Love Checks Fear
Disclaimer: I do not own any dialogue, characters, settings, etc. from Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass," nor from Disney's animated "Alice in Wonderland," nor Disney's most recent 2010 film of "Alice in Wonderland." What very little creativity that remains is – surprisingly – mine.
Chapter 9
"Twas brillig, and the slithy toves," Tarrant mumbled as he walked on through Tulgey Wood with Alice seated upon his top hat.
"Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
Beware the Jabberwocky, my child!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and vile
The frumious Bandersnatch!
She took her Vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe she sought—
So rested she by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.
As the Hatter finished another stanza of the poem, Alice lowered himself from the brim so that she could sit on his shoulder. "What was that?" she asked curiously.
Tarrant looked to her as he questioned back with some bitterness, "What was what?"
Not letting Alice say anything more, he went on to finish the poem.
"And as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the Tulgey Wood,
And burbled as it came!
One, two! One, two!
And through and through
The Vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
She left it dead, and with its head
She went galumphing back.
And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my glowing girl!
O Frabjous Day! Callooh! Callay!
She chortled in a whirl."
"That's about you, you know?" he spoke to Alice, his accent becoming apparent.
"I'm not slaying anything," Alice stated firmly. "I don't slay. So put it out of your mind."
"Mmmm…. Mind," Tarrant repeated as he plucked Alice off his shoulder and set her on a tree stump before walking on without her.
"Wait!" Alice cried indignantly. "You can't leave me here!"
The Hatter immediately stopped, pivoted, and advanced right to the stump. "You don't slay," he nearly snorted in his Outlandish accent, obviously aggravated.
"I couldn't even if I wanted to," Alice chided back.
Tarrant narrowed his eyes on the tiny girl. "You're not the same as you were before. You were much more… muchier… you've lost your muchness."
"My muchness?"
Tarrant lowered himself to his knees and poked Alice in the stomach. "In there," he reasoned. "Something's missing."
"Tell me what the Red Queen has done."
"It's not a pretty story."
"Tell me anyway."
Anger subsiding to sadness, Tarrant's accent slowly faded away and he seemed to open his eyes for the first time since stopping his journey.
"It was here," he said looking beyond Alice at the clearing full of scorched stones, charcoaled wood, and parched grass.
"Here?"
"This is—was Yeglut Village. A celebration was held here for the White Queen. It was the anniversary of her crowning. All was well until her sister brought upon the Jabberwocky. The White Knight tried to fight it off as I escaped with the queen to safety, but he was no match despite the Vorpal sword. What the monster didn't kill, the Red Queen enslaved into her kingdom."
"That's awful," Alice remarked, though the Hatter's eyes were focused far away in the distance.
"We have all been waiting for you. I cannot see Mirana until I bring you to her."
"Mirana?"
"Mirana," Tarrant sighed thoughtfully.
"Who's that?"
"Why, she's my darling Mirana, of course."
Alice searched Tarrant's face, but he was still far away. "Hatter?" she called to him. "Hatter!"
Tarrant snapped out of his reminiscing and looked down at Alice. "I'm fine," he whispered in a tight voice.
"Are you?"
He shook his head and looked down at the ground. "I miss my Mirana."
"And who, exactly, is tha--?"
"Hush!" Tarrant suddenly whispered as his head popped up. A moment later the howling of Bayard could be heard.
The Hatter swiftly put Alice back onto his hat and ran for his life through the wood, desperate to reach its edge at the border of Snud and Queast in effort for a straight shot to Marmoreal.
"Go south to Trotter's Bottom," Tarrant explained as he reached the end of the wood. "The White Queen's castle is just beyond."
Noticing the soldiers coming closer, he removed his hat and looked directly at Alice. "Tell the queen I'm retrieving the Vorpal for her."
"But--"
"There's no Time here, Alice. Now, hold down tightly."
Alice unhappily obeyed. Then, after winding up his arm, the Hatter spun his hat out of the trees to the gloomy plains.
Seeing the hat land safely with the tiny girl, Tarrant turned around at the oncoming red army, led by the Knave of Hearts. "Down with the Bloody Red Queen!" he bellowed.
"I knew it!" Stayne hissed as he dismounted and walked up to Tarrant. "The dear hatter of the fair White Queen is a part of the cause against my queen." He turned to his soldiers. "Clasp him in irons!"
Tarrant began laughing hysterically as his hands were chained. "Your queen? You don't have a queen!"
Stayne's temper flared and without warning he punched Tarrant in the ribs. "And whose fault is that?"
