The speeding didn't stop there, though. The house the village the mines the Fortress the woods... Chessland, then they sped to the Hatter's castle, through a window, down down and endless turning. They stopped safely, just outside the maze at the end. "I figured you didn't want to go back to the maze," he said, shrugging. "There's really not that much more to find there, anyway." He grinned mischievously at her. "Unless you want to find some more automatons."
Recovering her thoughts - she was awfully winded and disoriented - she thought back to seeing them in the maze, and caught brief flashes of fighting them, and decided quickly against it. "...Am I armed?" she asked nervously. She looked down at herself. Once again, she was wearing the big blue sweater and the purple dress... but they were much fresher. Her boots were actually shiny again. But there was not a weapon in sight. "I mean, I don't have to find everything all over again, do I?" Jeremy shook his head.
"Your weapons are... er, were, confiscated by Hatter. They can't be destroyed, so it's really not like you're in danger of losing them permanently, but... uh, it does make things harder." Faith stared at him blankly. Jeremy knew that look... and that he was going to be in trouble if he stayed longer.
"You've GOT to be joking," she said quietly. He shook his head.
"Nope... er, anything I can do?"
"Not unless you can get them for me, though I don't think that's possible. I'll have to tough it out for myself," she sighed, resigning herself to getting rather beaten up. Then she had to try and remember who the Hatter was. He was a friend... maybe he was keeping them safe for her? No, that wasn't quite right.
Jeremy patted her shoulder and stepped back. "I can try to guide you there," he said thoughtfully. "I'm not as knowledgeable as Kitty and Rabbit, but hey... I can try."
"Where are they, anyway?" she asked, suddenly wondering why they hadn't been there to meet her. Jeremy chuckled, a bit embarrassed. She frowned at him suspiciously. "And what are you laughing about?"
"Well, er... they don't know you're back yet." He gestured and she started after him, confused.
"How? Why not?"
"Well that's one of the perks of coming with me- nobody in Wonderland knows you're back yet."
"Ah," she said, not sure whether to be reassured or not. They lapsed into silence, and she thought back. True, she was remembering a lot now. Reynald and his abuse, Emelia and her utter bitchiness, all the doctors, Halden... she remembered everything about her life before entering Wonderland. Now she was a little disoriented, partially because it was, in fact, real, and partially because she was trying to remember everything about it, but it was all very fuzzy. Now she was there, and the reality was horribly vivid.
Then she heard the sound of movement. "Jeremy!" she hissed. He turned and pointed into a narrow, dark passage, and she followed him in there, and crouched down, not moving. An automaton wheeled past, and she found herself remembering something a bit like it... except much scarier.
Jeremy stood up, relieved, and Faith sank down. "C'mon," he whispered, and they entered the main hallway again. A long, winding staircase soon came into view behind a corner.
"What's up here?" she asked, curious. Jeremy glanced at it, and shrugged. "I'm going to see."
"Why?" he asked, confused, as she started climbing. She shrugged.
"Because... er, I don't know, actually," she admitted. "But hey, it may turn out to be something useful."
"Or it may release a hundred enemies," he warned. "Hatter may not know you're here, but he's still tricky." Faith nodded, but continued on her way up. At the top, she opened the door and was greeted to an empty room. Wait; there was something in the corner. Faith wondered why it was there, and why there were small bloodstains and scorch marks on the walls. And a lever, in the 'up' position fairly high up on the left. She wanted to go in and investigate further, but Jeremy was right... "Let me check," he said, coming up behind her. He appeared quite serious, and she paused.
"Wait, it's not that important," she said. He stopped and turned. "If something happens and you get trapped in there or something, I don't want it to be on my account, because I was stupid enough to fall for one of Hatter's traps," she said all this very fast.
They started down the staircase until they heard Hatter's voice. There was no choice now- they had to go into the room. Faith was unarmed, and Jeremy was a ghost... not very good odds against Hatter.
