Ice blasted through the air and hit Ace square in the chest. It pushed him off his horse, and he landed on the ground with a painful grunt. His sword clattered to the ground feet from him. Ice formed around his chest and covered his arms, freezing them to the ground.
“Ace!” I gasped and reached out.
Ace’s horse squealed in terror and bolted down the road, bucking as it went.
White Wizard moved his panicked prancing horse over to stare down at Ace, his eyes as cold as the ice in the field.
Gasping and shivering, Ace stared up at White as if he was looking at a monster wearing the Queen Candidate’s skin. Or maybe as if Ace was truly seeing him for the first time.
“I have to say, Ace, for the first time since you’ve started serving me, I find myself disappointed. I have no need for a disobedient squire.” White’s rage had chilled, the black cloud around him shrinking down to vapor around his skin.
My hands crossed over my chest and rubbed at my prickled flesh. The air around me wasn’t cold, but his voice sent chills up my arms.
Ace’s eyes widened. He tried to glare defiantly, but his fear was all too obvious. It was as if he wanted to say something, but couldn’t come up with anything.
“Or do you fancy yourself that you have some divine calling? Like those stories about the Knights of Oz you love so much?” White mocked. “Don’t be ridiculous. You should be grateful to me. After all, you are nothing. Orphaned by your mother, abandoned by your father to your elderly, scholar grandfather. If you weren’t one of the Children, you would have never been noticed. You would have been just a boy running wild around that Cheshire Forest for the rest of your life. But I noticed you, and made you something. Someone. So disappointing.” He tsked.
The ice inched up Ace’s neck. He thrashed his head, trying to prevent the ice from tightening on him.
White’s horse blew a gust of air out his nose and chewed on the bit, its prancing hooves getting closer to Ace’s face.
White took a calming breath. “But I’m a forgiving person. And I might still have use for you.” The ice stopped growing.
Ace’s breath was short and shallow. “Do you honestly think nothing will happen to you?” he whispered, still resisting White Wizard.
“Of course not.” White answered, as confident as the truth. “I will be Queen soon. That’s why no one will know. Not Jewel Queen, not even your little Red friend. I haven’t met her myself yet, but you make her sound like such a wonderful girl. It would be awful if something happened to her, wouldn’t it?”
Ace’s face went from white to ashy gray. “What does she have to do with this?” His hands fisted, red knuckles whitening.
“Nothing. Just like nothing happened here. As long as you do everything I say. Everything. Are we clear?” White smiled.
Ace swallowed hard, mind obviously running in circles. Slowly, the defiant glint in his dark eyes softened into defeat. His fist slacked and flopped on the ground.
White nodded smartly. “Good boy. Very wise.” The ice melted off Ace, leaving his shirt wet and a muddy puddle under him. “You are about to learn about a whole new side of Oz that even Jewel Queen is too kind to understand,” White said softly.
Ace’s eyes widened, brows pulling together.
White turned his horse around, back down the road. “Now, we have taken too much time. Keep up.” He kicked his horse into a trot, leaving Ace horseless.
Ace glanced at the ice block that was starting to melt in the sun. For a moment he looked ill, whether it was from the act he witnessed or his own decision, I didn’t know. Then he took a breath, face tightening in resolution. He leapt lightly to his feet and ran after White.
The picture faded into the wall’s dull gray bricks.
“And thus Queen Candidate White took his first step down a road no Queen should travel, taking his young squire with him,” Dean and Winstum whispered around me. Then their voices were gone again.
Breathing hard, I stumbled away from the wall until my back bumped into the wall behind me. Horrible. Everything about that scene was horrible. How had White changed so much? In the first scene he had been obsessed with his own importance but still content. So easily cowed by his father and desperate to please him. Now, anger and hatred radiated from his every action. Like murder.
Why was I even seeing these scenes? Did whatever showed this to me want me to know what type of person the White Wizard was, or did these random and horrible scenes have more importance than that? Whatever the reason, it was time to get out of here.
