Chapter 7 - Campfire stories..
Alice walked into the throne room closely followed by Christopher. She had never liked being so closely followed by anyone and he was saved only by the fact that Alice was attracted to him so she felt obliged not to kill him, for now. The Queen gave a bow to Alice as she approached the throne which surprised most of the praetorian guard as this wan not proper conduct for a Queen.
"We are greatly pleased with your handling of the raid upon the royal citadel by red forces." Said the queen elegantly as usual. "Unfortunately our bishop strategists can come up with no explanation of why they would launch such a futile attack."
"I believe I may have a reason," Alice replied. "The attack happened when I was gathering information about the religion of wonderland. The religion may be behind it to prevent me from finding something, the trouble is I don't know what. Maybe their headquarters?"
"All that I know" interrupted Christopher "is that they nearly killed the holy bishop doing it!"
"Yes, thank you Christopher." The queen ordered, trying to shut him up "Now, I would suggest that you proceed north to looking glass land nearby, The terrain has become less dangerous since the demise of the Queen of Hearts so you should be able to travel with out too much worry. However I will allow you to keep the Croquet mallet, just in case. You have several hours of daylight left so I would suggest you leave immediately."
Alice and Christopher bowed towards the monarchs sat upon their thrones and were escorted out of the castle, through the city and out of the white kingdom and hopefully out of the Red kingdoms way.
The journey north was a curious one for Alice. All of the roads and pathways were now a sight to behold in contrast to what they were under the queen of hearts' corruption. Where there was stone floors and pathways strewn with danger, there now lay grassy field and vergers covered with flowers of evry kind that could sometimes produce a polite conversation when they were not feeling too aristocratically when they would talk down to almost anyone. The lava flows that used to run through the land where lava beasts emerged and fire imps ran amok were no more and replaced by wonderful streams where only the occasional snark would be the most threatening adversary you would encounter. And even then their poisonous spit was less venomous to people (but quite offensive to clothes!)
At one point, Christopher noticed a Griffin flying gracefully through the skies. Alice was tmpted to cry out to him as he was the most friendly and sage friend she had in defeating the queen. It invoked a response as she remembered he gave his life to help her defeat the jabberwocky but the queens defeat had undone all of her influence bringing him back to life along with all her other friends. She spoke of this at length with Christopher on their way north. He, like most of wonderlands inhabitants, had heard of her achievements but no-one knew how much a terrible ordeal it was for her, nearly being roasted, skewered, dismembered and blasted to pieces several times but especially the jabberwocks words to her, blaming her for not saving her parents and burning the house down. Even the telling of the story brought a tear to her eye.
They made camp in a small valley near a fresh water stream several hours away from the chess kingdom. "So you've heard about me Christopher, Tell me about yourself?" Alice offered to begin conversation.
"Alright then Alice." he began. "Well, Christopher is my given name, I was captured by the queens agents and tortured for their amusements. But they turned me over to the Hatter eventually, in trade for something I suppose I'll never know" Then his expression dropped and he became quite serious.
"It was horrible. I was experimented on in the most bizarre ways imaginable. Sometimes I didn't think I would survive and I suppose a part of me didn't. I heard screams all through the night from my fellow captives and I still hear them sometimes in my sleep. Some of us went insane and were no use to the hatter anymore so we were converted in those automaton things. They made me watch as one of my best friends went through that machine. It was awful. He was torn in half and sliced limb from limb and he still didn't die, his blood was everywhere." he began to cry. "I can see his face now as they sliced his head open and took out his brain to put in that empty husk of a machine, I prayed so hard that he would die before he became one of those mindless machines but it was no use. I never saw him again after that. I made a promise to myself then that would help others whenever I could.
"How ghastly!" replied Alice in sympathy.
"I can't remember much of what happened next. I was taken to a church and was met by a man in black with the coldest eyes I've ever seen. It felt he was pulling the soul right out of me. I lost something that day but the day after I was given to the White kingdom. It irritates the bloody hell out of my because I can't understand why they did it. I asked to be schooled as a medic and my request was granted and I'm a damn good one too. I'm not favoured in court because sometimes I don't see eye to eye with the King and Queen. And that's how I came to be with you.
