Thanks to ElTangoDeRoxanne and fallacies! I hope you enjoy this next chapter!
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
The Hatter walked quickly through the autumn woods, his feet crunching loudly on the dry leaves. As they went, he recited a poem, his voice strange and vaguely not his own.
'Twas brillig and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that
catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!
Alice swung from the brim of his hat gaily, maneuvering until she could safely drop down onto his shoulder. "Why, it's all the animals the Red Queen sent!" she exclaimed. Tarrant nodded and continued his poem.
And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the Tulgey Wood,
And burbled as it came!
One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.
"It's about you, you know," he said when he finished. "It's about how you slay the Jabberwocky."
"How many times do I have to tell you? I can't slay anything." Alice said, bracing herself against his ear as he hopped over a fallen log.
"Perhaps this place will change your mind, then." He strode to the center of the clearing that opened up before them. On one side was the charred remains of an old house, and all around was the crumbling remains of houses and shacks. Alice clung to his ear, staring at the desolation.
"Hatter, what happened here?" she whispered.
"We were celebrating at a festival, when out of the dark of the night it came. I'm talking about the Jabberwocky, of course. The knights were incinerated, and the children, too. The children! The children!" his voice rose desperately, and Alice grabbed his hand, fearing he might crush her in his agonizing recollection of that horrible night.
"Hatter!" she cried. He gulped, staring down at her with wide green eyes.
"Sorry," he said in a very tiny voice.
"What happened next?" Alice asked curiously, her face the one of a child who had just been rudely jerked from an enrapturing story.
"The Knave took it, the Vorpal Sword, the only blade that can kill the Jabberwocky. Of course, if the sword is not Vorpal, the Jabberwock is not dead. When I woke up from where I had been thrown, I found that the White Queen had been banished to her castle in Marmoreal, and thus, the Red Queen took control of Underland." The Hatter finished. Alice stroked his finger, and was surprised when he withdrew it.
"You're different than you used to be, Alice. You used to be so much… much… mucher." Tarrant sighed. "You've lost your muchness."
"Muchness?" Alice asked, laughing. "What can you mean? I've not lost anything that I know of!"
"It is not something you can see, muchness. But you can tell when someone's lost it— it's in here." Tarrant prodded her chest, though it was much more like he prodded her entire stomach.
Alice looked up at him sadly. "Hatter, whatever shall we do?"
"I don't know. If you're not Alice, then who are you? Perhaps I will help you find out… we'll find out who you are soon enough, 'Not Alice'. Get rid of the Red Queen, that's what we'll do! We'll—"
There was the sound of a dog barking once more. Tarrant cursed, grabbing Alice and ignoring her gasp as he nearly crushed her in his hand. "Hurry, you must away from this place. It won't do for you to be caught here! Now, hang on!" He put her on the brim of his top hat and began to run. Card Soldiers crashed through the sunny woods on all sides of them, and finally, he made it to the river. There, he removed his hat. "I suggest you do not let go. Don't worry now, I will find you." Tarrant flung it with all his might. The hat flew across the river, whirling like a Frisbee, and Alice closed her eyes against the wave of nausea assaulting her senses at the landscape spun by.
"Down with the Red Queen!" Tarrant roared, and the hat Alice rode thumped down on the other side of the river just in time for her to see the red Card Soldiers surround him and escort him away.
"Hatter!" she cried, running to the edge of the river, but she was too small to ford the rushing waters, and her voice too quiet to carry to him. A cold wind blew monstrously huge dead leaves at her, and things scuttled and hissed around her. Shivering and sobbing, Alice retreated under the hat, and nursing her grief, fell fast asleep.
Several hours later, she awakened to the sound of light footsteps scuffing the leaves. Large, slim fingers, each encircled with a band of colored glass, slid under the hat's brim, lifting it away.
"Didn't I say I smelt her over here?"
"Balthier!" Alice cried, for that was indeed who had found her. "They've taken the Hatter!"
"I know." Balthier said grimly, crouching down to her level. "However, I think that the Resistance is safe. Hatter is mad enough that he won't say a thing that makes sense."
"What will they do to him?" she asked, dreading the answer.
"I am afraid they will do all the usual things tyrannical despots do to rebel prisoners: condemn him to the rack and torture him until he tells them what they want. Either way, the end of all roads leads to the chopping block." He replied.
"We must save him! Tarrant is risking his life for the people he loves, and I must do no less for him!" Alice said firmly. "You must know where the Red Queen's castle is. All of the people in Underland probably do."
"You must not go. You're not ready, you're not strong enough! It is to Marmoreal we should flee, and seek the White Queen's aid. Mirana is partial to the Hatter— she can send help." Balthier replied. Alice climbed up one of his legs, using his shin guard for handholds, and perched on his knee so she could look him in the eye.
"I am going to rescue the Hatter, whether you are coming or not. Now tell me where her castle is."
He studied her with his intense gaze, and Alice found herself feeling as if he were ripping her apart with his eyes, examining all the pieces.
"You've changed in the last two hours since I have seen you last. You're much more…" he trailed off, searching for the right word.
"Mucher? Have I regained my muchness?" Alice asked, smiling. Balthier ran a hand through his close cut hair.
"I was going to say courageous but I suppose 'mucher' works." he said, then paused, glancing up at something behind her. "Hm? I can't hear you. Speak up, and one at a time."
