Kind Eadweard

Alice rubbed her eyes and yawned, but then hastily scooted back as the massive creature walked in her direction, the enormous footfalls causing the ground to shake. The Champion scrambled back to the tents entrance and wrapped the blanket around her. The gryphon stopped just a few yards from her and Alice had to crane her neck backwards in order to look Eadweard in the eyes.

"I remember you." Alice waited for a response, but none came. The creature continued to stare at her, its black eyes cold in the frosty morning. After awhile, she shifted on her feet as a strange fear stole over her heart.

The creature turned its considerable, eagle head and looked at the Champion's sparse camp. "Alice Kingsleigh of London, do you require safe passage?"

"Well, no, as I am not dead."

Kind Eadweard lashed out and its talon swept her tent away. "I did not ask if you were dead!"

Alice turned around and saw her tent torn and made useless. She swallowed before turning back around and stared at the huge gryphon. "Why did you do that, Eadweard?"

The gryphon sat down and leaned low, so that his eyes were level with Alice's. "Why are you here, Alice Kingsleigh of London?"

The Champion sighed. "You don't have to be so formal, Kin—"

The creature lifted its claw and flicked it at the Champion. She went sprawling a few feet backwards and landed on her back. "Hey, why are you—"

Eadweard stood and took one large stride towards Alice. It easily lifted the Champion so that her face was level with his. "I will ask you only once more. What are you doing in my domain?"

Alice's back ached, and she stifled a groan. "I came for…for…some time spent alone."

The gryphon released Alice and she fell to the ground. "Time spent alone?"

The beast dropped Alice again but this time she landed on her feet. She staggered backwards and glared at Eadweard. "Why are you being so mean to me? I thought you were Mirana's friend?"

Eadweard tilted his massive eagle head to the side and his pupils dilated. "I am a dear friend of Mirana of Marmoreal…but not yours."

Alice bent and grabbed a blanket, as she was still clad in nightclothes, and it was cold. "Why not?"

The gryphon stood and stretched his feline body and then slowly circled the shivering Champion. "Why do you seek solace amongst the dead?"

The Champion turned slowly as Eadweard did in order to see what the creature was doing. "I do not know, as I did not know where I was going. I just sort of followed…an inner feeling."

The creature stopped and bent its head again to stare Alice directly in the eyes. "You look for the living amongst the dead and you don't know why? I know many things, Alice Kingsleigh of London!" He flapped a massive wing and it knocked Alice to the ground again. "Do you think that I do not know that you left Mirana? You abandoned her in her hour of need!"

"I did not mean—"

"You left her in the beginning of her pregnancy, when she is carrying your child! I know everything, Alice Kingsleigh of London! There is a dark plague on the borders of Marmoreal. A new menace lies waiting in the depths of Salazen Grum. The disgruntled of the Outlandish regions grumble low in the hills, waiting for the right time when a leader will arise and renew them to their lands. A portal is open and waits! The time of the White Queen stands on the edge of a knife."

Alice got up and favored her left arm. She rubbed it and the pain was intense. "I don't know how…"

"Silence!" The creature flapped his other wing and Alice went flying in the opposite direction, landing hard on ground.

This time Alice could not suppress a groan. She got up again and her hands were bleeding from landing on the rough surface. She was angry and frustrated. "Why are you doing this to me?"

"The time of your infancy is over. Put on your armor!"

The Champion stood her ground. "No."

Eadweard lifted his front leg and smacked Alice on the head sending her to her knees. "Put on your armor, now!"

The Champion stifled a tear and was determined not to show any weakness. When she stood both her hands and knees were bleeding. But she did not challenge the gryphon this time and moved to her scattered camp and looked for her armor. Some vague part of her mind wondered if her Queen had sent Eadweard to her, in order to punish her for leaving. But just as soon as she had the thought she rejected it. Mirana was not that cruel, at least, not in that way. She lifted the ripped tent and found her armor beneath it. Her bleeding hands made it difficult to put it on, with its many buckles and ties, but she managed to put it on without outwardly moaning, or showing any sign of weakness.

When she had buckled the last strap she turned around and faced the gryphon. "Do I need my sword?"

