Chapter 3: Green fingers.
The zeppelin dove towards the ground and Alice braced herself for the worst. The trick to landing this particular craft was to point towards the floor, approach it at fairly high speed and pull up sharply before you hit stopping the balloon and hovering safely. It was a difficult manoeuvre to accomplish, in fact it took great amounts of skill to accomplish it and many trolls were not so lucky to stop in time. However the Elder had much practice at doing this and landed the balloon with the loss of only a few of Alice's' nerves.
"Well, I believe this is your stop Alice." joked the Elder. "For my sake, don't get into trouble!"
Her only response was an innocent little smile and a mischievous wink of her deep blue eyes as he once again pedalled into the sky and back towards the village.
Alice was standing in front of a great wall adorn with different variations of beautiful flowers and bright colours covering the green hedgerow growing from the wall. It seemed as thought the wall was futilely trying to contain this reserve of nature. There was a small hole in the wall next to her shoe no bigger than a mouse-hole. It reminded her of a mouse-hole in her skirting boards in her house where her old cat Dinah user to lie in wait nearby in the event a courageous mouse came out to look for food and suddenly pounced. Unfortunately, such happy events were just memories after the accident had consumer her house and all inside leaving her the sole survivor.
There seemed to be a small message painted above the hole in tiny writing which at the moment she found incomprehensible and there was only one way to bring it into focus. To do this she must drink the potion given by cat.
A variety of flavours poured into her mouth as she drank the liquid in the small bottle and each flavour changed with every sip from the bottle. Starting out from rich strawberry, to treacle tart to a mixture of many and then it suddenly stopped without warning.
"Here we go!" though Alice, expectant of what was to happen.
All of a sudden, she felt quite light headed. In fact she felt light everything as her height shot down from her usual size to a minute 3 inches high. The sensation was like being strapped to a chair and shot through a small tunnel at great speed. Alice had never fully got used to it but at least she now could read the writing above the mouse-hole.
"Same way in, Same way out!"
The last time Alice was in the garden, it was under control by the ants who had become militaristic under the influence of the queen and were viciously territorial and ruthless with trespassers. Now all of the ants were busy collecting fruit and grain and carrying it into their anthill. (Single file of course).
Also the features of the garden had changed. Instead of darkened landscapes and sad looking trees, there now stood abundant flowers and wide green meadows that seemed teeming with life. She skipped sown the red, cobbled garden path until she came to a junction of different routes and a single post of apparently wood with no labels or writing say for large cracks that seemed to make a woody face.
The post suddenly sprang to life and startled Alice as arms grew from nowhere and the face began to speak in an impatient tone.
"Well?" The signpost asked.
"I beg your pardon?" replied Alice, somewhat lost.
"Where are you going or who are you looking for?" it angrily replied
"There's no need to be rude, I'm just trying to find my way to the caterpillar."
"Your way! Listen miss, are you rooted into the ground?"
"No?" Alice was beginning to wonder where this was leading
"And do you know YOUR way around the garden?" it followed.
"Not really. It's changed quite a bit since I was last here, you see" This was true, as even the garden path was not here when the garden was here when the ants were in control.
"Well then, you'll have to use MY WAY to get the caterpillar, wont you?"
These words chilled Alice slightly as his tone reminded her of a similar conversation with the queen. A change of mood was definitely needed Or at least its mood.
"Yes I require you help please, if you don't mind Mr signpost." Alice said with an air of sarcasm.
"That's better. I am a signpost you know!"
"Get away!"
"No serious, anyway, caterpillars this way." His left arm stiffened suddenly pointing in the direction of a large tree. "Step through the gateway in the bark and you will come to the mushroom grove. Now off you go." His face became motionless once more with his arm still pointing.
Alice headed in the direction, slightly offended, until the path stopped in front of a swirling vortex imbedded in the hole of the tree bark. A message above read:
"You now enter the mushroom grove, no nibbling, no poaching. Eating's OK though."
She stepped through the portal and was suddenly surrounded by fields of large mushrooms. Some blue, some white some orange but all definitely bigger. A path dividing the two fields winded its way up to a large yellow mushroom with a strange silhouette sitting on top of it. Apparently smoking. Alice rushed down the path, pushed her way through a patch of tall reeds and before her smoking his mind away was the caterpillar. She approached him slowly as not to alarm him. He was notoriously, abrupt and quite aggressive at times. She thought she would make the first words
"You sent for me catt…."
Alice did not finish her sentence before he interrupted her with one short word aggressively spoken.
"Recital!" he blurted out and gave her a stern look.
Alice stood on a stool sized mushroom, curtseyed and began.
"How doth the little crocodile,
Improve.."
"STOP, I have changed it again. Improved, you know"
"Obviously." Alice hated it when he did this.
He took a long inhale of his smoke and began:
"The queens demise in wonderland,
had brought a promised change.
And freed her slaves under her hand
And banished al the strange.
And now a life of peace ensues,
Though really not quite sane.
