, suddenly looking away; retreating behind his papers
“No wait!” Alice said as she reached out to grab his arm. “Do you know something? Is there someone here who is in love with me? If you do know, you must tell me who. Why are you so frustrated?”
“I just think that with all of the dreams of a husband that perhaps there is someone here that could give you what you dream of. Maybe someone who has been with you from the very beginning, who has guided you faithfully over all of these years, would be deserving of such love in return,” Rabbit offered a slight smile, but he could not bear to look at her. Rabbit was quiet, his stomach was in knots and the back of his furred neck was hot.
Alice pulled her hand away, suddenly very aware; it had taken her a moment to figure out what Rabbit was saying.
“It’s not important,” he said meekly, he began to shift his chair back to stand.
“Rabbit, you are not in love with me, are you?” asked Alice, “Because I wouldn’t want our friendship to be ruined by something like that.”
“It’s nothing,” said Rabbit, his voice was flat in his throat as he burned with embarrassment and a breaking heart. “I’ll go find this Jack of yours.”
***
Present day. the burned safe house, continued.
As the sky brightened and morning took a firm hold of the day, Rabbit realized something about his surroundings that he did not notice initially, as it was dark and the more pressing concerns of the Cheshire Cat’s betrayal had over taken him.
He had been to this place only at night; the first time, Rabbit had approached the barn directly in hopes of getting to the Looking Glass, and had encountered Jack. Rabbit returned after the barn had burned down but Cheshire and the Maldame had beaten him there. Now, Rabbit realized, in the fields beyond the charred remains of the old barn where he and Jack fought, there were signs of a larger battle. To Rabbit’s skilled eyes, he saw the evidence - scuffs in the dirt and trampled, pressed grass were suddenly accented by the glistening dew. Shafts of arrows jutted out of the ground like little markers of death.
Forms on the ground hidden by shadow and the darkness of night fully revealed themselves in the morning light. Rabbit had seen something similar when he first arrived at the temple. Here in the field lay bodies of dwarves, fallen in the fight. No doubt it was against the queen’s rat army, just like at the Wonderland temple, Rabbit thought. The barn had been a hideout.
Dwarves were here most likely working with Jack and the Looking Glass. Then, Queen Cendrillon’s army must have descended upon them, but, Rabbit concluded, either they were not looking for the mirror or couldn’t find it. Rabbit searched about, wandering with an odd limp from his metallic prosthetic foot. Looking about the ground, he came across what he was looking for on one of the dwarven bodies. A small dagger, covered in runic carvings. The rabbit correctly guessed it to be dwarven; the dagger was designed in such a way that it was obviously dwarven crafted. Rabbit tucked it into his tunic.
The early morning stillness ended abruptly. The White Rabbit’s tall, slender ear twitched as he heard the faint crunch of footsteps in a wooded area behind him. The scent of the
queen’s rat soldiers despoiled the delicate morning breeze.
Spinning around, Rabbit saw two disheveled royal guardsmen emerging from the woods behind him, a split second before they spotted him. They wasted little time in drawing their swords. Rabbit knew he could have easily escaped by outrunning them and he already had a considerable distance on them. Instead, the White Rabbit raised his paws in a signal of surrender.
“You there, stay where you are!” The guards ordered as they approached.
A slight smile confidently curled its way across the White Rabbit’s face. “After all, if you want to kill your queen to start a war, it’s best to do it with the enemy’s own weapons,” he whispered to himself under his breath.
“Don’t you two have a castle to guard?” Rabbit quipped.
“Can’t get to the castle anymore,” replied the larger of the two guards. “So for the rest of us stuck on the outside, well, we’re initiating our own little… martial law.”
Both guards chuckled.
“You ain’t from around these parts, are you, bunny?” asked the other one as they walked up to Rabbit. “That’s gonna cost ya’ extra,” he said as he pointed his sword at Rabbit’s chest.
“My name is the White Rabbit, if you please; not… bunny. And no, I am certainly not from around here,” replied Rabbit. His pink eyes narrowed at the two soldiers.
In a burst of movement, Rabbit pushed the guard’s blade to the side, braced his metal foot hard to the ground and brought his other foot up high and used his long and muscular leg to launch his foot hard into the chest of smaller of the two guards. Rabbit’s strong kick was devastating, shattering the man’s rib cage and sending him reeling backwards hard to the ground, his body going limp. The other guard was not swift enough to react; with a slight hop, Rabbit switched his footing and, swinging around, brought his metal foot around in a devastating roundhouse kick, connecting solidly to the side of the second guard’s face. With a loud crack and popping of tendons and sockets, the second guard instantly collapsed to the ground, his jaw slacked, cracked and hanging loosely in a very unnatural shape. Then, using his metal foot, Rabbit stomped down hard on each of the guard’s skulls, to make sure they would never get up again.
Shards Of The Glass Slipper: Queen Alice Page 6