They jumped inside, and crouched into the left of the doorway, as far into that corner as they could go. Then Hatter began climbing the stairs, and Faith looked wildly around, trying to find a way to get... he was talking to someone; a high, cold (albeit somewhat stuffy) voice that she remembered well. She'd been on the receiving end of dire threats from it before, and she punched at the wall in frustration, with her knuckle just scraping the bottom of the lever's box. The lever... maybe it would do something that would distract the two long enough for Jeremy and her to get away... oh, she could only hope.
She leapt up, grabbing the lever, and let gravity pull it down with her. The door slammed shut, and the room plummeted down. She fell up, along with the strange object in the corner, and she saw that it was a dice. "Some lift!" Jeremy yelled over to her from his place on the ground, and she nodded, and grabbed the dice, stuffing it up her sleeve. Perhaps that would keep it from rolling around too much.
The lift landed, and she hit the ground... BAM. "Ohh..." she grimaced, and stood shakily.
"You okay?" Jeremy asked, unperturbed. She nodded and they exited. It started back up, fairly slowly though. "Let's run," he said, following it with his eyes. She agreed- if the two followed them and caught them, there would be big trouble.
They were in a long hallway now, red-carpeted and lined floor to ceiling with mirrors. They ran down, and threw open the door at the end, and gingerly shut it, trying to make as little noise as possible. Once they heard the latch click, they dashed off again. "I've been here before!" she gasped out. Jeremy cocked his head, confused.
"What?"
"This... the Hare, the Dormouse," she whispered, walking up to the Hare. He stared up at her with glazed eyes, a bit more awake this time.
"Why is a raven like a writing desk?" he asked shakily.
"Make up your own riddle," she scolded. "It's pathetic that you would steal one of Hatter's, all people to steal from."
"Oh... how are the Red Queen and a squall unlike?" Faith thought for a moment.
"Get DOWN!" Jeremy hissed, and she dropped and rolled underneath a mad child's bed. Jeremy vanished, and two people walked in. THUMP, scrape, thump. Hatter's cane. Bad leg. Good leg. Then the normal walking, almost strutting, of an expensive pair of shoes, that was completely shiny but for a small, rounded mark near the toe. Strangely, they were talking about it.
"Yes... she stamped on my foot in the Scarlet Dominion... I haven't been able to get it off, not even with polish."
"You may need to get another pair," Hatter cackled. She heard a disgusted grunt from the other man.
"Now, why did your lift malfunction so randomly like that? You told me that only the lever could induce it to work."
"It's an old lift, built before the Queen's first takeover. I haven't needed to use it for a while, and my guess is that it is in disrepair. But I will worry about that later. What news?"
"Faith isn't coming back for a while," the other said smugly. "She hasn't been attending her sessions with Reynald, though, and that has me worried... what will she do should she begin seeing things?"
"And that doctor that she's so very fond of?"
"He's an idiot, and so are his wife and that friend of hers. We have nothing to worry about from the mortals."
"And the others?"
"The biggest worry is from the Cheshire Cat- apparently he had some sort of an episode with her in the lift of the doctor's apartment building. It strengthened his regard for her, and he'll be more determined than ever to get her here."
"Well, isn't that reassuring?" Hatter asked dryly. "Yes, I can see exactly why you say that she won't be coming back- her 'dear love' the Cheshire Cat won't let her come into harm's way, even though Wonderland means more to him than anything.
"Ah well," he said suddenly. "She cannot come back, anyway. She is eighteen. The Queen can finish her takeover without worrying about the little rat." Faith's lip curled, but Jeremy gave her a warning look. She was, after all, unarmed.
"I was only giving you news," Maggot said sullenly. Maggot, yes. That was the name that she'd always heard him referred to as. She raised her eyebrows, listening. "In any case, she's at home now."
There was silence, but from the way Hatter's stance changed, she assumed that he was bracing himself for a satisfied nod. But she didn't feel it very wise to make sure.
"Where are her weapons?" Maggot asked suddenly. "I should like to see them."
"I expected as much," Hatter said knowledgeably.
"Then may I?"
"No."
"Why not?" Petulant, whiny.
"The last time I showed something important to guests, I was showing them to a spy as well."
"I'm on your side, you know that."