I turned and sped down the hall, took the next right, then another one.
“How big is this maze?” I asked as this hall opened up to another room.
And did a double take.
Red Queen sat in a chair on the right side of the room. She looked around, then stared down at her neatly folded hands, her face tight.
Chapter Twelve
The breath swooshed out of me as words, apologies, and thoughts jumbling in my mind. “Red Queen, I—” My voice died when she didn’t react to me. Confused, I glanced around.
Three walls of the room where made of the same stone wall I’d been staring at for hours. But the wall behind Red Queen was plastered white and decorated with hanging curtains and tapestries. Strong daylight flooded through large windows on her side, while my side was dim with cloud cover. A painted, white door was on the far left side of the wall. It was like two rooms had been combined into one down the middle.
I frowned and walked closer to Red Queen. She was slightly see-through. Her hologram image was younger. Barely. She appeared to be about fifteen, with youthfully rounded cheeks and innocence in her large dark eyes. Her turquoise dress was simple and devoid of any jewels. Her crown was missing as well. I don’t know if it was just an odd angle for me, but there seemed to be a faint glow around her head.
The white door swung open, and White Wizard waltzed in, his steps large and his face set. “Okay, Bauer. What do we have scheduled today?” His projection stopped in the middle of the room, not far from me.
White Wizard had changed very little since the last scene, still in his early thirties and the aura around him still pitch black. Shoots emitted off him like solar flares. The image contorted when it touched the black, reacting like oil to water.
Bauer, presumably White Wizard’s secretary, followed him into the room. He was a round man, with a plain face and plain brown hair. He seemed skittish, his hands clenching and unclenching on the corner of his blue coat. He shut the door quietly. “Well, Queen Candidate White,” he said, his voice subdued, “in a few minutes you have an appointment with Lord Hatter.”
White Wizard cut him off with a scoff. “That fool? How far do my father’s friends think past favors can get them? If Hatter thinks he can trade bizarre hats for more land when I’m Queen, he’s crazy. If that’s what he wants, cancel the appointment.” He turned and flung his hand in dismissal. “Cancel it anyway.”
Bauer jolted. “But, but Hatter is the keeper of a large portion of land and one of your family’s biggest supporters. Many people are under his guidance.”
White Wizard sneered. “And soon they will be under mine.” He turned and finally noticed Red Queen in the chair. “Who is this?”
Bauer looked, and his whole body pulsed like he was hit by lightning. “Ah, this is Miss Red.” His voice was something close to a whimper now. He started to rock on his heels.
At her name, Red stood up and gave a lovely curtsy. “I was told you wanted to meet me. I apologize if I’m interrupting something.” She looked at the men, smiling in spite of the mood. Her eyes shifted to the door as if hoping they would dismiss her.
“Ah, yes. You’re the youngest of the Children, Squire Ace’s friend.” With a small, tight smile, White Wizard gave a quick bow, his movement perfect. “He often talks about you. I can see why. You’re as pretty as a glowing rose.” When he straightened, his eyes narrowed on her. His tilted to the side as if he was seeing something strange
about her. He stalked over and stopped right in front of her, staring at the light shimmering around her head.
Bauer’s hand jumped up, but he didn’t say anything. Instead his hand retracted until it tapped on his lips.
Red Queen took a step back, taken by surprise at White Wizard’s sudden nearness, and her eyes dropped to the ground. Then she peeked through her lashes to see what he was doing.
White Wizard stared her full in the face, towering several feet over her. I couldn’t tell what he saw, but his brows pulled together and his jaw clenched. His finger thrust forward until he pointed at her chest. “This girl!”
She jumped and stepped back again. Her knees bumped into the chair. She sat down hard, blinking at the finger in her face with alarm.
White Wizard turned his head to stare at his attendant. “She has been marked as a future Queen Candidate.” His hand dropped as he slowly prowled back to Bauer. “Is this the reason why you never set up the meeting before? I’ve been requesting to see her for almost a year now.” His voice was low and cold.
