They grasped her tightly, as though to capture her, but she brought her heel squarely down into an expensive shoe and drove her elbow into someone's gut. She twisted out from the now-loosened grip and saw a man. It wasn't the General... this man was eviller, paler, and had an unpleasant expression. She remembered everyone talking about the new favourite, the one that no one had survived seeing, and purposefully stared at him long and hard.
He stared back. "So at last I meet the famous Faith."
"And I meet the Nameless Wonder."
He glared at her. "You're almost as bad as that infernal Samien."
"And speaking of which," Samien's voice sounded from behind her. Faith nearly died when she realised that she was caught dead in the middle of her two most dangerous enemies. "Faith is my business, Maggot."
"Which you are doing a terribly poor job of doing, Samien."
"The Queen has given me specific instructions, which I am following. I gave Faith the chance to surrender."
"Which she, noticeably, did not. Your intimidation factor is somewhat lacking."
"And who would be scared of you? You resemble your nickname more than the bug that you share it with."
Faith chose this opportunity (it seemed like the two were about to come to blows; they were completely ignoring her) to quietly leave the place. She carefully swung herself over the side of the bridge, dropping safely to the one below, and looked for which way to go, now that her original route seemed unavailable. She heard the sound of a rather powerful punch, and a whiny, high-pitched scream. Then the sound of a portal being summoned, and a snort that sounded very much like Samien.
He leapt down onto her bridge, blocking her path. She leapt quickly into fighting stance. He shook his head. "Oh, I'm not going to fight you. I have nothing to fight you with at present."
"Then why the hell are you stopping me?"
"Mostly to try to convince you to surrender, again."
"Not in my lifetime," she snapped. He shrugged.
"You are going to see the Red Queen either way, you know."
"Yes, but there will be a difference in the way I meet her. I am not going to meet the Queen while bound in chains."
"Then you have chosen to meet her in combat."
"Yes, and until I see her, I shall be sure to practise my curtsey."
He rolled his eyes. "Your wit seems to have improved since I last saw you."
She scoffed. "Now, who was that man you hit?" She held up her blade to his throat again. "Tell me something that I haven't heard."
He thought for a moment. "I can really only tell you this: that he is, in fact, more deadly to you than I am. I have no real desire to hurt you. He does. His greatest wish is to present your broken, mangled body to the Queen, and receive the greatest honour that it is possible for her to give."
"And what is that?"
"Somewhere between knocking me out of my position and making him King. Either works for him."
"Why are you telling me all of this?" she demanded.
"Two reasons: one, because I want him dead as much as everyone else in Wonderland; he is nothing more than a thorn in my side. However, it is not... prudent, for me to dispose of him myself." His eyes flicked over to the blade in her hands. "If you follow my gaze, that is the other reason."
She nodded. "Well. If it weren't for the fact that he might actually turn out a problem for me, I should prefer to let him live and torment you. Unfortunately, that is something I cannot do."
"How very kind you are," he said dryly. She gave him a half-smile, half-grimace in return.
"Now, if you'll excuse me," she said, guiding him over to the side of the bridge with her knife, and walking past him. "I have something of a date with the Red King."
He watched her go. "That is something that I can't allow."
She turned. "If you'd care to watch, an audience may not be so bad. I was deprived of one with the mantis; I could use one with the King."
He took up a spear on the side of the tower. "Not my weapon of choice, but..." he shrugged and swung. She caught it - barely - with the knife. "You make do."
"This is not your fight," she warned, knocking his spear away. "This fight is with the King. You've no business interfering."
He paused and withdrew. "I will respect that." With that, his portal summoned, and he vanished into it.
She stared after him. "That man is more puzzling than the Cheshire Cat!" She scowled and hurried off into the tower, lest any other enemies should appear. None did until she reached the castle gate. It was still being repaired, therefore there was a small crew of castles and card guards that were quickly working to put up new boards. When they saw her, they doubled their speed. She took out the mallet and approached. They continued, unfazed. The mallet connected with the door, and a big piece of it splintered out. They quickly started nailing boards across, not caring about alignment.