"Yes, I do, Maggot. That spy slipped in with us. He saw everything. He saw where the Gryphon was hidden, he saw Mantis, he saw my entire force of automatons!"
"Why must you echo that infernal Samien and keep calling me that?"
"It sounds a bit more dignified than your real name, Renny."
Faith had to keep in a chortle at that. But it was a bit difficult. Renny??? That man? She tried to recall his face; only certain details came to her mind, and she decided that he resembled his nickname more than whatever 'Renny' meant, and she made it a point to always call him Maggot from then on. "Do you feel something?" Maggot asked suddenly. Faith froze, and Hatter raised an incredulous eyebrow.
"What do you mean, 'do I feel something'? Of course I feel something." He pounded the floor with his cane. "My feet feel the floor, my skin feels my clothes, my mind feels the mechanics, of course I feel! What is this nonsense?"
"Something isn't right," Maggot said agitatedly. "I can't really say why, it just doesn't!"
"What are you going to do, look under the beds until you feel better?" Hatter smirked.
"Maybe I will," he said, sniffing obstinately. Faith's heart beat a bit more rapidly, and she urgently tried to see if there was any avenue of escape.
"Ah, Maggot. There you are." It was an awfully familiar voice... like silk, or velvet, deep, with an ominous ring to it. Beautiful, but deadly. Samien's. "I've been looking for you."
"Oh, it's you," Maggot groaned. Samien chuckled, and a little shiver went up Faith's spine.
"But of course. Who else would it be?"
"I had hoped it would be someone I liked."
"Then I suppose I should be relieved that I didn't disappoint you." There was a pause. "And you were bowing for me when I entered; I'm flattered." She realised that he must have just been bending down to check under the bed, and shrank back.
"I was NOT!" Maggot said hotly. "I was just checking..." He stood fully up now, though he wasn't nearly as tall as Samien, if she remembered correctly.
"Oh come off it," Samien mocked. "That's rather stereotypical."
"You didn't even hear me through!" Maggot protested.
"I don't need to- you had an uneasy feeling, and so to alleviate your fears, you decide to do the most clichéd assurance check ever- you peep under the bed like a five year old dwarf from the mines."
"Then where would you look, genius?" Maggot asked caustically.
"Don't know," he shrugged. "Wherever the mood hits me. But be assured, I wouldn't be quite so... hackneyed about it."
"Oh really," Maggot said dryly. "I expect you would have just whipped the sheets off with a grandiose flair, like this," he said. She saw him rapidly move to the bed she was under and start drawing off the sheets with a flourish. Desperately she dived underneath the falling sheet, miraculously escaping notice. Then again, Jeremy had mimicked the gesture on a bed further down. They couldn't see him, she realised, and grinned in relief. They all dashed over and gathered round the sheet, not touching it.
"...Is it alive?" Maggot asked uneasily. Samien scoffed.
"Oh, please, Maggot. You needn't act like a coward on top of looking like one." He picked it up and tossed it carelessly back on the bed, where it once again began to move-sliding-slowly down, rolling itself up. Then it flew at Maggot, who emitted a high-pitched, girly shriek and dropped to the floor. Hatter pressed a button on his cane and a small rocket obliterated it.
An automaton wheeled in, and Hatter faced it. "Get all of these sheets out of here right this minute," he said. In less than sixty seconds, all the sheets were off the beds and it was reaching for the one she was hidden under. She leapt into the mass of other sheets as it drew the sheet up and threw it on top of her. Once again, she was hidden, but where she would be going, she didn't know.
It wheeled her off rapidly, and before long she was dumped into a room and abandoned. She peeked out, and discovered herself in a storage room of sorts. Interested, she poked around for a bit, but didn't find much more than mechanical parts. She paused, feeling rather in an evil disposition towards the Hatter, and switched some of the parts around. It may clue him in that she was there... or he may just think it was the work of the sheet ghost.
She crept out, having no idea where she was going. After a bit of walking down a hall, she decided to turn into the first room that she came to, and tough out whatever may happen. She walked up to one of the doors, and was about to open it when she heard Samien's voice. Maybe the second door, then. She hurried past and opened the next one. There was nothing particularly exciting in there but a tea set, laid out perfectly on the table. She sniffed it cautiously, and found the aroma strangely pungent. She didn't trust it, and turned away.
