Chapter Two
The Queen of Spades
The woman was tall, with black knee-length straight eyes were as equally dark as her hair, with a slightly sharp angled face and full ruby red lips. Her face, although beautiful was darkened by a permanent sneer. The Queen's attire was a simple white gown with bell sleeves. On the corset-like top, there were miniature black spades printed upon it. Her collar was high, and also had spades upon it, as well as her sleeves. Her skirt was full, with a singular black spade upon it. Adorning her head, was a crown of shining, molded gold with an onyx shaped into a spade. Pulling the jet-black stallion to a halt, her dark eyes locked onto Alice. "You there, girl." Her voice was pure ice and had a commanding tone to it. "What is your name?" she demanded, her gaze raking over the girl with obvious distaste. "You may call me Samantha, your majesty." She kept her gaze low, and with a respectful tone to her voice. The Queen snorted in disbelief. "Samantha, what a ridiculous name." She shook her head. "Most ridiculous name I have ever heard." She added.
Alice's eyes narrowed slightly at the Queen's insulting tone then glanced up at her. The woman was thin, and very pale. "Who dared speak the cursed name Alice?" The Queen demanded. Alice shifted a little bit as the white rabbit peered fearfully out from the bushes to look at the blonde. "I did, actually, I was simply telling the flowers my name." She said and a tigerlily spoke "Tis true." the flower stated "This girl's middle name is Alice." The Queen's face twisted into a cold look of contempt. "Very well, but do not speak that name again." With that, the Queen rode off into the direction she had come from. Alice sighed in relief and sat down, blinking as the Cheshire Cat manifested by her. "The Queen of Spades. She's the younger sister of the now deceased Queen of Hearts" He twitched his tail and Alice frowned a little in thought and took the journal out, flipping through it carefully "doesn't say anything about her in it." Closing the book she put it back. "That's because she never met them." A voice spoke and Alice glanced around in confusion. "Down here!" A white mouse with silver armor poked the girl on the foot with the butt of it's tiny sword.
Glancing down, she held her hand out and the mouse clambered onto her hand. Lifting her hand, Alice stared at the tiny mouse. "You're the one that'll save us." Alice raised an eyebrow, then shrugged "I'm not so sure about that." She stated. The mouse rolled it's tiny black eyes "I'm the Dormouse, by the way." She said and climbed onto Alice's shoulder. The white rabbit came out from under the bushes and crouched near the blonde. "Come, this way, we have many still to meet." The rabbit said and the dormouse settled itself more comfortably on Alice's shoulder as the blonde followed the rabbit. Cheshire flitted in and out of view as they walked. "So who are we going to meet next?" Alice panted out as she did her best to keep up with the fast-moving white rabbit. Blinking in surprise as the rabbit stopped at a set of white gates framed by a white picket fence. "This is where I leave you, may you be safe until we meet again." The white rabbit bowed, his ears touching the ground then hopped away. Alice glanced at the dormouse and the Cheshire Cat floated easily beside her.
Alice took a deep breath and let it out. Opening the gates she was soon welcomed by a truly mad sight. Teacups and plates were stacked 20 high (even higher on some areas of the banquet-style table.) Teapots whistled and 2 lone figures sat at the very end of the table. A scruffy looking black hare sitting on the left side of the table looked over at Alice. "You're late, take a seat." Alice's eyes widened as the Cheshire Cat sat across from the hare, calmly lapping up a little bit of tea. Unsure, she walked over to where they were and sat on the right, beside the Hatter. The dormouse leaped off of Alice's shoulder and sat in front of the blonde. "Hatter! Wake up!" The Hare snapped and tossed cold tea into the Hatter's face. Startled, the Hatter awoke, eyes burning with rage at his dreams being interrupted. He was about to throw a teacup at the Hare, but stopped and placed the cup down once he saw Alice. His eyes widened considerably.
"You're.." he paused, knowing better than to say the name. "What do you call yourself my dear?" He queried. Alice stared at him in shock for a moment then smiled shyly. "You can call me Sam, for the sake of safety of all of us." She replied and the Hatter nodded in understanding. "Sam it is then dear." He replied and smiled. "Tell me, why didn't..she, come?" He queried and Alice looked down. "She's gone.." She replied and the Hatter blinked as Alice took out her Great-Grandmother's journal and handed it carefully to him. Hatter leafed through it, reading over it carefully. Once he was done, he handed it back to Alice, who put it back in her bag. "Keep that safe." He stated quietly then poured tea for Alice. Adding a sugar cube, Alice took a sip. "Thank you..She mentioned you a lot in her journal from what I've seen." She smiled as Hatter blushed slightly, drumming his fingers on the table. "Enough with this sad talk, we need to talk about the Jabberwock!" The Hare snapped suddenly. The Hatter's eyes narrowed "Yes, we do." He gazed upwards thoughtfully. "What is it?" Alice asked, canting her head to the right slightly, a look of confusion appearing on her face. "Great-Grandmother's journal said she slayed it by beheading it.." She quickly referenced her great-grandmother's journal as she spoke. Both the Hare and Hatter shook their heads. "The Jabberwock has a nasty little habit of coming back to life." Hatter stated. "Unfortunately at the first slaying of the beastly creature we didn't know."
He paused, adjusting his top hat, then taking a sip of tea. "The Jabberwock has always been a bit of a problem for Wonderland, always causing havoc and chaos." He shook his head. "We need the Vorpal Sword and you need to find the weapon and slay the Jabberwock." He stared Alice dead in the eyes, which made the blonde look down and shift uncomfortably under his gaze. "I can try my best." Alice stated softly. The Hatter nodded and reached over, patting her hand. "That's all we really want dear, is for you to do your best." He offered her a soft smile, then frowned thoughtfully as he continued to speak. "The sword that you need is in the castle of the Duchess. She's currently being held prisoner in her own castle." Alice sighed and shook her head, raising an eyebrow. "Where is it located?" She asked. The dormouse looked up from it's tea. "I'll take you there, but you have to listen to me." As Alice reached her hand out the dormouse clambered up easily to her shoulder and sat there. She stood up and smiled gratefully at the Hatter and Hare. "Thank you for the tea, and the talk. But I really must be going so I can get to the Duchess' castle." The Hatter gave her a smile "Good luck Sam dear, you'll save Wonderland, I'm sure of it." He said and Alice smiled at him, waving at him from the gates as Cheshire floated after her.