“So the more he takes from the hookah, the more he is delaying his change. And withholding it from him antagonizes the addiction further,” she said. “Very insidious,” added the Maldame approvingly.
“We are here as a matter of coronation, dear Caterpillar,” said Hatter. “We have someone who qualifies but we need you to do the formal induction of the offlander first.”
“Coronation?” the Caterpillar repeated in a condescending tone. “What happened to Alice?”
This time Cheshire chimed in. “Gone, I'm afraid, left our world for another. She's probably dead for all we know, but never to return.”
“Ah, the transparent devil is here,” the Caterpillar looked about with his all but useless eyes, as if searching the room, or perhaps all of Wonderland, for Alice's presence.
“Many holes to and from Wonderland, a portal in the temple opened. But I sense no Alice here,” the Caterpillar confirmed, and then there was a pause as he continued his search,” Very curious” he said, as if he sensed something else or that he was having another conversation that only he could hear, “very curious indeed.”
Cheshire gave the Hatter a nervous look. They were not expecting the Caterpillar to challenge their request. Hatter quickly left the balcony and reappeared with a large, ornately decorated crystal hookah that was about as tall as the six foot-nine Hatter himself.
The Maldame sensed the Caterpillar was about to question the matter further and Hatter's timing was well calculated to further distract the towering insect.
It worked.
“Hatter! My hookah!” The Caterpillar’s small antennae twitched as it sensed the hookah nearby, “Give it to me!”
“First, the offlander. You need to induct her into Wonderland, Caterpillar. That's a fair trade, isn't it?” said Hatter.
“Yes, yes!” the Caterpillar desperately agreed, fixating on the hookah, silken line dripping from its mouth like watery drool. His small little arms fidgeted in anticipation.
“Fine! Catch!” The hatter lifted the hookah up and tossed it over the side, with amazing speed the Caterpillar dropped from sight retreating down into the dimness of the rubble strewn theater floor several stories below.
“Now,” Hatter said, “we wait.”
It was a lot for the Maldame to take in and as she sorted throughout her thoughts, she was about to ask how long they were supposed to wait when a large ring of blue smoke floated up towards the ceiling.
The large form of the Caterpillar rose in front of them in a swirl of smoke. He carried himself stronger and more confident now; his skin was smooth and a vibrant spotty green now, and his milky white eyes were now sharp and dark. He rose like a phoenix through the smoke. Almost snake-like, he reeled forward, his large head focused directly on the Maldame, smoke rolled from his mouth like a fire breathing dragon.
“You” The Caterpillar said again, in a deep, almost sleepy and dream-like voice. “Who are you?”
The Maldame stammered, taken back by the abrupt transformation and the sudden directness of the great Caterpillar. “I am the Maldame—”
The Cheshire cat gave a quick clearing of his incorporeal throat.
The Maldame paused for a moment, then remembering what Hatter told her, she corrected herself, “and I am the new Red Queen, sole ruler of Wonderland,” the Maldame proclaimed, a smile of perverse satisfaction crept across her face as she spoke.
The Caterpillar studied her for a second, its head uncomfortably close to the Maldame’s face as the Caterpillar arched its body over the balcony. But then it pulled away. Hatter then gave the Cheshire Cat a nervous look.
“No induction,” the Caterpillar simply. “That claim for the throne is not valid as that position has already been qualified.”
“What!” Hatter yelled angrily. “You must! We had an agreement, Caterpillar!”
The Maldame gave the Cheshire a furious stare. “What’s going on, Cat?” she growled harshly between her teeth.
Cheshire did not hear the Maldame’s question, he was shouting at the Caterpillar as well. “Alice is gone, there needs to be a queen,” pleaded the cat.
“This offlander cannot be Queen of Wonderland,” the Caterpillar reiterated, “as there is someone else that has already qualified.”
“There is no one else! “ Hatter screamed loudly. “Who? Where?”
“Keep your temper, Hatter,” the Caterpillar demanded. “The who, I just discovered. With Alice no longer in Wonderland, there is another… with a claim by bloodline. She would be the rightful heir to the crown. It is the daughter of the White Queen. And the where is… right behind you.”
