Alice made an exasperated sound as she felt something licking her panicked for a moment and tried to push it away from her, but as soon as she opened her eyes to see what it was, she stopped fighting.
Sitting in front of her was Bandersnatch, who studied her like a curious found this image funny enough to put a small smile on her face.
"What's the matter?"She asked, stroking his ears.
His reaction was like a normal dog, and he started wagging his tail and tilted his head toward her touch.
As an answer, she got a growl when he nodded his head to look out the mini window in his lair.
Her eyes widened when she saw the first rays of sunshine in the she realized what had happened yesterday.
She passed out, after she cured , this made her plan a lot more complicated.A lot of people meant a lot of witnesses and mostly , she didn't know if her friends had left long ago.
This realization just popped up in her brain,made her sick.
She wanted to stand up and go see them, but the sharp pain she felt on her right arm prevented her from doing so.
She looked at the three long scars in confused as to where they had come from.
Looking at them, the vague memory of him falling after his curing returned to her brain, and he tries to grab her.
"Did you do this to me?" She asked, though she already knew the answer.
Bandersnatch looked down and nodded in shame.
"Do you like it here?"She asked this question, slowly approaching him.
He looked at her in she asked him such a simple question, he had to think hard about his answer.
After a moment's silence, he shook his head hesitantly.
She gave him a little smile and said something that shocked him."Would you like to run away with us?"
No one had ever asked him what he wanted or didn't was an unusual, but a pleasant one, which made things easier for him at the moment.
He gave a quick nod of approval and continued to put his head in her lap.
Alice didn't mind the move; on the contrary, she felt happy with his answer.
"Okay, here's what we're going to do. I'm going to take the Vorpal sword, you're going to wait for us while I find my...friends, and after I find them, we're going to come here and subtly cross into Marmoreal."
She halted the abbreviation of her plan to let him absorb her words and look into his eyes with a little affability she hadn't felt in her eyes in years.
In fact, when she focused on her emotions, she felt a tremendous hope that she would join them... and at the same time fear that she wouldn't.
All he did was tilt his head back and start licking her hand.
She took it as a yes.
She might as well have stayed there for a few hours, but their situation wasn't the safest, so she decided to leave.
However, she did not do this before he licked her face several just laughed slightly and after a kiss on his head she left.
As soon as she walked through the door, she almost tripped over wondered how long he had been able to stay unconscious, after all, he couldn't stay down all evening.
Apparently he could.
With a slightly incredulous face, she lifted him into her adjusted him a little and the sword in her possession, careful not to let the sword hurt were still outside the door, so she didn't have to worry if anyone saw them, but as soon as they went it would become a big problem.
She walked slowly to the entrance to the castle and managed not to look around.
She wanted to look as natural as possible, and she obviously did, because there were two security guards at the entrance, and they weren't paying her any attention.
She was glad not even the Vorpal sword.
Surprisingly, she felt calm when she went to Hatter's was almost at his door when she heard the thudding of guards feet and the voice of Knav screaming for them to find her.
She quickly ran into her destination and closed the door just as quickly.
She was greeted by the sight of Hatter's gun and the others hidden behind a desk, except for Mala, who was on Hatter's hat, pointing a needle at her as if to attack her, too.
"Fez, boy, it's you. You startled us, please don't do that again."Hatter said, his body relaxing and a sigh of relief escaping from his lips.
The others in the room seemed to have calmed down considerably and climbed out of their hiding places.
"Alice, where have you been and why did McTwisp faint again?"Biele asked, concerned by the absence of the young Champion.
She was worried about the problems the girl might get into without all, when she freed them, she had earlier stunned a guard who was guarding the dungeons.
"Oh I was for the sword of Vorpal, as you can see."Alice said, drawing the sword that was hidden behind McTwisp so the others could see it.
They looked at her, incredulous at that Alice had found such an important sword in their hearts ignited a flame of joy.
"Okay, okay, but that doesn't explain what happened to McTwisp."Mally's words pretty much ruined the pleasant mood that was in the room, becoming pretty tense instead.
"He passed out as soon as he saw Bandersnatch."Those words didn't help much to relax the atmosphere, on the contrary, they made it even more tense and mildly fearful, because everyone knew who would win, in a duel between Alice and Mally.
Alice and Mally looked into each other's eyes and waited for the other to look was the first to do so when Alice, even after five minutes,did not it.
The little mouse was sulking now, while Biele tried to make light of the tense atmosphere.
