April 6 2013
I jerk my head around to the back. She's caught me off guard, which is a bad thing in the zombie world, and is probably a bad thing in this world too, unknowns and all that. This must be Alice. Alice in Wonderland.
Alice looks young, and yet ancient at the same time, like she's seen far more than she should have at twenty. Is my math right? It's been eighteen years since Alice's parents were killed and she was around two when it happened. And if Glinda had been here around ten years before that, it would be right around twenty-eight or so years since the curse was cast.
I give her one hard look, aware of my surroundings now, even through the hazy, euphoria-inducing smoke, Ches jumps up from the couch when she arrives and even Pillar and O'Hare stiffen at her presence.
She's different than any person I've ever seen, and I've been places where people are quite strange, like Vegas, and downtown L.A. and even once to 6th street in Austin. But this is much stranger, perhaps because of her command presence.
Her white spiky hair is the first thing I notice, but it's not the hair of an old person who's lost their pigment, no, it's the hair of someone who's either dyed it that way or experienced some severe sort of shock. But that's not normally something that happens to the whole head of hair is it?
And then I notice the eyes: they're like Ches' but even more penetrating, more soul-searching, more grey. Her skin is different too, a grey-ish brown hue, and she's short but absolutely ripped with a sleeveless blue top and lightweight leather pants with boots. To put it briefly, she's a fierce looking warrior woman.
She stands behind us with her hands on her hips and speaks again. "It's time to go meet this infamous White Queen."
"You trust them enough for that, Alice?" Ches says, still standing at full attention and I can see now that there is certainly a military chain of command going on here.
"I heard enough of the conversation, enough of this story." And for a split second her face awashes with emotional pain but she recovers quickly. I wonder if I'm the only one who saw it, however brief. "If they prove to be dangerous, we kill them."
"They have powers, Alice," Ches says cautiously, tone growing grave.
She hesitates for the first time. "Powers like the White Queen?"
"Yes, and they seem to be more powerful combined together."
"Well, then," Alice shifts from one boot to another. "We will have to treat our guests with respect then, won't we? You say you are searching for someone?"
"Yes," Zelena says, earnestly beseeching this young girl who could take us there. Alice in Wonderland, in the flesh. "For Glinda. She's been missing from me for 28 years. Can you take us to her?"
Although I'm not sure how Alice heard that bit about us looking for someone, because surely she wasn't here all that time. Or maybe she was, lurking in the shadows.
"I will take you," Alice says and we all stand up, ready to follow. "We must be careful," she says. "There are knaves all around. You've stirred them up with your blatant display of magic. Most magic users were outlawed or killed during the Cleansing."
"The Cleansing?" You say, scrunching up your nose. And I'm with you. That doesn't sound good.
Pillar nods, folds his hands reverently over his belly. "It is what happened as a result of the Red Queen calling for the cleansing of all magic people from the land. Mainly they were looking for the White Queen, trying to draw her out by killing people similar to her."
"So we're in danger," I say, but that's nothing new for me. Or you for that matter.
"Everyone here is in constant danger," Ches says seriously. But then Ches seems to be serious all the time.
"We should go," Alice says, nodding at Pillar, almost in thanks. For us? I wonder.
You and I stand up, readying to leave when Pillar speaks again. "Do you not want them to know about the prophecy, Alice? Everything I have said would happen has happened."
Alice turns to him, rolls her eyes, as if she's dealing with a child who won't let go of a juvenile idea.
"It is nonsense, Pillar. I have told you before: I make my own destiny."
"Perhaps," Pillar says, chewing on his lip, eyes roving the room, landing finally on us. "But you two should know. There will be a battle. A battle with the Bandersnatch that will determine once and for all who the true ruler of Wonderland should be. A battle between truth seekers and falsifiers. Two will die."
I gape at him for a moment and then turn to you. You simply raise an eyebrow.
"Do not listen to him," Alice says impatiently, making towards the door. "He has all sorts of prophecies."
"Is he normally correct?" You ask and Alice hesitates as we follow her from the cave-like, cozy room.
"Sometimes," Alice says, and that's all she says. All we can do now is follow her.
You lean in to me as we step outside and Alice pulls Ches aside to discuss a route. "Do you think we can trust these people?" you say. I nod my head.
