She walked back to Caterpillar's Plot, and peeked out the gate. Dozens of card guards waited there, of every suit. They all had their back turned, and were listening to someone speak. "In some time, she will come through that gate-" here they pointed to her general location, "-and we'll be ready, right?"
"RIGHT!" the guards yelled. Gryphon looked at them. "We cannot take them in hand-to-hand combat on our own," he said pointedly. Faith grinned at him and took out the blunderbuss and took careful aim to where they were gathered thickest. BOOM!
The guards scattered, and she grabbed the eye scythe and charged it. Soon she swept the beam over them, killing many. They all separated, so that there was enough space between them to be a waste of power of the eye scythe (and useless for the blunderbuss). "Use the scythe's other power!" Gryphon hissed, seeing the card guards aiming. She nodded and fiddled with the scythe until she found the secondary fire. Almost of its own accord, it pointed to the sky, and then released a single, large ball of energy.
The guards looked around nervously, and then hell broke loose. Dozens of energy balls plummeted to the ground like a meteor shower, crashing down onto them, and within minutes, there were no card guards to be found. She observed the two weapons and grinned, a little nervous about using them, but still exhilarated.
Gryphon smiled. "I must go now," he said. "To check on the Cheshire Cat and to rally more of the rebels. Break down the Wall of Souls." Faith nodded and gave him a quick hug, and started picking her way through the pieces of card guard that lay strewn about, and looked over at the rock column sitting in the middle of the lava. The only whole guard was there, but he was dead. A fire snark jumped up, trying to get a bite. Finally it used its tongue to pull him down a bit more, and started eating. Faith made a face, and turned around, simply taking in the place. It was so still... so quiet. The river of lava provided the only colour, a bright, deep orange glow. It bubbled occasionally, sending sparks up to the shore. She walked to a huge, craggy wall that divided, separating three realms. There was another trumpeting sign, in addition to the ones that still advertised the now closed Pale Realm and Fungiferous Flora. "MAJESTIC MAZE!!!" It bellowed.
"Oh, shut up!" she snapped, and hurried past it. There was a huge wall in her way, made of grey rock with muted colours shifting around. "What the..?" she muttered, seeing faces in it. She uneasily took out the eye scythe... perhaps this was the Queen's Gate. She hesitated, and charged it.
It fired dead at the wall, which crumbled, releasing dozens upon dozens of what looked like people... grey, transparent... floating people. They seemed rather happy to have escaped the confines of the wall, and flew away. "What... was that?" she muttered, and stepped inside.
"Cat? Are you all right?" Rabbit asked hesitantly. Cat looked up at him.
"Yes, I'm perfectly fine," he said sarcastically. "A touch crispy, though."
Rabbit grinned with relief. "Good," he said, smiling. "Faith is entering the Majestic Maze, even as we speak... I still can't believe she's back. And that she's come so far, killing the Hatter and all."
"In such a short time, no less," Cat replied absently. Then, "Ugh..." he muttered. "She's in the maze. All right. Go tell her that I'm fit enough to be called."
"What?" Rabbit stared at him, shocked. "You are not!"
"A bit of pain here and there won't stop me," Cat said stubbornly. Rabbit groaned. "And if you don't go, then I shall go myself."
Rabbit sighed and darted off. Cat stared after him, wondering if he would really do what he'd told him to.
Faith stopped just inside and looked up at the Queen's palace in the distance. Even here, probably several miles away, she could see it. She looked down, at the maze, just ahead and down the slope, and gulped. A burst of flame went up, close to the middle, and she could only just make out a dark shape moving around. There were three towers; one in the centre of the maze, one to the right a ways and up, and a third, very close to the castle. She could just make out its twisted spires and general heart shape. She laughed, knowing that she'd never look at a Valentine the same way again. So many hearts... she shook herself and started down.
"Faith!" She stopped and turned.
"Rabbit!" she said, shocked, then delighted. "You're here!"
"You're back!" he returned. "I have some news."
"What news?" she leaned against the wall, and he looked around.
"Cheshire says he's well enough to be called... but I don't believe him. He really was hurt badly when the Jabberwock burned him."
"So he's told you, then?" she asked glumly.
"Of course he has. I'm his friend," he said calmly. "But go on. I cannot guide you here."
"But why not?" she asked, confused. He sighed.