Footsteps sounded outside. "Yes, yes, come in here, we'll have tea," Hatter said gruffly. She couldn't help but wonder if he was trying to poison Samien. It seemed that rivalries amongst the Queen's forces were much more pronounced than even Caterpillar had thought. There was no more time to think however, and she dived underneath a big armchair seated at a place where the tea smelled strange. Hopefully, no one would be sitting there.
The three came in, and Hatter seated them all at the opposite end of the table. "Now. Samien, what exactly is your grievance against me?"
"I want your automatons out of my provinces. They interfere."
"With what, exactly?" Maggot asked.
"Would you care for the short list or the long one?" he retorted mockingly.
"We'll have the short one, if you don't mind," Maggot said boredly. Samien didn't say anything for a few minutes.
"They have interfered with the training of my troops, including the chess pieces. They've totally wrecked several spy operations, not only allowing the rebels to determine their identities, but to kill them as well."
"That's quite the long list," Maggot sneered.
"That's the short one," Samien retorted coldly.
"You haven't drunk any tea," Hatter said, a crafty note to his voice.
"I don't trust your tea." His voice was colder than ever before.
"You wound me," Hatter protested. Samien stood.
"Good. Order your automatons out of my provinces, Hatter, and you as well, Maggot. I'd hate to inform the Queen how badly they impede our progress."
"My automatons are ten times stronger than your pathetic card guards, and twice as deadly!" Hatter bellowed.
"Unfortunately, they're also three times as ineffectual. The rebels do have in their advantage an acute knowledge of Wonderland and its terrain. Your automatons sense movement. All they need to do is duck somewhere and the automatons will pass them by. And they're rather useless in heavily wooded areas on top of that," Samien responded. He was calm, cruel. But Faith felt anything but sympathy for Hatter.
"Just get out before you force me to hurt you." Hatter's voice was quiet, shaking. She could feel the loathing in it and shuddered.
"If you try, I'll have your head," Samien growled. "Whether the Queen likes it or not." And then he left.
"Neanderthal!" Hatter yelled after him.
"Loose screw," he replied tartly, and vanished.
"So Faith is still on Earth," Maggot said loudly, drawing Hatter's-and Faith's-attention. "We can still do quite a bit of damage before she gets back. I have a plan."
"What on earth makes you think she can get back here? I already told you that she couldn't."
"The Cheshire Cat is working non-stop to find a way. I fear that he may discover one. And even if he doesn't, it would still get us a very high card in our hand. If he does, and she is able to return, she will be returning to chaos, and a thoroughly friendless realm."
"Oh?" Hatter turned away from the door and sat down.
"Since Faith left, I have discovered several weak points in the Pale Realm. The chess pieces, as we all well know, have been nothing short of thorns in our sides. But they have made the mistake of keeping mainly the healers and the children closer to the centre- they can fight, but it would be no great challenge for a large force to break through."
"So what do you propose?" Hatter was very interested.
"I propose a joint diversion," he explained. "I will be ordering whatever chess pieces are in my province to attack them where they're moderately strong- on the north side. Then, when they have called more of their pieces to battle, your automatons can slip through from the southeast towards the centre of the city... wreaking havoc as you go." Faith shuddered, thinking how bad it would be if the white pieces were wiped out.
"Faith killed the King," Hatter pointed out. "The red pieces were totally loyal to him. Now their loyalty runs more toward Samien than us."
Maggot nodded thoughtfully. "If we can promise them a large victory on our side, perhaps they will like it better." Hatter nodded.
"A good plan. The white pieces won't suspect?"
"No. The red pieces have grouped together several times before. Odds are, they'll think it's one of those times again."
"Excellent!" Hatter was quite enthusiastic. "And when shall we do this? Sometime when Samien isn't in that particular province," he said disgustedly.
"Of course," he said. "It will be a while, but it will give us time to mobilize our forces, and me time to convince the reds."
"When do you have planned?"
