ALICE AFTER WONDERLAND: CHASING THE DRAGON
*This story follows the events of Burton's film many years later.
CHAPTER 25
As Tarrant, Alice and the Cheshire Cat continued their seemingly everlasting journey towards the Black Kingdom the Cheshire Cat began to curse Laurence, wondering why he hadn't taken them closer to the Black Kingdom.
"Alice I'm so tired, bring Laurence back."
"No poison, no dragon, and how can you be tired? You're seven foot above the ground."
Tarrant laughed his laugh.
The Cheshire Cat floated in front of Tarrant; "You do that an awful lot now Tarrant."
"Well, I'm just happy to be back." Tarrant was silent for a few seconds after speaking as the Cheshire Cat floated off to the side of him. Tarrant smiled to himself as he snapped his head towards the Cheshire Cat and laughed at him in the same insane laugh.
The Cheshire Cat rolled his eyes and evaporated. Tarrant and Alice stopped, they were stuck. The cracks were beginning to get larger between the islands of land that they could reach around the Black Kingdom. Alice wondered if it had been this way for Stayne and the Red Queen, he hadn't mentioned any trouble in getting there, although he had been chained to the Red Queen, anything in comparison to that would have been easy. Perhaps something had made the cracks bigger since then. Something underneath perhaps, chipping away so that it could move freely through them to collect prey and remain hidden underground as it stalked. Alice shuddered; she was getting the hang of predicting the dangers of Underland now. She wasn't sure if it was a good thing though.
Alice and Tarrant looked on and contemplated their next move. The Cheshire cat called out from above them, they both looked up to see him pointing, he was showing them the way; Alice and Tarrant had wondered why none of them had thought of that before now. They followed the Cheshire Cat's directions and soon the Black Kingdom felt so much closer. The ground had shaken a few times but Alice and Tarrant had done their best to ignore it. They knew a fight was coming but they wanted to get as far as they could before they would have to take up arms. Tarrant wished that his Spade army hadn't met such an untimely end, they could be so useful right now, their bodies could have formed bridges giving Tarrant and Alice a direct route and they could have protected them from a battle that was sure to come.
Finally Alice, Tarrant and the Cheshire Cat reached the Black Kingdom. They looked back at the cracked route they had taken and wondered why they hadn't been attacked. The Cheshire Cat had seen something and Tarrant and Alice had felt the ground shake more than once… The trio decided not to wait around to be attacked and made their way to the Black Kingdom's entrance. The inside of the Black Kingdom was as eerie as the outside, the sun shone down illuminating the interior but the darkest and deepest of shadows were still present around them. Alice wondered how Stayne and the Red Queen could have entertained the thought of making this their new home. They soon came to a room that would have served well as a throne room; obviously the Red Queen and Stayne hadn't gotten very far on remodelling the Black Kingdom to suit their needs. Alice knew that the black pool Stayne mentioned must be close.
Tarrant stumbled upon a narrow opening; the shadows seemed to grow thicker as he stared into it. Alice met with Tarrant and they entered it, the Cheshire Cat following close behind. Another opening in the ceiling of the Black Kingdom's castle let some rays of sunlight bleed over the floor and far wall. Tarrant and Alice studied the surprisingly large room that they found themselves in and saw the opening in the floor in front of them. Alice wondered if the water had dried up since Stayne had been here last or if it had flooded out into Underland, it had been twenty years, either could have happened. Alice prayed to find some of the original water somewhere in the castle and her best bet to find some was down the pit in front of her. Tarrant met Alice's gaze knowing they needed to descend into the darkness below, Tarrant jumped down first, he used his arms and legs to slowly inch his way down, he disappeared into the shadows and then called out a few minutes later; the bottom was not that far down. Alice jumped down after him; Tarrant caught her in his arms as the Cheshire Cat followed.
Slowly Alice's eyes adapted to the darkness, she made her way with Tarrant down a spiral staircase that seemed to last forever. The sound of water echoed in the distance, Alice's pace quickened as she followed it through the darkness; Alice ran into a room that looked almost tribal She could just make out the strange engravings on the walls and small guardian like statues dotted around her. In the middle of the dark decorated stone room was a small pool, it looked like the White Queen's pool; Alice knew she had found what she was looking for. The similarities struck Alice as being odd, she thought that the White Queen's pool had been designed by her royal artists or architects or whatever Underland had for interior design yet the same designs were here, save for the little guardian statues. Alice looked over to Tarrant who was obviously thinking the same thing, his expression said it all. Alice knelt by the pool of black water, she had heard it in the distance as if it had been flowing freely but the pool was still aside for the slightest of ripples caused by Alice's breath.
Alice became lost in a train of thought, if the blood of the Churnworm, Tweedle and Stayne had granted her strength and the power to summon Laurence then what power would this water grant her. Alice was torn, she wanted the power to protect her friends but knew that the poison coursing through her was beginning to mutate her body, her skin was almost completely covered by the purple veins at this point, her eyes had changed and at times she felt as if she could feel extremities that weren't there. Alice had kept the latter to herself and pretended that it she had never felt such things. Alice silently prayed to herself in hope that it wasn't too late for her. Tarrant continued to search the walls for anything that would tell him what to do next, they had found what seemed to be the source of the poison but what were they supposed to do now. Alice stayed by the water thinking the same thing, thinking how she could purify it and what would happen if she dipped her hand into it.
The Cheshire Cat had no desire to go anywhere near the water, he also couldn't read the alien writing on the walls, neither could Tarrant for that matter but the Cheshire Cat left him to it. Instead the Cheshire Cat decided to inspect the small guardian statues. He pawed at them first and when nothing happened he began to bat them around, to his surprise one of the Statues spun on the spot. It twisted and then locked into a place with a loud click. Tarrant and Alice darted their gaze to the Cheshire Cat. Something moved out of the corner of Tarrant's eye, instinctively he drew his sword but he was too late, whatever it was moved far too fast for him to strike down or call out Alice's name. Alice turned to look behind her as she heard Tarrant's sword clang the ground after his missed swipe. Alice saw a small figure diving towards her; she felt a heavy tension in her chest as she was lifted off of her feet and into the pool. Tarrant ran to the pool's edge and without thinking thrust his hand through the strangely thick water. He found Alice's hand and pulled her to the surface. Alice screamed as she surfaced; she tried to grab onto Tarrant with both hands but she was pulled down by something heavy before she could rest her hands on him. Alice's body was coated in the thick water, Tarrant tried to hold on tightly to Alice's arm but she easily slipped out of his grip which sent him falling backwards.
Alice was gone. Tarrant scurried on his hands and knees to the pools edge and screamed Alice's name.