II: A Violent Encounter
Though the therapeutic heat emitting from the ointment applied to her back was helpful it did little to ease Alice's pains, which after three days had spread to her hands and feet. She would even feel aching pulses in her teeth and almost always felt a headache coming on. On the fourth day Alice decided to have a ride with the Bandersnatch, partly to explore the fantastical world of her childhood adventures and partly to keep her mind off the pain in her back (and hands and feet and teeth and headaches). The Bandersnatch been given free reign to roam across Underland as he saw fit, but like any loyal friend he would come running when Alice called.
However it seemed she wouldn't be alone, as a little bird— dormouse, she corrected herself with a grin— told her that Tarrant would be coming along for the ride. So here she was waiting for the Bandersnatch outside Marmoreal's gates with aforementioned dormouse, Tarrant, and his own mount for the day, a stallion named Agro.
"I bet the Queen asked him to come," Mallymkun remarked as she grabbed the hem of Alice's dress and began climbing up.
"Not to sound ungrateful, but I should be able to take care of myself by now," Alice said, fingering the hilt of the sword strapped to her hip. She didn't even need to see Mallymkun roll her eyes when she forced a grunt back into her throat. Besides, it wasn't as if Alice didn't enjoy Tarrant's company; he was like a brother to her.
"Stubborn one," Agro observed.
"He is, isn't he?" Tarrant nodded in agreement.
Alice silently wondered when the hatter started referring to her with masculine pronouns.
A familiar roar reached their ears and Alice responded by putting her fingers to her lips and whistling shrilly. The Bandersnatch came bounding down the road leading to the castle and skidded to a halt before Alice. She greeted him by taking the sides of his head between her hands, placing her own head against his, and shaking him back and forth, all the while calling him silly pet names as if the great beast were a giant puppy. The Bandersnatch was equally pleased to see her and let out a soft, playful growl.
Mallymkun on the other hand was clinging to the back of Alice's dress for dear life, for the blonde's antics nearly threw her to the ground. She mumbled curses under her breath while situating herself on Alice's shoulder.
"He doesn't eat horses, does he?" Agro eyed the Bandersnatch, nervously pawing the ground.
"I don't think he does." Tarrant blinked and looked at Alice. "Does he eat horses?"
Alice shrugged. "If so, then he doesn't find Agro particularly appetizing." The Bandersnatch seemed to huff out in distaste, followed by Alice exclaiming, "God! You can all but speak!"
Agro was about to make a witty retort when Tarrant mounted him.
"Come, come! We won't get any riding done if we continue standing around killing time, and I can safely say that Time will be most displeased by the very idea."
It wasn't until Agro and the Bandersnatch made a sudden stop on a path leading west when Alice began to notice a sort of stir in the land around them. The whole forest seemed to speak of it. All the squabbling horseflies and dragonflies were in hiding, the birds had gone silent, the flowers appeared to have shrunk into the earth, and the very wind whispered of a nameless animosity.
The Bandersnatch's gait became tense with caution and his spotted hair bristled on end. Agro in particular appeared hesitant to go any further. Even Mallymkun brandished the pin at her waist. Once again Alice felt the pins and needles in her back, and her hands began to shake terribly.
"This's nae good," Tarrant growled, slipping into his Outlandish brogue. "We best be ging back tae Marmoreal."
"Shouldn't we go see what's going on?" Alice asked.
"It doesn't feel like the old bloody bighead's playing cards are afoot," Agro grunted. "Sure, everyone runs away when they show up, but this…"
The stallion had a point. Alice recalled that the Red Knights weren't exactly subtle in looking for innocents to terrorize back when Iracebeth was in power. But still, hadn't she made a vow to serve in war and peace just days ago? Coming to a decision, Alice comfortingly stroked the Bandersnatch's fur and he seemed to get the idea.
"What're you doing?" Mallymkun hissed in her ear. "You don't even know what's happening! What if it's…? I dunno, what if another Jabberwock's sprung up? I don't see the Vorpal Sword on you!"
