He knelt the best he could in HER throne room. The Queen smiled at him and bade him raise his head. He grinned up at her. She bade him to rise again, and he did. He stood in silence as she perused everything from his face to his feet, not fidgeting as so many were prone to do.
"Is she on her way?" the Queen asked. In the dead silence of the room, her voice, raspy and slightly grating, was hard on his sensitive ears.
He nodded, nevertheless. "I am trying to get her here, Milady, but she does not come."
"Then you shall have to... encourage her. If she does not come, you know what the consequences are."
He nodded and bowed, acknowledging her orders. "Is there anything else, or shall I go now?"
"There is more. There is a ball in a matter of days. Will you be attending?" Her lips curled in what seemed like a small smile.
"I did not receive an invite, Majesty." It was only here that he fidgeted, but only for a moment.
"Then come anyway. I personally invite you." She looked closely at him for any signs of displeasure. But he knew what displeasure on his part meant: beheading. He grinned at her again and nodded.
"Then I shall come."
"Good." Her lips curled wider. "Gooood."
She was completely and totally lost. Mara turned in circles, finding where she thought that she had just come from, and slowly turned in a half circle until she was (relatively) certain that she was going in the right direction. Four ants that she had met coming up the path had completely turned her around, and she felt that she didn't know left from right anymore. She was barely certain that she had even won. The one thing she was sure of was that she didn't want to deal with Cat.
She called out, afraid of the uncertainty. "Jeremy! Where are you?"A soft laugh greeted her. There he was, leaning up against a blade of grass, head cocked to one side, shoulders slanted, completely at ease.
He walked over to where she was standing. "What's the matter?"
"I'm lost. Cat didn't tell me which way to go, he only got rid of over half the things I picked up."
He chuckled. "Then I suppose that you didn't need half those things anyway."
Jeremy turned and started walking, and she followed until they reached a fast-moving stream, and then she hesitated. But he jumped on a passing leaf and she had no choice but to leap onto the next. She thought it a miracle that she'd made it.
The leaf continued on its journey, but it was small, the current was fast, and her small weight had no impact on the high speed and erratic course whatsoever. On the other hand, Jeremy's was perfectly steady, and when she was brave (or in her mind, stupid) enough to peek up, she would see him standing like a surfer. Then he turned and shouted at her to stand up and turn sideways and face forward. She shook her head furiously, but he kept telling her, so finally she did. Then it was another several minutes of convincing her to bend her knees.
It was a little easier that way, and after some reluctant experimentation she found that she could even guide it with her foot when she wanted to. A little, anyway.
When she finally was able to stand like Jeremy told her, she saw him flip over a root and land back on his leaf with a whoop. She laughed, and merely jumped over. The second she landed, an acorn hit the water just next to her leaf. It buckled but didn't tip, and she pressed all of her weight onto the side that was highest and it soon balanced out again.
When the stream banked sharply, she was almost completely horizontal, and she fought with every ounce of strength she had to stay on. Then more acorns dropped and she fell off completely, but grabbed the leaf and pulled herself up, just as a long, sticky tongue caught onto her leg, and pulled her down. She screamed (a very surreal sound and experience underwater) and started cutting at it with the knife, but it only pulled her closer.
She turned and found herself face-to-mouth with a pale blue fish-like thing that was watching her very intently. It stared at her for just a moment, and she watched it. Its tongue was caught on her arm, holding her under, and she began to grow a little light-headed as she ran out of oxygen.
She took out her knife and hacked at the thing until she finally killed it. She kicked frantically up to the surface and gulped in the precious air.
Another leaf sailed by, and she grabbed at it, hauling herself on. Jeremy was waiting, and she got the feeling that his leaf answered to him and not the river.
"What was that?" she asked him.
"I dunno," he confessed, and turned around to face her. "You did pretty well until the ladybugs dropped the second acorn," he called back.