"Ten days from now."
Hatter looked at his watch. "One forty-six in the morning," he announced. Faith found that very convenient.
"I know," Maggot said, and she could hear the grin in his voice. "Good."
Recovering her thoughts - she was awfully winded and disoriented - she thought back to seeing them in the maze, and caught brief flashes of fighting them, and decided quickly against it. "...Am I armed?" she asked nervously. She looked down at herself. Once again, she was wearing the big blue sweater and the purple dress... but they were much fresher. Her boots were actually shiny again. But there was not a weapon in sight. "I mean, I don't have to find everything all over again, do I?" Jeremy shook his head.
"Your weapons are... er, were, confiscated by Hatter. They can't be destroyed, so it's really not like you're in danger of losing them permanently, but... uh, it does make things harder." Faith stared at him blankly. Jeremy knew that look... and that he was going to be in trouble if he stayed longer.
"You've GOT to be joking," she said quietly. He shook his head.
"Nope... er, anything I can do?"
"Not unless you can get them for me, though I don't think that's possible. I'll have to tough it out for myself," she sighed, resigning herself to getting rather beaten up. Then she had to try and remember who the Hatter was. He was a friend... maybe he was keeping them safe for her? No, that wasn't quite right.
Jeremy patted her shoulder and stepped back. "I can try to guide you there," he said thoughtfully. "I'm not as knowledgeable as Kitty and Rabbit, but hey... I can try."
"Where are they, anyway?" she asked, suddenly wondering why they hadn't been there to meet her. Jeremy chuckled, a bit embarrassed. She frowned at him suspiciously. "And what are you laughing about?"
"Well, er... they don't know you're back yet." He gestured and she started after him, confused.
"How? Why not?"
"Well that's one of the perks of coming with me- nobody in Wonderland knows you're back yet."
"Ah," she said, not sure whether to be reassured or not. They lapsed into silence, and she thought back. True, she was remembering a lot now. Reynald and his abuse, Emelia and her utter bitchiness, all the doctors, Halden... she remembered everything about her life before entering Wonderland. Now she was a little disoriented, partially because it was, in fact, real, and partially because she was trying to remember everything about it, but it was all very fuzzy. Now she was there, and the reality was horribly vivid.
Then she heard the sound of movement. "Jeremy!" she hissed. He turned and pointed into a narrow, dark passage, and she followed him in there, and crouched down, not moving. An automaton wheeled past, and she found herself remembering something a bit like it... except much scarier.
Jeremy stood up, relieved, and Faith sank down. "C'mon," he whispered, and they entered the main hallway again. A long, winding staircase soon came into view behind a corner.
"What's up here?" she asked, curious. Jeremy glanced at it, and shrugged. "I'm going to see."
"Why?" he asked, confused, as she started climbing. She shrugged.
"Because... er, I don't know, actually," she admitted. "But hey, it may turn out to be something useful."
"Or it may release a hundred enemies," he warned. "Hatter may not know you're here, but he's still tricky." Faith nodded, but continued on her way up. At the top, she opened the door and was greeted to an empty room. Wait; there was something in the corner. Faith wondered why it was there, and why there were small bloodstains and scorch marks on the walls. And a lever, in the 'up' position fairly high up on the left. She wanted to go in and investigate further, but Jeremy was right... "Let me check," he said, coming up behind her. He appeared quite serious, and she paused.
"Wait, it's not that important," she said. He stopped and turned. "If something happens and you get trapped in there or something, I don't want it to be on my account, because I was stupid enough to fall for one of Hatter's traps," she said all this very fast.
They started down the staircase until they heard Hatter's voice. There was no choice now- they had to go into the room. Faith was unarmed, and Jeremy was a ghost... not very good odds against Hatter.
They jumped inside, and crouched into the left of the doorway, as far into that corner as they could go. Then Hatter began climbing the stairs, and Faith looked wildly around, trying to find a way to get... he was talking to someone; a high, cold (albeit somewhat stuffy) voice that she remembered well. She'd been on the receiving end of dire threats from it before, and she punched at the wall in frustration, with her knuckle just scraping the bottom of the lever's box. The lever... maybe it would do something that would distract the two long enough for Jeremy and her to get away... oh, she could only hope.