For some reason, Alice instinctively knew that wasn't the case. "So I'm going to find out what it is."
"Alice—"
"Whatever it is, I'm sure we can handle it."
Tarrant didn't share her sentiment. Now that Mallymkun brought up the possibility of a reborn Jabberwock (which as far as he knew wasn't unheard of), the last thing he needed was to lose Underland's Champion and the closest thing to a sister he'd had since the Horunvendush Day… but when Alice looked at him with that iron will to protect Underland in those eyes, he found it difficult to refuse her.
Though oppressed with a sense of ill will in the air, they proceeded down the path with greater caution. Soon they came across a clearing Tarrant knew all too well; they were heading straight toward the ruins of his old tea party spot with Thackery, and what bothered him even more was the absence of music from his old phonograph. Alice and the Bandersnatch hurried on until the broken down windmill came into view, Tarrant and Agro trotting just behind them. From the windmill came a faint noise of chatter and… clockwork?
Suddenly Alice convulsed so violently her companions thought she was having a seizure. She clutched her head, which felt ready to split apart, with a twitchy hand. Pins and needles were spreading to nearly every inch of her being, and it was very nearly driving her mad.
Even if some hostile force was invading, she was in no state to fight.
"Mally," she began, her breathing suddenly labored, "I need you to scout ahead. We'll leave for Marmoreal once you return."
"Alice, you look terrible. Is the pain getting worse?"
I feel like I'm being torn apart from the inside-out.
"Please, just hurry." Tears were starting to form in Alice's bloodshot eyes and cold sweat cascaded from her brow.
Without another word Mallymkun scurried to the ground and went ahead alone. Crawling through the grass on all fours, she reached the windmill and peered at the overturned tables, silverware and shards of broken cups and saucers scattered all over, and what she saw made the hair on her neck and shoulders stand on end.
"The Knave," she whispered to herself in shock.
Indeed it was the very same Ilosovic Stayne who'd been banished to the Outlands, but he almost didn't look like how she remembered him. He appeared even taller than before, his limbs having grown to an almost spidery length, his attire reduced to tattered rags stained with dried blood, and his face was so pale it reminded her of a corpse. Surrounding him were figures the likes of which Mallymkun had never seen before; lumbering humanoid creatures that resembled a union of flesh and clockwork. One of them she could swear had blades for arms.
Mallymkun didn't even stay to find out what the Knave of Hearts was doing here or even where the former Red Queen was in all this. Instead she rushed back to inform Alice and Tarrant in the hopes that they could all return to Marmoreal post haste and relay this grim news to the White Queen, but a sound cut through the air and stopped the dormouse dead in their tracks; a thud, a cry of pain, and Tarrant calling Alice's name.
What followed was a sound both familiar and foreign, reminding Mallymkun of a blunt knife struggling to force open meat rather than slice. Mallymkun by now had scrambled back to the others, finding Tarrant and Agro and the Bandersnatch a good distance away from the young Champion collapsed on the ground.
Alice rose to her knees and stared at her hands with an expression akin to horror. Before all their eyes her hands were turning a dark grayish color, her fingers extending into long black claws. The very sound of her skin, muscle, and bones stretching made Tarrant's blood run cold, but it paled in comparison to the long, high-pitched wail escaping Alice's mouth. Suddenly her feet could be seen growing longer, ripping her shoes apart at the seams, all the while Alice's cries growing louder, each one becoming more guttural and agonized. Propping herself on her hands for balance, she felt the pain in her back, the pins and needles growing into knives and swords, reach a point where she could no longer stand it and let out a shriek, like a devil screaming.
It culminated into Alice throwing her upper body back, a deafening schhhhRRRRRIPK! echoing throughout the plains. Bat-like wings spread out from Alice's back, caked in blood, and goat-like horns sprouted from her skull. Alice forced herself to her feet in a feral stance and stared through eyes red with blood and fire.
