Disclaimer: As stated in previous chapter I do not own this. I am only borrowing and will return when finished.
A/N: Okay here's chapter 4. Hope you all enjoy! Not sure if I like how I ended it, let me know what ya think . I also went and changed some things in Chapter 1, not a lot just bits and pieces that didn't sit right with me. Enjoy!
Chapter Four
Hearing the roar, Absolem looked down to Alice. There, Alice stood with a look of confusion, and slight fear. Something very big was coming their way, and Alice had the impression it wasn't a nice something. Her feeling of self-preservation was telling her to run, and not to look back. "Girl, you need to listen to me. Run as fast as you can, and head to the castle of the White Queen in Marmoreal, which lies in the East. Hurry, before the Bandersnatch arrives!" Absolem said in a hurried voice, pointing toward his right.
"Banner-what?"
"Bandersnatch. Lately the Knave of hearts has been scouring the lands for more workers, but that is something you shouldn't be worrying about now. You should be running like, I said."
"What about you, Absolem?"
"Don't worry about me, stupid girl, just run!" With that Absolem breathed out a cloud of smoke and disappeared. Alice, hesitating only a moment, took off the way Absolem had pointed. Running through the mushrooms she started to feel the ground shake beneath her. A rumbling sounding like a herd of horses mixed with the sound of clinking armor behind her. The Bandersnatch, it seems, was not alone. Turning her head, she saw a great white beast with brown spots. Its head was massive, and the rows of jagged, sharp teeth in its mouth reminded her of a shark. Closing in along with the Bandersnatch was what looked like red playing cards. Looking back forward, she took to running as fast as she could.
Seeming to spot her, with a roar the Bandersnatch leapt forward at Alice swiping with his claws. Looking back over her shoulder at the roar, Alice could only look on as she saw the giant claws heading towards her. Inches before the claws hit home, something grabbed her by her left arm. Before she could be pulled to complete safety, the tip of a claw scratched her right arm. Gasping in both shock and pain, Alice turned from the end of the blow to see who saved her. Standing there was a dormouse. The dormouse, seeing she had Alice's attention, said, " go on ahead luv; I'll catch up to ya!" Not wanting to be caught by the Bandersnatch again, Alice heeded the dormouse's words and took off. She ran as fast as she could, and didn't even look when she heard the howl of a Bandersnatch in pain.
Finally, after what seemed forever, she collapsed under a mushroom in exhaustion. Panting hard she tried to calm her heart back down to a somewhat normal pace. She was close to succeeding, when she heard the snapping of a twig from in front of her. Heart in her throat, she looked ahead only to sag in relief when she recognized the dormouse in front of her.
The dormouse was no more than ten inches tall. Her fur was white, and she had big black eyes. She was dressed in a mauve tunic with black riding pants. She was holding her hatpin sword aloft with an eye on the end. The same eye she had plucked out of the Bandersnatch. She walked proudly down the hill with her prize.
"Well, we're safe for now. Your lucky the McTwisp passed by me when he did; he told me he was hunting for a girl. Terribly worked up he is, running all over the place searching for ya. M'name's Mallymkun, by the way." The dormouse said.
"Thank you, Mallymkun, I would have been done for without you."
"No worries, luv. What were you doing all the way out here anyway?"
" I was here to see Absolem, the rabbit was talking about taking me to see him before he passed out. Chessur was nice enough to show me the way."
"Chessur? He's never nice to anyone. What's your name?"
"My name is Alice."
"Ah, so you're s'posed to be the Alice. Don't look like the one we need, didn't even know to get away from a Bandersnatch."
"I didn't even…"
"No time to talk, wrong Alice, we need to leave before the Bandersnatch or knights catch up. C'mon." Mally said as she grabbed Alice's right arm.
"Ahh!" Alice gasped in pain. Mallymkun, hearing Alice's exclamation of pain, looked to see what was wrong. Seeing the scratch, her eves widened.
"Oh dear, this isn't good. We better hurry before that gets worse." Mally said as she moved her hand lower to pull Alice along. She headed in the direction she knew a certain feline to most likely be. Harassing a certain poor Hatter.
Alice, not knowing what was going on, just followed behind Mallymkun. Thinking about the scratch on her arm, she wondered what was so serious about it. To her, it looked just like any other scratch she could have got. Another curiosity is the fact the scratch didn't jolt her out of this dream; if it was a dream then she should have woken up at the shock and pain. The whole walk she kept in her thoughts. She was so deep in them, she almost didn't notice when Mallymkun stopped at the top of a small hill leaving the forest.
Sitting at the bottom of the little hill was a dilapidated, old windmill. Not just any windmill, this one, in its dilapidated state, was made to resemble a hare. In front of the odd windmill sat a large table. Walking closer to it, Alice noticed it was not just one large table, but many small odd tables set together to make a longer one. Each tablecloth was a dirty white color, and had seen better days. On top of the table were cups, saucers, and teapots of all shape, sizes, and colors. Many were broken beyond repair, chipped, or in complete disuse. Some were fine, and looked like new.
Chairs were lined along both sides of the table, but only three were occupied at the moment. One of the occupants was a Hare, who was throwing things about as he pleased, and laughing all the while. He was also talking to himself, but what he said, Alice couldn't make out. He was sitting at the third chair, left side, on the end closest to her. Chessur was sitting at the end closest to the hill, with his tail flicking back and forth behind him. The third occupant sat in a green wingback chair at the head of the table. A forest green top hat with a salmon sash and hatpins was set upon a head of curly, wild orange hair. A bone white face sat underneath both. His eyes were a beautiful shade lime green, and the blue on his eyelids accented them well. His clothes were wildly colorful, and on any other person would clash something horrible. Seeming to feel someone looking at him he looked up, and met eyes with Alice who gasped. His was the most handsome and crazy looking man she had ever seen.
Seeing who was standing next to Mallymkun, his face broke out into a handsome grin that lit up his whole face. Standing up, the man said, "Alice, you're back!", in an excited tone.