She leapt up, grabbing the lever, and let gravity pull it down with her. The door slammed shut, and the room plummeted down. She fell up, along with the strange object in the corner, and she saw that it was a dice. "Some lift!" Jeremy yelled over to her from his place on the ground, and she nodded, and grabbed the dice, stuffing it up her sleeve. Perhaps that would keep it from rolling around too much.
The lift landed, and she hit the ground... BAM. "Ohh..." she grimaced, and stood shakily.
"You okay?" Jeremy asked, unperturbed. She nodded and they exited. It started back up, fairly slowly though. "Let's run," he said, following it with his eyes. She agreed- if the two followed them and caught them, there would be big trouble.
They were in a long hallway now, red-carpeted and lined floor to ceiling with mirrors. They ran down, and threw open the door at the end, and gingerly shut it, trying to make as little noise as possible. Once they heard the latch click, they dashed off again. "I've been here before!" she gasped out. Jeremy cocked his head, confused.
"What?"
"This... the Hare, the Dormouse," she whispered, walking up to the Hare. He stared up at her with glazed eyes, a bit more awake this time.
"Why is a raven like a writing desk?" he asked shakily.
"Make up your own riddle," she scolded. "It's pathetic that you would steal one of Hatter's, all people to steal from."
"Oh... how are the Red Queen and a squall unlike?" Faith thought for a moment.
"Get DOWN!" Jeremy hissed, and she dropped and rolled underneath a mad child's bed. Jeremy vanished, and two people walked in. THUMP, scrape, thump. Hatter's cane. Bad leg. Good leg. Then the normal walking, almost strutting, of an expensive pair of shoes, that was completely shiny but for a small, rounded mark near the toe. Strangely, they were talking about it.
"Yes... she stamped on my foot in the Scarlet Dominion... I haven't been able to get it off, not even with polish."
"You may need to get another pair," Hatter cackled. She heard a disgusted grunt from the other man.
"Now, why did your lift malfunction so randomly like that? You told me that only the lever could induce it to work."
"It's an old lift, built before the Queen's first takeover. I haven't needed to use it for a while, and my guess is that it is in disrepair. But I will worry about that later. What news?"
"Faith isn't coming back for a while," the other said smugly. "She hasn't been attending her sessions with Reynald, though, and that has me worried... what will she do should she begin seeing things?"
"And that doctor that she's so very fond of?"
"He's an idiot, and so are his wife and that friend of hers. We have nothing to worry about from the mortals."
"And the others?"
"The biggest worry is from the Cheshire Cat- apparently he had some sort of an episode with her in the lift of the doctor's apartment building. It strengthened his regard for her, and he'll be more determined than ever to get her here."
"Well, isn't that reassuring?" Hatter asked dryly. "Yes, I can see exactly why you say that she won't be coming back- her 'dear love' the Cheshire Cat won't let her come into harm's way, even though Wonderland means more to him than anything.
"Ah well," he said suddenly. "She cannot come back, anyway. She is eighteen. The Queen can finish her takeover without worrying about the little rat." Faith's lip curled, but Jeremy gave her a warning look. She was, after all, unarmed.
"I was only giving you news," Maggot said sullenly. Maggot, yes. That was the name that she'd always heard him referred to as. She raised her eyebrows, listening. "In any case, she's at home now."
There was silence, but from the way Hatter's stance changed, she assumed that he was bracing himself for a satisfied nod. But she didn't feel it very wise to make sure.
"Where are her weapons?" Maggot asked suddenly. "I should like to see them."
"I expected as much," Hatter said knowledgeably.
"Then may I?"
"No."
"Why not?" Petulant, whiny.
"The last time I showed something important to guests, I was showing them to a spy as well."
"I'm on your side, you know that."
"Yes, I do, Maggot. That spy slipped in with us. He saw everything. He saw where the Gryphon was hidden, he saw Mantis, he saw my entire force of automatons!"
"Why must you echo that infernal Samien and keep calling me that?"