"I hope so. I feel like we can trust this Alice," I say, because I like her. She's intriguing, and I can see why you might too because she wants to write her own story rather than wait for fate or destiny or whatever to come and show her the way.
We march behind Alice, in twos at a fast pace, you and I together, Zelena and Rumple directly in front of us, Alice at the lead, of course with Ches and O'Hare bringing up the rear.
I can't get over how different the plant life here is. It makes me wonder how all of these alternate universes exist, if we're in some sort of a wormhole that someone happened to discover and is accessible only through magic. Maybe the portals are wormholes that transport people from one dimension into the next.
And in this world, it looks like in addition to the double suns, there are several moons in the sky, the nice blue sky. And perhaps in this world's formation things went a little bit differently with evolution of plants and animals because the colors are strange and couldn't happen most of the time on earth, not to mention the mixing of species, or maybe it's just how they happened to evolve.
I don't have any idea. I'll have to ask someone here, a scientist perhaps, maybe Alice. She seems smart. Young, but definitely intelligent and fiercely . . . I don't know the word I'm looking for. Just fierce I guess. Like she could rip my heart out in one grab. Well, so could you, and so could Rumple, and Zelena might have a go at it too. I've seen you do it before. In fact, your mother tried it on me, and that wasn't easy to stomach. But after all I've been through with the zombies and whatnot, a ripped out heart really isn't so bad in comparison.
"So where exactly are we headed?" I turn and look over my shoulder at Ches and O'Hare, and they're strolling chummily along, O'Hare grinning and Ches as serious as ever. Ches is like Alice in that way. I've noticed that Ches keeps watching her inertly the whole time, really. Ches hasn't taken those golden eyes off her.
"To the White Queen's castle."
"The White Queen," you repeat, and I can see you thinking about Snow White and hoping for everyone's sake that there isn't some alternate reality version of my mother waiting for us up ahead. That would be particularly mind bending. Based on the story Pillar told us, with the powerful woman arriving via twister, it has to be Glinda.
"Yes, of course," Ches says in that silky voice. "Would you rather go see the Red Queen?"
"I suppose not," you say. "Although, I don't know much about the Red Queen and can't say for certain. . ."
Ches cuts you off. "Then keep moving."
Well, I think and you give me a sideways glance. That effectively ended that conversation. Well, might as well try and start up a new one, especially since Alice is well in front of us. She seems to be very familiar with Rule # 1- Cardio, and also maybe Rule # 2- Double tap, based on the way that sword hangs from her belt.
"So what's up with Alice anyway, how is she connected to everything here?"
Those golden eyes stare unblinkingly at his superior. Almost like a puppy.
"Alice trains the soldiers for the White Queen."
"So the White Queen had something to do with rescuing her as a baby?"
"Yes." One nod of that great smooth head, and for a creature who seems to be all about resisting giving up information, Ches is certainly loose-lipped. Perhaps an inability to lie is the problem. "She raised the girl, taught her everything except swordplay. But Alice would not appreciate being talked about."
"So what's the connection between you and Alice then?" I press on, really curious as to why Ches keeps looking up there, eyes glancing all about, looking out for her, no doubt. I wonder if Ches is a sibling of some sort. Or maybe Ches has feelings for her.
"You're in love with her, aren't you?" You say with all the subtlety of a kick in the shins. I elbow you and roll my eyes.
Ches sighs, eyes becoming dull and sad. "I have been in love with her for years and nothing. She wants nothing to do with me, except for my skills as a soldier."
"Well, maybe," I say, glancing up at Alice, and not to be judgemental or anything, but Ches is a good looking person, seems like the protective type and is nice enough I guess. But maybe Alice is not interested.
"Maybe she's, um. . ." I hesitate, not wanting to offend Ches. "Maybe she's gay?"
"What are you saying?" Ches says curiously. Okay, maybe there's a different word for it here.
"Maybe she only likes other females?"
"Are you insinuating that I am merely male?" Ches demands, eyes glowing angrily. Oh crap, I've offended anyway. This time you nudge my arm. "Uh, no, it's just . . "
"She is not 'gay'," Ches interrupts angrily. "Or anything. She is just Alice and simply wants to defeat the Red Queen and make things right in Wonderland. That is all."