Soon, it seemed like boards were covering the entire gate, and she stared. It was almost like an old game that she and Jeremy used to play. There was a box-like playing area, and then there was a small hollow in the middle of the square, and a board that squished the playing pieces together. It was held back by nothing more than a spring. The goal was to have the least amount of pieces, because if you didn't take the right ones, several more would pop out. The key was finding the pieces that came out the easiest.
Only this was the reverse. She had to find the board that was wedged in the furthest, and then the entire thing would collapse. Hopefully.
She searched a little while, poking around with the head of her mallet, until she found a board that was wedged in extremely tightly. She knew that it was the one almost before she touched it. Then she smashed it in with the mallet. The effect was spectacular.
The entire thing collapsed in a pile of dust and wood, including the original gate. Faith grinned, and saw that it had totally knocked out the workers and the card guards, and dashed through, up the winding staircase... that was still quite wet, she noticed, and eventually found herself in the area that she had started out in when she was rescuing the Queen. What to do now was the question.
She ducked into the shadows as two card guards ran by, yelling something incoherent at the top of their lungs. Faith could understand 'King, ' though. She also heard 'hide', 'south', and 'secret'. Seemed like they were going to hide the King south of there somewhere secret, unless there was more to it than that. She decided to follow, in case she had trouble finding him later.
They ran seemingly all over the Keep, and Faith had to find a way to get herself out of a few tricky messes both unnoticed and unscathed. Finally they reached the Throne Room. "Quickly Majesty! Yer must go ter the hidin' place!" the diamond squealed.
"Quickly! Faid's comin'!" the club pleaded.
The King scowled, but consented. They led him out, and Faith followed. "Wait a moment," he sighed. "I seem to have left my crown in the throne room."
They pleaded with him to stay, but he took out his sceptre, bashing their heads in with it. "Hide, my arse," he muttered, and slid of to the throne room. He arrived back. "Faith is coming!" he mimicked in a high-pitched voice.
"No - I'm here," she said, stepping in. "And I'm ready to fight." He hit a button on his throne. At that, the walls seemed to fly away, and they were on a large platform in the midst of a void. Faith's eyes darted around, and she wondered how the hell the voids kept showing up.
"So eager for blood, are we?" he said dryly. "And here I was, thinking that I may face someone above those blasted card guards."
She shrugged. "I'm not mindless."
"Just... almost there," he mocked. "Isn't it amusing how madness is rather like deceit? It starts small, but in the end, it consumes you. You live by lying, Faith. It's amazing that anyone has any... faith in you at all."
She rolled her eyes. "You can't hurt me with words, especially not bad puns like that," she said firmly. "The Mantis tried and failed. You can try all you want, but you will, as well."
"Such bravado," he sighed. "But such naïveté. You should know better than most, Faith, that words can hurt more than the most excruciating torture device. Take this: you lie to someone in a big, big way. Like what most of your so-called friends are doing to you now. You trust them with all of your heart, but how on earth will you feel after you find out that you've been betrayed by all of them?"
Faith didn't answer. She was trying to block out his words, but his voice cut straight through her skin.
"Like your dear friend the Cheshire Cat."
"No!"
He turned to her, an evil grin on his face. "You trust him? Tsk, tsk, tsk. He is one of the rebels' most shady members. And his current sham is more than enough to turn his most trustworthy friend into nothing more than a black, murderous rage. I can see that in you. It's there, deep in your core, screaming to get out."
"No it's not," Faith said quickly.
"Oh, but yes it is." He circled around her. "Only you and I know what you've done to yourself, what you've said to yourself in your blackest despair. How many times have you contemplated suicide - or murder?"
"Believe me, I'm seriously contemplating murder right now," she hissed.
"Well, you're certainly in a position to try it. I am unarmed," and he swung his sceptre, catching her in the stomach and sending her flying. She grunted in pain and stood on extremely wobbly legs. "Except for that, of course."