"It sounds a bit more dignified than your real name, Renny."
Faith had to keep in a chortle at that. But it was a bit difficult. Renny??? That man? She tried to recall his face; only certain details came to her mind, and she decided that he resembled his nickname more than whatever 'Renny' meant, and she made it a point to always call him Maggot from then on. "Do you feel something?" Maggot asked suddenly. Faith froze, and Hatter raised an incredulous eyebrow.
"What do you mean, 'do I feel something'? Of course I feel something." He pounded the floor with his cane. "My feet feel the floor, my skin feels my clothes, my mind feels the mechanics, of course I feel! What is this nonsense?"
"Something isn't right," Maggot said agitatedly. "I can't really say why, it just doesn't!"
"What are you going to do, look under the beds until you feel better?" Hatter smirked.
"Maybe I will," he said, sniffing obstinately. Faith's heart beat a bit more rapidly, and she urgently tried to see if there was any avenue of escape.
"Ah, Maggot. There you are." It was an awfully familiar voice... like silk, or velvet, deep, with an ominous ring to it. Beautiful, but deadly. Samien's. "I've been looking for you."
"Oh, it's you," Maggot groaned. Samien chuckled, and a little shiver went up Faith's spine.
"But of course. Who else would it be?"
"I had hoped it would be someone I liked."
"Then I suppose I should be relieved that I didn't disappoint you." There was a pause. "And you were bowing for me when I entered; I'm flattered." She realised that he must have just been bending down to check under the bed, and shrank back.
"I was NOT!" Maggot said hotly. "I was just checking..." He stood fully up now, though he wasn't nearly as tall as Samien, if she remembered correctly.
"Oh come off it," Samien mocked. "That's rather stereotypical."
"You didn't even hear me through!" Maggot protested.
"I don't need to- you had an uneasy feeling, and so to alleviate your fears, you decide to do the most clichéd assurance check ever- you peep under the bed like a five year old dwarf from the mines."
"Then where would you look, genius?" Maggot asked caustically.
"Don't know," he shrugged. "Wherever the mood hits me. But be assured, I wouldn't be quite so... hackneyed about it."
"Oh really," Maggot said dryly. "I expect you would have just whipped the sheets off with a grandiose flair, like this," he said. She saw him rapidly move to the bed she was under and start drawing off the sheets with a flourish. Desperately she dived underneath the falling sheet, miraculously escaping notice. Then again, Jeremy had mimicked the gesture on a bed further down. They couldn't see him, she realised, and grinned in relief. They all dashed over and gathered round the sheet, not touching it.
"...Is it alive?" Maggot asked uneasily. Samien scoffed.
"Oh, please, Maggot. You needn't act like a coward on top of looking like one." He picked it up and tossed it carelessly back on the bed, where it once again began to move-sliding-slowly down, rolling itself up. Then it flew at Maggot, who emitted a high-pitched, girly shriek and dropped to the floor. Hatter pressed a button on his cane and a small rocket obliterated it.
An automaton wheeled in, and Hatter faced it. "Get all of these sheets out of here right this minute," he said. In less than sixty seconds, all the sheets were off the beds and it was reaching for the one she was hidden under. She leapt into the mass of other sheets as it drew the sheet up and threw it on top of her. Once again, she was hidden, but where she would be going, she didn't know.
It wheeled her off rapidly, and before long she was dumped into a room and abandoned. She peeked out, and discovered herself in a storage room of sorts. Interested, she poked around for a bit, but didn't find much more than mechanical parts. She paused, feeling rather in an evil disposition towards the Hatter, and switched some of the parts around. It may clue him in that she was there... or he may just think it was the work of the sheet ghost.
She crept out, having no idea where she was going. After a bit of walking down a hall, she decided to turn into the first room that she came to, and tough out whatever may happen. She walked up to one of the doors, and was about to open it when she heard Samien's voice. Maybe the second door, then. She hurried past and opened the next one. There was nothing particularly exciting in there but a tea set, laid out perfectly on the table. She sniffed it cautiously, and found the aroma strangely pungent. She didn't trust it, and turned away.
