"Mally, duck!" Tarrant yelled.
The Dormouse dove forward. She felt a slight breeze as the Jabberwocky passed mere millimeters over her head.
"It's coming back!" she heard Hatter call.
Where's my hatpin?
Her fingers found it, stinging where they touched the metal—the acid was burning her hands, too. Trying to stifle this most recent addition to her cacophony of pain, she straightened, turning towards where she thought the Jabberwocky was.
"More to your left!" Tarrant said. Mallymkun moved accordingly. "That's it…now!"
The Dormouse stabbed, and she heard the Jabberwocky scream as she punctured its eye. She pulled back as fast as she could, trying to avoid losing her weapon again.
"Bare neck!" called the Hatter as the Jabberwocky reared up in pain and confusion. Mallymkun struck again, this time feeling warm blood splash onto her hands.
It felt like an eternity for the Dormouse as she struggled to focus on Tarrant's voice. It was her single lifeline in a sea of pain…
"Careful, Mally… On your right… Easy target, no scales…"
Almost every motion was excruciating. Mallymkun wanted to collapse and put herself at the mercy of unconsciousness. But she kept on…
With a tremendous roar, the Bandersnatch bounded into the clearing. On its back was Alice, furiously swinging the Vorpal Sword. The Jabberwocky screamed and scattered, forced to face the one thing that they were made to fear. Chessur and Bayard found themselves suddenly without opposition, and they followed Alice to help pick off the stragglers. Mallymkun still stood at attention, breathing hard and trembling with the effort of standing.
"Mally, relax," Tarrant said soothingly. "It's all right. They're gone now. Alice is chasing them off."
The Dormouse sagged, dropping her hatpin again as she fell to her knees and then to her face. For a few moments, she was in the cold embrace of senselessness, but was roused again by the sound of Hatter calling her name. She heaved herself to all fours, dragging herself to the edge of the tree, where she fell into Tarrant's hand.
"You were incredible, Mally," Hatter whispered.
"Tarrant…?" her voice came out in a whimper. "Tarrant…?"
"I'm right here, Mally."
The Hatter slowly turned his hand, looking at the Dormouse's face. The skin around her eyes was horribly burned, and the eyes themselves hardly looked like eyes anymore. Tarrant was no doctor, but he thought that her wounds could be very serious.
"Tarrant, I—I need to tell you something…" Mallymkun was delirious and half-conscious. This was the only clear thought in her head.
"Just rest, Mally. It can wait."
"No…it can't…not any more…" The Dormouse took in a shuddering breath. "I know it…it's not something that could…that could work. I mean…well, you're a man, and I'm just a…and there are far better and, and prettier girls…but I love you, Tarrant, I love you so incredibly much that…could you please at least say, whether it's true or…or not…that you love me, too?"
Mallymkun lowered her head, wishing that she could see his face. I've completely lost it. She felt like she was struggling to keep her head above water, but it was an endless ocean of pain and embarrassment…
"Could I say that I love you?" Despite his surprise and concern, Tarrant laughed softly. Mallymkun's heart sank.
"Oh, Mally!" the Hatter exclaimed. "I can do so much more than that!"
He lifted her up to his face and gently kissed her forehead.
"Mallymkun. Mally. To me, you are the best and most beautiful of women. I love you, Mally. I truly do."
He kissed her again. Mallymkun would have burst into tears if not for the destruction of her eyes. Instead she lay dry, shaking and sobbing in the embrace of the man she loved.
"Did any escape?" Alice asked Bayard as they reentered the clearing.
"No," the bloodhound replied, stepping over a pink puddle with his nose wrinkled in disgust. "It seems that this is the end of the Jabberwocky."
"Unless she makes more…"
The Bandersnatch set aside the last fallen tree. Tarrant sat up slowly, wincing as he stretched his limbs.
"I don't think anything's broken," Chessur said to him, watching carefully. "You are a very lucky man."
"I sure am," Tarrant agreed, looking down fondly at the Dormouse in his hands.
Taking one look at Mallymkun's face, the Cat evaporated, returning quickly with a pitcher of water and a washcloth he'd found in Hatter's house. The Dormouse sighed, her pains slightly soothed as Tarrant washed her face with the cool water.
"Is everyone alright?" Alice asked, approaching them with Bayard at her heels.
"We're alive," Tarrant said, moving the washcloth to rewet it. As she saw the Dormouse's face for the first time, Alice fought to keep her expression neutral to avoid worrying her. But then she realized that Mallymkun couldn't see her, anyway.
"I could still take you down, Alice," Mallymkun said, aware of the girl's staring despite not being able to see it.
"I've no doubt that you could," said Alice, a little reassured by the Dormouse's undiminished attitude.