"You will not need it." Eadweard paused before turning around and lumbering away.

Alice followed the creature at a respectable distance, not sure if it would be proper to try to engage the gryphon in conversation. She looked down and noticed small drops of blood oozing from the greaves on her knees. "My knees are cut from the rocks."

The gryphon swished his lion tail and nearly slapped Alice in the face. "That is no concern of mine."

The Champion gritted her teeth. "No concern of yours! I am injured!"

"As I said, it is a non sequitur to me." This time the end of his tail found purchase on Alice's cheek.

Alice's head flew to the side and she reeled, nearly losing her balance, and blood spewed from her mouth. She stopped and spit out the blood and was startled to see one of her teeth in the bloody splatter. As she bent down and picked it up a rage built up in her.

"Look!" Alice held out the tooth in front of her. "I said, look!"

The huge beast turned around slowly and eyed the tooth, a low growl emanating from deep in his throat. "What do you expect me to do about it?"

The Champion stared, dumbfounded, at the coldness she was receiving from some creature that was supposed to be the White Queen's friend. "Why are you doing this to me? What have I done that was so wrong?"

For the briefest moment Eadweard felt sorry for the girl. But the moment did not last, and his ire peaked even higher. "What was so wrong? You got what you wanted, with no consideration for what may come of it!"

"What are you talking about?"

"I know everything, Alice Kingsleigh of London. Your fantasy with the Queen, for starters. You fathered a child on that night and then doubted when Mirana told you she was pregnant! You were going to leave the Queen, in a hour when she most needed you!"

"But I realized my mistake! I understood that Mirana could never be unfaithful to me, and apologized to her. I felt my error very keenly, Eadweard!" Alice spit out more blood from her mouth, and then winched form the pain in her knees.

"But her hurt remained, didn't it? Your fits of doubt have caused her to grieve her pregnancy, as if it is an annoyance to you!"

Alice's eyes widened. "How do you know she feels that?"

Eadweard sat and regarded the small, young woman. "To this hour she regrets it! Of course she would never tell you of this most darkest fear, because if you would really leave her she would never recover, and would live the rest of her life in inconsolable sorrow."

The Champion knees weakened and she grabbed the trunk of a nearby tree to steady herself. "I would never leave Mirana. She knows this; it is no secret! She has my heart, soul, and life! Everything that I am is hers for the taking."

The gryphon seemed to pause, letting Alice's words seep into him. But it was not enough. He got up abruptly and started to walk away. "Follow me."

Alice got the impression that she would be bruised even further if she refused. So she steadied herself and limped along, following Eadweard, but not close enough to be whacked by his tail again.


Hours later, Alice was in agony by the time they reached the skirts of a nearby mountain. Her cheek was swollen and her hands and knees were caked in dried blood. Also, she was sure that her feet were covered in blisters, as the armor footwear was not designed for any long distance walking. She halted when the gryphon stopped to sip water from a nearby stream.

The gryphon looked up abruptly and caught Alice in an icy stare. "You are an insensitive brute!"

"No, I'm not!"

"How else do you explain lashing out at the poor Queen in anger? You wanted to take her by force!"

"No, that is not true! I would never do that! You think that I am capable of rape? I was only angry…"

"…An angry, unthinking brute!"

Alice lowered her head. "Stop saying that!"

"It is true, so I won't stop."

The Champion picked up a rock and threw it at the creature. "Go ask the Queen! She will tell you that I'm the gentlest companion and lover!"

Eadweard easily caught the rock before it hit him. "Never mind."

Alice fell to her knees and cradled her head with her filthy hands. "Where…where are we going?"

Eadweard turned his considerable head to glance at the girl. "Up."

The Champion crawled to the stream and gulped down the water as if her life depended on it. After a while she lifted her head and slowly dipped her wounded hands into the water. She inhaled deeply at the sting. "What do mean by 'up'?"

The gryphon stretched his black wings. "Why, up the mountain, of course."

Alice abruptly withdrew her hands from the water and stood, shakily, to her feet. "Up that mountain? How do you expect me to do that with no gear and wearing this heavy armor?"