"Thanks," she replied, concentrating on standing up. Then she heard the rushing sounds of a waterfall. Her eyes widened as the leaf rapidly approached, and she jumped off and swam to the bank as fast as she could. Then she ran down alongside the waterfall and when she reached the bottom, Jeremy was waiting for her once again. She jumped onto a new leaf, missing her footing as she landed. Nevertheless, she forced herself to stand and turn. Once she did so, the ladybugs dropped another acorn, which landed very nearby. Angry, she threw her knife at one that was slowly approaching her with an acorn in its legs. It screeched and fell into the water with a splash.
Jeremy pointed to a log, indicating that that was where they were headed. She nodded, suddenly a little worried. What if there were spiders there? Come to think of it, what if there were water spiders in the water?! She started panicking, not realising that she only making herself paranoid. Her leaf buckled, thanks to her shaking, so Jeremy stopped his leaf and brought it alongside hers.
He reassured her that nothing was going to hurt her, and that all she needed to do was keep going forward and not panic. She nodded shakily, whispering, "Go forward, don't panic. Go forward, don't panic."
With that, she guided her leaf into the current that would take them through the log, but at that exact moment, a bullet passed through the folds of her much-too-large sweater, and she didn't hesitate before jumping onto a nearby lily pad, then to the next, and finally to land. She landed with a crouch and sprung up to meet the ant soldiers.
The first thing she did was swing the mallet as hard as she could at the first ant as she rose. It connected to the ant's head and it flew away, disappearing behind a leaf. The other three ants slowly advanced, hissing at her.
She remembered the lighter suddenly, and took in a big mouthful of the liquor. Her eyes watered at the feeling of fire inside her mouth. Then she lit the lighter and spit the liquid out in a strong spray, and the ants screamed as the flames hit them.
A moment later, all that remained were several charred bodies and that awful, fiery taste in her mouth. Frantically she ran to the water's edge and sucked in water and rinsed her mouth out, spitting the salty water back out again in disgust. "Ugh! Oh, that is DISGUSTING!!"
Quickly she jumped onto another leaf and rode it until she reached another waterfall. Jeremy went over the edge, whooping and yelling, as she knew he would. Meanwhile, she jumped onto shore and ran down until she reached the end of the waterfall and jumped onto a lily pad as she waited for another leaf to come by. It came and she hopped on.
This leaf went at a much more leisurely pace than its counterparts (in a straight path, no less), and she had time to look around without being in danger of crashing into something. Up in the distance, she saw something and squinted. It was a bridge, probably a quaint little structure in itself, but at her size was enormous.
She glanced up as she drifted under it, fascinated by the water reflecting off of the shiny wet stones and itself, making a hypnotic, ever-moving pattern of light, with tiny dark lines curving and crisscrossing over each other. She watched for a moment, then caught sight of her reflection and gave a HUGE wince. Her hair was wet and grimy, and hung in stringy tendrils around her face. Her skin was pale and mottled with bruises and cuts, and she reached up to touch a fresh one, almost amazed at the sight of her own blood. Her eyes were larger than normal and scared. She tried to force the fear out of them, with little luck.
As she stared, the leaf started going faster, and the roar of a waterfall invaded her ears. She saw it and jumped up to grab an overhanging vine, just as the leaf went over.
Once the vine was actually in her hands, though, she had no idea what to do. Hesitantly she started swinging in the direction of the shore, and the vine quickly picked up momentum. Soon she was able to jump - and land -successfully. She ran down the path and soon jumped onto another leaf, trying to follow her elusive brother.
She guided it back and forth to avoid the "mean blue fish things," and soon disembarked when she saw Jeremy, perfectly dry (and clean), waiting at the shore.
He beckoned and quickly started off, and she found that he was leading her to a shallow pool where there were several lily pads, and she groaned and asked if she had to go into the water again. He shook his head ("Nope. Over it, sis,") and hopped from lily pad to lily pad, and she stared after him disgustedly.