"She must have taken down at least twenty Jabberwocky after that one got at her face," Hatter said, continuing to wash Mallymkun.
"I had help." The Dormouse's protest was muffled by the washcloth.
"A humble Mallymkun! Wonders will never cease," Chessur teased.
"You're after Alice, Ches."
"I'll be there, Mally,"
For once, the Dormouse didn't argue the use of her nickname.
"Now, would someone please tell me what this was all about?" Bayard asked.
Alice told the majority of the explanation, from her being brought back to Underland until the end of the Red Queen's life story. At that point, Mallymkun sat up in Tarrant's hand and told of the secret door in the White Queen's palace and what she'd seen transpire down there.
Tarrant nodded gravely as she finished. "That's what I'd discovered, too," he said. "Suddenly, I was facing the fact that in my efforts to avenge those I had loved and lost…I had brought to power one who shared the blame…"
His voice trailed off. Mallymkun gave his finger a comforting squeeze.
"Iracebeth said that neither she nor her sister were fit to be Queen," Alice said. "She's right. They're both bad, just in different ways and for different motives."
"This is why I never get involved in politics," Chessur commented. "There are always too many different angles to look at a situation from. In the end, which is better? Red or White?"
"It doesn't matter," Mallymkun said. "What matters now is that we can't let Mirana remain Queen, not after all of this!"
"But what can we do?" Bayard asked. "Whatever anyone hears her say, they'll believe."
Alice smiled. "I think I have a plan," she said.
The White Queen was in a good mood. There was no doubt in her mind that the Hatter and his friends were long dead. If anyone had noticed the Jabberwocky, she would talk it out of their memory, or—and she grinned gleefully at the thought—he could declare it the return of her sister. All it would take to simulate her escape would be a few hypnotized card soldiers to set her free of her chains. Then she would send her own army—with Alice leading—to finish Iracebeth off for good. That would solidify the girl's loyalty to her, and then the foolish child would be back in Overland, this time without anything to remind her of Underland's existence.
The door to the throne room opened slightly. "You'll be glad to know that your plan worked," Alice announced as she walked in, leaving the door open a crack behind her.
"Alice, my dear," said the Queen with a voice like honey—sweet and sticky. "Where have you been?"
"They're dead, Mirana," Alice said. "Those creatures—they were yours, weren't they? You are the maker and the master of the Jabberwocky."
"Why on earth would you think something like that?" Mirana asked, trying to catch the girl's eye.
"I know everything now," Alice continued, keeping her face always slightly turned away as she walked around the room. "How you ruined your sister, how you made monsters, how you tortured innocents and let them die laughing… Do you deny it?"
"You have no proof," the White Queen sneered. "The word of my evil sister? Please. A man and a few animals killed by creatures my sister was known to associate herself with? Clearly, this is an attack by the Red Queen."
"Iracebeth loved you, and you made her life miserable—"
"I deserved everything!" Mirana snapped. "I was smarter, prettier… As the younger, I would have gotten nothing of worth! I had to act!"
"You had to ruin?" Alice challenged. "You had to torture? You had to kill?"
"Silly little girl! I am the Queen! I may do as I please with my inferiors! When my Jabberwocky return, you will be their next victim. Everyone will believe that you died protecting me from assassination. Be grateful that I'm allowing you to be remembered honorably."
"No one will believe anything that you say," Alice said. "Not after they've heard your confession."
The White Queen laughed. "Who said anything about a confession?"
Alice crossed over to the door and pulled it wide open. Mirana's eyes widened. There stood her courtiers, several of her chessmen, and many other Underlanders. All of them were staring at her in shock or glaring at her in fury.
"No!" she gasped. "My people! My friends! Do not believe these lies!"
Alice swiftly pulled a strip of cloth from her pocket and tightly blindfolded the White Queen.
Mirana screamed in fury, grabbing at her face. "No! I am the Queen! I am the Queen!"
"Down with the White Queen!" someone yelled. "Down with the deceiver!" Others quickly began to take up the cry.
Hatter stepped to the front of the crowd, Mallymkun standing shakily on his shoulder.
"Rip out her eyes, Alice!" the Dormouse called.
"Oh, there will be plenty of time for that, Mally," Tarrant said.
"Alice!" Mirana cried, recognizing his voice. "You said that they were dead!"
"No, I didn't," Alice said. "Wrong 'they.'"
Chessur materialized near the White Queen's ear. "You know," he whispered. "The Tulgey Woods are such a lovely shade of pink this time of year, don't you think?"
Mirana slumped in defeat. The Cat lifted the crown from her head to much applause.
"Lock her up," Alice told the chessmen. "We'll decide what to do with her later."
The crowd cheered as Mirana of Marmoreal was led away.
Author's Note: Please review!