"Oh," I say, aware that I've dodged a bullet with that whole situation. Maybe I should have asked for a pronoun in the first place. Or maybe I'll just change the subject. "So can you tell us more about this marketplace, what did you say it was called again?"
"Casino?" you add helpfully and I nod. Yeah that was it.
"Ye sure are not from here are ya?" O'Hare says, in his almost gibberish, looking at me suspiciously, well one of those eyes is at least.
"What?" I don't have a clue what he's saying. O'Hare rolls his eyes and looks to Ches for translation.
"O'Hare wants to know if you are really not from here," the smooth voice is tinged with sadness now. Maybe we shouldn't have brought up Alice at all.
"No, we're really not," you say seriously.
"The Casino is . . . well, you will have to see it for yourself," Ches says, stepping around us and out alongside Alice. He still glances left and right before moving forward towards a lake and what has to be the strangest looking castle I've ever seen. Not that I've seen that many castles in real life. I'm sure you've seen more, but this one, even for all the movies I've seen, is quite the looker.
It's looming, but not only that, it's also balanced precariously on a strange, towering, column-like rock in a lake. A wide lake, maybe two or three miles wide and shimmering blue and green, reflecting the suns and stretching in front of us. The castle towers on top of a rock, small and thin on the bottom and then wide at the top, sort of like the Space Needle in Seattle, but on a bigger scale up top.
It's not physically possible that it's standing, surely, but there it is. Whimsical almost. "That's the castle," I say doubtfully. Yeah, I don't know how this is possible, but here it is. And as we're walking towards the water line, I don't know how we're going to get across to the castle. But as we approach the water I can see the boats, all lined up, waiting for us and bobbing gently in the murky green water.
We climb in several of these tiny wooden boats and I swear it's like fucking Hogwarts. As soon as we're all aboard, they take off, zipping along magically. The boats take us closer and closer to the castle and the outrageous thing only manages to look bigger and more foreboding the closer we get - closer still and I can just make out an opening cut through the rock just big enough for our boats. At the end of the short boat trip and inside the tunnel, the vessels stop near the stones at a passage entryway into a dark dampness that looks a lot like a dungeon under the castle.
Up the stairs, I can see now that there are passages that travel all the way through and up the thin rock to the castle. We stop at the edge of a stone walkway, hop out and enter the castle through a heavy wooden door directly ahead.
And inside the castle, past the dark and gloom is . . . well, bright and modern and sharp lines. It's strange, as if this is a futuristic space ship instead of a middle ages castle, like it seemed to be from the outside, sort of. Except for the strange shape. I don't know what to think about that. Held together by magic? High tech architecture?
Alice marches through the halls like she owns the place, like she's been living here her entire life, and if what everyone's been saying about her and the White Queen is true, which I think it is because Ches seems to be unable to falsify information, then she has.
Anyway, guards dressed similarly to Ches salute her as we pass them and eventually we make it up the stairs and into what looks like a Great Hall of sorts, more white walls and vivid paintings with splashes of color reflecting the vivid palate of the outside's wildlife.
And then we walk down a long hallway to the back of the room where a long, hand-carved table sits. Everything in the room is majestic and beautiful and modern. And it makes me wonder if this is what Oz meets Wonderland looks like. I'm worried about getting muck and grime all over the plush white carpet, but Alice ignores it completely. Looking behind us, I realize why.
Somehow the mud we are tracking in disappears when we walk. Science or magic?
At the table, there's a woman sitting in a chair, gazing out a window turned sideways to us. It's difficult to see her features from so far away, but as we grow closer, I hear a gasp from in front of us. A gasp, followed by Zelena breaking forward into a run with a shout. "Glinda!"
The woman jerks up in her chair, turns her head at the voice and at the green flash of movement comging towards her. When she sees who it is, she stands up and hesitates. But after a few more seconds, she takes two steps towards Zelena with arms stretched wide, and takes the woman into her arms.
Well, here she is. What do you know? The White Queen is indeed Glinda. Of course she is. Glinda the Good Witch versus whoever is the Red Queen on the other side. All these colors. Good grief.