Wonderland Palace was so different to the Hearts Casino. Alice was fascinated by the smooth curves, such a contrast to the long, clean lines of the rest of the city. The brown stone lent it an almost organic feel, which was somehow only accented by the sinuous black iron decorations that covered almost every surface.
It was so very different to everything she'd come to know about Wonderland in the short time she'd been here. It made her wonder what other surprises were lurking out there in the unknown.
The Mirror Room had been empty but for a few guards when she, Hatter, and Duchess stepped through. Jack had come shortly after, followed by Charlie and Ten of Clubs.
What followed next was not a happy reunion, or even a diplomatic introduction. The situation was too grave for that, and Alice barely had time to hug Charlie before they were all swept off to a council of war, attended by not only their party, but Princess Azkadellia of the Outer Zone herself, Jeb Cain of the Queen's Riders, and Elisa Club.
Nine days had passed since Duchess stepped through the Mirror to the Other Side. Nine days in which Wonderland spies in Quox and Merry Land reported Jack's worst fear – both armies had mobilized and were now moving towards Wonderland's northern and southern borders. With Wonderland's army under Lucan Spade's control, there was no hope – none, except from a nebulous prophecy.
"There is no time to waste," Jack proclaimed as they sat down around his council table. He was thinner than the last time she'd seen him, the darkness beneath his eyes and the exhaustion within every line of his body more pronounced. Kingship had not been kind to her ex-fiancé, and she could not help the pang of sympathy she felt every time she looked at him. "You and Hatter must make haste to the Jade Forests and find the gryphons."
"I'm coming with you," Az announced, her eyes shooting daggers at Jack, whose jaw clenched at the statement but said nothing. That was interesting. She would have loved to be a fly on the wall for that conversation. "The quickest way for you to get there is via travel storm, and I will be your best defense should we come across any hostiles. That is," and here her smile turned anticipatory. "Unless we find the gryphons first."
"Why would you want to come with us?" Alice couldn't help but ask. "Surely you're not just there to protect us."
"Our ambassador is still in that area," Jeb responded. He couldn't have looked more different than Hatter in his green and gold uniform, those blond curls and that upright posture. In contrast, Hatter still wore his brand-new outdoor clothes and was slouched back against his seat, beanie pulled low over his forehead. Still, they gave her the same impression: of intense loyalty and dangerously competent skill.
The princess was another thing entirely. She didn't look capable of the things Hatter had spoken of, drugging her people, leading a coup against her mother and attempting to swathe the land in darkness. Indeed, she just looked like a princess, beautiful and delicate in a slim, green dress that sparkled with her every movement. She was supposed to be their escort and protection into the forest?
"How does this travel storm of yours work, Princess?" Hatter asked, tugging the beanie up from where it slid down over his eyes. "Do you need a specific location, or can you just…" He made a gesture like he was driving a car. "Steer it?"
"Both, though a travel spell works better if I have a specific location or at least a frame of reference for the destination. Do you have a particular place in mind?"
By mutual agreement, Alice and Hatter decided to leave the knowledge of Alice's dreams between the two of them – for now. "Is there an older part of the forests?" Alice finally ventured. "Much older, with bigger trees and probably closer to the mountains?"
Elisa and Giacomo glanced at one another. "Let's see," Elisa murmured, pulling a map of Wonderland closer. "Not in the area near Fell Pass – they needed to cut trees for the Sandy Road and chose an easier path to lay the road, so that part is newer forest."
"We certainly never saw any trees that big," Az agreed.
"The further south you go, the older and denser the forests become." Giacomo's finger traced the thin black line that marked the Rainy Road, the path that led to the Quoxian border. "Technically, Spade lands are this area south of the Diamond City and across to the Swamplands."
"Who holds the forests south of that?" Alice asked.
"The Spades, now, but I suppose that's really only in name. South of his traditional holdings, army outposts are manned along the Rainy Road and the Quoxian border. Therefore, Ambassador Raw was probably being held somewhere here, in the forests to the west of the Swamplands."