The creature stood to his full height. "Are you not Champion to Underland? As Champion, you ought to be able to figure that out on your own!"

Alice cowered. "Can't you see that I'm injured? How do you—"

"Silence!" The gryphon flapped his wings and soared into the morning sky. The quake of his ascent causing the Champion to fall backwards onto the cold ground.

Alice looked up as Eadweard rolled over and then dipped, flying low to the ground and brushing past her cowering form. Finally the beast slowed and then landed abruptly onto the ground in front of Alice. "Alright, I'll go."

Kind Eadweard nodded and then proceeded to walk in the direction of a nearby slope. Alice followed the creature, but it was not without effort. Every part of her body ached from the abuse she was receiving, and her mind could not process the reasons why this friend of Mirana was putting her through her paces. She reached up and ran her hand down her swollen cheek, it hurt, badly; and when she rolled her tongue along her jaw she felt the tenderness of her gum, where the tooth had been knocked out. She spit out more blood and then blindly followed the creature, as her mind was overcome with her physical pains to care anymore.


The trees gave way to scattered brush the closer they came to the foot of the mountain; and so did the chill, as the wind blowing down the mountain slope was severely cold, and made the journey one of pure torture. Alice thought herself in purgatory, paying for her sins in this lifetime through the affliction of her body. Her mind was numb, and all coherent thought was gone, save only her will to survive the ordeal.

They reached the slope and Eadweard turned to Alice and spoke only one word. "Climb!"

Alice bent over in exhaustion. "I…I can't."

The gryphon picked up the Champion easily and threw her against the slope, but not too harshly as to render his command useless. "You will!"

Alice cried out as her cheek made contact with the cold stone; and then grabbed at it. She lifted an aching limb and began to haul herself up the rocky terrain. Her foot found purchase in a crevice and she hauled herself up some more. "You are a bastard, do you know that?"

Eadweard easily grasped at the rocky slope and drew himself up next to the small, young Champion. "Nonsense, my parents were joined for life."

Alice could feel blood seeping from a cut above her eye, but she dared not let go of the side of the mountain as she was too afraid to fall. She whirled her head around to face the annoying creature. "You must lead a miserable life if this is what you do to amuse yourself!"

"You think me amused by this?" The creature easily scaled the surface.

The Champion lifted herself up higher, her hands digging into small crevices and grasping at diminutive outcroppings of hard rock. She reached a small plateau and sat down, her breath labored. "I don't care if you are amused or not. But I won't have you believing that I care nothing for Mirana!"

Eadweard reached the plateau, and anchored his massive body to fit on it. "What good is your love and devotion when you leave at every little problem? The Queen does not need an inconvenient Champion!"

"And I'm not!" Alice spat, the venom in her voice obvious. "I love her and will never abandon her. We are to be married!"

"Marriage! You are a laughing stock, Alice Kingsleigh of London! What makes you think that Mirana will marry you?"

The Champion tried to turn to face the gryphon, but her body would not move. "She loves me, and is devoted to me. She knows that I am…" Her voice trailed off, and she looked down.

Eadweard lowered his head to the Champion's level. "Knows what? Tell me!"

"Nothing!"

The gryphon's eyes narrowed. "Then get up, you are hardly finished."

Alice cried out as she turned her body around and grasped the granite surface. Then she noticed that her eye was swollen. "My eye is swelling, I can't see!"

"Climb, now!"

Alice painfully ascended, one aching step and reach after another. "You know she loves me and you can't stand it!"

"You don't know anything."

Alice wiped bloody sweat from her brow. "Why would you want to deny her happiness by killing me? What purpose does it serve?"

Eadweard stopped and regarded the small Champion. "I do not wish to see your death, Alice Kingsleigh of London. But you have yet to prove yourself!"

"Prove myself? At what? Why do you demand answers from me?" She dug her foot into a small fissure and then ran her hand up the slope, finding another one and lifting herself farther up the mountain. "Why don't you ask Mirana?"

"Because the White Queen is in love with you."

Alice turned her head and offered the beast a bitter laugh. "So, you do accept that the Queen loves me!"

