He stopped walking at a gap between the walls. “Whoever said I was a knight at all?” he asked, laughing like his usual self. “Here we go again.” He scooped me into his arms.
This time I was ready for it. Sort of. I buried my face into his shoulder, and my breath stopped until he landed. The air whooshed out of me as he set me on my feet. “Red Queen did.” And Oz. After all, it did give him a sword. First he was White Wizard’s squire. Then he was Red Queen’s knight, but now he’s not? What happened?
His smile slipped. “Red Queen has countless knights. And Lional, the best Queen’s Knight there ever was. Why would she bother with someone like me?” He shrugged it off, but the hurt undertone in his voice tugged at my heart.
Yet Red Queen said he was a sensitive subject. A confusing subject is more like it. I wanted to run my hands through my hair in frustration but was too afraid to let go of his hand.
A couple minutes later, we came to the edge of the maze. I stared hungrily down at the open ground. The stretch of bare dirt went only a short distance before it was swallowed up by small trees and bushes, like the ones I ran through to get to this Domain. The Yellow Path pointed in a narrow line straight to the trees.
“Last time,” Ace said, and picked me up.
The leap down was worse than the leaps across. My stomach rolled as the air rushed by my ears. I’d have preferred a fifty-foot dive on a rollercoaster than that twenty-foot fall. At least a rollercoaster has harnesses and can’t drop you. As it was, Ace didn’t drop me, and we landed safely on the ground.
Still, my knees were like water, and I sank to the wonderful, flat ground when he set me down. I gulped in air and tried to settle my stomach. When I was sure I wouldn’t humiliate myself in front of him, I gave a weak smile. “I should have said this earlier, but thanks.”
Emotions played on his face, switching too fast for me to catch. His hand reached out, hesitated, and then brushed my hair with a feather-like touch. He crouched down in front of me and smiled, looking like he had somehow lost a game but was happy about it. “You’re welcome.”
Just like that first magical morning in front of the water lilies, I wanted time to stop. To stay like this forever, with his warm hand on my head and that sweet lost puppy look in his eyes.
Voices echoed out of the trees, and the moment was ruined. I turned toward them.
“I can feel her!” I recognized the deep voice rumbling through the foliage. Lional. “Can you hear her yet?”
“I think so. I heard two people. No—one? She’s around here somewhere,” Hareson answered. “Ali! Ali, come out!”
My muscles stiffened. Oh no. If they saw Ace, would it start another fight? The memory of the two large cats tearing at each other was bad enough. I didn’t think I could handle seeing Ace, as a man, fighting with Lional again.
I turned around, then slumped forward to the ground, relieved yet slightly disappointed at the same time.
Ace was gone.
Chapter Fourteen
“Ali!”
Collecting myself and quickly categorizing all the information I had learned in this ruined castle, I stood up and started to push my way through the dense trees. “Hareson! Lional?” I called back to them. The patch trees of wasn’t as wide as it seemed, and the words had barely left my mouth when I stepped out onto a bare road.
Hareson and Lional stood just feet from me. They both wore telltale signs of the fight that had been raging when I ran away, but they were both alive.
“Where’s Red Queen?” I thought she’d be here with them.
Hareson motioned to the right. “She was needed at a Munchkin village a little farther down the road. We took her there before coming back for you.”
I nodded slowly and tugged at my hair. “Is she okay?”
Lional snorted. “Of course she is.”
I smiled. Of course she is. As if he would let anything happen to her. But I wasn’t really asking about her physical wellness.
Lional and Hareson were still injured—Oz had not yet reset, so it was still the same day. I looked up at the sky. I wasn’t an expert on time based on sun locations, but things didn’t seem to add up. By the location of the sun, it was a lot later than when the raid started.
“How long was I in there?” I asked.
Hareson pulled out a watch from his breast pocket. He clicked it open. “Seven hours and twenty-three minutes. Why do you ask?” He snapped it shut and put it away.
I shook my head. “No, I couldn’t have been gone that long.” I was only lost for a couple of hours before Ace came. How much distance was between me and the Emerald Castle now? Was I going to make it by False Dawn?