All three of the occupants of the balcony turned to look. Pulling the curtain back from the balcony’s hall entrance, was a young woman with white blonde hair, wearing the antiquated leathers and armor of the white throne as she held her father’s sword at the ready.
“Who are you?” said the Caterpillar with ceremonious tone.
“I am Lily, daughter of the White Queen and heir apparent to the throne of Wonderland,” she responded in the proper tone. It was a line she had quietly rehearsed to herself almost every night when she was a child. Even now as she heard herself say it she could not help but smile.
“Indeed, you are,” the Caterpillar answered.
“By right of bloodline and your grace do I request promotion to the throne,” Lily continued. The caterpillar exhaled a large ring of blue smoke that enveloped Lily.
“Promotion granted, Lily- daughter of The White Queen,” the Caterpillar answered. The exchange was quick and was over before Hatter or the others had gathered their wits enough to protest.
“Impossible,” Hatter said in disbelief.
“Hardly,” said Jack seeming to emerge from the air next to her. The air wrinkled and parted in front of them as Jack removed his invisible cloak. “This is Wonderland, there’s no such thing as impossible.”
The Cheshire cat gave a loud angry hiss at Jack’s appearance, then quickly faded from view.
“Check, and mate. Nowhere to go. You would have to get through us...” Jack waved his sword. “Otherwise it’s a long way down,” he said. “This stops, Hatter. It’s time for the rightful heir to take the throne, not your puppet.”
“I am not a puppet!” The Maldame yelled. “This was to be my throne!” She rushed at Lily, a flash of a blade as she pulled a hidden dagger quickly from the folds of her red dress. For all of her training however, young Lily had never actually fought anyone; her reaction to the Maldame’s attack was too slow.
But Haigha was not. The hare had been just on the other side of the doorway with a keen eye on the situation. “Lily!” he shouted and, as quick as a hare, he pulled Lily backward, stepping in front her to keep her from harm. The Maldame’s blade sunk into Haigha’s walnut colored fur and buried itself in his chest. The Hare did not react to the stabbing. Instead, Haigha brought his foot up and kicked, connecting hard to the Maldame’s midsection and pushing her forcefully backwards. The Maldame stumbled, her legs hitting the balcony rail. With a look of terror frozen across her face, the Maldame tumbled off the balcony, her arms flailing outward desperately trying to grab hold of something, anything. Then the Maldame managed to get one hand clutched on an old tapestry as she fell down the side. The old witch swung in the air; dangled for a moment, barely holding on to the tapestry. It was only for a moment as the strained cloth slowly began to pull away from the wall and finally gave way completely. The Maldame landed awkwardly a few balconies below, her body covered by the tapestry like a shroud.
“Well, Hatter, it’s just you now. I see your friends really have your back; conspirators always have each other’s backs, never in a helpful way,” Jack grinned.
“We... almost pulled it off, offlander,” Hatter seethed, forcing his words through his anger. “And Rabbit may even still succeed in killing Alice. With you here there is nothing you can do about it.”
“Hatter, you are a conspirator to treason against the throne.” the Caterpillar
said sadly in disbelief, “such disappointment.”
“We were trying to save the throne from Alice. That’s why we kept you around, you old, blind fool! We needed your magic. We had to keep you from building your cocoon and transforming. We had to bring in our own offlander for you to induct, if it was to be the last time, before you change. Otherwise, Alice would be the new lineage.”
“You... kept me from my changing? All of this time?” Now anger grew in the Caterpillar’s words. “I would never have been party to killing Alice!”
“I know,” replied Hatter with biting sarcasm. “That’s why we tricked you, you blind worm!”
The tower shook as The Caterpillar began to bellow. “You used me!” The great Caterpillar reared up arching back and then his large body came smashing down at Hatter.
“Uh-oh,” Jack muttered, quickly backpedaling from the balcony.
From the hallway, Jack and the others watched as the massive caterpillar landed its head and body on top of the balcony, shearing the balcony off, in a rain of shattered stone. The whole tower trembled from the blow, rock and dust fell about. As the dust cleared, Jack could see Hatter scrambling over the side of another nearby balcony. Hatter had barely made the jump across to safety at the last second.