She returned with a croquet ball, which only just missed. He smirked at her in disdain for her apparently horrible aim, but the ball bounced off of the wall and nailed the back of his head. She took out the ice wand and fired at the ground, travelling in a straight line up to an inch from his head. "Shall I continue?" she asked coldly. "Or would you rather me stop?" she drove it forwards another centimetre, and was rather satisfied to see a fine film of sweat covering his brow.
"Mercy," he whispered.
"Mercy? How much mercy did you think you showed when you launched your pathetic diatribe against me? How much mercy did you show when you encouraged your troops to constantly plunder and pillage everything in sight, and murder everyone they see, down to the last child?"
He shook his head.
"That's what I thought," she jeered.
"Faith," he said. "You're turning into my wife as we speak. Listen to yourself."
She froze and backed up. "No."
He nodded and stood himself up. "Exactly like the Queen of Hearts. In fact, your tone of voice and facial expression mirrored hers so much that I almost had the two of you confused."
She backed up further. He kept advancing. "Honestly. Hm. It seems that Faith Maras won't be saving the day just yet. She hasn't confronted her biggest insecurities... or her naïveté."
"Why do you keep saying that?" she shouted.
He fired a diamond missile at her. It landed just in front of her, but she dodged it easily. "It isn't obvious? You trust so blindly. Look at all of your friends. Unquestioningly you allowed the dwarf to lead you through the Fortress of Doors. Unthinkingly you followed the Rabbit through the Woods. You trust the White pieces completely. You listen to the Cheshire Cat and follow his advice without a second thought." He thought for a moment. "And they are your only friends here, too. Pitiful."
Faith glared at him. "Don't think that you're terribly well-loved, either," she told him coldly. "Your wife despises you. Everyone calls you ugly and a multitude of synonyms for coward behind your back. Your general and the other man are her favourites for a few reasons: one, they're much better looking than you, and two; they've accomplished more than you can even dream. You call me useless, pathetic and weak, but in reality, you're nothing more than your wife's shadow or her lapdog."
He roared and charged, knocking her off of the edge, but she grabbed his arm and pulled him down with her.
He stared back. "So at last I meet the famous Faith."
"And I meet the Nameless Wonder."
He glared at her. "You're almost as bad as that infernal Samien."
"And speaking of which," Samien's voice sounded from behind her. Faith nearly died when she realised that she was caught dead in the middle of her two most dangerous enemies. "Faith is my business, Maggot."
"Which you are doing a terribly poor job of doing, Samien."
"The Queen has given me specific instructions, which I am following. I gave Faith the chance to surrender."
"Which she, noticeably, did not. Your intimidation factor is somewhat lacking."
"And who would be scared of you? You resemble your nickname more than the bug that you share it with."
Faith chose this opportunity (it seemed like the two were about to come to blows; they were completely ignoring her) to quietly leave the place. She carefully swung herself over the side of the bridge, dropping safely to the one below, and looked for which way to go, now that her original route seemed unavailable. She heard the sound of a rather powerful punch, and a whiny, high-pitched scream. Then the sound of a portal being summoned, and a snort that sounded very much like Samien.
He leapt down onto her bridge, blocking her path. She leapt quickly into fighting stance. He shook his head. "Oh, I'm not going to fight you. I have nothing to fight you with at present."
"Then why the hell are you stopping me?"
"Mostly to try to convince you to surrender, again."
"Not in my lifetime," she snapped. He shrugged.
"You are going to see the Red Queen either way, you know."
"Yes, but there will be a difference in the way I meet her. I am not going to meet the Queen while bound in chains."
"Then you have chosen to meet her in combat."
"Yes, and until I see her, I shall be sure to practise my curtsey."
He rolled his eyes. "Your wit seems to have improved since I last saw you."
She scoffed. "Now, who was that man you hit?" She held up her blade to his throat again. "Tell me something that I haven't heard."