Lional looked at the trees, face hard and almost regretful. “That Domain is separated from this world. It’s time and ours are different.”
I stared at him, a little surprised at how quickly he answered. After all, the last time I was with him, I’d been fighting with his beloved queen. My eyes skimmed over the torn patch on his white shirt and the gauze wrapped around his arm. His abrasive personality was off-putting, but I’d seen the way he fought to protect Red Queen and me. Even if he could permanently die, he would still lay down his life for her and, consequently, me. The perfect Queen’s Knight.
What was it White Wizard had said to Ace? Something about the Knight of Oz. “Have you ever heard of the Knight of Oz?” I asked.
Lional jolted like he was struck with lightning. His lips pulled down in a surprised frown.
Hareson frowned too, but in a puzzled way. His head cocked to the side, ears twitching. “The Knight of Oz? Where did you hear that, Ali?”
“Ah, I don’t remember where I heard it.” I waved my hands, trying to dismiss his question. “I just did, and I wanted to know if you knew who he was.”
Lional muttered something about “Odd Alice” under his breath and walked off. Not far away were three horses tied to a tree. He untied them and started back with them in tow.
Hareson motioned with his hand, and we started to walk to Lional. “The Knight of Oz is a legendary person. There have been five known Knights of Oz throughout Oz’s history.”
“Six,” Lional corrected. He handed the reins of a horse to Hareson.
Hareson’s ears flopped as he nodded his head to the side, apparently as surprised as I was that Lional would know. “Ah, six. So sorry, Ali.”
So they did know about it. I didn’t know if the Knight of Oz was an important element to fixing Oz, but it was best to know all the facts when trying to solve a problem.
Hareson mounted a brown horse and waited.
Lional faced me. “Have you ever ridden a horse before? Some of the more recent Alices hadn’t.”
That was probably because our technology had changed. As curious as I was to ask when the last Alice Games was held, it wouldn’t reflect on the time on Earth, since the two worlds were on different times. “Ah, no. I’ve always wanted to.”
Lional nodded. Then he reached down, grasped my waist, and set me sidesaddle on a bay horse. The horse snorted and looked back at me, obviously sensing I was a newbie.
Without further ado, he hopped on his palomino, took my reins, and started us off down the road. They might not be able to see the Yellow Path, but they obviously knew the direction to go. The yellow line stayed dead center on the dirt that our horses clopped on.
“Thanks,” I muttered. “Next time, I can get on by myself.” I grabbed the saddle horn as the horse started to shift under me. I’d never been on one before and could only base my judgment on books and movies, but next time I wanted to ride normally. It felt too easy to slip off on side saddle, and I wasn’t even wearing a skirt.
“Maybe, but I bow down to only one person,” Lional grumbled.
I can step in the stirrup by myself, I thought, but I let it go. Instead I went back to the more interesting subject. “What does the Knight of Oz do?”
Hareson glanced at Lional to see if he would respond. When the large man didn’t, the hare-man spok
e up. “Well, legend says the Knight of Oz is a helper to the Queen. You see, the Queen is the go-between of Oz and the people. When the Queen needs help for various reasons, Oz will choose a Knight of Oz. There haven’t been very many, though, because the Knight is allotted special privileges. While the rest of the people are under the Queen’s rule, the Knight of Oz only answers to Oz.”
“Is the Knight always male?” I asked, intrigued. After all, ‘queen’ to them was gender-neutral.
“There has been one female Knight of Oz,” Lional said, his voice a low rumble as if he really want to answer.
I nodded. I guessed Oz really didn’t care much about gender. And if the Knight was given special powers like the Queen, physical strength didn’t matter anyway. “Who is the Knight of Oz?” I asked. “Is it you, Lional?”
His head tilted to the side and he looked at me like I was crazy. His tale flicked twice.
I shrugged. “Well, you have the perfect physique for it, and you are very loyal to Red Queen. You seem like the perfect candidate.”
