Shards Of The Glass Slipper: Queen Alice

by Roy A. Mauritsen

  “Through the soup? How—” Jack was about to ask.

  “An expression lad, used by the royals here, it means to go into hiding among the commoners. In my case as a sheep, I could hide amongst the common folk of Wonderland. Now we live out here in the mid-ranks, far from anyone’s attention.”

  “Alice stole my square!” Lily angrily blurted out in frustration.

  “You were too young to play, Lily. You were a babe at the time, now shush,” replied the sheep. “Lily was the one thing the White Rabbit had forgotten. She never played, so she was never regarded as a threat. Easy enough to forget, she was just a small baby at the time, but still she has a legitimate bloodline claim to the throne. And a bloodline claim trumps any offlander’s rule.”

  “That was my square! The Duchess can have her baby turned into a pig but no! I have to be substituted for. And then the sub goes on to rule Wonderland for the next three hundred years! It’s not right! The Whites should be ruling Wonderland now, not Alice. By right of promotion, I could have won. I should have been the new queen, mother. And you know it!”

  “It was the Red Queen’s right of invitation, not mine,” said the sheep. “There is much you need to learn about these things, Lily.”

  “But I thought it was Wonderland law that no native of Wonderland can rule?” Jack was still taken back by Lily’s sudden outburst and struggled to recall what he knew. “That’s what the White Rabbit had always told me, and why Alice was brought in as an offlander.”

  “Yes, that’s the rabbit taking an old decree out of context, for his purposes. Because of his position and proximity to the rulers of Wonderland he is never really challenged and has enjoyed the favors of the throne. But I tell you the White Rabbit is a little shit, who will screw over anyone to get control of a throne he can never sit upon. Inside it eats him up. The decree actually is... if there are no apparent heirs in place to rule the throne an offlander must be brought in to be chosen. He’s eliminated all of the heirs, except we’ve done a very good job of keeping Lily hidden away; easy to miss a baby. But Rabbit and his other Aces, The Hatter and the Cheshire Cat, have eliminated just about anyone who knows the old rules.”

  “Father was the last to stand up him,” added Lily proudly. “Four thousand two hundred and seven men fought the largest battle in Wonderland.” She shifted in the doorway. “And Hatter used to serve the white throne as a messenger, until he turned traitor in the Chess Pieces War. Haigha was our other messenger; he is still loyal to the White throne, obviously.”

  “The White King? The Chess Pieces war, I remember Alice telling me about that. So why use Alice then, why not just figure out a way to take the throne himself?”

  “Alice is a mere puppet now—no doubt out lived her purpose. The invasion you mentioned to Lily is no doubt another step for the Rabbit. But for him to sit upon the throne is just too blatant an act.”

  “Rabbit also mentioned he was bringing back a new red queen,” Jack recalled, his head swimming as he tried to understand, then he shook his head in puzzlement. “You let this go on for so long? Well, if Lily is the rightful heir, then how come the throne hasn’t been challenged?”

  “Not everyone can go and raise an army to defend or challenge the throne,” Lily explained with a sense of defeat. “Besides, I had to take care of mother. So it was better to stay hidden from Alice’s armies and survive.”

  “Also known as running away, Lily,” the sheep reminded her. “I cannot fault the lad for running away. But it’s what you do after you can no longer run, that is the true test.”

  “I’ve been training for that day, believe me,” answered Lily.

  “I think,” the old sheep paused and puffed thoughtfully again on her pipe, “it’s the Looking Glass that determines where you end up in Wonderland. It was not chance that you landed where you did, lad. You should really be more careful to watch where you are going; so quick you were to run away from everything. You’ve run face first into your destiny. And it seems so have we. But now what are you going to do?”

  “I don’t know,” answered Jack solemnly.

