A few hours earlier…

Marmoreal stood in its full restored glory, with a statue of Alice and the Vorpal sword newly having been erected in the front courtyard of the White Queen's palace. Thackery (who was still carrying McTwisp on his back) and Bayard who'd been running full tilt since they'd parted with Alice and Mallyumkin dashed into the courtyard, coming to a well-deserved rest in a heap on the white tile. Several of the Queen's attendants were milling around the courtyard talking to the trees and one of them immediately went to get the Queen, while others went to fetch water for the travelers.

"Bayard! Thackery!" the White Queen Miriana gasped as she hurried into the courtyard, leaning down next to them and gathering McTwisp into her arms. "What's going on? Are you two alright? And McTwisp?"

Thackery sat up with a mad giggle and said, "A little blood and McTwisp is as passed out as a—a—" he was still trying to catch his breath and apparently couldn't find an adequate comparison.

"Blood?" Miriana gasped?

"He's fine, White Queen," Bayard said, panting from the exertion. "He's just fainted is all, at the sight of blood, like Thackery said."

"But whose blood, Bayard?" the White Queen asked fearfully.

"That's why we've come," Bayard said nodding, "It's a long story."

"Oh, my dear boys," Miriana said, standing. "Come, come inside, we'll sit by the fire and you must tell me everything."

***

McTwisp wake up as Thackery and Bayard were settling into the White Queen's sitting room. He was none the worse for wear, albeit a little surprised to be in the castle at Marmoreal. The White Queen pulled an arm chair around so she was facing the two rabbits who sat on a love seat and Bayard who was laying on plush carpet by the fire. "Now, you must tell me what's going on," Miriana said with a nervous sort of urgency.

"The Hatter has-" McTwisp began.

"Alice, Alice, she needs to-" Thackery was shouting.

"That damn Cheshire couldn't keep his-" Bayard said.

"Whoa, whoa, one at time, my boys," the White Queen said, waving her hands. "You mentioned the Hatter, and Alice," she continued, her brow furrowed with worry. "I need to know what you know."

Bayard looked curiously up at the very worried looking queen. "Your Majesty, what's happened?"

But she shook her head. "You three first."

McTwisp hopped down off the loveseat. "Your Majesty, you know that the Hatter hasn't been himself since… You know," he said apologetically, not wanting to imply any blame on Miriana for Alice's departure. "He's only been getting worse. But while we were having tea, he thought… he thought he heard Alice saying his name." Miriana's eyes widened slightly. "But then Chessur, that foolish cat," McTwisp continued a little angrily, "told Tarrant that Alice would never come back, as though he didn't want Tarrant to get his hopes up." The White Queen in all her peacefulness scowled a little.

"And the Hatter believed him," Bayard said sadly. "He went into his house and wouldn't talk to any of us… Well, he spoke briefly with Mallyumkin but apparently didn't say much. He was quite upset, Majesty."

"Then we went to get Alice!" Thackery interjected. "We knew we'd find her! She's the only one who can help the Hatter!"

"And we did find her, Majesty, she's in Underland now."

"Alice is here?" Miriana gasped. "Where?"

"She and Mallyumkin are looking for the Hatter," Bayard said, then backtracked. "When we came back to Whitsend, he was gone, Majesty, and he'd left his hat behind and taken his sword with him," Bayard said sadly, with a puppy-like whine to his voice.

Miriana's mouth gaped as she tried to think which issue to address first. "We need to get Alice to Marmoreal, it's not safe for her out there right now!" she said worriedly. She clapped her hands and one of her attendants came to her side. "Have the Bandersnatch go fetch Alice and Mallyumkin Mouse, he'll be able to find them. Have him bring them back here," she said in a hushed voice to the attendant who then hurried out of the room looking a little fearful. Though the Bandersnatch had become quite friendly since it had assisted Alice, it still terrified the daylights out of most of the inhabitants of Marmoreal, and all of Underland for that matter. Then Miriana turned back to the group who were looking at her with worried curiosity.

"I don't know why Tarrant left Whitsend, but I know where he is now," she said quietly and the words had an ominous ring to them. She pulled a folded piece of paper from the folds of her dress where there must've been a hidden pocket. She unfolded it saying, "I just received this, only a little while before you three arrived." She held it out and read clearly, "'Miriana, I have your precious Hatter in chains and helpless. If you do not put out a Royal Decree that removes my banishment to the Outlands, and deliver a copy of this Decree to my castle at Salazan Grum within three days, I will take off his head! Sincerely, your older, better sister, Eracabeth, the Red Queen.'" Miriana gulped and looked at the others who stared at her in wide-eyed horror.

"Oh NOOOO!" shouted Thackery, jumping around frantically until McTwisp caught a hold of him and calmed him down.

"You see what I mean that Alice shouldn't be out there alone right now," the White Queen said solemnly. "And we must rescue Tarrant." She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I do not want to have to issue such a Decree," she said angrily. "Her banishment was the best thing that could have happened to these lands. To have her running around freely would create panic and chaos. We can rescue Tarrant. But if what you've been saying, if the situation with the poor Hatter is as dire as you said, it may very well have to be Alice that rescues him. Otherwise he may not cooperate at all."

The three nodded. "I guess all that we can do now is wait for Alice to get here," McTwisp said quietly with a tinge of fear. Miriana nodded sadly.

"All we can do is wait," she said.

Presently…

Alice stared at the bushes as they rustled and Mallyumkin held her sword at the ready, when out leapt the Bandersnatch. Alice let out a little "Ah!" of surprise but instead of attacking them, he padded over to Alice and nuzzled her arm. He was a little smaller than Alice remembered but then she realized that in Overland, she'd grown a fair amount in the past five years so it was that she was bigger. The Bandersnatch looked at her and then tossed his head back, gesturing for her and Mally to climb onto his back, which to make easier, he bent his knees. "Can you help us find the Hatter?" Alice asked him quietly. He didn't give any sort of response, so Alice shrugged and went to climb up his side when she realized that she wasn't sure if he'd be able to take the extra weight of her more grown-up self in addition to Mallyumkin. "Hold on a moment, friend," she said, pulling out the bottle of Pishalver potion.

She tipped it to her lips and drank just a bit, shrinking slightly, back to the size she was when she was in Underland the last time, but as the potion went through her it burned terribly. She winced and bit her lip, but still cried out a little, nearly dropping the bottle. "Are you ok?" Mallyumkin asked with what seemed like genuine concern. Alice nodded, wiping a drop of the potion from the corner of her mouth and shaking her head to clear it.

"Let's go," she said, climbing up the side of the Bandersnatch as Mallyumkin climbed on behind her. The Bandersnatch took off at a run and the bouncing motion of his gait didn't help Alice feel less dizzy. She felt contrawise like she was getting sicker and sicker. She held on tight though, one hand firmly nestled in the Bandersnatch's fur while the other grasped the Hatter's hat to keep it from falling off. She eventually realized they were heading toward Marmoreal but had very little hope that the Hatter was there. More likely that she'd been summoned there by the White Queen. "Hopefully she'll know what to do," she muttered as they got closer to the castle.