"That's an awful story…"said Alice, "It sounds like the time I lost my parents."
"How did they die?" asked Christopher, wiping his eyes with a handkerchief.
"There was an accident and my house caught on fire. It was Dinahs' fault I suppose as she was the one who smashed the lantern causing the fire." She laughed for a moment "I remember I was dreaming having tea with the Hatter, the March hare and the dormouse. Suddenly one of the kettles caught fire and I smelt the smoke. They woke me up to realise that it wasn't the tea table on fire, it was my house. I ran screaming for my parents on the landing but they had been trapped in their room so they couldn't get out. I remember hearing my father telling me "Save yourself Alice!". The tears were streaming down her face. "I jumped through the front door heard my parents screaming as they burned alive." She calmed herself and Christopher gave her his handkerchief to wipe her face with.
"I went mad after that and it was that moment I believe I corrupted wonderland and the Queen of hearts took over. I would lay in the asylum for years until Rabbit brought me here. But it was no better. I lost friends in one way or another. I was glad when I dispose of the queen. It helped me come out of it."
Alice suddenly realised what she had said to this person. She was experiencing a feeling she had never felt before. She took his hand and said to him quietly.
"You're the first person I've shared all this with Christopher."
"And you're the first person I've told this to also Alice, I suppose it's because I care for you"
"I care for you too."
There eyes met and their faces slowly came together and they kissed. In that moment they had shared a moment of sheer despair and Alice found comfort in this. She admired him so much and it felt so natural to be with him (he was probably the only other human she had met in wonderland too.) She had never felt this way about anyone before but she felt there was something he was not telling her. Life with the Hatter in his deranged state though, he probable saw horrors beyond imagination. Their lips parted and her words were so gentle.
"Goodnight, Christopher." Alice whispered
"Sweet dreams Alice" he replied.
She turned over in the grass and fell asleep while Christopher prayed for awhile and fell to sleep in a patch of soft grass. Unbeknownst to her, she would have far from pleasant dreams.
A chord of chimes failed to wake either of them as the cat materialised next to them. He looked at Christopher with a look of sheer contempt and disappeared silently and unnoticed once more.
Alice walked into the throne room closely followed by Christopher. She had never liked being so closely followed by anyone and he was saved only by the fact that Alice was attracted to him so she felt obliged not to kill him, for now. The Queen gave a bow to Alice as she approached the throne which surprised most of the praetorian guard as this wan not proper conduct for a Queen.
"We are greatly pleased with your handling of the raid upon the royal citadel by red forces." Said the queen elegantly as usual. "Unfortunately our bishop strategists can come up with no explanation of why they would launch such a futile attack."
"I believe I may have a reason," Alice replied. "The attack happened when I was gathering information about the religion of wonderland. The religion may be behind it to prevent me from finding something, the trouble is I don't know what. Maybe their headquarters?"
"All that I know" interrupted Christopher "is that they nearly killed the holy bishop doing it!"
"Yes, thank you Christopher." The queen ordered, trying to shut him up "Now, I would suggest that you proceed north to looking glass land nearby, The terrain has become less dangerous since the demise of the Queen of Hearts so you should be able to travel with out too much worry. However I will allow you to keep the Croquet mallet, just in case. You have several hours of daylight left so I would suggest you leave immediately."
Alice and Christopher bowed towards the monarchs sat upon their thrones and were escorted out of the castle, through the city and out of the white kingdom and hopefully out of the Red kingdoms way.
The journey north was a curious one for Alice. All of the roads and pathways were now a sight to behold in contrast to what they were under the queen of hearts' corruption. Where there was stone floors and pathways strewn with danger, there now lay grassy field and vergers covered with flowers of evry kind that could sometimes produce a polite conversation when they were not feeling too aristocratically when they would talk down to almost anyone. The lava flows that used to run through the land where lava beasts emerged and fire imps ran amok were no more and replaced by wonderful streams where only the occasional snark would be the most threatening adversary you would encounter. And even then their poisonous spit was less venomous to people (but quite offensive to clothes!)