He shook his head. “No. I only want to be a Queen’s Knight.”
Hareson tugged at his ear then smoothed his hair back into place. “There is no Knight of Oz right now, Ali. As I said, there aren’t very many people with that title. It’s not like a constant position that one holds, and it’s hard to acquire. It takes a very special type of person to be a Knight of Oz, and no one even knows what skills that position requires. Apparently that type of person doesn’t exist in Oz right now.”
I wasn’t giving up yet. “Maybe, but would you recognize the Knight like you would the Queen or the Alice? Is it possible that the Knight does exist, but you just don’t know it?”
My questioned surprised them.
“It’s possible,” Hareson admitted slowly. “The only one who knows who the Knight of Oz is would be the Queen. If the identity weren’t disclosed, the people would never find out.”
Lional scowled. “If that is true, then damn that Knight. To hide all this time and make us wait all these years.” His voice turned into a snarl by the end of his words.
“What if they didn’t know?” I said. My voice dropped in volume. “If Oz can only talk in pictures, how can it give clear instructions of what needs to be done? Everything that you know so far about the Alice Games is from trial and error and random guessing, right? What if the Knight of Oz has never figured out what he or she was supposed to do?”
Lional shook his head. “Oz, talking? Oz hasn’t spoken since the Alice Games began.”
Hareson’s ears jolted straight and twitched. “Ali, where did you learn all this?” He looked perplexed and more than a little alarmed.
They were that shocked to hear about Oz talking? Maybe I shouldn’t tell them about it. “Is it so weird for me to know something about Oz?”
Hareson’s hands moved while he tried to figure out how to explain. “There’s never been an Alice who learned about the Knight of Oz. I can only think of a few people in Oz who might even know about it. As well as knowing about Oz speaking. The only one who is in the position to hear it is Red Queen.”
But she even admitted that she couldn’t hear Oz very well. So why could I? Did it have to do with where I had been at the time, in the ruins of Jewel Queen’s Castle? Was I compatible with Oz somehow? Or did it just want to talk to me that badly, it forced the connection?
Connections … What did Jewel Queen tell White Wizard when he was first elected? That some feelings clogged up the connection a queen could have with Oz. She specifically mentioned anger and resentment. Both of those, White Wizard had.
Red Queen had at least one of them too, I realized. I personally listened to her vent her frustration of her situation, when my own frustration hit the top. While I completely understood her feelings, what if those feelings were damaging her connection to Oz? Did Oz show me that scene because it wanted something from me?
“Enough of this chatter.” Lional snorted. “We know the role of the Alices and what they need to do. It’s not necessary for them to learn more.”
My gaze dropped to the ground.
Hareson shot a glare at his companion. “Lional, that’s not kind.”
“It’s true.” His golden tail swishing in annoyance.
“I don’t think so.” I met Lional’s golden eyes head on. “Knowledge is never unnecessary. Even if I’m just a visitor. I understand why you feel uncomfortable around me. I’m different than what you’re used to, but everything about this world is different from what I’m used to. It might feel like I’m prying into your lives, but I don’t want to make a mistake by overlooking a small detail. If I’m supposed to fix a problem, I’ll fix it. Simply getting a wand out of a castle isn’t good enough for me to risk my life for.”
It was his turn to drop his gaze. His tail stilled.
Hareson watched the exchange with some surprise. “Come, let’s hurry. Red Queen is not far away, and we need to get to Munchkin Town before night falls.”
***
The forest gave way to farmland surrounding a cluster of brick buildings. It looked like a toy set from far away, with the bright red bricks and white trim. That impression didn’t change as we got closer. The buildings were short, just like I expected from a Munchkin town. Munchkins milled around the fields, bringing in whatever they needed before sunset. The tallest person I saw—aside from Hareson and Lional—was about five feet tall. Finally seeing these people, it clicked why Red Queen was so short. She probably had Munchkin blood in her.
“Red Queen is this way.” Hareson pointed to a building to the outside of the cluster. “She’s in a meeting with several of the town elders in the region. They have come together to discuss how things are changing in Oz.” His nose twitched. “Since this town is on the Alice Route, it was decided to meet here.”