Footsteps sounded outside. "Yes, yes, come in here, we'll have tea," Hatter said gruffly. She couldn't help but wonder if he was trying to poison Samien. It seemed that rivalries amongst the Queen's forces were much more pronounced than even Caterpillar had thought. There was no more time to think however, and she dived underneath a big armchair seated at a place where the tea smelled strange. Hopefully, no one would be sitting there.
The three came in, and Hatter seated them all at the opposite end of the table. "Now. Samien, what exactly is your grievance against me?"
"I want your automatons out of my provinces. They interfere."
"With what, exactly?" Maggot asked.
"Would you care for the short list or the long one?" he retorted mockingly.
"We'll have the short one, if you don't mind," Maggot said boredly. Samien didn't say anything for a few minutes.
"They have interfered with the training of my troops, including the chess pieces. They've totally wrecked several spy operations, not only allowing the rebels to determine their identities, but to kill them as well."
"That's quite the long list," Maggot sneered.
"That's the short one," Samien retorted coldly.
"You haven't drunk any tea," Hatter said, a crafty note to his voice.
"I don't trust your tea." His voice was colder than ever before.
"You wound me," Hatter protested. Samien stood.
"Good. Order your automatons out of my provinces, Hatter, and you as well, Maggot. I'd hate to inform the Queen how badly they impede our progress."
"My automatons are ten times stronger than your pathetic card guards, and twice as deadly!" Hatter bellowed.
"Unfortunately, they're also three times as ineffectual. The rebels do have in their advantage an acute knowledge of Wonderland and its terrain. Your automatons sense movement. All they need to do is duck somewhere and the automatons will pass them by. And they're rather useless in heavily wooded areas on top of that," Samien responded. He was calm, cruel. But Faith felt anything but sympathy for Hatter.
"Just get out before you force me to hurt you." Hatter's voice was quiet, shaking. She could feel the loathing in it and shuddered.
"If you try, I'll have your head," Samien growled. "Whether the Queen likes it or not." And then he left.
"Neanderthal!" Hatter yelled after him.
"Loose screw," he replied tartly, and vanished.
"So Faith is still on Earth," Maggot said loudly, drawing Hatter's-and Faith's-attention. "We can still do quite a bit of damage before she gets back. I have a plan."
"What on earth makes you think she can get back here? I already told you that she couldn't."
"The Cheshire Cat is working non-stop to find a way. I fear that he may discover one. And even if he doesn't, it would still get us a very high card in our hand. If he does, and she is able to return, she will be returning to chaos, and a thoroughly friendless realm."
"Oh?" Hatter turned away from the door and sat down.
"Since Faith left, I have discovered several weak points in the Pale Realm. The chess pieces, as we all well know, have been nothing short of thorns in our sides. But they have made the mistake of keeping mainly the healers and the children closer to the centre- they can fight, but it would be no great challenge for a large force to break through."
"So what do you propose?" Hatter was very interested.
"I propose a joint diversion," he explained. "I will be ordering whatever chess pieces are in my province to attack them where they're moderately strong- on the north side. Then, when they have called more of their pieces to battle, your automatons can slip through from the southeast towards the centre of the city... wreaking havoc as you go." Faith shuddered, thinking how bad it would be if the white pieces were wiped out.
"Faith killed the King," Hatter pointed out. "The red pieces were totally loyal to him. Now their loyalty runs more toward Samien than us."
Maggot nodded thoughtfully. "If we can promise them a large victory on our side, perhaps they will like it better." Hatter nodded.
"A good plan. The white pieces won't suspect?"
"No. The red pieces have grouped together several times before. Odds are, they'll think it's one of those times again."
"Excellent!" Hatter was quite enthusiastic. "And when shall we do this? Sometime when Samien isn't in that particular province," he said disgustedly.
"Of course," he said. "It will be a while, but it will give us time to mobilize our forces, and me time to convince the reds."
"When do you have planned?"
"Ten days from now."
Hatter looked at his watch. "One forty-six in the morning," he announced. Faith found that very convenient.
"I know," Maggot said, and she could hear the grin in his voice. "Good."