Duchess twirled her pen between her fingers. "You won't find those old forests on traditional Spade lands. The Spades have been using their forests for lumbering purposes from the very beginning. That's why I disagree with Ten here about Ambassador Raw's whereabouts – there is too much traffic in those areas, and enough itinerant workers that might find the appearance of a Viewer curious." She leaned across the table and tapped one long, black-painted nail on the forest south of Spade holdings. "Further south is your best chance."
"But where?" The princess' expression did not change, but Alice could sense a hint of frustration in her tone.
"Closer to the Spine," Hatter said decisively. "Don't you think gryphons would prefer something close to the mountains, as beings that can fly?"
"And closer to the border," Alice added, taking the chance. "If these gryphons were part of an alliance like you've said, then wouldn't it make sense for them to be close to the border with Quox? To monitor them?"
Elisa nodded. "Wonderland's relationship with Quox has always been contentious. The four clans laid claim to this area before Quox could. It was only much later, after the coup, that Merry Land became interested as well."
"It does make sense that there would have been some other deterrent to the south other than the forests themselves." Jack's brow furrowed. "How could we have been so naïve to think that was all that was necessary to keep Quox at bay?"
"It is some kind of magical compulsion," Az stated. This was where she felt as though she was on more even ground, especially after her conversation with Jack shortly after Duchess went to the Other Side.
"Where is the Duchess?" she asked over afternoon tea. It was just her, Jack, and Giacomo, with Jeb exercising with Charlie. "She told me that she would be unavailable for our horse riding sessions, but she never specified how long she would be gone or where she was going."
"The Duchess is performing a vital task for me, one that I believe should resolve several of our mutual issues at the same time."
Az arched an eyebrow. How could he sit there so coolly when he just declared that he'd made a decision that would affect both of them, without consulting her? "And just what, pray tell, is this task and what issues will it resolve?"
He'd pissed her off. Jack knew the signs of a pissed off woman. Az might hide it better than most – just a slight tightening of the skin around her eyes – but the signs were there nonetheless. "I am not at liberty to speak about her task."
"You're the king of Wonderland," was the flat reply. "I'm fairly certain you're at liberty to speak of a great many things."
"Not if it endangers the Duchess. I cannot say where she is, but she is obtaining the help of several key operatives who might be able to penetrate the territory where Ambassador Raw is being held. They might find clues of his whereabouts, and maintain contact with other possible allies in the region."
"So that 'all may join in the fight'?" Az asked acerbically, deciding to throw her hand onto the table. It had been four days since the Duchess left, and there had been precious little for her to do but continue to peruse those damnable books and contemplate the so-called prophecy that Jack and his circle of advisors were working off of.
That damned prophecy. She was sick and tired of them, and this one held many more implications than the one that had almost thrown all of Nonestica into darkness. Was it any wonder that she was wary as well as cynical?
Jack went still for a split second. Behind him, Giacomo set his teacup into the saucer with an audible rattle. "How do you know of this?"
"It came to me." Let them make of that what they would. She would not betray Elisa Club, for all that she had exposed her to this new, uncomfortable reality where her destiny seemed to spin farther and farther out of her control. "Let's not talk about how long you intended to keep this information from me. Instead, let us talk about what you are truly searching for in those forests."
"It is a Wonderland matter-" Giacomo began.
"And yet you have drawn me into it! Both by asking for my assistance and by losing my ambassador! I am not happy about it, but I am clearly as entrenched in this as any of you." Az pinched her eyes shut, feeling her magic flaring about her. Dammit, that one would have been visible. Sure enough, when she opened her eyes again neither Jack nor Giacomo had moved, but every line of their bodies screamed that they were on the defensive. "My apologies. There are times when my emotions get the better of me, and it affects my magic."
"Is this why you've been reading so many books on magical theory?" Giacomo asked.