"I'm afraid that you're friends with something of a coward, Faith," he sighed. "Enemies abound here, and I cannot face them." Faith reluctantly nodded.
"All right then, Rabbit. Go on then." He dashed off, a bit faster than she would have thought normal, and she looked down. The leather cord was there, with the jewel and the herbs... and the jewel was bright red.
She looked around, and eventually came to a fork, and looked down both. One was conspicuously empty, and she looked down the other. A ways away, she saw guards abounding, and she went down that one. Yes, she definitely hated the maze already. The card guards saw her and started running at her, and she grabbed the eye scythe, and charged it. It fired as they got to within ten feet of her, and she held her breath and ran forwards, into another group. She stopped firing and swung the scythe in a circle. It caught the guards around the waists and soon they were lying there in halves.
She turned into another corridor, and finding it clear, continued on until she made a left and found it full of card guards and Jabberspawn. They all looked up at her and charged, and she struggled to unclip the blunderbuss from her back. She fired into them, clearing about forty feet worth, and sighed in relief, deciding that this was probably the best weapon to have out. She turned again, and found another clear corridor, and walked through it, until she found another area full of heart guards. They immediately fired at her, and she dived around a corner, and they zoomed past her, crashing into the wall.
She stepped back out and fired at them, and hurried through. "Cat!" she yelled, forgetting Rabbit's advice. Cat appeared immediately, though, and he looked surprisingly well.
"Cat!" she gasped. He cocked his head.
"Yes, I am," he replied silkily.
"But... but... Rabbit told me you weren't well enough. He said you were hurt awfully when the Jabberwock... when he burned you."
"He did, did he?" he purred. "Yes, he would do that." His eyes abruptly narrowed. "He said the Jabberwock?"
"Yeah," she said uncertainly. "I basically told you what he said, verbatim."
"How did he know..?" Cat murmured, practically to himself.
"What d'you mean?" Her voice was very little more than a squeak. He waved it off. "Cat..."
"Yes, Faith?"
"How can I know that I can trust anyone now? I mean, now you're telling me that I can't even trust Rabbit, and you told me in the beginning that I could, and now I'm so confused!"
"Oh, I expect that I told him, I simply do not remember at present. Now. Why did you call me?"
"Oh." She stopped and stared blankly at him. He didn't speak, and made no move to. "Not yet, Cat. We haven't talked yet."
Exasperation filled his eyes. "Every rebel is gathered outside of Queensland in secret, rallying for your cause. But they cannot make a move until you have been through all three towers."
"Why not?"
"Each tower is a part of the Queen's defence. They are the keys that unlock the doors that the rebels cannot break through." Faith nearly yelled at him, but cut herself off, creating a very strangled sound in her throat.
"Er, how am I to get into them? I mean, what's the end of the maze?"
He didn't answer for a moment, and stared at the blunderbuss. "I see you've found quite a bit since Gryphon dropped you off," he said admiringly. She nodded. "Exercise great caution with this, Faith. The blunderbuss is incomparably powerful, and can cause immeasurable in the hands of an idiot. You're no dimwit... but still be careful."
She nodded again. "I know, Cat. I'm almost afraid of it, to tell you the truth." He nodded.
"And you should be. That is no trick gun you hold.
"A mad child wanders helter-skelter through this maze, but there is always one place that he will end up. You must end up where he does," he said calmly.
She sighed and nodded. "All right, Cat. And... thank you. You saved my life."
"Don't give in to guilt, Faith," he said firmly. "That is how they win."
He vanished and she looked around for the mad child. Eventually, she found him. He was traipsing around a walkway full of heart guards, and fortunately, they were ignoring him. She sighed and waited for him to get out, and then fired the blunderbuss into them before they noticed her. Then she jumped up and followed him, always keeping him in her sights. She kept the jackbomb out in her right hand, and the jacks in her left, and threw them into the walkways as they passed.
They arrived at a corridor where there were two portals, though a gate covered one. She stared at it, and saw the gate open. That was when she caught a hint of green behind it, and dived underneath just as the gate clanged down. The mad child traipsed happily over to the red portal, and as he moved away, she saw that he'd been standing on a switch. And then he jumped through the other portal, which was a fiery red. She preferred the safe, familiar green, and stepped through.
She stepped out and promptly looked through a window. There were two towers, about where she'd guessed them to be when she'd looked over the whole maze. She must be in the first one, and she stepped back, looking around.
