Hey everybody, here's chapter four! Oh, and in case the last sentence of the last chapter left you with some questions, here's a bit of info that might help. Ginger is indeed related to Iracebeth and yes she is her daughter (to some extent). I explain things a bit better in the next chapter.
Thanks, by the way for all the reviews!
I hope you enjoy the story!
Chapter 4: The Letter
"Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear!" Mirana, the white queen mumbled.
At the moment, she was in the worst situation she could find herself in: an infestation in the castle. She stood on top of a stool and lifted up her skirts so she could distance herself from the sea of cockroaches skittering on the floor and watched in horror as she began hopping from one piece of furniture to another, making her way to the window.
Although, most people would normally call an exterminator and end the problem right then and there, Mirana's vows of never harming a living creature prevented her from doing so.
Mirana began to fit her body through the window so that she could escape the skittering pool of insects, but unfortunately for Mirana, her hips got stuck in the window sill. Now the rest of her body was hanging out the window as she mumbled to herself. "Blasted buttered fingers..! I'll never eat them again (well…maybe once in a while…).
Meanwhile, The Mad Hatter, A.K.A. Tarrant Hightop was patrolling the grounds of Marmoreal searching for Mirana. Everyone else in Marmoreal had evacuated the castle, except for the White Queen.
"You're majesty! Where aaarrre yooouuu?" He called out. But there was no reply. Tarrant continued walking, keeping his eyes open for Mirana. "This is next to impossible!" He thought. "How do you find the white queen in a castle that's completely white!?"
All of the sudden Tarrant heard a familiar voice. "Marco!"
"Polo!" Tarrant responded.
"Marco!"
"Polo!"
Tarrant continued following the sound of the familiar voice until he finally found the source. However the source was in a…peculiar position.
"Your majesty..?" Tarrant squeaked. "Why are you hanging out the window?"
"I'm stuck!" Mirana replied. "Please help me!"
"Of course!" Tarrant replied. He grabbed both of her hands and began pulling her as hard as he could. "Maybe we should *huff* get some butter!"
"The cockroaches ate it all!"
By now, Tarrant was fed up. The once cheerful and docile green-eyed Mad Hatter had gone away and had been replaced with the fiery and Scottish golden-eyed Mad Hatter. "I'm givin' it all I've got ya wee lass!" He shouted.
Tarrant began pulling even harder, completely ignoring Mirana's constant shouts of agony, until she was finally free.
"Thank you, Tarrant." Mirana said. "I thought I was going to be stuck there forever!"
Tarrant smiled, revealing the gap between his two front teeth. His eyes went back to green, indicating that he was back to his more positive personality.
"By the way, your majesty, why did it take you so long to evacuate the castle?" Tarrant asked.
"I went back to get something." Mirana dug into her pocket and pulled out a pen, an envelope and a piece of paper. "I'm going to send a letter to my sister."
….
Iracebeth paced back and forth past tall shelves full of books in the castle library. She had been in there for almost an hour now.
"Why is it so hard to find a book in here!?" She screeched. She was quickly responded to by a series of fierce shushes. "I hate the library…" She muttered. Iracebeth sighed and began making her way to the third floor of the library, since she had already searched the first and second floors thoroughly.
Normally, when Iracebeth wanted a book, she'd call up her servants and make them look for it, but the book she was looking was too…out of character for the likes of herself. If anyone had laid eyes upon the book she was looking for, rumors and suspicion would flood the castle.
Iracebeth scanned the top shelf before finding the book she was looking for. "There it is!" Iracebeth stood on her tip-toes stretching her hand as far as she could until she could feel her fingertips lightly graze the book's cover.
Through gritted teeth Iracebeth strained the words "almost…g-got…it..!"
Iracebeth tugged at the book with her pointer finger until finally the book fell off the shelf and onto her head…as well as every other book on that shelf. And instead of being aided by her court, Iracebeth was forced to crawl out of a heavy mountain of books, on her own, and then shushed once more for the noise she had caused.
That was the last straw for her. Iracebeth poked her head out of the mountain of literature as her face began to turn a violent shade of red. "YOU INGRATES!" She screamed. "GET THESE BLOODY BOOKS OFF OF ME, OR IT'S OFF WITH YOUR HEADS!"
Several nearby bookworms jumped up and began clearing away the pile of books while Irarcebeth stomped past them. The lucky few hid on higher levels of the library and pretended they weren't there.