  “A unique opportunity is presenting itself. For the first time, we have the chance to put Wonderland back on the correct path. If it’s true that Wonderland’s army is away, if you can get us into the castle, if indeed the little white shit plans to change the rulership, then this is a once in a lifetime chance. A chance I have to perhaps correct an error from along time ago, one opportunity for my daughter who has waited her whole life for this chance.”

  “Perhaps you are here to help Alice return to her world?” suggested Lily. “Perhaps those dreams of Ella—perhaps your dreams, are telling you what is important in all of that. Isn’t that what you say dreams help you figure out? Perhaps by saving Alice, you will save your kingdom. Perhaps by helping us, you will help save the Ella you called out for in your dreams. You need our help, and we need your help. And besides,” Lily added, “we saved your life, so you owe us, offlander.”

  Jack looked at his bandaged hand, then over at the rusty saw. “I suppose I owe you my thanks…” Jack said. “And gratitude for saving my life and not cutting off my hand, but what you are talking about… is madness.”

  “If I can get you to the castle and we can challenge the throne, if we succeed, I would be able call off the invasion of your kingdom,” said Lily as the White Queen turned sheep nodded in agreement.

  “Then you can run away back to where you started from,” added the sheep. “Nice and convenient, wouldn’t you say?” The sheep turned to Lily, looking at her over her reading glasses. “And you’ll be the Queen of Wonderland, my daughter. Something you’ve wanted your entire life.”

  Jack was quiet for a moment. “Okay fine. But I’m not doing this as some sort of hero thing. I’m not doing this for kingdom or to save anyone. You saved my life so I would owe you that.”

  “Then that’s the plan,” said Lily.

  “We’ll take the old row boat, down the river,” said the Sheep. “Haigha!” She hollered loudly. “We’re ready!”

  CHAPTER 43

  THE NAMES OF THINGS

  Jack pushed through a wall of overgrown reeds and cattails as he navigated a narrow wooden walkway that creaked and was absent a plank here and there. Just beyond the reeds at the end of the walkway was a large rowboat. The boat was weathered; old white paint was cracked and stripped, exposing grey weathered wood beneath, its gunwale rubbed down smooth with age.

  Lily slapped her hand on Jack’s shoulder. “It’s seaworthy, offlander. Even in Wonderland sometimes a boat is just a boat.”

  “Wonderfully fine air it is out here, Lily, what day is it?” the Sheep asked, as Haigha helped her step into the boat. “Tuesday, Mum,” Haigha answered matter-of-factly. “It’s Tuesday for the next couple of days with a slight chance of Thursday in the evening.”

  “Ah good, then we should head in that direction,” the sheep lifted her hoof in the direction downstream as Haigha quickly placed her shawl around her and helped steady her as she pointed. The sheep sat down at the back of the rowboat.

  “But isn't the palace in that direction?” asked Jack gesturing back upstream.

  “Yes, but you'll never get there going in the same direction as the thing you are going to,” Lily said, whispering under breath to Haigha. “Offlanders,” she huffed in annoyance. Haigha nodded in agreement as he straddled the gap, steadying the boat against the dock, helping Lily by the arm.

  “This way is much quicker,” Lily reaffirmed as she secured some packs beneath her seat and checked the oars. “Haigha, you’ll have to do the rowing.”

  “The quickest way to get where you are going is to try not to get there at all,” the sheep said, staring over her glasses at Jack. “That's when you'll find you are already where you need to be. I used to live backwards you know! And Lily can live backwards better than I ever could!” The sheep said, proudly doting.

  “Yes, Mother,” Lily agreed with minor annoyance. “Do we have to bring that u
p? Those were some of the most wasted classes I ever took.”

  The sheep gave her daughter a raised eyebrow, and then went back to her conversation with Jack. “If you are always headed in the same direction toward the place you want to go you'll never get there. Because it is the place you are always trying to go to.”

  But a place is stationary,” countered Jack as he cautiously stepped into the boat. “It’s not moving in the same direction. You can travel from point A to point B.”

