Wonderland (Intergalactic Fairy Tales Book 1) (17 page)

"Snicker-snack," said Alice, a bright smile on her face.

Absolem reared back as if he'd been bitten, holding his hands out in front of him. Even the ones acting as his nose made the clear gesture to stop, causing his glasses to drop to the rug with a soft thump. "Get that thing away from me," he shouted. "Get it out of my house!"

"But, it's all that I have for trade," said Alice, confusion wrinkling her brow.

"Get that thing as far away from here as you can and maybe I won't have you killed," roared Absolem. Servants were massing around him in confusion, hoping to do something to calm their master.

Dee pulled the sword back and returned it to the sheath at his waist. He looked askance at Dum, who in turn looked down at Alice on his shoulder.

"Why are you acting like this?" asked Alice, not sure what else to do. She had to get a mushroom, or she would be stuck like this.

"You stole something from the queen and are bringing it into my household. Everyone knows the queen puts tracking devices in everything she values." Absolem heaved his bulk off of the couch and trundled over to the nearest window. "Her guards are probably outside already."

"I can't leave until I get a mushroom," replied Alice, her tiny voice raising an octave. "I won't be able to defend myself if she comes for me."

"Fine, fine," grumbled Absolem. "Servant, bring these people one of the mushrooms so that they will get out of here with haste."

"Thank you," said Alice.

"Don't thank me," said Absolem, turning to glare at Alice. "It's just easier to do this than having the guards shoot you and having to deal with the mess. Be thankful that I just reupholstered this room."

One of the uniformed servants stepped up beside Dum and held out his hand, a small, plain looking toadstool sat on his palm. Dum took it and sat it between Alice and Lyla on his shoulder.

Alice looked from the mushroom, which was nearly as large as she was, back to Absolem. He didn't seem as angry as his bluster. Mostly, he just seemed nervous. "I'm sorry if I brought you any trouble, Absolem. I didn't mean to. And if it makes any difference, I was shrunk by drinking the Tea at Tea Time."

For a moment the worry slid from the caterpillar's face. "Well, that is interesting indeed. I've never heard of such a thing happening. Maybe it's because you're Nedran, or maybe it's because you're not mad enough." The caterpillar paced, lost in thought, and then whipped his head back around to look at Alice. "Thank you for the information, now be on your way."

"You're welcome," said Alice. "I hope that we meet again some day." She reached out and tore off a chunk of the mushroom and took a small bite.

"As do I, Alice, hopefully under much better circumstances," said Absolem in between glances out the window and muttered orders to his guards and servants.

"Let's go," said Alice, and Dee and Dum marched back to the door and slid on their shoes.

Alice took another bite of her mushroom and grimaced. It tasted rather a lot like dirt and something horribly bitter. No wonder her mother had told her not to eat them. Lyla watched her intensely. "If you want to try out being big, you can have some," offered Alice.

"No, thank you," said Lyla, shaking her head emphatically. "Big people always seem to get into big trouble. I'm fine staying small and keeping my small troubles.”

Alice gasped as a wave of dizziness swept over her, causing her to lean to one side. Lyla was next to her in an instant, bracing her arm. Alice clutched at her, unable to tell down from up as the room began to tilt and spin. She could feel Dum's shoulder beneath her, but her senses told her that instead of down, that was sideways, so she needed to lean to correct that. Finally, all sense of direction abandoned her and it felt as if she floated out into space. She scrambled frantically for thoughts that could help her make sense of what was happening, but everything in her head seemed so far away and wrapped in fog.

Alice grasped for anything to hold on to, mentally, or physically, but found nothing. Emptiness swirled around her as if she were lost in the vacuum of space. Finally, when she thought she couldn’t handle the spinning of the universe around her any more, her consciousness fled, leaving her in a peaceful, dreamless sleep.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

A cool draft across her bare legs roused Alice from her sleep. Harsh light stabbed her eyes, making it impossible to see. Cool air touched every part of her body. She was naked. Beneath her she could feel some cloth, so she clutched it to her chest and blinked her eyes furiously, willing them to adjust to the bright light.