We rode over. When Lional helped me dismount, his hands were not as stiff as when he threw me on the horse earlier. Just as we got to the short door, it opened.
Red Queen stepped out and smiled at us. “Ah, Ali, Hareson, and Lional. Perfect timing.” She walked over to us and turned to watch the seven or so people coming out. She smiled and waved to all of them as they gave farewell bows to Red Queen and walked away.
“What did they say?” Lional asked as soon as the last person was gone.
Red Queen’s face fell in sorrow. “We have decided to go to war. They are on their way to collect their people. We’ll meet at the Game Board tomorrow morning.” She didn’t look comfortable with the decision.
Guilt pounded through my veins, and I shifted uncomfortably. It was my casual comment that had started all this. I took a breath. “Red Queen?” I waited until she looked at me. “I’m sorry. I said a lot of things that I regret now. I wasn’t trying to hurt your feelings. And ...” What else should I say? “I get that we are very different from each other. But I think we want the same thing. Not just for me to go home, but to fix Oz. Can we start working together?”
Slowly her shocked expression melted into an apologetic smile. Her eyes softened and shone like a chocolate diamond. “I am also sorry. I shouldn’t have yelled at you like that. It was unfair of me.” She took my hands and squeezed them. “And I would be so happy to work with you.”
It was impossible not to smile back, even though I was surprised how fast she forgave me. Was that how it was for her? So simple, so quick to find the best? I nodded slowly. “I’m also sorry about the whole war suggestion. I just threw it out there, trying to come up with something new. I guess it was very Earth-like of me.”
Red Queen gave a big sigh. “It was a suggestion that a lot of people liked. Maybe it’s something we should have tried long ago. I still don’t see the point of it, but the people want to try. They want to fight White Wizard’s ice monsters and lock White Wizard up ourselves. Make him stay in Diamond Castle with our own power. Maybe it’s what Oz has been waiting for this whole time.” Her hands trembled under mine.
“If it doesn’t work, the people will just w
ake up tomorrow,” Lional said casually.
And if it does, people will die forever, I thought.
Red Queen nodded and let go of my hands. “The plan for now is for you three to stay here for the night. The town elder himself is letting you stay in his house. With so many people around, it should be safer for you, Ali. The rest of the citizens will arrive here throughout the night. Then in the morning, we’ll all travel to the Game Board together. Hopefully if Oz sees how serious we are, when you bring my wand out and White Wizard is bound, he will stay locked in the Diamond Castle forever.”
I nodded, liking how decisive her voice was. Still I couldn’t help but wonder what would happen to Ace then? “And the Game Board is?”
“The Domain around the Emerald Castle,” Hareson supplied. “Not only is it where you need to go, but it’s the best place to battle White Wizard and his monsters.”
“Why is that?”
“Because it’s the only location in Oz where White Wizard and I can be in the same place,” Red Queen said, her face grave. And pale.
Hareson’s nose quivered when he blew out a burst of air. He straightened, tucked an arm around his back and motioned to the door with an open hand. “Shall we fill our stomachs? There are people waiting to finally greet their Queen before the sun falls.”
I looked around the buildings. Was there really one big enough for all three of us to stay in comfortably? I’d been in a Munchkin building before, when I first met Ace, and it barely fit two people sleeping. How would it fit a full grown lion and then some?
The thought made me pause. I guessed I wasn’t going to be able to meet Ace again. He didn’t like to be seen by other people—with obvious reasons that finally made sense to me. I’d never get to say goodbye. I sucked in a breath through the sharp pain in my chest and let it out slowly. It’s okay, I told myself. It’s probably better this way. No closing for no beginning.
***
Lional insisted on accompanying Red Queen to meet the people, which meant that Hareson and I had to come, too. It was intimidating to step out of the elder’s tiny house, where we’d just had a peaceful dinner, to a sudden onslaught of people rushing at us.
Alice Games Page 14