  “Nothing in life stays still, even the rocks can move. Everything is always in motion, Jack,” said the sheep. “There’s no point in traveling from A to B. It's just over one letter. Traveling to point Q is a much more interesting journey. And to your point, Jack— if we want to travel from point A to point Z it's much easier to go backward from A than go forward through all the other letters. Your way is much less efficient. And there are other alphabets to consider.”

  “It’s just an expression,” said Jack feeling the familiar headache of trying to understand Wonderland logic.

  “Well it's not a very good one. Unless you are traveling from point A to B, in which case there's very little direction needed. It’s simple, Wonderland is divided into eight ranks, Castling is in the First Rank, and we are in the Fifth Rank. For us to go to Castling by your logic, we’d have to travel five ranks! Feather that!” The old sheep exclaimed. “If we go this way,” she gestured downstream, “we only have to travel three ranks and we’d come up behind Castling on the First Rank again.”

  Haigha quietly shook his head, “Offlanders,” he mumbled, and with his powerful leg pushed the rowboat away from the dock.

  “Did you bring the ham sandwiches, Haigha?” asked the sheep loudly.

  “Of course, Mum,” Haigha replied. “I always do.”

  ***

  Lily pressed Jack about what he remembered about Castling, as Haigha silently rowed and the Sheep ignoring everything except for her knitting.

  “I am knitting some rope to save Jack,” she said aloud suddenly.

  This caught Jack’s attention for a moment. “To save me from what?” he asked.

  “Well the what hasn’t happened yet. But when it does we’ll be ready,” the sheep answered, her head down, as she concentrated on the twining of her yarn. “You should thank me now before you forget.”

  The rowboat drifted down the river, flanked by large towering banks on either side. With Haigha rowing, they passed through thick water reeds and rushes; large flowers, their blossoms as big as cottages, towered above the trees. Far above them, a pack of large elephants lazily buzzed from flower to flower like bees. Quietly the rowboat glided on, passing underneath massive mushrooms, some tall like redwoods, others closer to the ground with their majestic caps spread across over the river offering shade like a musty earthen scented umbrella.

  “Are those the Caterpillarian mushrooms?”

  The sheep looked up, studying them for a second. “Yes, very good Jack, I'm impressed.”

  Then an idea flashed through Jack’s mind. He stood up and grabbed the side of one of the mushrooms, holding on as they passed by. The rowboat came to a stop with a slow, awkward halt.

  “Jack, what are you doing?” Haigha asked, compliantly pulling up his oars.

  “One side will make you grow taller, and the other side will make you grow shorter, right?” Jack asked as he looked for a suitable handhold along the cap.

  “Yes, lad,” the sheep confirmed, “but only true for offlanders,” she added. “The greedy ones,” she mumbled to herself.

  “Please don't eat them on the boat,” said Lily. She looked nervously at her mother, who only responded with a woolly shrug and a roll of her eyes behind her spectacles. “Offlanders, can’t resist.”

  “This could come in handy,” Jack said as he hastily judged whether the mushroom cap could hold his weight, and then he hefted himself halfway and swung his legs along the top of the giant cap.

  “Not a good idea, Jack,” the sheep said. “If you fall off…the woods in these parts, one can quickly lose their memory of names and such.”

  “Which side does what?” Jack asked peering over the side to the occupants in the rowboat. He ripped off a piece near the edge he had just climbed up on. “I’ll just go to the other side cap.”

  Jack steadied himself as he stood cautiously on the spongy cap of the giant mushroom, “One side will make you grow taller, one side will make you grow shorter,” he repeated.

  The whole mushroom tilted and swayed as Jack went to the far side of the mushroom cap, getting on his hands and knees as he cautiously approached the far edge. He ripped off a fist sized piece and stuffed it in his tunic. Staying on his knees he slowly turned to head back to the boat then froze as he heard Haigha shout a warning.