A brand new threat is recent news,
that threatens this domain."
She preferred his tale about the crocodile. But a new threat to wonderland was not to be taken lightly
"A new threat? I thought the queen was gone? And what's this about the religion of wonderland" Alice asked, seemingly desperate.
"Still curious I see" replied caterpillar. "The clerics of wonderland bring order in a more peaceful way than the queen did during her reign. Something is behind their seemingly peaceful ways which even I cannot see. People have been disappearing you see and you must find out what is going on before it gets too serious." His voice seemed serious and frank but did not have the feeling of imminent trouble as Alice had feared. Maybe this would be a worthwhile pursuit to keep her busy.
"Alright, I'll poke around but where would I start. I've seen no churches here before?"
The familiar chiming crescendo became apparent and a smiling feline made his appearance. Maybe he would shed some light Alice thought.
"But you have seen people of the clergy. Think of appropriate titles." Said the cat
"And games." Followed caterpillar
"Appropriate titles and games?" She said to no-one in particular "Well let me see. Vicar? no! Father?"
Then 2 and 2 came together and produced 4.
"Bishop! A clergyman who plays a game! On the chessboard!"
"It's good to see you still have some sense!" said caterpillar condescendingly.
"How do I get there? It's quite a way from here? And I have to get back to my normal size again!" Alice weighed up all of these problems but caterpillar usually found a shortcut, and indeed he had.
Another long puff of his opium and he blew a large smoke ring which turned into a portal on. Apparently on the other side was the land of the while chessmen, they were the civilised ones you see.
"Cat, could you please tell the White king and queen to expect Alice?" asked caterpillar.
The Cheshire Cats smile faded for a brief moment into a look of contempt Until both looks vanished along with their owner.
Alice checked knife in her pouch. Although she wasn't expecting trouble in Wonderland you never know what going to happen in the next 5 minutes let alone tomorrow. She stepped through the portal and vanished leaving the caterpillar to smoke away his mind in the privacy of the mushroom grove.
At least that's what he thought.
Above them in a neighbouring tree hiding behind a small branch was s shrouded figure who was watching and listening to everything that had just transpired below with great interest. An evil grin crept across the shadowed face of the stranger. "So, it's begun?" He said to himself in a low menacing voice. "I had better tell my superiors that she has started her journey."
A small humming noise came and went and it seemed to take the figure in a dark haze that faded away leaving no trace he was ever there.
Except a strange feeling that made the caterpillar below shiver as If someone had just walked over his grave.
The zeppelin dove towards the ground and Alice braced herself for the worst. The trick to landing this particular craft was to point towards the floor, approach it at fairly high speed and pull up sharply before you hit stopping the balloon and hovering safely. It was a difficult manoeuvre to accomplish, in fact it took great amounts of skill to accomplish it and many trolls were not so lucky to stop in time. However the Elder had much practice at doing this and landed the balloon with the loss of only a few of Alice's' nerves.
"Well, I believe this is your stop Alice." joked the Elder. "For my sake, don't get into trouble!"
Her only response was an innocent little smile and a mischievous wink of her deep blue eyes as he once again pedalled into the sky and back towards the village.
Alice was standing in front of a great wall adorn with different variations of beautiful flowers and bright colours covering the green hedgerow growing from the wall. It seemed as thought the wall was futilely trying to contain this reserve of nature. There was a small hole in the wall next to her shoe no bigger than a mouse-hole. It reminded her of a mouse-hole in her skirting boards in her house where her old cat Dinah user to lie in wait nearby in the event a courageous mouse came out to look for food and suddenly pounced. Unfortunately, such happy events were just memories after the accident had consumer her house and all inside leaving her the sole survivor.
There seemed to be a small message painted above the hole in tiny writing which at the moment she found incomprehensible and there was only one way to bring it into focus. To do this she must drink the potion given by cat.
A variety of flavours poured into her mouth as she drank the liquid in the small bottle and each flavour changed with every sip from the bottle. Starting out from rich strawberry, to treacle tart to a mixture of many and then it suddenly stopped without warning.
"Here we go!" though Alice, expectant of what was to happen.
All of a sudden, she felt quite light headed. In fact she felt light everything as her height shot down from her usual size to a minute 3 inches high. The sensation was like being strapped to a chair and shot through a small tunnel at great speed. Alice had never fully got used to it but at least she now could read the writing above the mouse-hole.
"Same way in, Same way out!"
The last time Alice was in the garden, it was under control by the ants who had become militaristic under the influence of the queen and were viciously territorial and ruthless with trespassers. Now all of the ants were busy collecting fruit and grain and carrying it into their anthill. (Single file of course).
Also the features of the garden had changed. Instead of darkened landscapes and sad looking trees, there now stood abundant flowers and wide green meadows that seemed teeming with life. She skipped sown the red, cobbled garden path until she came to a junction of different routes and a single post of apparently wood with no labels or writing say for large cracks that seemed to make a woody face.