Despite doubling over, Tarrant stared accusingly up at the Knave. "Whom, indeed."
"You won't be able to talk out of your way this time!" Stayne spat. "As long as you're locked up, no queen can appease to your sly words!"
The Hatter said nothing to this but instead began laughing once more.
"You're absolutely mad." Stayne took a line of rope from one of his soldiers and tied one end through the links of Tarrant's clasps and tied the other to the horn of his saddle.
"I'm mad?" Tarrant cried in laughter as the Knave took to his horse, ready to ride onward. "You're the one that still believes he has a chance at becoming king!"
Angry at this, Stayne kicked the horse into full gallop in direction of Crims; the Hatter being dragged along.
Once they were out of sight, a large group of Mome Raths sprung to life from where they were huddled against a tree. They ran a bit deeper into the wood until they came to a Pencird, in which they spelled out a message to it. When they were finished, the bird flew out of the wood straight to the White Castle.
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
Having grown tired of her company of courtiers, Mirana took some time to herself sitting alongside one of the garden fountains. Another white-cloudy day seemed to be passing by without any news.
"Oh, Tarrant," she whispered to herself as she looked beyond the flowerbeds and bushes to their once usual tea spot. "How much longer?"
A cool breeze swept through the air and the White Queen shuddered. Never – even when accompanied by courtiers, knights, or her maids – had she ever felt so very alone.
"Where are you?" she whispered on. However, before she could add on in speaking her thoughts aloud, the Pencird landed at her side.
"What are you doing here, silly little thing?" Mirana looked to the pencil-head bird.
The bird began tapping its pointed, ebony beak at the ground.
"Oh! You've a message for me?"
The Pencird fluttered its wings in reply.
"Come!" Mirana cried as she stood from the fountain and hurried in direction of the tea table. "Come this way!"
The little bird flew after the queen. When they reached the table, Mirana pointed at a napkin. "There, sweet thing. Write the message there."
Happy with this, the Pencird began writing one word at a time with its lead beak.
"Alice. Is. Here," Mirana read. "Hatter. Taken. By. Knave." Lifting her eyes to the bird, which had stopped writing, she asked, "Is that all?"
The bird nodded.
"Thank you so very much," Mirana said with a gentle smile. "I very much appreciate this message."
The Pencird fluttered its wings again happily before taking flight back toward the Tulgey Wood.
Mirana remained seated at the table for a moment longer; the closed-lip smile still plastered on her face, her fist holding the napkin.
"There you are, my queen," one of the ladies in waiting called to her as she neared the table. "Everything all right?"
Mirana merely shifted her eyes to the woman. "Yes, everything is just right, thank you." She paused as she stood. "But I am feeling a bit tired. I'll be taking a nap if anyone needs me." Not letting her lady in waiting have a say in this, the White Queen gracefully glided away into the castle.
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
Up the stairs, down the corridor, and into her room Mirana went in silence with a soft smile to those she passed by. However, the moment she shut and locked the door behind her, the smile vanished and water drowned her dark eyes.
"Tarrant!" she tried to scream, but it only came out as a strained whisper. "Come back to me, Tarrant! Escape to me, Tarrant!"
Mirana collapsed onto her bed, burying her wet face into a pillow. "Tarrant, I need you!"
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
"It's getting late," Stayne sneered as he shoved the Hatter into a cell. "So you'll remain in here for the night until further instruction."
"She'll want to see me," Tarrant chuckled. "You know she will."
Stayne back-handed the laughing man. "The only time she'll see you is at your beheading."
"No trial?" Tarrant asked as he rubbed his sore jaw.
"There's no need of that any more now with the king gone."
"Gone?"
A grin slithered onto Stayne's face as he gestured a finger across his neck.
"Ah, yes. Off with his head. No doubt your idea."
"You lost me the crown of Underland twice!"
Tarrant laughed. "How was I supposed to know Iracebeth would actually take my suggestion to marry the King of Hearts seriously?"
Stayne grabbed the Hatter by the collar and pressed him up against the stone wall. "You knew very well what you were doing! Not only with her but with her sister, too!"
Tarrant's eyes grew dangerously dark green. "You never loved Mirana."
"Love has nothing to do with being king."
"Love has everything to do with being her king!" spat Tarrant in a thick Outlandish accent.
Furious with this reply, Stayne kneed the Hatter in the stomach before throwing him to the ground and kicking him a few times in the ribs. "You will never be king!"
With that said, the Knave left a moaning Tarrant huddled in a ball on the floor.