Inside the tower, it was very warm, and even windier. Numerous steam vents, located seemingly everywhere continually turned on and off, off and on. She stared, and searched around the tower for the portal. Oh. There it was, way at the top of the tower. She had to get up there..? She stared at the steam vents, not really trusting them. One of them near her turned on, and she stared at her watch. One... two... three... four... she got up to thirty seconds before it shut off and the next one turned on in that same instant. It stayed on for fifteen seconds. The next was on for twenty, and above it was a bridge. She groaned, and walked to the edge of the first vent.
Eventually it hissed to life, and she stepped into it. The steam carried her, far up, and she started making her way to the side. It suddenly stopped and she threw herself into the next flow of steam, and carefully steadied herself until she reached the next.
Her progress up had been a bit slow though, and she just grabbed the side of the vent, pulling herself up. There was no way in hell that she'd make it up to the bridge now, having lost five... she suddenly remembered the watch, and pulled it out. But... no. She put it away, fairly certain that a better time would come to use it. Besides, if it froze the steam, it probably wouldn't push her up, would it?
Another forty-five seconds passed, and she leapt into the steam's path, and let it carry her up to the bridge. She stayed there for a moment, convinced that steam vent was NOT her travel method of choice. Then she looked up, gauging the time pattern for the next set of vents... this time of four.
She progressed up easily, until she came to the next-last set of vents. She was crossing from the third to the fourth vent, when a Boojum flew at her, screaming. The force knocked her back, and she fell, screaming.
Then she stopped, and realised that she was floating in the steam of one of the lower vents. Nervous, she eased her way to the edge, where she waited for a few seconds. When the steam stopped, she fell to the edge of the vent, where she waited, until the vent started up again, and she allowed herself to be carried up to the next, and the next, and then the bridge. She checked her progress, disgusted at how far she had descended... but very relieved to still be alive.
She made her way back up, until she reached the bridge before the Boojum-haunted steam vents. There it was... hiding up, a ways behind the top vent. She took out the jacks and threw them, and they pummelled the Boojum, which gave an angry shriek and headed towards her, bent on destroying its offender. She stuffed the jacks back, and grabbed the ice wand, waited... and fired. It burst into flame almost immediately, and she continued her ascent.
"RIGHT!" the guards yelled. Gryphon looked at them. "We cannot take them in hand-to-hand combat on our own," he said pointedly. Faith grinned at him and took out the blunderbuss and took careful aim to where they were gathered thickest. BOOM!
The guards scattered, and she grabbed the eye scythe and charged it. Soon she swept the beam over them, killing many. They all separated, so that there was enough space between them to be a waste of power of the eye scythe (and useless for the blunderbuss). "Use the scythe's other power!" Gryphon hissed, seeing the card guards aiming. She nodded and fiddled with the scythe until she found the secondary fire. Almost of its own accord, it pointed to the sky, and then released a single, large ball of energy.
The guards looked around nervously, and then hell broke loose. Dozens of energy balls plummeted to the ground like a meteor shower, crashing down onto them, and within minutes, there were no card guards to be found. She observed the two weapons and grinned, a little nervous about using them, but still exhilarated.
Gryphon smiled. "I must go now," he said. "To check on the Cheshire Cat and to rally more of the rebels. Break down the Wall of Souls." Faith nodded and gave him a quick hug, and started picking her way through the pieces of card guard that lay strewn about, and looked over at the rock column sitting in the middle of the lava. The only whole guard was there, but he was dead. A fire snark jumped up, trying to get a bite. Finally it used its tongue to pull him down a bit more, and started eating. Faith made a face, and turned around, simply taking in the place. It was so still... so quiet. The river of lava provided the only colour, a bright, deep orange glow. It bubbled occasionally, sending sparks up to the shore. She walked to a huge, craggy wall that divided, separating three realms. There was another trumpeting sign, in addition to the ones that still advertised the now closed Pale Realm and Fungiferous Flora. "MAJESTIC MAZE!!!" It bellowed.
"Oh, shut up!" she snapped, and hurried past it. There was a huge wall in her way, made of grey rock with muted colours shifting around. "What the..?" she muttered, seeing faces in it. She uneasily took out the eye scythe... perhaps this was the Queen's Gate. She hesitated, and charged it.