"Well, it's a good thing he didn't faint from something serious, isn't it, little ones."She addressed, so her children, because it's, always making them cute pouts and wagging her tail in frustration, which always made the others feel better.
Fortunately, they wouldn't really help them if they started arguing with each other at such an important moment.
"Alice, you mentioned a plan earlier, what did the plan look like?"Tarrant was the one who completely erased the remnants of hostility from their memory and made them finally focus on leaving the castle.
Alice had no chance to begin explaining what she had devised, as McTwisp finally began to wake up from his unconsciousness.
"Alice, you're all right!" he cried, his eyes widening at the sight of the sword in Alice's other hand.
"Did you really follow that monster?"His breathing began to quicken and his eyes looked like they had fallen out of their sockets.
Yet as weak as he looked and acted, he continued to speak, surprisingly faster and decidedly more panicky than a few seconds ago."What!How did you get it?!You fought that monster?!You beat-"
Alice put a finger to his lips and smiled at him, which most people in the room found more than rare because they had not yet seen the girl smile.
"Yes, I went to see the "monster."She deliberately let sarcasm get into her one was a monster, nor was she, but sometimes she felt that way under the gaze of the people."He gave me the sword of Vorpal completely willingly and promised to help us, so I would appreciate it if you didn't speak so bad of him."
Her last statement from her companions caused a shocked could she have befriended such a dangerous creature?
"What are you talking about, trumpet! Bandersnatch is mon-"Alice interrupted Mally in the middle of her literally snatched the mouse out of Hatter's hat and gripped it as if to crush it.
Mally couldn't felt dizzy and like a giant balloon ready to burst.
"Don't you ever say that about him again!He's not a monster, just the people who say it are!Shut up!"She took a ragged breath to calm herself, but her mind didn't and started playing flashbacks of her worst memories.
Get her!"Shut up!"
She was running over there!"Shut up!"
We've got her, you can't escape us,monster!"Shut up!"
You're going to die now, little witch!"Shut up!"
You want these, don't you?You like it bitch!Haha."Shut up!"
You like us inside you!You like to fuck!Hahahahahaha."Shut up!Shut up!Shut up!"
Before she knew what was going on, she was on the floor with Hatter above her, trying to calm her down.
Well, not so much to calm her down as to make her stop burning and scratch her arms in anguish.
Aside from those odd aspects of behavior, her screams might get someone's attention, and if the unfortunate man came here, it wouldn't go down with him the best.
At last Alice calmed down a little. She kicked Tarrant away from her and stared into space.
She could still feel herself burning a little and her labored breathing refusing to stabilize.
"I-I'm sorry." She finally got over her. Her body refused to calm down, her mind was full of memories for the moment, more than usual.
"It's all right."It was Biele who said it. She sat next to Alice, but not close enough to make it uncomfortable for the girl.
"Nothing happened."McTwisp didn't shake or panic for once and stood behind his ground.
"Relax, Alice is no threat."Tweedledum spoke, and he joined McTwisp and Biele sitting next to Alice on the floor.
His brother had to, of course, talk, too, but for once it wasn't nonsense.
"Alice is in no danger, relax."He joined his brother, who was sitting on Alice's right side, along with McTwisp.
"Boy, there's nothing wrong, you don't have to worry, I'm sure Mally wants to tell you something right now."The last person to join them was Tarrant, who was holding Mally, who seemed fine, but slightly shaken by what had happened.
Mally didn't say seemed to be at war with herself, or rather her ,Mally pushed a little forward on his hands so the little mouse would start talking.
"Sorry Alice, I didn't mean to say such horrible things, both about you and Bandersnatch...it just scares me how strong you both are, especially Bandersnatch's mind if you don't forgive me, just accept my apology, please."
Mally didn't seem to want to say what she said if the way you muttered about yourself was any indication.
"Okay, I accept your apology, Mally, so all good?"
Alice decided to accept Mally's apology and extend one finger to her as a sign of 's a shame the mouse wasn't bigger to shake hands with.
Mally understood the gesture and shook the proffered finger.
Everyone in the room two friends were definitely a long way from being together,as in harmony as the others,but this was progress.
The thud of soldiers' feet got them out of their little bubble, and their cries of having to find it or they'd lose their heads.
"We should go, so do you have a plan, Alice?" Hatter words were taken into account by everyone and looked at the young Champion with anticipation.
Alice, now significantly calmer and more focused under those glances, didn't shrink, she just started talking in peace about what they could do.
Maybe someone would have come up with an even better plan for what she might have known.