Two ant soldiers stared also, but for entirely different reasons. They couldn't see Jeremy, but they could see how his weight manipulated the lily pads. All they saw were the centres dipping in suddenly, with two footprints. Mara would have ignored them; had they not shot at Jeremy. Even though the bullets passed harmlessly through, the mere fact that they had dared to shoot at her brother was infuriating, and she sent two croquet balls flying. As she waited for the mallet to reload, she let loose a barrage of cards, and impatiently reached for the next weapon: her trusty knife, and threw it hard as she could.
They were both dead quite soon after that, and she smiled, satisfied that they wouldn't shoot at him anymore. He turned to her and raised an eyebrow. "You've become quite violent, sis," he remarked. Embarrassed, she sighed.
"They tried to hurt you. I couldn't bear that."
"I can't feel it," he said quietly. "Faith, you don't need to defend a ghost." She nodded sadly and walked over to the edge, where she jumped onto the lily pads and crossed the pool. Then she saw the little house. Curious, she walked over to it as Jeremy shrugged and vanished.
She was about to knock when Cat appeared.
"Finally! I have questions for you!" she exclaimed. He shook his head.
"Not now. In this house is the Countess that you remember so dearly," he sneered. "I would advise you to take care while dealing with her."
"...Dealing with her?" She asked.
"Of course, dealing with her. Once you are finished, Rabbit will be waiting outside."
She nodded, feeling it best to say nothing.
"You do not understand," he said smugly. She continued nodding in agreement. He shook his head and vanished. She felt very much alone, and wasn't at all sure that she wanted to go inside that house. A lizard ran up, yelling.
"Don't go in! The Countess is there, and-"
Seeing the lizard's terrified face, she somehow knew that she had to go in, and she tried to pass. He stepped in front of her, quickly, and wouldn't budge when she tried to gently push him aside. "Why not?" she asked innocently, and as he started to reply, shoved him aside and went in. He stared after her in disbelief, and sighed, partially with relief. At least the Countess wouldn't want HIS company at dinner that night.
"Is she on her way?" the Queen asked. In the dead silence of the room, her voice, raspy and slightly grating, was hard on his sensitive ears.
He nodded, nevertheless. "I am trying to get her here, Milady, but she does not come."
"Then you shall have to... encourage her. If she does not come, you know what the consequences are."
He nodded and bowed, acknowledging her orders. "Is there anything else, or shall I go now?"
"There is more. There is a ball in a matter of days. Will you be attending?" Her lips curled in what seemed like a small smile.
"I did not receive an invite, Majesty." It was only here that he fidgeted, but only for a moment.
"Then come anyway. I personally invite you." She looked closely at him for any signs of displeasure. But he knew what displeasure on his part meant: beheading. He grinned at her again and nodded.
"Then I shall come."
"Good." Her lips curled wider. "Gooood."
She was completely and totally lost. Mara turned in circles, finding where she thought that she had just come from, and slowly turned in a half circle until she was (relatively) certain that she was going in the right direction. Four ants that she had met coming up the path had completely turned her around, and she felt that she didn't know left from right anymore. She was barely certain that she had even won. The one thing she was sure of was that she didn't want to deal with Cat.
She called out, afraid of the uncertainty. "Jeremy! Where are you?"A soft laugh greeted her. There he was, leaning up against a blade of grass, head cocked to one side, shoulders slanted, completely at ease.
He walked over to where she was standing. "What's the matter?"
"I'm lost. Cat didn't tell me which way to go, he only got rid of over half the things I picked up."
He chuckled. "Then I suppose that you didn't need half those things anyway."
Jeremy turned and started walking, and she followed until they reached a fast-moving stream, and then she hesitated. But he jumped on a passing leaf and she had no choice but to leap onto the next. She thought it a miracle that she'd made it.