It fired dead at the wall, which crumbled, releasing dozens upon dozens of what looked like people... grey, transparent... floating people. They seemed rather happy to have escaped the confines of the wall, and flew away. "What... was that?" she muttered, and stepped inside.
"Cat? Are you all right?" Rabbit asked hesitantly. Cat looked up at him.
"Yes, I'm perfectly fine," he said sarcastically. "A touch crispy, though."
Rabbit grinned with relief. "Good," he said, smiling. "Faith is entering the Majestic Maze, even as we speak... I still can't believe she's back. And that she's come so far, killing the Hatter and all."
"In such a short time, no less," Cat replied absently. Then, "Ugh..." he muttered. "She's in the maze. All right. Go tell her that I'm fit enough to be called."
"What?" Rabbit stared at him, shocked. "You are not!"
"A bit of pain here and there won't stop me," Cat said stubbornly. Rabbit groaned. "And if you don't go, then I shall go myself."
Rabbit sighed and darted off. Cat stared after him, wondering if he would really do what he'd told him to.
Faith stopped just inside and looked up at the Queen's palace in the distance. Even here, probably several miles away, she could see it. She looked down, at the maze, just ahead and down the slope, and gulped. A burst of flame went up, close to the middle, and she could only just make out a dark shape moving around. There were three towers; one in the centre of the maze, one to the right a ways and up, and a third, very close to the castle. She could just make out its twisted spires and general heart shape. She laughed, knowing that she'd never look at a Valentine the same way again. So many hearts... she shook herself and started down.
"Faith!" She stopped and turned.
"Rabbit!" she said, shocked, then delighted. "You're here!"
"You're back!" he returned. "I have some news."
"What news?" she leaned against the wall, and he looked around.
"Cheshire says he's well enough to be called... but I don't believe him. He really was hurt badly when the Jabberwock burned him."
"So he's told you, then?" she asked glumly.
"Of course he has. I'm his friend," he said calmly. "But go on. I cannot guide you here."
"But why not?" she asked, confused. He sighed.
"I'm afraid that you're friends with something of a coward, Faith," he sighed. "Enemies abound here, and I cannot face them." Faith reluctantly nodded.
"All right then, Rabbit. Go on then." He dashed off, a bit faster than she would have thought normal, and she looked down. The leather cord was there, with the jewel and the herbs... and the jewel was bright red.
She looked around, and eventually came to a fork, and looked down both. One was conspicuously empty, and she looked down the other. A ways away, she saw guards abounding, and she went down that one. Yes, she definitely hated the maze already. The card guards saw her and started running at her, and she grabbed the eye scythe, and charged it. It fired as they got to within ten feet of her, and she held her breath and ran forwards, into another group. She stopped firing and swung the scythe in a circle. It caught the guards around the waists and soon they were lying there in halves.
She turned into another corridor, and finding it clear, continued on until she made a left and found it full of card guards and Jabberspawn. They all looked up at her and charged, and she struggled to unclip the blunderbuss from her back. She fired into them, clearing about forty feet worth, and sighed in relief, deciding that this was probably the best weapon to have out. She turned again, and found another clear corridor, and walked through it, until she found another area full of heart guards. They immediately fired at her, and she dived around a corner, and they zoomed past her, crashing into the wall.
She stepped back out and fired at them, and hurried through. "Cat!" she yelled, forgetting Rabbit's advice. Cat appeared immediately, though, and he looked surprisingly well.
"Cat!" she gasped. He cocked his head.
"Yes, I am," he replied silkily.
"But... but... Rabbit told me you weren't well enough. He said you were hurt awfully when the Jabberwock... when he burned you."
"He did, did he?" he purred. "Yes, he would do that." His eyes abruptly narrowed. "He said the Jabberwock?"
"Yeah," she said uncertainly. "I basically told you what he said, verbatim."
"How did he know..?" Cat murmured, practically to himself.
"What d'you mean?" Her voice was very little more than a squeak. He waved it off. "Cat..."
"Yes, Faith?"
"How can I know that I can trust anyone now? I mean, now you're telling me that I can't even trust Rabbit, and you told me in the beginning that I could, and now I'm so confused!"
"Oh, I expect that I told him, I simply do not remember at present. Now. Why did you call me?"
"Oh." She stopped and stared blankly at him. He didn't speak, and made no move to. "Not yet, Cat. We haven't talked yet."