He thought for a moment. "I can really only tell you this: that he is, in fact, more deadly to you than I am. I have no real desire to hurt you. He does. His greatest wish is to present your broken, mangled body to the Queen, and receive the greatest honour that it is possible for her to give."
"And what is that?"
"Somewhere between knocking me out of my position and making him King. Either works for him."
"Why are you telling me all of this?" she demanded.
"Two reasons: one, because I want him dead as much as everyone else in Wonderland; he is nothing more than a thorn in my side. However, it is not... prudent, for me to dispose of him myself." His eyes flicked over to the blade in her hands. "If you follow my gaze, that is the other reason."
She nodded. "Well. If it weren't for the fact that he might actually turn out a problem for me, I should prefer to let him live and torment you. Unfortunately, that is something I cannot do."
"How very kind you are," he said dryly. She gave him a half-smile, half-grimace in return.
"Now, if you'll excuse me," she said, guiding him over to the side of the bridge with her knife, and walking past him. "I have something of a date with the Red King."
He watched her go. "That is something that I can't allow."
She turned. "If you'd care to watch, an audience may not be so bad. I was deprived of one with the mantis; I could use one with the King."
He took up a spear on the side of the tower. "Not my weapon of choice, but..." he shrugged and swung. She caught it - barely - with the knife. "You make do."
"This is not your fight," she warned, knocking his spear away. "This fight is with the King. You've no business interfering."
He paused and withdrew. "I will respect that." With that, his portal summoned, and he vanished into it.
She stared after him. "That man is more puzzling than the Cheshire Cat!" She scowled and hurried off into the tower, lest any other enemies should appear. None did until she reached the castle gate. It was still being repaired, therefore there was a small crew of castles and card guards that were quickly working to put up new boards. When they saw her, they doubled their speed. She took out the mallet and approached. They continued, unfazed. The mallet connected with the door, and a big piece of it splintered out. They quickly started nailing boards across, not caring about alignment.
Soon, it seemed like boards were covering the entire gate, and she stared. It was almost like an old game that she and Jeremy used to play. There was a box-like playing area, and then there was a small hollow in the middle of the square, and a board that squished the playing pieces together. It was held back by nothing more than a spring. The goal was to have the least amount of pieces, because if you didn't take the right ones, several more would pop out. The key was finding the pieces that came out the easiest.
Only this was the reverse. She had to find the board that was wedged in the furthest, and then the entire thing would collapse. Hopefully.
She searched a little while, poking around with the head of her mallet, until she found a board that was wedged in extremely tightly. She knew that it was the one almost before she touched it. Then she smashed it in with the mallet. The effect was spectacular.
The entire thing collapsed in a pile of dust and wood, including the original gate. Faith grinned, and saw that it had totally knocked out the workers and the card guards, and dashed through, up the winding staircase... that was still quite wet, she noticed, and eventually found herself in the area that she had started out in when she was rescuing the Queen. What to do now was the question.
She ducked into the shadows as two card guards ran by, yelling something incoherent at the top of their lungs. Faith could understand 'King, ' though. She also heard 'hide', 'south', and 'secret'. Seemed like they were going to hide the King south of there somewhere secret, unless there was more to it than that. She decided to follow, in case she had trouble finding him later.
They ran seemingly all over the Keep, and Faith had to find a way to get herself out of a few tricky messes both unnoticed and unscathed. Finally they reached the Throne Room. "Quickly Majesty! Yer must go ter the hidin' place!" the diamond squealed.
"Quickly! Faid's comin'!" the club pleaded.
The King scowled, but consented. They led him out, and Faith followed. "Wait a moment," he sighed. "I seem to have left my crown in the throne room."
They pleaded with him to stay, but he took out his sceptre, bashing their heads in with it. "Hide, my arse," he muttered, and slid of to the throne room. He arrived back. "Faith is coming!" he mimicked in a high-pitched voice.