The leaf continued on its journey, but it was small, the current was fast, and her small weight had no impact on the high speed and erratic course whatsoever. On the other hand, Jeremy's was perfectly steady, and when she was brave (or in her mind, stupid) enough to peek up, she would see him standing like a surfer. Then he turned and shouted at her to stand up and turn sideways and face forward. She shook her head furiously, but he kept telling her, so finally she did. Then it was another several minutes of convincing her to bend her knees.
It was a little easier that way, and after some reluctant experimentation she found that she could even guide it with her foot when she wanted to. A little, anyway.
When she finally was able to stand like Jeremy told her, she saw him flip over a root and land back on his leaf with a whoop. She laughed, and merely jumped over. The second she landed, an acorn hit the water just next to her leaf. It buckled but didn't tip, and she pressed all of her weight onto the side that was highest and it soon balanced out again.
When the stream banked sharply, she was almost completely horizontal, and she fought with every ounce of strength she had to stay on. Then more acorns dropped and she fell off completely, but grabbed the leaf and pulled herself up, just as a long, sticky tongue caught onto her leg, and pulled her down. She screamed (a very surreal sound and experience underwater) and started cutting at it with the knife, but it only pulled her closer.
She turned and found herself face-to-mouth with a pale blue fish-like thing that was watching her very intently. It stared at her for just a moment, and she watched it. Its tongue was caught on her arm, holding her under, and she began to grow a little light-headed as she ran out of oxygen.
She took out her knife and hacked at the thing until she finally killed it. She kicked frantically up to the surface and gulped in the precious air.
Another leaf sailed by, and she grabbed at it, hauling herself on. Jeremy was waiting, and she got the feeling that his leaf answered to him and not the river.
"What was that?" she asked him.
"I dunno," he confessed, and turned around to face her. "You did pretty well until the ladybugs dropped the second acorn," he called back.
"Thanks," she replied, concentrating on standing up. Then she heard the rushing sounds of a waterfall. Her eyes widened as the leaf rapidly approached, and she jumped off and swam to the bank as fast as she could. Then she ran down alongside the waterfall and when she reached the bottom, Jeremy was waiting for her once again. She jumped onto a new leaf, missing her footing as she landed. Nevertheless, she forced herself to stand and turn. Once she did so, the ladybugs dropped another acorn, which landed very nearby. Angry, she threw her knife at one that was slowly approaching her with an acorn in its legs. It screeched and fell into the water with a splash.
Jeremy pointed to a log, indicating that that was where they were headed. She nodded, suddenly a little worried. What if there were spiders there? Come to think of it, what if there were water spiders in the water?! She started panicking, not realising that she only making herself paranoid. Her leaf buckled, thanks to her shaking, so Jeremy stopped his leaf and brought it alongside hers.
He reassured her that nothing was going to hurt her, and that all she needed to do was keep going forward and not panic. She nodded shakily, whispering, "Go forward, don't panic. Go forward, don't panic."
With that, she guided her leaf into the current that would take them through the log, but at that exact moment, a bullet passed through the folds of her much-too-large sweater, and she didn't hesitate before jumping onto a nearby lily pad, then to the next, and finally to land. She landed with a crouch and sprung up to meet the ant soldiers.
The first thing she did was swing the mallet as hard as she could at the first ant as she rose. It connected to the ant's head and it flew away, disappearing behind a leaf. The other three ants slowly advanced, hissing at her.
She remembered the lighter suddenly, and took in a big mouthful of the liquor. Her eyes watered at the feeling of fire inside her mouth. Then she lit the lighter and spit the liquid out in a strong spray, and the ants screamed as the flames hit them.
A moment later, all that remained were several charred bodies and that awful, fiery taste in her mouth. Frantically she ran to the water's edge and sucked in water and rinsed her mouth out, spitting the salty water back out again in disgust. "Ugh! Oh, that is DISGUSTING!!"