"Why would I not, it is evident to everyone in Underland." The gryphon flew up to another ledge and looked down on the small, young woman. "Why does she?"

Alice reached the ledge and hauled herself up onto it. She collapsed and panted heavily. "Why don't you ask her?"

Eadweard roared, "I'm asking you! Why are you fighting me on this? You must know the answer."

"Because she is devoted to me."

The gryphon lashed out and his claw connected with the rocky surface next to Alice's head. "That is not the answer!"

"She loves me! She is devoted to me! She wants to marry me! What more do you need to know?"

"I want to know why?" The gryphon was so close that Alice could feel its breath on her skin.

"I have told you why!"

Eadweard lashed out again. "No, you have not!"

Alice stood to her full height, ignoring the many pains in her body. "Because I'm worth it! I am courageous and brave! I believe in myself and in my ability to protect her and all of Underland if I'm called to do so!"

The gryphon laughed. "Are you?"

Alice advanced on the creature. "I am Champion of Underland and I am worth it! I am worthy of the Queen's love! I know who I am and what I desire to be! I am a Queens' Champion, lover, friend…she loves me because I am worthy of being loved! I matter and have a voice!"

"Really?"

"Yes! When all others fail the Queen, I will prevail! I am worthy! Worthy of a Queen, and her love…"

Eadweard sighed deeply and all enmity vanished from him. "That is what I have been waiting to hear, Alice Kingsleigh of London. Your self-declaration that you matter, that you know your own heart and strength; and that you believe in yourself. I can think of no other that I would wish to be our Queen's Champion."

Alice fell to her knees again and wept. She wept for the trials that she had to suffer, and for the renewed sense of purpose and destiny that had been buried for so long, causing all of her self-doubt. Her self-doubt was at an end, and she wept, no longer caring if the gryphon saw her as weak. Kind Eadweard draped a black wing over the Champion to protect her from the cold wind.

Eadweard lowered his head and tenderly nudged Alice with his beak, "Are you ready?"

Alice looked up, and was amazed when Eadweard gently dried her tears with the tip of his tongue. "Ready for what?"

The gryphon chuckled. "To go home, to be a Queen's Champion. To be who you were meant to be?"

Alice stood. "Yes, but look at me. How can I face my Queen looking like this?"

"You will face the Queen just as you are, it is only right."

Alice thought about if for a moment, then nodded, understanding the verity of it. "Yes, it is right."


Mirana had slept through the rest of the day and well into the next morning, as her exhaustion had finally caught up with her. She was now in her private gardens, sitting at her table with McTwisp and Ealhswith for company.

The physician lifted her cup and sipped some tea. "How are you feeling this morning, my Queen?"

Mirana smiled somewhat and bit into cinnamon roll. "I am feeling rested, if that is what you mean."

"Well, I was actually inquiring as to your mental health."

The Queen lowered her head. "My heart hurts for my Champion. She was so troubled when last I saw her."

The rabbit looked up. "Do you know where she went, my Queen?"

"No, but that meddling cat knows, and won't tell me."

Ealhswith chuckled. "Chessur?"

Mirana shifted in her seat to get comfortable, and realized that she needed to commission more new gowns because her belly was getting bigger. "Yes, sometimes I just despise that cat."

McTwisp's whiskers moved as he chuckled. "No, you don't, your Majesty. Chessur is the only one you let speak to you in any manner he chooses…well, Alice, too."

The Queen looked up. "Yes, I must admit. He has been most handy, especially since Absolem refuses to come back to Underland."

The physician put down her cup of tea. "Oh, how do you know that?"

Mirana frowned. "I don't rightly know. It's just a feeling I have, and I also know it has something to do with all the strange things happening here. We do have quite a mystery to solve."

Ealhswith looked down at her hands. "I want to offer you my deepest condolences on the death of the Tweedles, I know how much you cared for those boys."

The Queen nodded and then wiped a tear from her face. "They were like my own children—and I cannot fathom why anyone would want them dead."

The physician leaned in closer to her Queen. "Does it have anything to do with what happened at Salazen Grum?"

Mirana sighed deeply in frustration. "I still don't know what happened at Salazen Grum! I'm waiting to meet with my Knights and Councilors later this morning. Will you stand with me at this meeting, Ealhswith? I do not know when Alice will return."