Once she could finally see, her surroundings were familiar, but not in a good way. Beneath her was a clear plastic bench with a thin, rough mattress. Surrounding her were four clear plastic walls. She was in The Red Palace jail. In the cell next to her was either Dee or Dum, it was impossible to tell until she talked to him. The cloth she had clutched to her chest were the clothes the queen had given her to play croquet, still bloodstained. At least she had something to put on. She was sure she had Dee to thank for that as he’d put those clothes in his pack.

She dressed herself as quickly and discreetly as she could and then looked down at her body in wonder. She was back to her normal size again.

“Oh, young Alice, you’re awake,” said Dum, obviously pretending to have just noticed once she was dressed. His voice was somewhat muted, but she could still hear him courtesy of small holes around the top of the plastic walls.

“Yes, but I think I’ve woken up in a nightmare,” said Alice, waving a hand at their surroundings.

Dum nodded solemnly and looked around him, his eyes resting on Dee in the cell on her other side. Most of what could be seen of his body was covered in bruises, scrapes, and cuts. “He fought valiantly for you. Sadly there were too many of them for the three of us to take. He was the one that stayed with you and kept them off of you for as long as he could.”

Alice gasped. “He got all of those injuries trying to protect me?”

Dum shook his head and sighed. “No, he wasn’t that badly injured out there. He may not be the brightest, but he knows when he’s lost a fight. We surrendered when it became pointless to fight any longer.”

“Then where did he get the rest of his injuries?” asked Alice.

Dum knocked on the thick plastic wall between their cells. “Trying to bash his way out of here. He hates being locked up,” said Dum with a chuckle. “I wouldn’t recommend you try it.”

Alice smiled down at Dee, snoring loudly on his cot. He may not be very smart, but he was loyal and kind and she couldn’t ask for much more in a friend. “How long have I been asleep?”

“For most of the day,” said Dum, pointing at the windows in the back of their cells. “It’s almost dark.”

“Where’s Lyla?”

“She’s right here,” said a tiny voice near her feet.

"Oh, Lyla," said Alice, trying to keep a smile off her face. "I know they didn't capture you, so why ever are you here?"

"I didn't want to leave you alone," said Lyla, a shy smile lighting up her small face until she cleared her throat. "Besides, the guards were talking about feeding you to the Jabberwock, so I thought I might be able to get my revenge if I tagged along."

Alice held out her hand for Lyla to climb aboard and raised her to her face immediately when she did. She nuzzled the tiny dormouse with her cheek, the closest thing she could think of to a hug with a person so small. Lyla, for her part, squeezed Alice's cheek and then pretended not to care.

"So, what's this about the Jabberwock?" asked Alice.

"Don't really know much. Just heard one of the guards going on about how beheading was too good for you, and that you'd make a good snack for the Jabberwock." Lyla climbed up Alice's arm and took a seat on her shoulder.

"What do you think, Dum?"

"I think that whatever it is, it can't be good," said Dum, sighing. Alice urged him to continue. "The queen loves a good beheading, so if she's not going to do that, what she has planned is going to be much worse."

"I don't think it could get much worse than beheading," said Alice. Her whole body shivered at the thought.

"Oh, there's plenty worse than beheading," said Dee, sleep still heavy in his voice.

Lyla glared at him, but his eyes were still half closed and she was so tiny that he didn't notice.

"There's flaying, boiling, dismemberment, eating alive--"

"Dee," said Dum, his voice a hoarse growl.

Dee took in the horrified look on Alice's face and lowered his head. "Sorry," he muttered.