"We have to avoid the guards easiest way to do this would be to pass side roads through the , instead of the main ones, it will take more time, but that doesn't matter."
She looked them all over to see if he agreed with her, and when she saw that no one objected to the move, she continued on.
"It's more about luck." she admitted, because if they were caught in the grounds of the castle, they would be dead, but if it happened outside they might have a chance to escape.
"We'll have to get out when Bandersnatch has a can get us out of and how we're going to have to go through the corridors...even though I picked a route where there shouldn't be anyone,could you please Hatter make some kind of cloak to hide who we are?"
Hatter looked thoughtful as she soon as exactly what she wanted him to do registered in his mind, he beamed like a child at Christmas.
"Of course I will, it will be a masterpiece, the finest fabrics, have become us looking how gods!I can use so many-"
Alice interrupted him because she'd already heard about his fit of creativity from the others, she didn't have to experience him in her own skin and she didn't think he should speak,so loud,anyone could hear them.
"That's amazing, Tarrant, how long before you get it done?"
Alice's question ignited a gloating spark in Hatter's eyes.
"When it is, it will be."
…
Mirana watched the mirror in her mirror room with fear, the room had a name, but that shouldn't be said, because according to legend it brings bad luck.
It was the room where all the most precious mirrors from Undeland were, showing every single part.
She stared anxiously at the mirror where the Crims was written.
It didn't work very well, but she was hoping that for once she might get lucky and somehow show what she needed to see.
Her mind had been very tense the last few days, and she wanted, at least, some relief from her worries in the form of good news.
That didn't happen. Bayard didn't bring her anything useful a few days ago either, and that made her nervous.
Of course, she sent him back to the Crims, in front of her sister's castle, to stand guard and if anyone, like Alice, needed help finding a way into her castle, to help her or them.
Wearily, she placed her forehead on the sigh came from her dark lips before she could stop it.
It had just occurred to her that she might leave for her chambers when the mirror began to glow.
She immediately lifted her head from it and watched the events of the last day and a half from the Crims take place in front of her
She saw Alice naked in the garden, which made her blush like a tomato, she saw Alice beside her sister, God knows why she felt jealous of the saw Alice calming Mad Hatter after his minor seizure,she saw Alice make a friendship with Bandersnatch,she didn't know what to feel from the move.
The images in front of her slowed down for a moment, giving her eyes a chance to blink again, not blinking, because the images were changing that much faster with these kind of unsteady mirrors when she did it.
Suddenly, the images sped up again, showing her sleeping with Bandersnatch, worrying Hatter and the others, when she didn't return that night, showing her, Alice's breakdown and the support of the others and how she was currently leaving the room...and then...nothing.
For a while she watched the mirror go back to its original wasn't in a good condition when it was broken,but it showed her a lot of important things,so it was behind her,at the moment okay.
What she saw replayed in her of worrying, she was confused.
Above all, the confusion revolved around her reaction when she saw Alice wasn't the way her sister saw it, it was from wasn't much to see when the images moved so fast, but they still got a reaction out of her...that came dangerously close to desire.
She's never felt this kind of emotion, and her body hasn't reacted this way many times.
Even after twenty minutes of thinking about such strange thoughts, there was no good answer to satisfy her mind.
Eventually she got what she was just her friend and her body and mind reacted the way they did,due to a lack of attention to the subject of love.
That was the answer she was looking for and left the room with a smile on her lips.
…
Alice and her group of friends walked through the corridors of the were secondary passages, where the only occupants, the rooms around them, were servants of the Red Queen.
They were wearing the red coats Hatter had asked him for red so they wouldn't stand out.
So far, they've been lucky enough not to run into any soldiers or, God forbid, Stayne.
They walked the corridors one by one, without much orientation in them was difficult, but Alice had a map from her personal maid,well rather she stole it when the woman wasn't paying attention, but she didn't have to tell them that.
"Alice, how much further is it?" Hatter asked, starting to resent how far they had gone and wondering if they were lost.
"Not much more, just to the end of this corridor, then down the stairs, and down the first aisle to the right, until we get to the door from the east."That didn't seem far when she said it, but she didn't mention that at the end of the corridor there were only narrow, winding stairs that didn't lead anywhere but down, and for an awfully long time they were on their way.
"Ah."Tarrant said was acting so empty because he was he wasn't doing it,but now he had the perfect reason.
He kept his thoughts to himself, especially his suspicion that he and Alice had begun to form, both a friendly and a family bond.