To many onlookers Iracebeth seemed to be downright steamed, but deep inside, Iracebeth was smiling. She had accomplished something.
She had managed to keep herself from chopping off the heads of several scholars and students, which was a big deal for her.
Back when she was a child, Iracebeth would often say "I'll cut off your head" to her sister, Mirana, which was basically her own way of saying "I hate you." But as the years grew by, Iracebeth found herself saying it more and more until it became a habit. An extremely horrible, inescapable habit.
It became even worse when she had stolen back her crown from her sister and ruled her kingdom. That was when the phrase "Off with your head" had become literal.
She was so surprised the first time she said that while a shiny golden crown was sitting atop her abnormally large head. She wasn't expecting to witness her guards drag away the pathetic cobbler that had dared to displease her.
The sight of it felt…good. Iracebeth had put her trust in the cobbler by thinking that he could make a proper heeled shoe. But within the first week of wearing it, one of the shoe heels broke, causing Iracebeth to sprain her ankle and fall down a small flight of stairs. So by the time the cobbler had been sent to the chopping block, Iracebeth was pleased that he was being punished for breaking her trust.
So many people before him had broken Iracebeth's trust and yet none of them ever got what they deserved, or even took the time to apologize. People such as her parents, friends, and of course: her sister.
It was so nice to know that someone Iracebeth couldn't trust was gone from her life, but soon things began to change a bit. People began to avoid her, and trembled in her presence. She'd walk down the once-crowded hallways as she heard light whispers tickle at her ears from within the shadows.
"Did you hear the queen beheaded the cobbler yesterday, just because her heel broke?"
"Pft, my shoe heel breaks all the time!"
"Talk about throwing a tantrum."
"For your information, I sprained my ankle and fell down a flight of stairs!" Iracebeth shouted. The voices quickly hushed and their sounds were replaced by the sound of small shoes running in the opposite direction of Iracebeth.
She began to glance at surroundings, making sure that no one was around, and when she was certain that she was alone Iracebeth wiped a tear from her eye. "What's the point of restraining myself from cutting these people's heads off?" Iracebeth thought. "They don't care about me…no one does…"
It wasn't until Ginger had arrived that Iracebeth had begun to reconsider that notion. And wasn't until Iracebeth discovered that Ginger was her daughter (to some extent) that Iracebeth had been inspired to work on her terrible habit in hopes that Ginger wouldn't end up like her when she grew older.
Iracebeth glanced down at the book she had found and reluctantly set it down on the front desk. Within a few moments an old, pointy nosed, bespectacled librarian came to the front desk and took the library card placed on top of the old navy blue book.
But once the card was removed and the title of the book was revealed, the librarian's eyes went wide with shock. The title was plain and simple, just one word. "Parenting." The librarian quietly stamped Iracebeth's card, occasionally glancing at her stomach for any signs of pregnancy, but doing it as inconspicuously as possible.
Unfortunately for the librarian though, her actions didn't escape Iracebeth's eyes. The librarian handed Iracebeth back her card and quietly stared back at her, anticipating the moment that the queen would finally leave the library and hopefully never come back.
But instead of turning around and leaving, Iracebeth grabbed the librarian's necklace and pulled her close. She brought her lips to her ear and hissed the words "Tell no one about this."
….
Iracebeth sighed and plopped down on her black and red bed inside her chambers. She glanced at the navy blue book resting on her lap. She opened up to the first page and began to read it, when a small knock came upon her door.
"Just a moment!" Iracebeth called out. She took her book and stuffed it under a pillow and then gave permission to enter. McTwisp, the white rabbit and Iracebeth's servant meekly entered the room, holding a white envelope in his trembling paws.
Iracebeth took the envelope from McTwisp and then ushered him to leave the room with the flick of her hand. She opened the envelope to reveal its contents: a white letter with fancy cursive and the royal stamp of Marmoreal.
Dear Iracebeth,
It appears that I have run into a spot of trouble, as of late. It seems that my castle has been infested with cockroaches! Isn't that exciting? Well, unfortunately because of that event I'll need to stay at your castle.
Don't try to stop me by having your guards greet me at the moat, or I'll tell everyone about the time you kissed Stayne when you were sixteen and he threw up (if that threat doesn't faze you, don't worry, I have plenty of other stories).
I'll be arriving within the week you receive this letter and I'm bringing the Mad Hatter with me, as well.
Love, Mirana.
Iracebeth crumpled up the letter and tossed it into the fireplace. "I HATE MY SISTER!"