Alice shook her head, trying to dislodge all of the horrible thoughts that were conjured up by Dee's words. They didn't want to be dislodged though. Now all she could do was picture herself in each of those situations and others she remembered from the more grisly pirate tales she'd read. Her breath came in short ragged gasps and her vision started to go dark at the edges.

"Long, deep breaths, Alice," said Lyla softly in her ear. "Nice and slow. Don't you worry now. I won't let any of that stuff happen to you. Do you believe me?"

Soft paws stroked the hair behind her ear and Alice focused on the soothing words that Lyla kept repeating in her tiny, husky voice. Slowly, her breathing returned to normal and her vision cleared from the dark tunnel it had been reduced to. The images of torture still danced in the back of her mind, but they weren't overwhelming any more.

"Well, well, well," said a cold feminine voice from the corridor. "Down here just a few hours and already you've made friends with the rats. How fitting." The queen glared at her with such malice that Alice took a step back. "Watch out little rat, before you know it, this one will steal your most prized piece of cheese and use it against you." She held up her right hand and brandished the vorpal sword. "I doubt you'll have the resources to take it back from her like I did though. You see, little rat, I always get what I want and nobody ever gets away with taking what's mine."

"Hide," Alice whispered to Lyla.

"Never," said Lyla, stiffening her back and raising her chin proudly.

"Guards!" called the queen, her voice shrill and echoing in the close confines. A pair of card guards tromped up to her and saluted. "Why are there rats in my jail?"

The guards’ mouths dropped open and they looked at one another and then followed the queen's gaze over to Lyla, perched on Alice's shoulder. "Must have snuck in with the prisoner," said the guard bearing the number three. The other guard winced. His number was eight. He must have known that was a bad answer.

"How is there any sneaking going on in my jail?" asked the queen, her voice barely above a whisper and full of venom.

"I, um, I don't know, your majesty," replied Number Three, his lips trembling.

The queen's demeanor changed immediately. Her hateful sneer was replaced with a winning smile and her eyes glittered with sincere delight. "Well, then, that's just fine. If you don't know, you don't know. But what are you going to do about it?"

"I'm going to catch the rat and get rid of it!" said Number Three, seizing the words like they were a flotation device and he was lost at sea.

"Not bloody likely," retorted Lyla.

"How delightful," said the queen, clapping her hands with girlish enthusiasm. "And if you don't?"

"Then I'll resign my post?" asked Number Three after thinking for several seconds.

"Well, it will be hard for you to resign if you don't have a head, but I'd hardly think it necessary at that point," said the queen, her voice still dripping with honey.

By then Number Three was shaking so badly that his companion practically had to hold him on his feet. "Open two thirty-eight," called Number Eight down the corridor, and shoved his companion inside as soon as the plastic door to Alice's cell raised high enough to admit him. "Close two thirty-eight."

The guard stumbled into the cell and looked Alice over, his eyes wide with terror. Alice almost felt bad for him and then she remembered the bite of the baton that he carried at his waist and the lunges of all the guards trying to kill her in the lobby. "Where did it go?" demanded the guard.

Alice simply shrugged. Lyla had started moving the instant the door opened. She was gone so quickly that Alice wasn't even sure where she'd gone.

The guard spun around in circles, looking down at the floor. He drew his baton apparently planning to club Lyla to death. Still the little dormouse was nowhere to be found. After a few frantic seconds of spinning the guard turned to his companion standing outside. "Do you see it?" he begged.

Number Eight didn't so much as blink an eye. The queen nodded approvingly at him. "See, that's how you get to be an eight," she said, still in her painfully cheerful voice. "You don't disappoint your queen. Now, find that rat."

Alice pondered trying to steal the guard's sword which still hung from his belt, but discarded the idea. There was no way that would end well for her, even if she did manage to dispatch him. That was probably why Lyla hadn't used the open door as an opportunity to escape and try to do harm to the queen. Instead, she was currently climbing up Number Three's back.

The queen and Number Eight watched silently, the guard casting wary glances from his companion to his queen.