He was both thrilled and saddened by the didn't think they were real, the truth never said it out loud, but he knew she thought this, she was a long way off when he wasn't counting what had happened in his study.
Ew, he shuddered when he remembered the red queen picking hats at his place last wasn't just her style, but also her questions, most often about Alice and what she was strange, he would almost think she was interested in a young woman.
He shook off such a silly bloody hag cared for no one but themselves and ,She took Alice as a pet,couldn't like her any more and if he attracted her to her...
thought made him nauseous, made him sick even more when he was blinded by the sun's rays.
He put his hand in front of his eyes and wondered where he was.
"Hatter, are you all right?" Mally asked wasn't her style to look after others, but Tarrant was her friend,for him she could,make an exception.
"Yeah, I am, but where are we?"So now Mally seemed a little confused, but his question was still normal for him.
"We're still in the castle, I understand that going up those stairs in the dark and then seeing the sunlight shining from the castle windows again must have been a shock, but don't worry, you'll get used to the light in no time."
Mally was happy with her explanation, while Hatter wondered how long he had spent in thought.
'It's just a bit of a-'
"We found her-"Now, the startled red soldiers and the petrified group of friends were looking at each other.
The Red Soldiers knew, only that they were to find Um, not that the prisoners who had previously served the White Queen had escaped.
The silence between them broke instantly after Alice's scream."Run!"
"After them!" Shouted the card in charge of this not only she but also the servants of the White Queen had escaped, surely none of them would have lived to see the evening, perhaps, even in the afternoon.
The cards raced after them with a speed beyond which reason itself remained standing.
They were fast,they all agreed on that,but they didn't have a chance to catch up when they were only a few feet from the door.
Hatter had already opened them, and most of their group had already gotten out, except for Alice, a couple of puppies and Biele.
"Aaaaaaa."A puppy screamed when one of the cards grabbed him and held out her sword as if to pierce him.
It didn't happen thanks to Biela biting him, at the last minute, in the arm.
She was so focused on her child and the card that tried to hurt him until she stopped paying attention, so much so that she didn't notice how alone she was being attacked by another card.
Out of the corner of her eye, she caught the attack of the card and... the pain nor anything like it happened, she looked perplexed from the hand she was biting and saw Alice holding the card by the arm before breaking it.
She didn't even have a chance to blink when she felt how her and puppy took Alice in the arms.
The young Champion quickly dodged the attacks of the other cards that surrounded ran as fast as possible past them and right after them through the door Hatter closed behind them as quickly as possible.
He gripped them with the spear he took as he ran down the hall, just in case, as a second weapon, because he already had one, the one Mally had brought him with great difficulty and with which he had freed himself, from the chains on his ankles.
"We must-"Mally's words were interrupted by loud laughter and the clatter of metal.
Before they knew what had happened, they were surrounded by at least three dozen worst, however, was not them, but the man in it was not surprising that the person turned out to be Stayne.
"Umm you're under arrest for unlawful seduction."His eyes shifted from her to the sword of Vorpal, and his smile widened cruelly."Or should I say, Alice."
His eyes shone with pure satisfaction as he thought of the reward he would receive, for catching not only Umm, but Alice, too.
The cards started circling them in their formation and the dangerous ones were closing , no one else knew what he could do to get out of a situation like this.
There was only one way;to one had to be a genius to know who would win in their duel, but they tried anyway.
They had no other choice and if they had even a small chance of winning, they would take it.
Their attack was launched by Tarrant as he lunged for three cards which, to his taste, looked too strangely at the puppies.
Tweedledee and Tweedledum also threw themselves at the legs of one had hardly any weapons, so they had no choice but to use their hands.
Alice engaged in a fight with five guards at had no problem defeating them, although they inflicted some not very nice blows.
"Tarrant, watch out!"Mally shouted as one card approached from behind her byline on Hatter, she could see most of it, but she didn't see this card, perhaps it was the fact that just moments earlier, Tarrant had aided in the fight by gouging out his opponents' eyes or crawling under their clothes and attacked deprecating where their armor had not chance save them.
The final cut from the mean card never came thanks to Bandersnatch, who at that moment decided to intervene.
He barged in on the soldiers, who collapsed like dominoes after his attack.
Finally, he also decided to hit Stayne, who had only been watching the battle, not interfering, because he thought the cards could do it on their own.
He planned to attack Bandersnatch, but his attack failed when the normally serious and honorable Rabbit undermined his horse's legs, using a rope he found on the ground.