"No - I'm here," she said, stepping in. "And I'm ready to fight." He hit a button on his throne. At that, the walls seemed to fly away, and they were on a large platform in the midst of a void. Faith's eyes darted around, and she wondered how the hell the voids kept showing up.
"So eager for blood, are we?" he said dryly. "And here I was, thinking that I may face someone above those blasted card guards."
She shrugged. "I'm not mindless."
"Just... almost there," he mocked. "Isn't it amusing how madness is rather like deceit? It starts small, but in the end, it consumes you. You live by lying, Faith. It's amazing that anyone has any... faith in you at all."
She rolled her eyes. "You can't hurt me with words, especially not bad puns like that," she said firmly. "The Mantis tried and failed. You can try all you want, but you will, as well."
"Such bravado," he sighed. "But such naïveté. You should know better than most, Faith, that words can hurt more than the most excruciating torture device. Take this: you lie to someone in a big, big way. Like what most of your so-called friends are doing to you now. You trust them with all of your heart, but how on earth will you feel after you find out that you've been betrayed by all of them?"
Faith didn't answer. She was trying to block out his words, but his voice cut straight through her skin.
"Like your dear friend the Cheshire Cat."
"No!"
He turned to her, an evil grin on his face. "You trust him? Tsk, tsk, tsk. He is one of the rebels' most shady members. And his current sham is more than enough to turn his most trustworthy friend into nothing more than a black, murderous rage. I can see that in you. It's there, deep in your core, screaming to get out."
"No it's not," Faith said quickly.
"Oh, but yes it is." He circled around her. "Only you and I know what you've done to yourself, what you've said to yourself in your blackest despair. How many times have you contemplated suicide - or murder?"
"Believe me, I'm seriously contemplating murder right now," she hissed.
"Well, you're certainly in a position to try it. I am unarmed," and he swung his sceptre, catching her in the stomach and sending her flying. She grunted in pain and stood on extremely wobbly legs. "Except for that, of course."
She returned with a croquet ball, which only just missed. He smirked at her in disdain for her apparently horrible aim, but the ball bounced off of the wall and nailed the back of his head. She took out the ice wand and fired at the ground, travelling in a straight line up to an inch from his head. "Shall I continue?" she asked coldly. "Or would you rather me stop?" she drove it forwards another centimetre, and was rather satisfied to see a fine film of sweat covering his brow.
"Mercy," he whispered.
"Mercy? How much mercy did you think you showed when you launched your pathetic diatribe against me? How much mercy did you show when you encouraged your troops to constantly plunder and pillage everything in sight, and murder everyone they see, down to the last child?"
He shook his head.
"That's what I thought," she jeered.
"Faith," he said. "You're turning into my wife as we speak. Listen to yourself."
She froze and backed up. "No."
He nodded and stood himself up. "Exactly like the Queen of Hearts. In fact, your tone of voice and facial expression mirrored hers so much that I almost had the two of you confused."
She backed up further. He kept advancing. "Honestly. Hm. It seems that Faith Maras won't be saving the day just yet. She hasn't confronted her biggest insecurities... or her naïveté."
"Why do you keep saying that?" she shouted.
He fired a diamond missile at her. It landed just in front of her, but she dodged it easily. "It isn't obvious? You trust so blindly. Look at all of your friends. Unquestioningly you allowed the dwarf to lead you through the Fortress of Doors. Unthinkingly you followed the Rabbit through the Woods. You trust the White pieces completely. You listen to the Cheshire Cat and follow his advice without a second thought." He thought for a moment. "And they are your only friends here, too. Pitiful."
Faith glared at him. "Don't think that you're terribly well-loved, either," she told him coldly. "Your wife despises you. Everyone calls you ugly and a multitude of synonyms for coward behind your back. Your general and the other man are her favourites for a few reasons: one, they're much better looking than you, and two; they've accomplished more than you can even dream. You call me useless, pathetic and weak, but in reality, you're nothing more than your wife's shadow or her lapdog."
He roared and charged, knocking her off of the edge, but she grabbed his arm and pulled him down with her.