McTwisp was about to say something when the Queen sat up abruptly and stared into the forest beyond, as if in a trance of some kind. The physician noticed it, too, and gently shook the Queen's shoulder. "Are you all right, my Queen?"

Mirana's head whirled around and she stood. "McTwisp!"

The rabbit stood at attention. "Yes, my Queen."

"Gather the Knights and nobles! Alice is returning!" She gathered her skirts and practically ran from the gardens in the direction of Marmoreal's main entrance, with her royal physician in tow.


Alice clutched at the feathers on Eadweard's back, steadying herself on the beast as it flew over the hills and valleys on its way back to Marmoreal. She grinned as the wind slapped at her face, relishing the sensation of flying, and enjoying it immensely.

She bent down and shouted so the gryphon could hear her. "How much longer?"

Eadweard turned his head and eyed Alice. "Look!"

Alice looked forward just as the creature flew over a hill that she recognized and soon saw the palace come into view, and getting closer with each passing second. "Marmoreal!"

Eadweard glided over the horizon and dipped lower as the castle was almost upon them. He banked to the left and circled the castle once, so that all gathered below would know of Alice's return. Both Alice and Eadweard heard the distant sound of the trumpet, and Alice lifted the Vorpal sword so that all could see it.

Mirana looked up at the sight and was momentarily startled, as were the others gathered with her. They were looking at the stone path that led up to Marmoreal's main entrance and were not expecting the gryphon, nor were they expecting to find Alice riding it, as if she had been doing so for years.

The four Captains of the Royal Knights were in attendance, as were several Lords and Ladies of the Court. Her Majesty's ladies in waiting were with her, as was her royal physician plus McTwisp, Mallymkun, and most surprisingly, the Cheshire cat.

Eadweard landed several feet away from the awaiting party and knelt on its front legs, allowing for Alice to slide down its side. She did so, and then began to limp in her Queen's direction.

Mirana noticed her Champion's strange gait and ran up to her, a look of horror on her face. "What happened to you?"

Even though she was bloodied and bruised, and one eye was swollen, practically shut, Alice smiled. "Hello, my love?"

The Queen's eyes went wide. "What…one of your teeth is gone!"

All eyes turned to Kind Eadweard as he roared. "Alice Kingsleigh of London!"

Alice turned her grateful eyes on the beast. "Yes?"

"What are you waiting for? Kiss your Queen."

Alice nodded. "I think I will." She turned back to Mirana and gently took her into her arms. "I love you." She used her right hand to guide the Queen's head down to her own and loving kissed her beloved. Mirana responded in kind, and soon no one else existed in the world except for them. The couple clung to each other, and soon a soft glow emanated from their joined bodies, and all in attendance gasped their surprise, all but Eadweard and Chessur, who only looked to each other and nodded. The glow brightened until those around them could stand to look at it no longer, and turned their eyes away in fear of blindness. And in a flash, it sparked out, and both Alice and her Queen gasped.

Mirana looked over her Champion, and then whispered. "Alice, you are healed."

Alice felt it—the pains were gone and strength returned to her. She felt with her tongue and her tooth was there. And she could see clearly, as the swelling in her face was no more. "This love, Mirana—our love—is stronger than anything, and will help us to heal this land."

Mirana laughed and drew Alice to her in an embrace full of love of determination. "We will do it together—heal Underland and free our people. I love you, Alice."

Alice glanced over Mirana's shoulder at those who were assembled. "What is this for?"

"There is a meeting in a few hours—the Captains and nobles are to meet me in the Council chamber and reveal what you know so far, to ease my ignorance."

Alice offered her Queen a mischievous smile. "What do you say to a nice hot bath before that?"

Mirana blushed a bit. "Why, I don't know, my Champion. Will we be naked?"

Alice grinned. "Most definitely."

Mirana leaned in close. "Will we make love?"

Alice sighed and rested her head on Mirana's shoulder. "I certainly hope so."

The Queen linked her arm in Alice's and guided her towards Marmoreal's entrance. "Oh, how I love you…"