Quickly she jumped onto another leaf and rode it until she reached another waterfall. Jeremy went over the edge, whooping and yelling, as she knew he would. Meanwhile, she jumped onto shore and ran down until she reached the end of the waterfall and jumped onto a lily pad as she waited for another leaf to come by. It came and she hopped on.
This leaf went at a much more leisurely pace than its counterparts (in a straight path, no less), and she had time to look around without being in danger of crashing into something. Up in the distance, she saw something and squinted. It was a bridge, probably a quaint little structure in itself, but at her size was enormous.
She glanced up as she drifted under it, fascinated by the water reflecting off of the shiny wet stones and itself, making a hypnotic, ever-moving pattern of light, with tiny dark lines curving and crisscrossing over each other. She watched for a moment, then caught sight of her reflection and gave a HUGE wince. Her hair was wet and grimy, and hung in stringy tendrils around her face. Her skin was pale and mottled with bruises and cuts, and she reached up to touch a fresh one, almost amazed at the sight of her own blood. Her eyes were larger than normal and scared. She tried to force the fear out of them, with little luck.
As she stared, the leaf started going faster, and the roar of a waterfall invaded her ears. She saw it and jumped up to grab an overhanging vine, just as the leaf went over.
Once the vine was actually in her hands, though, she had no idea what to do. Hesitantly she started swinging in the direction of the shore, and the vine quickly picked up momentum. Soon she was able to jump - and land -successfully. She ran down the path and soon jumped onto another leaf, trying to follow her elusive brother.
She guided it back and forth to avoid the "mean blue fish things," and soon disembarked when she saw Jeremy, perfectly dry (and clean), waiting at the shore.
He beckoned and quickly started off, and she found that he was leading her to a shallow pool where there were several lily pads, and she groaned and asked if she had to go into the water again. He shook his head ("Nope. Over it, sis,") and hopped from lily pad to lily pad, and she stared after him disgustedly.
Two ant soldiers stared also, but for entirely different reasons. They couldn't see Jeremy, but they could see how his weight manipulated the lily pads. All they saw were the centres dipping in suddenly, with two footprints. Mara would have ignored them; had they not shot at Jeremy. Even though the bullets passed harmlessly through, the mere fact that they had dared to shoot at her brother was infuriating, and she sent two croquet balls flying. As she waited for the mallet to reload, she let loose a barrage of cards, and impatiently reached for the next weapon: her trusty knife, and threw it hard as she could.
They were both dead quite soon after that, and she smiled, satisfied that they wouldn't shoot at him anymore. He turned to her and raised an eyebrow. "You've become quite violent, sis," he remarked. Embarrassed, she sighed.
"They tried to hurt you. I couldn't bear that."
"I can't feel it," he said quietly. "Faith, you don't need to defend a ghost." She nodded sadly and walked over to the edge, where she jumped onto the lily pads and crossed the pool. Then she saw the little house. Curious, she walked over to it as Jeremy shrugged and vanished.
She was about to knock when Cat appeared.
"Finally! I have questions for you!" she exclaimed. He shook his head.
"Not now. In this house is the Countess that you remember so dearly," he sneered. "I would advise you to take care while dealing with her."
"...Dealing with her?" She asked.
"Of course, dealing with her. Once you are finished, Rabbit will be waiting outside."
She nodded, feeling it best to say nothing.
"You do not understand," he said smugly. She continued nodding in agreement. He shook his head and vanished. She felt very much alone, and wasn't at all sure that she wanted to go inside that house. A lizard ran up, yelling.
"Don't go in! The Countess is there, and-"
Seeing the lizard's terrified face, she somehow knew that she had to go in, and she tried to pass. He stepped in front of her, quickly, and wouldn't budge when she tried to gently push him aside. "Why not?" she asked innocently, and as he started to reply, shoved him aside and went in. He stared after her in disbelief, and sighed, partially with relief. At least the Countess wouldn't want HIS company at dinner that night.