"Balthier? There's no one there." Alice said, but he held up a finger, shushing her.
"The Queen's palace, you say? Oh yes, I remember now." His eyes snapped back on her. "The Red Queen lives in the land of Crims, at Salazen Grum." He said. "And you will not be going alone— I shall accompany you, for free, of course. What?" Balthier's voice turned plaintive, and his eyes wandered away from Alice to focus on something behind her again. "Of course I'm not going to ask for payment! It is bad policy, and she's got nothing of value."
"Balthier!" Alice stomped viciously on his knee, and he snatched at her, swearing.
"Gods! If you're going to do that, I'm putting you up here," he set her on his shoulder, and took off at a trot to the East, twirling Tarrant's hat upon his finger.
Alice sat on Balthier's shoulder quietly for most of the journey, drifting in and out of sleep. It took three days to get to Salazen Grum, and she was amazed at the pace he set. He traveled on, all through the night without flagging, and well into the next day too, before he stopped to rest just on the inside of the mountains ringing the Queen's Palace, under an outcropping of rocks. It was high noon, and the sun blazed down outside. Alice paced back and forth like an angry Bandersnatch as he dozed, curled up as far away from the sunlight as possible. She glared at the Castle that filled the horizon, the one that had eaten so many of her friends.
"So you said I have lost my muchness, have I, Hatter? Well, I will show you how much muchness I can have!" she scowled.
When the sun rose the next day, Alice climbed Balthier's shoulder. It was a feat worthy of remembrance by mountaineers in England, she felt, ascending first the rocks and then his shoulder, but she knew no one would ever know of her triumph. She tugged one of his earrings to wake him up, and he jerked his head away from her irratibly.
"What's this, Princess? Is ripping my ears off a new…" Balthier trailed off as he focused on her blearily. He blinked.
"Princess? For the last time, Balthier, who are you talking to?" Alice asked as he climbed to his feet and slid down the rocky ledge into Salazen Grum.
"No one." He snarled, and she fell silent as if struck. She did not know why it hurt so much when he lashed out this time. She hardly knew him, not then, when she had first come into Underland, and not now.
"I'm sorry," he whispered after a moment as he slunk through some scraggly bushes growing on the edge of the Red Queen's steaming moat. "I should not have said it that way."
Alice remained silent, letting him stew.
"I am three and a half centuries old, Alice. Give an old man some respite," Balthier pleaded, watching her out of the corner of his eye.
She looked away, refusing to give him any inch, though inside, she was surprised. "I can see that we are simply business partners. I do not know why you have accompanied me this far, but as soon as we are done here, our business is at an end," she said coldly.
"Regained your muchness, indeed," he murmured, gathering himself together like a cat ready to spring and clearing the moat with a leap and a bound. Once again, she did not deign to answer him, and with a sigh, he removed his bow and shot an arrow trailing a rope into a small hole several feet below the parapet, tugging on it to make sure it was secure. Then he began to climb, darting over the ramparts before he was spotted by the Queen and her guards below. He hid behind a hedge, which was tall enough for him to stand behind without being seen.
The Red Queen was not that imposing of a figure, the only intimidating part of her being the large size of her head and her flaming mane of heart-shaped red hair. In her hands, she held a flamingo by the claws. For her ball, she used a hedgehog with its feet bound, forcing it to curl up into a ball. At her back stood the Dodo, decked out in her colors and serving as a caddy. Alice felt her heart shrivel in sorrow for him.
The Queen swung, the flamingo's head connecting with the hedgehog and sending it flying toward them. Alice hid behind Balthier's leg as the hedgehog rolled by, narrowly missing them. "Page!" the Red Queen bellowed in a pompous voice. McTwisp, sniveling slightly, stepped forward, wearing a huge Elizabethan ruff and heart covered tabard. "Retrieve my ball!"
"Yes, your majesty!" McTwisp gave a hurried bow and dashed away from her as fast as possible, almost running headlong into Alice in his haste.
"Alice!" he whispered, pink eyes wide with wonder. "How did you get here?"
"Balthier brought me," Alice said, and the White Rabbit's gaze darted toward him.
"All the way from Absolem's mushroom?"
"We had tea with the Hatter, and left from Hare House." Balthier explained. "We came to save him."
"Page!" the Red Queen yelled. "Where's my ball?"
"Er, coming, your Majesty!" McTwisp answered. "Alice, I must go, or else she will suspect—"
"McTwisp, do you have any of that cake that makes one grow?" Alice asked. McTwisp looked taken aback.
"But of course!" he fished about in his tabard and handed her a tiny cake. She took two bites before he burst out in a panic. "Wait! Just one bite is enough to—!"
"PAGE!" The Queen shrieked, marching up to the hedge, just as Alice grew so tall she towered over the top of it. "Well, Page? Who is she?" she twirled her flamingo croquet stick imperiously.
"Well— I— she— um—" the rabbit spluttered, and Alice stepped in to his rescue.
"My name is Um, from Umbridge," she said humbly. At her side, Balthier took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He stepped out from behind the hedge and gave the Queen a courtly bow, and she smiled as soon as she saw him.
"My lady, do not be misled. This is no Um from Umbridge," he said. Alice looked at him, horrified, as he continued.
"Your Majesty Iracebeth, I deliver to you Alice Kingsleigh, just as requested."
What's this!