At one point, Christopher noticed a Griffin flying gracefully through the skies. Alice was tmpted to cry out to him as he was the most friendly and sage friend she had in defeating the queen. It invoked a response as she remembered he gave his life to help her defeat the jabberwocky but the queens defeat had undone all of her influence bringing him back to life along with all her other friends. She spoke of this at length with Christopher on their way north. He, like most of wonderlands inhabitants, had heard of her achievements but no-one knew how much a terrible ordeal it was for her, nearly being roasted, skewered, dismembered and blasted to pieces several times but especially the jabberwocks words to her, blaming her for not saving her parents and burning the house down. Even the telling of the story brought a tear to her eye.
They made camp in a small valley near a fresh water stream several hours away from the chess kingdom. "So you've heard about me Christopher, Tell me about yourself?" Alice offered to begin conversation.
"Alright then Alice." he began. "Well, Christopher is my given name, I was captured by the queens agents and tortured for their amusements. But they turned me over to the Hatter eventually, in trade for something I suppose I'll never know" Then his expression dropped and he became quite serious.
"It was horrible. I was experimented on in the most bizarre ways imaginable. Sometimes I didn't think I would survive and I suppose a part of me didn't. I heard screams all through the night from my fellow captives and I still hear them sometimes in my sleep. Some of us went insane and were no use to the hatter anymore so we were converted in those automaton things. They made me watch as one of my best friends went through that machine. It was awful. He was torn in half and sliced limb from limb and he still didn't die, his blood was everywhere." he began to cry. "I can see his face now as they sliced his head open and took out his brain to put in that empty husk of a machine, I prayed so hard that he would die before he became one of those mindless machines but it was no use. I never saw him again after that. I made a promise to myself then that would help others whenever I could.
"How ghastly!" replied Alice in sympathy.
"I can't remember much of what happened next. I was taken to a church and was met by a man in black with the coldest eyes I've ever seen. It felt he was pulling the soul right out of me. I lost something that day but the day after I was given to the White kingdom. It irritates the bloody hell out of my because I can't understand why they did it. I asked to be schooled as a medic and my request was granted and I'm a damn good one too. I'm not favoured in court because sometimes I don't see eye to eye with the King and Queen. And that's how I came to be with you.
"That's an awful story…"said Alice, "It sounds like the time I lost my parents."
"How did they die?" asked Christopher, wiping his eyes with a handkerchief.
"There was an accident and my house caught on fire. It was Dinahs' fault I suppose as she was the one who smashed the lantern causing the fire." She laughed for a moment "I remember I was dreaming having tea with the Hatter, the March hare and the dormouse. Suddenly one of the kettles caught fire and I smelt the smoke. They woke me up to realise that it wasn't the tea table on fire, it was my house. I ran screaming for my parents on the landing but they had been trapped in their room so they couldn't get out. I remember hearing my father telling me "Save yourself Alice!". The tears were streaming down her face. "I jumped through the front door heard my parents screaming as they burned alive." She calmed herself and Christopher gave her his handkerchief to wipe her face with.
"I went mad after that and it was that moment I believe I corrupted wonderland and the Queen of hearts took over. I would lay in the asylum for years until Rabbit brought me here. But it was no better. I lost friends in one way or another. I was glad when I dispose of the queen. It helped me come out of it."
Alice suddenly realised what she had said to this person. She was experiencing a feeling she had never felt before. She took his hand and said to him quietly.
"You're the first person I've shared all this with Christopher."
"And you're the first person I've told this to also Alice, I suppose it's because I care for you"
"I care for you too."
There eyes met and their faces slowly came together and they kissed. In that moment they had shared a moment of sheer despair and Alice found comfort in this. She admired him so much and it felt so natural to be with him (he was probably the only other human she had met in wonderland too.) She had never felt this way about anyone before but she felt there was something he was not telling her. Life with the Hatter in his deranged state though, he probable saw horrors beyond imagination. Their lips parted and her words were so gentle.
"Goodnight, Christopher." Alice whispered
"Sweet dreams Alice" he replied.
She turned over in the grass and fell asleep while Christopher prayed for awhile and fell to sleep in a patch of soft grass. Unbeknownst to her, she would have far from pleasant dreams.
A chord of chimes failed to wake either of them as the cat materialised next to them. He looked at Christopher with a look of sheer contempt and disappeared silently and unnoticed once more.