Chapter 25

CHIT CHAT

The next time Zwoop went to check on the horses and make a sweep thru the forest, the wives surrounded Charlie, touching his armor and scaring him half to death.

"ooo You're a real knight!"

"I love your beard!"

"How do you get it to curl like that?"

"I bet it tickles"

"How many dragons have you slain?"

"Like in a fairy tale"

"Are there fairies here?"

"I didn't see any"

"We didn't see any dragons either"

"We did find pirates"

"They found us"

"Well yes, but-"

"We needed a knight to rescue us"

"I bet you would have skewered them with your sword"

"Yes, especially their leader"

"With that lovely sword of yours"

"He was a captain. Pirates have captains"

"He didn't say he was a captain."

"Can I hold your sword"

"Hans? Wasn't his name Hans?"

"Hans? That's not a pirate name"

"He didn't even have a moustache"

"Some of them did"

"I'm sure I heard him tell Sasha his name was Hans"

"He probably lied. He probably had some stupid name"

"Yeah he was just trying to impress her"

"Get real"

"He wasn't any taller than Charlie"

"Yeah you could take him Charlie"

"Well he was a bit younger, and –"

"A lot younger"

"Lots of yummy muscles"

"Well yeah, but they were mean to us"

"They were not"

"They took our packs"

"Pirates take things"

"I don't have any clean clothes"

"I'm not wearing these clothes again."

"Alice was here for three or four days"

"Go ask her how she cleaned her clothes"

"I would settle for clean underwear"

"You go ask. She's cuddling up with Hatter"

"Poor Hatter. I hope he's ok"

"He's much better than the mean ole King"

"I told you not to ask so many questions"

"He's stuck up"

"Well you wouldn't shut up"

"You got us all tied up and gagged"

"You were talking as much as me"
"How often do you get to ask a king questions"

"Charlie, how long have you been a knight?"

"Did you have to go to knight school or were you born to it, like the King"

"He was rude"

"I agree, he could have at least gone and looked for Sasha"

"Charlie would have, wouldn't you."

"I'm worried about Sasha"

"That pirate leader-captain Hans liked her"

"Sasha is very lovely"

"Not as pretty as me"

"She's smarter than you"

"She's smarter than you too"

"I bet she gets clean clothes and a bath"

"I want a bath"

"ooo yes a lovely bubble bath"

"my nails are ruined"

"Girls, scat. Let Charlie breathe." Glenna shooshed them away from Charlie. "Check the wagon. There's probably a full makeup kit in there somewhere."

"I must say," Charlie began watching them run happily towards the wagon. "They certainly are full of….life. Are they Zwoop's ….sisters?"

Glenna whooped. "oh no, no no no" She sat down beside Charlie. "They're his wives."

"What? Wives?" Charlie frowned and looked at them with his mouth open. "All three of them?"

"Actually, there's another one. Sasha." Glenna wiped her tears and frowned. She was worried about Sasha. Still Zwoop needed a lesson.

"Four wives? Four wives? Hmmm." Charlie pondered the thought. "I don't quite see…"

"No one else does either." Glenna touched his arm. "but it seems to work"

"Seems a bit selfish to me." Charlie decided. One wife would be amazing. Four? Sounded like a heart attack.

"Yes." Glenna fiddled with the fire. "Charlie..."

"Think I should go rescue Sasha? The others were worried about her." Charlie wondered.

"No. She wants Zwoop to rescue her." Glenna shook her head. She really didn't have time for all this. "but it's probably going to take him a while to figure it out."

"hmmm" Charlie agreed. "He's not a Knight"

Glenna produced sleeping bags, but not enough to go around. Zwoop and the wives moved off into the trees to be alone. Charlie and Ferret decided to stand first watch. Carol put her sleeping bag beside Glenna's near the fire where she could keep an eye on Alice. Hatter gave his sleeping bag to the wives and sat down to rest his back against a wagon wheel. Alice sat down beside him, unzipped her bag and tried to wrap it around both of them. He took it from her and wrapped her in it and held her close till he could hear her breathing softly. He would miss her. Probably couldn't live without her. He buried his face in her hair. He would miss the scent of her hair. Her laughter. The touch of her skin. He looked at his palm. ALICE. The cuts were healing. Careful not to disturb her, Hatter dug in his pocket for the glass shard.