Az straightened in her seat and glared. "Tell me first what you are searching for. We must be on equal ground for this precious prophecy of yours to work. I refuse to enter into some harebrained, prophecy-led mission with absolutely no knowledge."
So they told her about Elisa's discovery of gryphon artifacts in the Diamond City, and their rediscovery of the gryphons and the test in the Temple of Amakek. Together, they reasoned that the gryphons would probably be a good resource for Az and her continuing struggle to control her magic.
Magic was what hid the gryphons. Magic had erased knowledge of them and their very existence from recent Wonderland memory. It was a truly powerful work of magic, one Az had trouble wrapping her head around despite everything she knew and despite her own vast reserves. "I imagine this happened shortly after the coup. The gryphons wished to disappear, likely because of broken covenants."
"That has to be one hell of a spell," Alice observed.
Az nodded in her direction. There were so many mannerisms from this Alice woman that reminded her of DG. No one had told her outright where Duchess had gone to find Alice and Hatter, but recent events were still clear in many Wonderlander's heads, as well as the heads of her father's many spies. Duchess had gone to the Other Side to retrieve the pair that would be Jack's champions to the gryphons. "Yes. No one person could do it on their own. For it to last this long and to be so pervasive as to erase the memories of those who would have had contact with the gryphons, such as Sir Charles…and with them being in the founding myths of Wonderland yet have no one remember them…it had to be the work of multiple individuals, all of them incredibly strong and gifted. To even craft a spell like that would be incredibly difficult, let alone cast it." She turned to Elisa. "Are gryphons magic users, like dragons?" If they were, it was even more imperative to find them so that she could finally obtain some answers.
Elisa pulled The Temple of Amakek closer to her, her fingers searching out several bookmarks as she flipped through the pages. "According to this, no, but this is only one account. Whatever spell it is that's keeping our knowledge of the gryphons at bay, it is still firmly in place because I have not been able to find other accounts within the library. And when I ask other library staff to keep an eye out, they forget those instructions within the first fifteen minutes of searching."
"You're saying that we are the only people to remember, and keep remembering, that gryphons actually exist?" Duchess rapped her fingernail against the surface of the table thoughtfully. "That feels somewhat self-defeating, don't you think?"
"Unless it's some sort of precaution," Giacomo replied thoughtfully. "Both the book and the prophecy appeared to Elisa, who shared it with us. The Princess Azkadellia and Commander Cain are not of Wonderland, so the spell naturally would not affect them. Alice and Hatter are to be the champions. It could be that only those who need to know this information can retain it."
"Until something bigger is fulfilled and the entire spell can be broken. Or lifted," Jeb added, following Giacomo's train of thought.
Hatter nodded. "So Alice and I must succeed. That is probably the event that will lift the spell."
Az shook her head. "You must be prepared for the possibility that passing the test might not work. If gryphons are not capable of magic, they might not have the necessary means to break it regardless of what you're supposed to do, whatever test you have to pass. You might have to consider the possibility that dragons were the ones who cast the spell and therefore dragons are the only ones who can break it."
"Dragons are even more impossible to consider than gryphons," Duchess protested. "No one in Wonderland has ever seen a dragon, even the White Knight."
Charlie beat a hand against his chest, his armor clanging hollowly in the meeting space. "Nay, I have no recollection of dragons at the Diamond Court. There were rumors, of course, but my knight master and his colleagues had not seen them either. It is possible that such noble beasts only appeared to the Diamonds, and likely only the king and queen."
A worrisome pall settled over everyone at the table, until Elisa clapped her hands. "This is only speculation, not absolute truth," she scolded. "All we have done thus far is talk. Alice, Hatter, and Princess Azkadellia must proceed into the forest with utmost haste. Only then can we obtain the information we seek, and draw true conclusions." Then she blushed, tucking her hands into her lap with embarrassment.
"Well said, cousin, well said," Giacomo said after an abashed silence.
Jack nodded to the librarian. "All we have left is action. With the armies gathering, the more we know the more informed our future actions will be."
