Adventure of a Lifetime

Chapter 5

About an hour later, we finally reached the Red Queen's castle. "Jeez, she lives here?" I ask as we all got off the Bandersnatch.

"Yep. Quite dark." Nivens says.

Hatter whispered something to the Bandersnatch. It huffed and went to go into the woods nearby. "I told him to go hide until we came out." He says.

"So….got any ideas on how we get up there?" I ask, looking up the walls. Suddenly, I traced a black tree up the wall, which was actually pretty tall and the tree stretched all the way up. I grinned. "How about we climb the tree?" I pointed.

"That should work."

Hatter went first, with Hare holding onto him and then I went, with Mallymkun on my shoulder and Nivens holding onto me. As I looked down, I winced. "God…..I don't even want to know how bad it'll hurt if someone falls….." I muttered and continued climbing.

All of a sudden, my hair got caught in a branch. "Shit….."

"What's the matter?" Hatter looked down at me.

"My hair's caught. Hold on, I think I can get it." I used one hand to keep my weight on the branch and the other to untangle my hair from the branch.

CRACK

As I finally untangled my hair, we all heard a loud crack.

"Jessie-." Hatter began.

And then the branch broke.

But before I could actually fall, Hatter caught my wrist and pulled me up. "Thanks." I said out of breath.

We continued our way up and finally, we reached a garden. "Jeez…." I coughed lightly. "Okay, which way?"

"STAYNE!!!!!!!"

I winced. "Was that…?"

Hatter nodded. "Yep." We walked over until we saw the throne room of the Red Queen. Jesus, her head was freaking huge!!

"Stayne, have you found the human girl yet?" the Red Queen asks.

"No my queen."

"Come on, let's go. There's a door over there." Mallymkun says.

I opened the door and we walked in. "Alright, should we split up?"

"I don't think we should. If someone catches us, we're dead." Nivens says.

"Catches! Dead!" Hare shouted, clutching his ears tightly, threatening to rip them out. "Should! We!"

I covered his mouth. "Shhh!"

"I think I heard something over here." A voice says.

"Hide!" I whispered.

We all squeezed into a broom closet. It was a tight fit. Through the slits, we saw a couple Red Knights walk by. "I thought I heard something." One said.

"You're hearing things." The other said and they disappeared around the corner.

"Well….this is awkward…" I muttered and kicked open the closet door, getting out. "So, which way now?"

"We should split up." Mallymkun says. "One group goes one way, the other goes another."

"And what if we get caught?" Nivens asks.

"If you're smart, you won't. Hide whenever someone comes your way." I say. "I'll go with Hatter and Mallymkun. Hare, go with Nivens."

We split up.

"This castle is freaking huge." I said as we walked down a hallway.

All of a sudden, a woman with pale skin and a large nose saw us. She gasped. "Intruders!"

I lunged at her and hit the back of her neck hard with my hand. She collapsed, out-cold. Hatter walked up to me. "How did you do that?"

"I learned from my dad. He was an officer." I replied and dragged the woman's body into a closet, shutting the door behind her. "Let's continue."

We continued down the hallway until we came to two large doors. I easily kicked them open and we saw the Vorpal sword sitting on a pedestal. "Wow! It was that easy!" I rushed over to the sword.

Hatter quietly shut the doors behind us. "Be careful. Who knows what kinds of traps the Red Queen set up?"

"Yeah, yeah." I said and picked up the Vorpal sword.

All of a sudden, a spike came out of nowhere and impaled my right shoulder. Luckily, Mallymkun was on my left. "Jessie!!"

The spike came out and I collapsed to the ground, the Vorpal sword clattering onto the ground. Hatter rushed over to me. "Are you okay?!"

"Damnit…….I'm so dense sometimes." I groaned, holding my right shoulder. He helped me up and I grabbed the sword. "Let's get out of here."

Suddenly, spikes came down from the ceiling and impaled the ground, coming up and impaling again. "Let's go!" I shouted and we ran to the door.

As we reached the door, a spike came down and slashed my back. "Gahh!" I groaned in pain.

We finally reached the door and got out, closing it behind us and panting heavily. "Are you okay?" Hatter asks, looking at my shoulder and back.

I nodded. "I'll be alright."

"There they are!!"

We looked and saw a group of Red Knights. "Shit, let's go!"

We ran down the way we came from and met up with Nivens and Hare. "You got the sword!" Nivens said.

"Yes and now we're leaving!!" I shouted and we ran for the door, only for it to be blocked by Stayne.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" he chuckled darkly, approaching us.

We backed away, but then the Red Knights came from the opposite way. "So, you must be the human Jessie." Stayne says to me.

"I must be very popular in Underland." I pointed the Vorpal sword at him. "Don't come any closer or I'll chop your head off."

Stayne laughed. "Chop my head off?! Are you that dense, little girl?"

A vein popped in my forehead and my lips curled up into an evil smile.

"Uh, Jessie?" Mallymkun asks.

I plucked her off and handed her and the Vorpal sword to Hatter. "Hold them for me. I'm going to kick his ass." I cracked my knuckles and walked towards Stayne.

Stayne laughed again. "What can you do little-?" his sentence was cut short when my fist met his face. And so the others watched in complete horror as I beat the shit out of Stayne.

Several minutes later, I was done and my knuckles were both ripped open. Stayne lay motionless on the ground, bruises covering his face and blood staining his clothes and armor.

I huffed. "That'll teach ya to call me little!" and I turned to the others. The Red Knights looked at me in fear. "You want some too?!!"

They all screamed like little girls and ran away, dropping their spears.

"Well……that was….unexpected." Mallymkun says.

As I began to walk towards them, I felt something behind me.

"Jessie, behind you!" Nivens shouted.

As I whipped around, a sword was forced through my right side and then ripped out to the side, leaving a deep, gashing cut.

I coughed, blood coming out of my mouth. "B-bastard….." and I collapsed to the ground.

"Now let's end your life!" Stayne raised his sword.

"NO!!!"

"HATTER!!!!"

Swords clanged and I looked up to see Hatter block Stayne's attack. While Stayne was distracted, I grabbed his leg and tripped him, making him fall. Using all of my strength, I punched him so hard across the face that his neck cracked loudly, knocking him out.

Hatter knelt beside me. "You okay?"

I glared at him. "Does it look like I'm okay?!" I coughed, blood dripping down my chin as I attempted to get up.

"Come on, let's get out of here." He carefully picked me up and ran out the door and through the garden. He whistled loudly and the Bandersnatch jumped into the Garden. Hatter put me on the Bandersnatch. "Get Jessie out of here."

Suddenly, Red Knights appeared. "Get them!!!"

"GO!!!!"

"No, wait!" I shouted just as the Bandersnatch jumped off the garden onto the ground and ran, leaving the others. "We have to go back for them……" I said weakly as my vision began to dim.

My eyes closed and everything went black.