Author's note:
Check it out! I did post another chapter today! I'm on fire, baby! Warning: Character death!
7. Blazing flames
Ilosovic Stayne wasn't one to give up easily, quite the contrary actually. He hadn't given up when the wretched red queen -bloody big-head- was running her filthy hands over him. When the Hat Man wouldn't tell him where Alice was he hadn't given up. Some might think he'd given up on Alice, but he had done no such thing. Why would he give up on such a creature? Even though it would have been better had she not been… damaged goods. It was quite obvious this strange child was Alice's daughter, she had her eyes and mouth, and the ring of her voice was similar to how Alice had sounded when she was only a little tyke. Stayne just couldn't understand how she could have chosen the Hat Man. Such awful taste! And now that madman had gotten to her first, a pity.
"What have we here?" Stayne repeated with a sweet smile that hurt his face quite a lot.
"Isa- Darcy. Darcy… Ascot." She was lying, Stayne could see it in her eyes, hear it in her voice.
"I don't believe you. What's your name, child?" the sweetness had left his voice now.
The child refused to answer at all this time, only glaring at him in a way that could probably kill someone, so much poison lay in it. Stayne sighed and raised his hand to slap the girl.
"Such a pretty face… Pity."
His hand met with her cheek, resulting in a squeal of pain, leaving a bright red mark behind.
"Are you going to tell me your name?" he asked harshly.
"Isabel King- Kingsleigh." the girl sobbed, tears streaming down her cheeks.
"Good girl."
Isabel didn't like the man with the patch, not at all. Her cheek still felt like it was burning, even though some time must have passed, for the sun was rising on the sky, just behind the only part of Marmoreal she could see; the tower. It was curious how the sun could make the palace look like it was on fire. A ray of sun broke through a hole in the roof, onto Isabel's back. How was that even possible? Her back wasn't turned to the sun, it was turned the other way. Where did the sun usually go up? It didn't go up behind the castle, it went up on the other side… Then the palace must really be on fire!
Despite the worries for Isabel, Alice had somehow managed to fall into a light sleep, haunted by nightmares. She was unfairly woken up by a crackling sound, much like when she'd lightened a fire in the fireplace at home. A soothing, homey sound.
I don't remember Marmoreal having a fireplace…
It doesn't! Alice realised with a start, sitting up so quickly her vision got almost black for a while. Marmoreal was on fire!
"Fire!" Alice screamed, loud enough to awaken the dead.
All hell broke loose. In the chaos of servants and various creatures running in all possible direction, no one noticed the knave of hearts standing amidst them, grinning wide enough to turn the Cheshire cat green in envy.
Tarrant had always felt uncomfortable around fire, it reminded him of how Witzend was destroyed, and it still hurt him.
Really, Tarrant? After all these years?
"Always…" he sighed.
There was no way escaping it, he, Tarrant Hightopp, was frightened beyond belief, curled up in a corner of the throne room, covering his ears, as if to keep the terrified voices out of his mind. The voices stayed there nevertheless.
I'm going to die, I'm sure of it. We're all going to die!
He would probably had stayed in the room and actually have died there, had it not been for someone entering, someone with an eye patch. Stayne! The knave approached the shimmering crown that still lay there with a look of greed in his one eye.
"Underland will be mine…" he whispered, reaching out for the alluring treasure.
Tarrant was still frightened, but he put that aside, Underland needed someone to save them, and that someone would have to be him.
"There will be no such!" he roared, rising up in all his length, eyes flaming orange. "Underland will never be yours!"
"Is that so?" Stayne sneered. "And who's going to stop me?"
"I will."
"You? Allow me to laugh." Stayne did so, a cruel laugh that sent chills all up Tarrant's spine.
Stayne drew his sword, ready to slay the Mad Hatter in a single swipe. He charged at Tarrant, who swiftly moved out of the way, stealing the champion's sword from the statue that had been risen over Alice's victorious defeat of the feared Jabberwocky.
"You wish to fight me, Hat Man?" Stayne smirked, allowing another laugh to slip. "Come on then."
They fought furiously, swords clanking together, sending small sparks around the fighting pair. It seemed Stayne had the upper hand, being trained in the arts of duelling. His blade bit into Tarrant's upper arm, causing the Hatter to wince in pain. His blood dripped down on the floor, turning it red and slippery. Being wounded turned out to be the thing to save Tarrant as Stayne lunged forwards, trying to impale the other man on his sword. The knave slipped on the crimson puddle, landing with a painful thud on his back.
Tarrant waved his sword dangerously close to the knave's throat, leaving a red streak on the skin. With a gasp, Stayne's hand flew to the wound, which was now bleeding vigorously, Tarrant must've struck a vein or something like that. The blood loss turned the knave a ghastly pale, within minutes it was obvious he was going to die.
Stayne was in pain, that annoying Hatter had actually defeated him. He was going to die, and he knew it. The Hatter stood leaning above his dying form, looking both disgusted and happy beyond belief.
"Look at me…" Stayne whispered.
The Hatter looked confused, but did as he said, not daring to disagree to a dying man's last wish.
"What is it?" he asked.
"If I can't have Alice…" Stayne had to pause to breathe. "Neither can you."
Using his last powers, Stayne stuck his dagger into the Hat Man's chest, then everything turned black around him.
Author's note:
Please don't kill me? Things will turn out fine in the end, promise! And I take no credit in the lines I "borrowed" from Harry Potter. I do not own those lines, neither do I own Harry Potter. I simply thought they would be fun to use… The Hatter situation will be solved in the next chapter, or the one that follows.