  “Bandersnatch!” Haigha shouted as he pulled the oars in, he grabbed his bow and nocked an arrow.

  On the other side of the river, up in the trees, a creature with long, lanky legs and a long neck; almost as long as its tail, grinned with frumious jaws as it eyed Jack as an easy meal. Haigha tried to get a bead on the creature as it darted among the branches. Haigha let his arrow fly, but the Bandersnatch moved quickly and Haigha’s shot disappeared into the woods. “Too fast,” Haigha commented as he watched the creature make its way easily through the branches over the river, before Haigha could ready another arrow.

  There was a blur of motion as a Bandersnatch swiftly drew nigh. It blended easily with the trees, heading for Jack.

  “Jack,” Lily called out. “Hurry!”

  Panicked, Jack abandoned any attempt to steady himself, putting his foot firmly on the mushroom cap, he felt the soft mushroom split and his weight shifted awkwardly as his foot went through, he fell hard onto the cap of the mushroom. The whole mushroom swayed and Jack heard the stem give a soft snap, and the mushroom fell. The giant mushroom tumbled forward into the river pushing the rowboat out midstream. Jack fell down backwards on the opposite side of the slope, rolling deeper into the dark woods as the Bandersnatch darted after him.

  Jack landed hard against a log, not enough to be knocked unconscious but it took a moment for Jack to open his eyes and when he did, he was suddenly gripped with a very disorienting fear.

  He was suddenly aware that he could not remember his name, or the names of anything he saw. Even something as simple as a “tree” was suddenly fading from the tip of his tongue. There was a more insidious danger that had befallen Jack—as the recollection of names faded so too did the inherent recollection of its purpose. It was almost a palpable buzz in his head that he could not remember the names of things.

  “This is ridiculous. I’m…” He puzzled a moment. “Who am I?” he said aloud.

  He had forgotten the names of things, and could no longer sort out their purpose, including his own purpose as it became forgotten as well. He could not recall who he was. He did not know where he was as he could no longer recall the name Wonderland. Or that he had to go to Castling or return home to Marchenton, to see Ella. Or to save Alice. None of this he could remember. At best all he could now remember was that he had to go somewhere, see someone and save something. And without knowing the name of where he had to go, it could be anywhere. But it must not have been important or he would have remembered it in more detail, he thought to himself. He kept hearing a sound, though. It sounded like “Jack,” whatever that was.

  Then a creature approached, growling, with a long neck and frumious jaws. Jack had no idea what it was, as he could not remember the name Bandersnatch and therefore could not remember that this creature was dangerous or not. It did not seem friendly however.

  Jack reached around on the ground and his hand brushed across something, he picked it up and waved it at the Bandersnatch. Jack could not recall that what he picked up was called a skull, and therefore did not realize that the fate of those that could not remember the names of things upon entering this section of woods was quite often, death.

  The Bandersnatch, being a primal animal
, did not have to worry about the name of its next meal, and suffered no such confounding effects. With incredible speed it pounced on Jack, catching him completely off guard at the suddenness of the attack. Desperately, Jack tried to fend off the attack as he tried to beat the Bandersnatch on the side of its large head with the skull, but the skull broke into several pieces against the Bandersnatch’s thick head.

  The long front legs of the Bandersnatch grabbed at Jack and pinned him down as he tried to fight back. The creature’s neck extended without rest or pause—while those frumious jaws went savagely snapping around at Jack, as Jack struggled against the beast’s attacks.

  Then something slammed into the side of the Bandersnatch, and as it howled in pain, both Jack and the Bandersnatch looked to where the arrow had come from. The animal gave a hiss and bounded away deeper into the woods. Leaving Jack somewhat confused as to who this stranger was.

  Standing up on the ridge, with a rope made of yarn tied to her waist was a girl in white hunting leathers and white blonde hair. She wasted no time in scurrying down the hill to Jack, but as she did so, she carefully navigated down backwards.