"Then, do we have leave to start as soon as possible?" Az asked. Elisa was right. All they'd done, all she'd done since entering the city was talk. "With a travel storm I can transport us to a proper searching place before nightfall."
After all of that sitting and reading, she was ready to act. She worried so for Raw. He was stronger than anyone gave him credit for, this much was true, but if he was still in Spade hands – and she had no reason to believe otherwise – then who knew what kind of state he was in now? What if he had been tortured? She refused to believe he was dead, she would never believe such unless there was a body in front of her and if that was the case there was no amount of diplomatic protection that would keep Lucan Spade from her wrath.
Well. He was already an established traitor, so she did not think Jack would begrudge her justice. Others might, but not Jack.
"The Princess is right," Hatter said, nodding in her direction. "The sooner we leave, the better. No doubt the princess' absence will be marked." No one but Jack's guards knew that Alice and Hatter had arrived – the moment they stepped through the mirror with Duchess, they'd been smuggled straight to the palace. They were his personal guards, agents he'd trained with under Caterpillar, and had no connections to either his mother's regime or the Spades.
The heir of the Outer Zone, however, would most certainly be missed. That, however, did not worry her. "All you need to say is that I have decided to search for Raw on my own, which is close enough to the truth. If that is not enough, a rumor can be spread that I am following leads in the Jade Forests to the north."
"A travel spell leaving here would be most conspicuous, and it would be difficult to smuggle everyone and their horses out of the city." Giacomo turned to Az. "Will this be all right?"
Az's guards were coming south as well – it would be inconceivable for them to remain in Wonderland City if she was supposed to be looking for Raw. Charlie too could not be persuaded with staying behind. He was determined to see if the gryphons would jog his memory.
She could barely contain her snort. Damn DG, that was not a very queen to be habit. "Leave the magic to me." She'd been saving – if saving could be the right word – her magic for this very eventuality, with a few tweaks. No one has ever tried to make a travel storm invisible before. Both Tutor and her mother had been horrified by the very idea when she'd conferenced with them to discuss the possibility, though they'd eventually given in and discussed the theory of it with her.
As for saving the magic, well. It was a matter of trying to keep it contained and yet invisible, otherwise she would have been glowing to even the most non-magical eye days ago.
Everyone around the table, except Jeb, looked doubtful. He smirked at her, the confident curve of his lips saying, Show them.
She nodded back. I will.
"Then let us get moving," Jack said. "We will meet in the palace courtyard in one hour."
Az and Jeb were the first to arrive in the courtyard. Jack wasn't far behind them, stopping short at the sight of them, changed and horses saddled. "I would have thought," he began, only to bite his tongue.
"I work just as closely with the Queen's Riders as Jeb, as my duties allow," she replied frostily. Though their communication had gotten better, the secrets they kept only allowed a certain level of trust. "It would not do for me to delay their work by not being efficient at packing."
Jeb had to smile behind his hand as Jack nodded, looking slightly abashed.
The Gale Force arrived shortly after, with all of the horses. Charlie, Alice, and Hatter trickled in, the three of them quietly discussing things between themselves. Finally the Duchess and Elisa emerged as well, the Duchess' expression as opaque as ever and Elisa's a mixture of envy and excitement.
"There aren't enough horses," Alice observed, looking doubtfully at the assembled horses.
Az nodded. "I do not know how other horses will react to a travel storm, but ours are familiar with this process. It is merely a safety precaution. I hope you do not object, but Freeheart and I will carry you easily, and Hatter can go with Jeb and Moonshadow. Jonah will take Sir Charles."
"Well, I guess we don't have a choice, do we?" Alice asked wryly, after exchanging a quick glance with Hatter, who only shrugged, and Charlie, who was bouncing with delight at the mere prospect. She turned to Jack as the Gale Force mounted up. "I sure hope that this isn't a wild goose chase," she said, hesitantly sticking her hand out.
