Chapter Two: The Pull Down Memory Lane
After a whole hour of yes and no between the two, Benn got Madison to finally pack up her things for the trip. He had to threat her with basically everything he could think of to get her out the door. "You know I hate you, right?" she snapped as she tied her bag to the horse's side and then glared back at her old friend. Benn just let out a simple laugh and smirked at her before getting on the horse. Maddie climbed up with a frown on her face. "It will be fine, Maddie and after the mission is done, you can come back here. I will never bother you again." "You better be true to your word Mr. Heart or I will stab a knife through that heart of yours." She lightly wrapped her arms around his waist as they begin to ride slowly down the road before it turned into a steady run. "Oh don't be as harsh, Maddie." Benn winked at her before he pulled over his hood and gestured her to do the very same. Those were the last words uttered for the whole five hour journey from the Tea House to the Tower of White.
The massive mix of twisted towers and blocky buildings stood in the middle of two massive mountains, the land bare and black from failed forest burnings by the Queen herself. Last time Maddie stood foot in the area, it looked better then it did. As they reached the castle walls, she could see the bright black and red tents peaked up all over the place, wounded everywhere. "What happened?" Benn looked back at her with a firm face. "It was the Queen as usual. Cards burned down the forests in an effort to trap us in. They failed but some of our men, stationed on the mountains, got struck in the fire. Maddie, this is war after all." Maddie shivered and soon slide off the horse as they pulled in a small stable, away from the bloody scene. She brushed pieces of hair from her face, her eyes now showing her true expressions. Fear and sorrow. As soon as Benn turned to face her, her face quickly changed and her expressions were once again hidden behind a mask of seriousness.
"You ready?" Benn pulled off his cloak, handing it off to a stable boy as he looked at his friend. He saw the seriousness on her face and knew she was hiding something again. He had known Maddie for many long years now and it was long enough to know she wasn't one for sharing her feelings. He told that is what happens to true soldiers, the ones who have seen true horror. He shivered himself as the thought of it make him think of the last day he saw Maddie's expressions. They were both about to turn sixteen. It was only an hour after Maddie's father, the Mad Hatter, was brutally murdered. She was standing in the front door, covered in blood and out of breath. Those eyes were full of fear and sorrow. He had never seen those eyes ever again on Maddie.
Anger soon filled him as he also remembers the whispers he still heard today. The whispers of Maddie, she's the one who really killed her father and how she is just wicked like her father. The Hatter wasn't seen so well in his last days of life. He was the one who was blamed for the war in how he was always seen whispering to the queen and then one day, they were seen fighting. Two days later, the Hatter was found dead and the Queen's evil acts begin. Benn shook his head to erase the memories from the front of his mind, and repeated his question. "Do you still have my weapons here?" "I never took them out of our room. The maids were be happy to see you again." Maddie rolled her eyes and punched Benn in the shoulder playfully as he smiled at her in the same dorky way he always wore it.