Exasperation filled his eyes. "Every rebel is gathered outside of Queensland in secret, rallying for your cause. But they cannot make a move until you have been through all three towers."
"Why not?"
"Each tower is a part of the Queen's defence. They are the keys that unlock the doors that the rebels cannot break through." Faith nearly yelled at him, but cut herself off, creating a very strangled sound in her throat.
"Er, how am I to get into them? I mean, what's the end of the maze?"
He didn't answer for a moment, and stared at the blunderbuss. "I see you've found quite a bit since Gryphon dropped you off," he said admiringly. She nodded. "Exercise great caution with this, Faith. The blunderbuss is incomparably powerful, and can cause immeasurable in the hands of an idiot. You're no dimwit... but still be careful."
She nodded again. "I know, Cat. I'm almost afraid of it, to tell you the truth." He nodded.
"And you should be. That is no trick gun you hold.
"A mad child wanders helter-skelter through this maze, but there is always one place that he will end up. You must end up where he does," he said calmly.
She sighed and nodded. "All right, Cat. And... thank you. You saved my life."
"Don't give in to guilt, Faith," he said firmly. "That is how they win."
He vanished and she looked around for the mad child. Eventually, she found him. He was traipsing around a walkway full of heart guards, and fortunately, they were ignoring him. She sighed and waited for him to get out, and then fired the blunderbuss into them before they noticed her. Then she jumped up and followed him, always keeping him in her sights. She kept the jackbomb out in her right hand, and the jacks in her left, and threw them into the walkways as they passed.
They arrived at a corridor where there were two portals, though a gate covered one. She stared at it, and saw the gate open. That was when she caught a hint of green behind it, and dived underneath just as the gate clanged down. The mad child traipsed happily over to the red portal, and as he moved away, she saw that he'd been standing on a switch. And then he jumped through the other portal, which was a fiery red. She preferred the safe, familiar green, and stepped through.
She stepped out and promptly looked through a window. There were two towers, about where she'd guessed them to be when she'd looked over the whole maze. She must be in the first one, and she stepped back, looking around.
Inside the tower, it was very warm, and even windier. Numerous steam vents, located seemingly everywhere continually turned on and off, off and on. She stared, and searched around the tower for the portal. Oh. There it was, way at the top of the tower. She had to get up there..? She stared at the steam vents, not really trusting them. One of them near her turned on, and she stared at her watch. One... two... three... four... she got up to thirty seconds before it shut off and the next one turned on in that same instant. It stayed on for fifteen seconds. The next was on for twenty, and above it was a bridge. She groaned, and walked to the edge of the first vent.
Eventually it hissed to life, and she stepped into it. The steam carried her, far up, and she started making her way to the side. It suddenly stopped and she threw herself into the next flow of steam, and carefully steadied herself until she reached the next.
Her progress up had been a bit slow though, and she just grabbed the side of the vent, pulling herself up. There was no way in hell that she'd make it up to the bridge now, having lost five... she suddenly remembered the watch, and pulled it out. But... no. She put it away, fairly certain that a better time would come to use it. Besides, if it froze the steam, it probably wouldn't push her up, would it?
Another forty-five seconds passed, and she leapt into the steam's path, and let it carry her up to the bridge. She stayed there for a moment, convinced that steam vent was NOT her travel method of choice. Then she looked up, gauging the time pattern for the next set of vents... this time of four.
She progressed up easily, until she came to the next-last set of vents. She was crossing from the third to the fourth vent, when a Boojum flew at her, screaming. The force knocked her back, and she fell, screaming.
Then she stopped, and realised that she was floating in the steam of one of the lower vents. Nervous, she eased her way to the edge, where she waited for a few seconds. When the steam stopped, she fell to the edge of the vent, where she waited, until the vent started up again, and she allowed herself to be carried up to the next, and the next, and then the bridge. She checked her progress, disgusted at how far she had descended... but very relieved to still be alive.
She made her way back up, until she reached the bridge before the Boojum-haunted steam vents. There it was... hiding up, a ways behind the top vent. She took out the jacks and threw them, and they pummelled the Boojum, which gave an angry shriek and headed towards her, bent on destroying its offender. She stuffed the jacks back, and grabbed the ice wand, waited... and fired. It burst into flame almost immediately, and she continued her ascent.