The Caterpillar yelled in distraught frustration. He reared up, and slammed himself against the side of the theater, barely missing the balcony Hatter stood upon. The weight of the caterpillar crushed another row of balconies and support columns.
“Hatter!” the old Caterpillar bellowed again as it began to clumsily climb the wall; its huge feet breaking off more balconies as it tried to get footing. It was all Hatter could do to not fall or get crushed as he jumped up and hefted himself up to a higher balcony.
Jack looked over at Lily as the whole tower trembled again, loud crashes sounding all about. Further down the hallway, a section of ceiling had collapsed from the Caterpillar’s enraged smashing, debris crashed down blocking the passageway.
“We have to get out of here! That caterpillar is going to bring this tower down,” Jack shouted.
Lily nodded, and began to help the Hare to his feet; she had been taking care of Haigha’s stab wound.
“Can you make it, Haigha?” asked Jack.
“I’ll live,” the hare replied as he pressed a wrap of bloodied cloth over his wound. “We must get Lily to safety.”
“So, aren’t you a queen now?” Jack quickly asked Lily. “Can’t you stop this?”
“I don’t think it is official yet, I didn’t get a crown,” Lily shouted back above the bellows of the angry Caterpillar as the giant beast ransacked the theater. Its yelling was deafening even outside the theater proper, due in part to the amplifying properties the Queen of Hearts had built into the tower’s designs.
The three quickly made the way down the hall following the spiraled hallway back down as loud booming cracks could be heard throughout the tower. They were nearly a floor or two above the tower exit, when Lily stopped at a small window.
“Look, it’s that other offlander!” she pointed to a figure in a red dress that hobbled quickly toward the giant Looking Glass positioned in the field between the Tower of Hearts and Castling. “She’s heading to the portal!”
***
The walls shook again, large chunks of façade fell, in his rage, the blind caterpillar chased after Hatter. Hatter was barely able to scramble about the balconies, as the gargantuan caterpillar slammed about sending more columns and arches crumbling down. Though he was blind, the Caterpillar’s head was covered with hairs and sensory organs that allowed him to follow Hatter about; a combination of heat, movement and smell. Hatter quickly raced to the doors of each balcony, pulling back the red curtains and testing each door to open as he tried to escape. Most had been left locked and unused, or blocked with rubble from the collapsing hallway. Hatter had found himself near the very top of the theater. Scrambling up on the last of the balconies, with doors he knew to be locked, Hatter sought another exit now. He was near the ceiling, with old rigging ropes that dangled about, Hatter saw an escape through a skylight that had fallen open as the Caterpillar rattled the building in his climb to pursue Hatter.
“Hatter!” The Caterpillar continued to yell repeatedly in a deep hoarse bellow.
Hatter leapt into the air as the Caterpillar smashed the balcony he had been standing on. Quickly scrambling up the rope, Hatter then squeezed through the small opening of the skylight.
Rolling on his back for a moment, Hatter caught his breath, and then scrambled to the edge of the tower’s roof top. He was at the very top of the Tower of Hearts, looking down, desperately trying to figure a way to scramble down the outside facade to safety. The roof exploded behind him moments later, as the huge caterpillar burst through from below. Hatter reeled around in horror.
“The time has come!” The Caterpillar yelled. He was bruised and bloodied from his tantrum. He raised the upper part of his green segmented body high in the air “How dare you challenge the sanctity of Wonderland for your puny selfish needs!”
“It wasn’t me; it was the White Rabbit’s idea! I swear,” Hatter pleaded.
“The White Rabbit is not here. You are,” the Caterpillar said, shaking his head. His square mouth parts drew open wide as he fell down on top of Hatter, the caterpillar’s huge sharp leaf cutting maw closed around the doomed Hatter as the man’s terrified screams were cut short.
But the tower had taken too much damage, with the weight of the great caterpillar too much to bear. There were several loud booms as the stonework gave way and the tower began to lean and crumble. Moments later the Tower of Hearts fell, collapsing over as the Caterpillar tumbled, silently disappearing in the cloud of dust and rubble.
