A/N: Helloooooooo, people! Fourth chapter!
Disclaimer: I own nothing, honest.
Chapter Four
They all woke up the next morning, and Meg said through a large yawn, "I think we should start moving."
Alice sat up, and nodded sleepily.
Tarrant stood up slowly, and stretched his back with a loud yawn.
Alice winced as she stood up, and grabbed the hand Tarrant offered down to help her up.
Meg stood up from the Bandersnatch's hug, and checked to make sure that Mally was still in her pocket.
Mally rubbed her eyes, and looked up sleepily.
Tarrant grabbed the reins, and helped Alice onto the Bandersnatch's back carefully.
Meg decided to walk besides Tarrant on the ground, occasionally wiping the sweat from her forehead.
They navigated through the mountains towards the vegetable castle, and eventually found themselves standing in front of the tall gates.
Alice stared up at the tall structure as she dismounted, and Tarrant breathed in a soft Outlandish brogue, "We'll find the Nether-flower inside."
Mally lept from Meg's pocket, and said with shaky determination in her voice, "L-Let's go then!"
Meg nodded, and cautiously led her small group forward.
Alice walked forward as her eyes turned a dark shade of red, her hand unconsciously wandering to her daggers, looking upward as if expecting an attack from the ceiling.
Tarrant's eyes turned the same shade of red, and his hand wandered to the longsword on his belt as he moved forward after Meg and Mally.
Meg looked at two sets of stairs diverging in front of them, and Alice said in the light Outlandish brogue that she always adapted when she was anxious, "We'll all go up one, and see where it goes."
Meg nodded, and said, "Which one?"
Mally pointed her needle-sword up at one set of stairs, and said, "That one."
The rest of them nodded, and walked up the staircase after Meg.
Alice pointed down the small hall that the stairs emptied up onto, and whispered with traces of her brogue, "What about that room?"
Meg followed Alice's gaze, and saw a room with an open door.
She nodded, and said softly, "We'll move forward, slowly."
Mally swallowed, and gripped her needle-sword a little tighter.
They slowly moved to the room, and looked anxiously through the open door.
Meg gasped, and walked into the room quickly.
Alice leaned forward to see what was inside, and followed Meg as her eyes turned back from their angry red to an awestruck blue.
Tarrant followed his wife, and when he saw what was inside, his eyes turned the same light blue.
Mally asked them in a louder voice, "What's in there? Hey, what's in there?"
She walked forward into the doorway, and gasped as she walked forward to join the rest of the group.
Sitting on an organic pedestal fashioned out of dirt and roots was a tall, lily-like flower that seemed to expel a majestic aura into the air around it.
Meg breathed, "We did it!"
Alice stepped forward, and said, "We've just got to take some of the pot with us, and take it back to Marmoreal!"
Tarrant nodded, and said, "It's beautiful!"
Suddenly, a familiar woman's voice sounded behind them, "Yes, it is, isn't it?"
Alice whipped around, and pulled out both of her daggers as she charged at the Red Queen, but four strange soldiers made of vegetables stood in front of Iracebeth, and gripped Alice hard by the arms.
Tarrant ran forward yelling, and pulled out his longsword, but more vegetable soldiers came and captured him as well.
Meg growled, and screamed, "You let them go, you-"
Mally yelled back at her, "No, stop, Meg-"
Iracebeth, upon hearing this name, walked forward in front of the mouse, and said, "Meg, hmmm? And might you tell me who her grandmother is?"
Mally frowned, and said, "No, no way, you're not getting me to tell you that Kim is Meg's grandmother- Ooooooooooh no."
She clapped her hands over her mouth, and kicked herself.
Iracebeth gave a sickly smile, and said softly, "Thank you, little mouse."
She pointed her finger at Meg, and screamed, "You were trying to steal my Nether-flower?!"
Meg pleaded, "Please, Mirana is dying, she needs-"
Iracebeth's face turned a deep shade of red as she screamed, "I WILL NEVER HELP MY SISTER! SHE STOLE MY CROWN!"
She turned to her vegetable guards, and screamed, "OFF WITH HER HEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!"
At the sound of Iracebeth's screams, the Bandersnatch burst into the room, sending chunks of wall and door shooting through the air.
He roared, and beat the vegetable guards off of Alice and Tarrant, allowing them to climb onto his back while he roared defensively.
Meg ran over to the pedestal and scooped the Nether-flower out of the dirt.
She picked up Mally in her other hand, and climbed onto the Bandersnatch as swiftly as she could.
Alice picked up his reins, and yelled, "YAAAH!"
The Bandersnatch bounded swiftly out of the castle, and didn't stop running even when they reached the mountains, not even when they started passing through the snow storms.
Within about a day, they had reached Marmoreal.
Meg, carrying the Nether-flower, ran into the castle, and found the kitchen.
She set down the beautiful flower, and tried to construct the tea for Mirana.
Alice ran inside after Meg and Tarrant followed, and Alice said rapidly, "We need caterpillar scales, extract of pig's snout, lizard snot, and mushroom dew, right now!"
Meg scrambled around the kitchen, and grabbed the bottles and jars with the appropriate labels, handing them to Alice.
She was bent over the counter, making sure every measurement was precise and perfect.
She stirred the strange mixture, and plucked off four petals from the Nether-flower, adding them into the tea as she held it over the small flame.
Tarrant said in his heavy Outlandish brogue, "Is it ready?"
Alice said in the same light brogue, "Yeah. She just needs to drink a quarter of the cup, and she'll heal."
She picked up the cup, and ran out of the kitchen towards Mirana's room.
Meg, Tarrant, and Mally followed, trying to keep up with Alice as she rushed through the halls and corridors.
Alice finally ran into one of the rooms, and Meg, Tarrant, and Mally followed close behind.
Meg gasped as she saw how bad Mirana really was.
She was lying on the bed, staring up at the ceiling with two reddish eyes, her thinning hair fanned out on her pillow like a delicate spider-web.
Her thin hands were clasped over her chest, and her breathing was so shallow that Meg thought at first that they were too late.
Alice sat on the very edge of the bed, and put the cup up to Mirana's mouth, pouring the tea slowly into her mouth.
Mirana drank the tea slowly, and Meg could almost see the tea doing its work.
Her hair thickened, and her body slowly filled out from its previous skeleton state.
Her eyes slowly turned back to their usual rich brown, and she sat up slowly.
She smiled, and said, "Thank you so much Meg. I am in your debt."
Meg smiled a smile of relief as Alice gave Mirana a huge hug.
But she said, "Your Highness, you owe me no debt."
Mirana said, "But you get your wish. The Nether-flower's wish can only be fulfilled by the one who picked it for the good of another. And that is you, Meg."
Meg smiled, and said, "Alright. My wish is..."
A/N: Please review!