Jack took it, and Alice had to marvel at how much he had changed since she'd last seen him. He bore the burden of responsibility well and she could see how he had been born to it, but it was still a burden. It sat differently on him than it did on the princess, despite the similarities in their circumstances. "I hope so too," was the solemn reply. "Otherwise we have little recourse."
"Always so dramatic," Duchess scolded. "There is always another way, but since this is our course of action, we will follow through." She paused and looked Alice over, much like she had when they first met. This time, however, there was a hint of respect in her eyes and she too extended her hand. "I wish you well, Alice."
"Um, thanks," she muttered, taken aback. Duchess nodded and moved over to say a few words to the princess. The two of them certainly looked friendlier with one another than she would have expected, but then, what did she really know of either woman?
Perhaps this would give her an opportunity to find out.
The princess' black stallion was pretty uncanny, though. It didn't move an inch when Hatter boosted her up behind Az, backpack and all. There wasn't a such thing as a magic horse here, was there? Ugh, there was so much she didn't know about Wonderland, let alone the rest of the continent.
"I will begin now," Az announced once all the goodbyes and well wishes were said. "Do not panic."
She began to glow. And then a tornado erupted out of the sky and swallowed them up.
Alice couldn't really say what happened next. All she had the impression of was wind, and then utter and complete silence. There was no sense of movement, not like the Mirror where the sense of falling was very, very real.
The only thing that told her they had, in fact, moved was the sudden change in scenery around them, lush green forests and the chirping of birds. It was a far cry from the crumbling cityscape of Wonderland City. She swallowed and her ears popped, just like on an airplane.
"Is everyone all right?" Az asked. Alice noted that she was still glowing, albeit fainter.
"With all due respect, Your Highness," began one of the female guards, looking a little green herself. "That was just as uncanny as last time and I am happy to be on solid ground." Some of the other guards grumbled in agreement.
Hatter laughed, readjusting the brim of his hat. "I myself would not mind another go."
"As would I!" Charlie enthused. The princess chuckled and Jeb grinned.
"I've been on worse roller coasters," Alice admitted, twisting around to really take in their surroundings. The color was definitely right, and the trees were huge, but not nearly as big as the ones in her dreams. "So, where are we and where to we go from here?"
"According to the maps we consulted before we left, we are halfway between the Rainy Road and the Spine," Jeb responded. "I suggest we proceed due south as long as we can before nightfall, and then make camp."
"Sounds like as good a plan as any," Alice said. "Do you really think we'll find the gryphons?"
The princess made a considering noise. "If they are still watching, I believe they will find us."
"Sir!"
Lucan looked up from his field desk as one of his aides ran into the tent. "Yes?"
The man saluted. "The Princess Azkadellia was seen riding north with Commander Cain and her entourage. The word is that she is searching for Ambassador Raw in the Jade Forests."
"Hmmm." He sat back in his chair and considered that for a moment. He'd known that sooner or later the heir to the Outer Zone would grow restless in the capital. It was only a matter of time before she began actively searching for her missing ambassador.
"Should we intercept her?"
He waved a hand. "She is going in the wrong direction. She is no worry of ours. And should she ride too far north during her search, she will encounter the Merry Landers. Even their army will be too much for her. If she has any sense, she will turn around and go home." Then Wonderland would never need to worry about the Outer Zone again.
Soon the vise would tighten, and the Spades would take what the Hearts no longer deserved.
Please review!
Things have indeed been afoot since Duchess went to retrieve Alice and Hatter, and now the paths are finally starting to converge!
I know it's been another long hiatus since the last update, but I actually used NaNo this year to work on several WIPs that have been languishing for...well, ever, whoops. The good news is that there are new several chapters of Reforged for me to work with and update more regularly than twice a year. Fingers crossed!
Random side note: I haven't been watching The Gifted, but I've seen gifsets on tumblr and wow, Lorna Dane is exactly how I imagine Az and Jeb's future daughter to look. Even her magic is green!
As always, I'm on tumblr at: somanyfandomssolittletime if you want to come by and chat!