Bauer started to tremble, his hands clasped together in front of him. “N-no. You are so busy learning everything to be Queen. I just didn’t want to overwhelm you.” His voice was thin. The color in his face paled.
White Wizard’s head cocked to the side, his lips pulled down in cool interest. “And yet I requested to see her several times. How long has she been a potential Candidate? Years? Have you been hiding her to see who was better? Me or this child?”
“N-no!” gasped Bauer.
Red’s hands clenched in her lap, alarm plain on her face. She didn’t look surprised, so she must have already known she was a potential Candidate. But White Wizard’s actions scared her.
“Liar,” White Wizard hissed. “Despite all those sugar-coated words, I know what the people call me behind my back. Defective. White Wizard.” The words grated through his teeth as his nose flared. He stopped walking and stood shoulder to shoulder with Bauer, facing the opposite direction.
“T-that’s abs-surd,” Bauer’s hands fidgeted more than ever. “The people love you!” His words suddenly cut off. He jerked once, then his whole body went rigid as if he was made of ice. Because, suddenly, he was.
Red gasped.
White Wizard spun. As he did, ice grew down his right hand and formed a short blade over his arm. He struck Bauer’s neck with the sword. With a deafening crack, Bauer’s head broke off his body.
His head landed on the ground at my feet. His plain chubby face was frosted over, eyes wide with surprise and mouth open, still forming the syllables he never uttered. The stub where his neck should have been was jagged and bloodless. His whole head was frozen solid.
I gasped and staggered back, the blood pumping through my body with fright and nausea boiling in my stomach. This was the second murder I’d witnessed from the hands of the same person. Yet I couldn’t look away. My wide open eyes stared at White Wizard as the body crumbled on the ground.
Whatever I felt was amplified in Red, the actual person in the room. She screamed and leapt backwards, knocking over her chair. She tripped on it and fell back, catching herself on the wall. Her hands partially covered her face, muffling her screams. Tears streamed from her huge, terrified eyes as she half-gasped, half-sobbed.
White Wizard stared down at the body with open dislike. “Of course I’m the one those brainless beasts love.” He turned his icy gaze to the girl on the wall. “I am the only one,” he breathed and moved toward her with deadly intent. His pitch black aura pulsed and flared larger than ever.
Sobbing, she stared at the man, frozen with fear.
“Run!” I gasped, even though I knew she couldn’t hear me.
She was too scared to move.
White Wizard’s hand pulled back, getting ready to impale her.
She flinched, anticipating the attack.
Suddenly the aura around him turned yellow and his body jolted to a stop, held in place by the yellow aura. His eyes widened as he jerked his head this way and that, trying to get his body to move. His sword hand quivered, but that was all the movement he could manage. His teeth ground together and his head tipped back so he could scream to the ceiling in fury. “Oz! You betray me!” He howled like an enraged wolf. “I haven’t even been crowned yet and you already plan my replacement!”
Red was gasping like a fish, her hands flattened on the wall. She started to slide across it, inching toward the door.
He jerked, trying to get her again, but the yellow shield held fast. His eyes were wide with murder. “You can’t protect her forever, Oz!” he yelled. “The day she becomes a Queen Candidate, nothing will stop me from killing her! Nothing! I’ll kill her!”
The picture started to shake and quiver as if his threat physically affected Oz.
Sobbing anew, Red broke from her spell and ran for the door.
White Wizard turned his head and yelled curses after her as the scene faded, leaving me in an empty room.
“And thus, the connection between Queen Candidate White and Oz was severed,” Winstum’s and Dean’s voices whispered behind me. “Now he is the White Wizard.”
I couldn’t stay in that room. I was less careful than before, rushing through every right turn I came across.
The corridor opened up. I skidded to a halt in a large room. It was shaped like an octagon, but a circular balcony took up most of the space, the cracked concrete structure stopping just feet from the stone wall that surrounded it.