***
Jack, Lily and Haigha had made it to the ground floor and scrambled out into the field, desperately trying to get as far away as they could from the falling tower.
Jack stopped to watch as did the others, as the collapsing tower fell over with a loud rumble, the tower breaking apart in midair as it crashed down upon the Grand Looking Glass. Loud booms and the unmistakable sound of shattering glass could be heard.
Dark grey dust encompassed the area obscuring everything in a rolling cloud of destruction, as particles rained down about the rubble.
“Uh-oh,” Jack whispered. “That was going to be my way back home.”
CHAPTER 46
I DREAMT, I…WAS AN EMPEROR
Wonderland, Present Day.
Black dust drifted and faded across the field, obsidian and onyx particles sparkled and fell about in the sunlight as Jack, Lily and Haigha looked upon the toppled Tower of Hearts that lay disjointedly across the field. In full sprint the trio had desperately raced to escape the collapsing tower; catching a fleeting glimpse of the Caterpillar disappearing into the rubble. A cloud of dust billowed outwards as the tower crashed down in a loud rumble that shook the ground beneath their feet. The Tower of Hearts fell over in such away that it crushed the nearby Grand Looking Glass beneath its path of destruction, the same looking glass that every looking glass portal in Wonderland was connected to. The one used to transport Wonderland’s army to Marchenton, and just moments before the Maldame had been running towards it. The only looking glass that Jack could use to get back home was broken.
“I thought a looking glass can’t break?” Jack remarked. “I’ve tried to break one.”
“Oh they can break, it just takes a lot. Like a huge evil construct of stone falling on it. I guess you are not that strong,” answered Haigha.
“And why would you want to break a looking glass of Wonderland?” asked Lily.
“Long story,” replied Jack.
The haze cleared, shifting rock and rubble fell away, as the Caterpillar slowly emerged, weakly trying to pull himself free. Dark wet dirt clung to the blood from cuts and lacerations that crisscrossed his injured body, sliced from sharp stone and broken mirror.
“C’mon” said Lily, running towards the rubble, as
Jack and Haigha followed, the hare running slower as he protected his bandaged wound.
“It’s not safe, Lily,” Haigha warned as Lily rushed up the rocky rubble pile.
The Caterpillar lay there broken upon the shattered rocks, his sides heaving and convulsing, the lower half of his body pinned, crushed underneath tons of debris.
“Lily” whispered the Caterpillar as he saw her approach, “It is good to see you’ve grown into quite the young lady.” The Caterpillar was overcome with a coughing fit.
Lily scrambled up the rocks to get closer to the Caterpillar. Near its massive head, a huge shard of broken mirror was embedded in the Caterpillar’s side. It was all Lily could do with both arms stretched wide, to carefully grab the sides of the mirror shard and pull it out. It was a long piece of mirror cracked with spider web-like fractures and she nearly lost her balance backwards as it came free. A rush of dark green ooze ran from the Caterpillar’s mortal wound as she pulled it out. Lily placed the heavy mirror piece to the side; for a moment it gave the sun’s reflection a flash of brilliant sparkle. Then, unbalanced, it slid upon the stone and fell; breaking into dozens of tiny fractured pieces that glittered in the fading sun. Lily was more focused on the dying Caterpillar as he spoke.
“It won’t be possible for Alice or the army to return,” the Caterpillar said quietly. “The Grand Looking Glass is destroyed, and with it, every looking glass borne from it,” his words interrupted by a painful cough. “Today, we, the Gods of Wonderland, its Aces… shall pass. Wonderland has fractured,” he lamented. “Given that you are a direct descendant of the White Queen, Lily… you are now the new Queen of Wonderland,” the Caterpillar looked at Lily. “Who are you?” he asked again.
“I am Lily, Queen of Wonderland,” she answered, her voice gentle and quivering as a tear escaped her wet eyes. “I wish the circumstances weren’t as dire,” Lily offered a smile thinly veiled to conceal the twinge of sadness in her voice. “But I will do my best to bring the wonder back to our land. I promise.”
Shards Of The Glass Slipper: Queen Alice Page 24