A small group of friends quickly mounted was very clear that not all of them would fit on his back, so they mainly dropped Biele and her puppies there, followed by Tweedles and…
Alice was planning to help McTwisp, on Banderstnatch's back, when there was a strange sound of crackling coming from somewhere within the walls.
This sound resulted in the cards dissolving with a foul cry to the ropes with golden eyes.
At first they didn't really understand what it was, but as soon as it moved and literally pulled McTwisp out of Alice's arms, they figured it out pretty quickly.
All but Alice, she couldn't have known the magic that was used to promise eternal loyalty.
Once you became soldiers and you promised that promise, then the sovereign could do with you what he wanted, for example he could turn you into a metal rope with which to hold his enemies.
It was often painful, or you might as well have died fulfilling that promise, all for your mistress.
"Run, Bandersnatch we'll hold them!"Hatter shouted, whipping at one of the many ropes that tried to catch them.
"Alice get in, we have to can do it, they're not as disadvantaged as they look."She said calmly Biele, because it was true and because they had to leave here as quickly as possible, they wouldn't have to leave in a few moments either, depending on how things turned out.
"Yes."He said The Young Champion empty-eyes and mounted didn't like leaving anyone behind to be executed, but she agreed wholeheartedly with Biele,they had a chance to win.
"But, someone has to open the gate."Alice was really curious to see how they were going to achieve this when Hatter had the key.
"I'll do it."Tweedledum offered.
His brother offered to."I'll do it."
The two brothers looked like they were going to start an argument, so Alice cut it off, right at the start.
"Can you both do it, what do you say?"Rather than they had of them would have to unlock the heart-shaped lock on the gate and the chains through which the gate opened and the other would have to pull on the chains.
"Do we both realize that you're going to stay here?"Alice couldn't help but ask, they had to decide for themselves, because to remain willingly in this kind of hell, she wouldn't wish it on alone type them out to be so courageous, but maybe she was wrong, she hadn't known them that long after all.
"Yes."They said in sync and with such a brave face that Bandersnatch, too, had to believe them.
"Okay, go."Biele wanted to get out of here as quickly as possible and protect her children, that was definitely not possible here.
Both boys set swiftly avoided the battle that was going on here and went straight for Hatter.
Alice watched from a soon as she saw that one of the cards wanted to attack them, she parried it with a fireball.
Even Bandersnatch didn't stop fighting, now that they were on his back, so much as his tail, but he fought anyway.
Ropes, once a card, suddenly began to take precedence.
Hatter, Tweedles gave the key, though he thought for a moment that even in a battle like this they refused to part company.
That's when the ropes started to get a head start.
Suddenly she tied up McTwisp, who was jumping on them and destroying their structure quite a lot.
They succeeded in capturing Mally, who substantially destroyed their eyes so that they could see nothing.
The hardest to beat them was Tarrant, who fought breathtakingly like some knight in a fairy tale.
"Run!"Tweedledum called as he and his brother opened the gate.
"No!"Stayne shouted, trying to remove the two brothers.
It didn't happen because Bandersnatch took flight through him.
He threw him off his horse and stepped on his back quite badly.
Knave howled in pain, he couldn't move,it was probably the end of him in this battle. Fortunately, he didn't know anything useful, like Alice having 's what happened because he wasn't paying much attention in battle, so it's also because Alice wasn't using her very much.
Bandersnatch stepped over him like a piece of useless rag and instead of going straight out, ran to the Tweedles.
He grabbed one of the Tweedles like a stick with his was very careful not to hurt him,with his teeth.
"Aaaaaaaa."Tweedle shouted as he was held aloft like kicked his legs and arms in the air more than a little.
"Don't worry, Tweedledum, nothing's going to happen to you, Bandersnatch is holding you back, for your own good, to save you."She tried to calm him down a little bit, Biel.
While everyone thought they were going to leave Tweedledee behind, Alice reached out, so much so that she thought she was going to snap and grabbed Tweedledee's hand.
She was about to put him in front of her on the back of Bandersnatch when one of the ruined rope-like beings reached out and tried to throw her off Bandersnatch.
It didn't happen because the courageous Tweedledum stood up in front of her and it took his place.
"Little brother."No one was surprised by Tweedledee's words when they finally got out of the castle.
Tweedledee cried when Bayard came up behind one of the rocks.
His eyes widened comically when he saw Biele and his children.
He let out a loud howl when he saw his family and enthusiastically began guiding them away from that terrible castle, towards a much better one.
And maybe, just maybe they could get to Marmoreal today, for a better future.