As soon as I entered, the scene started.
“Again?” I gasped.
The hologram filled the whole room around me until I was actually in the scene. All the cracks disappeared from the balcony, and an iron table and chair appeared on my right. Large, beautiful vases with tall flower arrangements decorated the granite railing, and ivy materialized around it. The walls were replaced by a lovely sunset backdrop framed in green trees.
When I turned around, my mouth dropped open. The ceiling and wall had vanished, revealing the tall castle attached to the balcony that rose up into the blue sky.
Two people were in the scene with me. White stood next to the table, pouring a drink out of a crystal pitcher. He was in his normal white attire. Permanent frown lines marred his handsome face, and his movements were stiff. He kept shooting glances as dark as the aura surrounding him at the woman with him.
Jewel Queen was just as beautiful as before, but her age was catching up to her. Something about her seemed like she was being stretched longer than her limits should have been. Dressed in a shimmering blue gown, she stood by a flower vase in front of me, arranging the beautiful flowers with her thin, long fingers. Her silver hair was piled on top of her head, her jeweled, golden crown holding it in place. She cleared her throat. “Thank you for taking the time to see me, Queen Candidate White.” She looked at him out of the corner of her blue eyes.
White bobbed his head elegantly. “Not at all. There is always time for you, Jewel Queen.” His words were smooth and courteous, but his eyes were cold. He took a sip from his pink drink.
The Queen smiled, but it didn’t show in her eyes, either. Despite their politeness, tension saturated the air. “My condolences on the sudden passing of your father. Many people regarded him with … great respect.”
White sipped his drink again. “Yes.” That was the only reaction he had on the matter.
She watched him out of the corner of her eyes. Her smile disappeared, and she looked at the flowers again, concern on her face. “There is a reason why I called you here, Queen Candidate White. I chose this place so we can discuss the matter in privacy.” She gazed at him long and hard. Could see the black cloud around him?
White frowned and set his drink down. He knew what this conversation was about.
Jewel Queen focused on the flowers.
I wanted to tell her to not turn her back to him, but it would be useless.
“Serious rumors, too many to ignore, have reached my ears,” she said into her flowers.
“Ones that grieve me to no end. And when I ask Oz, I see only black haze. This is a serious problem, Queen Candidate White.”
“Would you care to enlighten me about these rumors?” White said casually, shifting toward her. “I’m afraid I don’t know what you are talking about.”
The Queen’s eyes narrowed. Lines appeared around her lips as she frowned. “There have been multiple accounts of you forcing knights—one young knight in particular—into servitude. It has been said that you hold the safety of loved ones over their heads to get them to do your bidding.” She turned to see his reaction.
White didn’t have one. If it was true, he thought there was nothing wrong with his actions. He didn’t bother to deny or confirm her words.
Jewel Queen’s expression didn’t change, but there was a look of sad displeasure about her now. She looked back at her flowers. “There are other accusations against you, Queen Candidate White. Many of them. Threatening people, treating people and their property with contempt. Murder,” she whispered. She glanced at him, but his expression still didn’t changed.
The breath came out of her in a silent sigh. “White, you are the Queen Candidate. One day, after I die, you will be Queen. Oz accepted you because the people loved you—even though you were so young at the time. What has happened to you?
“You hold so much of Oz’s power, yet your link with Oz is underdeveloped. Can’t you see that it’s getting sicker by the day? Forests are going wild and the children ...” she cut off and swallowed hard. “As the Queen of Oz, that is not something I can overlook. Oz and I have a pact together to maintain the peace of the people. I also have the responsibility to make sure the future of Oz is peaceful.”
Her words were bouncing off him. He wandered over to balcony next to her and placed his hands on it, looking out over Oz. From that view, his gaze became hungry. The black aura pulsed and enlarged.
The Queen’s lips thinned and wrinkles formed around her eyes, as if she could see the smoke. She turned back to the flowers. “Is there anything you have to say?”
Alice Games Page 11