The post suddenly sprang to life and startled Alice as arms grew from nowhere and the face began to speak in an impatient tone.
"Well?" The signpost asked.
"I beg your pardon?" replied Alice, somewhat lost.
"Where are you going or who are you looking for?" it angrily replied
"There's no need to be rude, I'm just trying to find my way to the caterpillar."
"Your way! Listen miss, are you rooted into the ground?"
"No?" Alice was beginning to wonder where this was leading
"And do you know YOUR way around the garden?" it followed.
"Not really. It's changed quite a bit since I was last here, you see" This was true, as even the garden path was not here when the garden was here when the ants were in control.
"Well then, you'll have to use MY WAY to get the caterpillar, wont you?"
These words chilled Alice slightly as his tone reminded her of a similar conversation with the queen. A change of mood was definitely needed Or at least its mood.
"Yes I require you help please, if you don't mind Mr signpost." Alice said with an air of sarcasm.
"That's better. I am a signpost you know!"
"Get away!"
"No serious, anyway, caterpillars this way." His left arm stiffened suddenly pointing in the direction of a large tree. "Step through the gateway in the bark and you will come to the mushroom grove. Now off you go." His face became motionless once more with his arm still pointing.
Alice headed in the direction, slightly offended, until the path stopped in front of a swirling vortex imbedded in the hole of the tree bark. A message above read:
"You now enter the mushroom grove, no nibbling, no poaching. Eating's OK though."
She stepped through the portal and was suddenly surrounded by fields of large mushrooms. Some blue, some white some orange but all definitely bigger. A path dividing the two fields winded its way up to a large yellow mushroom with a strange silhouette sitting on top of it. Apparently smoking. Alice rushed down the path, pushed her way through a patch of tall reeds and before her smoking his mind away was the caterpillar. She approached him slowly as not to alarm him. He was notoriously, abrupt and quite aggressive at times. She thought she would make the first words
"You sent for me catt…."
Alice did not finish her sentence before he interrupted her with one short word aggressively spoken.
"Recital!" he blurted out and gave her a stern look.
Alice stood on a stool sized mushroom, curtseyed and began.
"How doth the little crocodile,
Improve.."
"STOP, I have changed it again. Improved, you know"
"Obviously." Alice hated it when he did this.
He took a long inhale of his smoke and began:
"The queens demise in wonderland,
had brought a promised change.
And freed her slaves under her hand
And banished al the strange.
And now a life of peace ensues,
Though really not quite sane.
A brand new threat is recent news,
that threatens this domain."
She preferred his tale about the crocodile. But a new threat to wonderland was not to be taken lightly
"A new threat? I thought the queen was gone? And what's this about the religion of wonderland" Alice asked, seemingly desperate.
"Still curious I see" replied caterpillar. "The clerics of wonderland bring order in a more peaceful way than the queen did during her reign. Something is behind their seemingly peaceful ways which even I cannot see. People have been disappearing you see and you must find out what is going on before it gets too serious." His voice seemed serious and frank but did not have the feeling of imminent trouble as Alice had feared. Maybe this would be a worthwhile pursuit to keep her busy.
"Alright, I'll poke around but where would I start. I've seen no churches here before?"
The familiar chiming crescendo became apparent and a smiling feline made his appearance. Maybe he would shed some light Alice thought.
"But you have seen people of the clergy. Think of appropriate titles." Said the cat
"And games." Followed caterpillar
"Appropriate titles and games?" She said to no-one in particular "Well let me see. Vicar? no! Father?"
Then 2 and 2 came together and produced 4.
"Bishop! A clergyman who plays a game! On the chessboard!"
"It's good to see you still have some sense!" said caterpillar condescendingly.
"How do I get there? It's quite a way from here? And I have to get back to my normal size again!" Alice weighed up all of these problems but caterpillar usually found a shortcut, and indeed he had.
Another long puff of his opium and he blew a large smoke ring which turned into a portal on. Apparently on the other side was the land of the while chessmen, they were the civilised ones you see.
"Cat, could you please tell the White king and queen to expect Alice?" asked caterpillar.
The Cheshire Cats smile faded for a brief moment into a look of contempt Until both looks vanished along with their owner.
Alice checked knife in her pouch. Although she wasn't expecting trouble in Wonderland you never know what going to happen in the next 5 minutes let alone tomorrow. She stepped through the portal and vanished leaving the caterpillar to smoke away his mind in the privacy of the mushroom grove.
At least that's what he thought.
Above them in a neighbouring tree hiding behind a small branch was s shrouded figure who was watching and listening to everything that had just transpired below with great interest. An evil grin crept across the shadowed face of the stranger. "So, it's begun?" He said to himself in a low menacing voice. "I had better tell my superiors that she has started her journey."
A small humming noise came and went and it seemed to take the figure in a dark haze that faded away leaving no trace he was ever there.
Except a strange feeling that made the caterpillar below shiver as If someone had just walked over his grave.