Chapter Seven

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Hatter didn't sleep that night. He simply paced back and forth in his hat room, staring out the window until he saw the sun peeking out over the horizon. As he paced his hands were locked behind his back, with Alice's hat held tightly in them.

Servant after servant tried to calm the Hatter; offering him a comfy bed to sleep in or a cup of tea, but he would only turn them away and continue pacing around the room.

His eyes flashed back from yellow to green every time he'd look out the window. Why was the night lasting so long?

Alice's eyes slowly opened and she was back upon the boney shoulder of Ilosovic Stayne. Her mouth was still tightly gagged and the edges of her mouth burned terrible from being gagged for so long. It was still extremely dark and her eyes were already well adjusted to the darkness, so she could see. Iracebeth was walking ahead of them, while Stayne trailed behind.

Alice looked farther ahead of them and saw a small cottage lit by two torches on either side of a door. Alice was confused; was this where they were meeting The White Queen for the exchange?

They reached the cottage and Iracebeth banged on the door. Alice could hear a loud crash and a baby's frightening wail, and for some reason a series of sneezes. The door was practically ripped off its hinges as it flung open. The woman standing at the door was just so repulsive Alice wondered if she was wearing some form of facial mask.

"Duchess." Iracebeth said sinisterly. The woman's face grew into shock and her bottom lip quivered, "M-My queen!" She quickly moved aside and bowed to Iracebeth as she and Stayne walked into the house. "I-I'm so sorry my home isn't well kempt at the moment, that bloody child makes a mess of everything." the woman, Duchess, explained to Iracebeth.

She swiped her index finger across the dusty wooden chair and scowled at the dust that piled against her finger. She wiped her hands on her tattered red dress and turned to the Duchess. "My dear, dear Duchess." Iracebeth started. The Duchess curtsied and her face was a mix of complete terror and happiness as she watched her queen. "Your home is right near the border of Marmoreal and the outskirts, correct?" She asked. The Duchess nodded her head vigorously.

"I will need to leave my," She glanced at Alice. Alice glared at Iracebeth. "My little puppet here for the day whilst the Knave helps me mark out a path to the border." She explained.

Duchess looked up at Alice and quickly walked over. Alice tried her best not to look at the Duchess but she grabbed Alice's face with her long, boney fingers and stared at her. Alice could make out every single wrinkle and mole covering her face, the bags under the Duchess' eyes were brown and sagging down to her cheeks. Her hair was gray and stringy as it wrapped around her face and hung loosely out of her bun. Alice was especially distracted by her nose. It was long, and stuck out from her face, almost like a bird's beak.

"She can stay in the basement with that stupid frog." Duchess said finally. "The Footman?" Stayne asked. Duchess nodded, walking away from him, "He always said one too many words for my taste. A good footman learns to keep his mouth shut. I gave him a little something and locked him down there last week." She explained, waving a hand to a bolt locked wooden door in the back corner.

Iracebeth grinned wickedly. "Perfect. Stayne!" She shouted. Her shout caused a loud wail to erupt from the second floor, and Alice thought her ears would bleed from the sound of it. "What?" Stayne shouted in annoyance, covering his left ear with his free hand. "Throw her down there now!" Iracebeth screamed, pointing towards the door. The Duchess quickly pulled a set of keys out of her bosom and quickly unlocked the basement door. Stayne walked over and without a second thought, he pulled Alice off his shoulders and pushed her down the stairs.

The door slammed shut behind Alice, and Alice clenched her teeth as she tumbled down the rickety wooden stairs. Her face slammed against the dirty floor and she let out a groan. With her hands and ankles bound, she tried her best to wiggle like a worm back to the staircase to see if she could try and sit up.

She felt something cold against her arm and she jumped. She looked to her left and saw a short, frog like creature hovering above her. He was wearing dirty, white pants and a ripped white shirt. His face was a mix of green and yellow and it was dripping slime. His eyes seemed quite gentle to Alice, and she decided to trust him. She nodded at him and he moved towards her again, and he released her gag.

"Thank you." She sighed out. She licked the sides of her mouth and winced at the sting she felt. The frog man nodded and moved on to releasing her hands. Alice noticed he had normal human hands, but they were green and slimy, and they were just slightly webbed. The rope was untied and Alice quickly pushed herself up and began to release her ankles.

Once she was free she rubbed her sore wrists and looked around the vacant basement. There was a window across the room, but it appeared bolted shut with thick, black bars against it.

"I'm Alice. I presume you're the Frog Footman?" Alice asked. He nodded.

"Can you not speak?" Alice asked. He opened his mouth and Alice almost screamed when she saw that his tongue had been ripped from his mouth. "Oh my Goodness," Alice mumbled, covering her mouth. "Did the Duchess rip out your tongue?" She asked quietly.

He shook his head and hoped across the room and picked up a vile. He handed it to Alice and she Alice looked at the yellowish tag attached to the empty vile. "'Een kikker in de keel die'. That's Dutch, isn't it?" Alice mumbled. The footman nodded sadly. "I'm sorry mister footman." Alice said, patting his back. She pulled her hand away and was taken aback at the slime that seeped through the Frog's shirt and onto her hand.

She wiped her hand on her now dirty and torn dress. She felt sad to see the lovely dress Hatter had made her tattered and practically reduced to rags.

Alice stood up and walked around the dirty basement. She peered out the window and was glad to see the sun was finally rising over the horizon.

She wrapped her hand around the cold bars against the window and she sighed. "The only way out is up, I'm guessing." Alice said to the Footman. He nodded and hung his head sadly.

Alice walked around the basement and found a large cabinet with a rusted pad lock. "Do you know what's in here?" Alice asked, looking across the room at the Footman. He shook his head.

Alice looked around the basement, now completely lit from the sun, and tried to find something heavy enough to break the lock. She grabbed a broken piece of wood and walked back to the lock. She raised the wood above her head and heaved it down onto the lock. She let out a grunt and kept raising the wood back up again and again until the wood cracked in two.

She glanced around the basement again and was surprised when she saw the Footman pulling at a bucket of red paint. Alice quickly hurried over and picked up the can. It was extremely heavy to Alice and she carried it with two hands, her knuckles turning pure white as she gripped the bottom.

She tried her best to hold the can over the lock and she slammed it down. She heard a loud crack and she dropped the paint can, the red paint splattering across the dirty floor, covering her black boots and the rim of her green dress with paint. She quickly held up her dress with one hand and pulled open the cabinet doors.

Inside were dusty and moth eaten top hats. Alice reached for a pile of papers on the middle shelf and stared at them. She blew on them, the dust flying up and wrapping around her face. Alice and the Footman sneezed.

She glanced down at him. He was standing on top of the paint can; his feet and his pants were stained with paint as well. "Do you know what this is?" Alice asked, holding the papers up to the Footman.

His dark eyes scanned the paper and he nodded vigorously. He motioned for her to keep them and Alice folded the papers and placed them in a hidden pocket under her ribbon at her waist the Hatter had shown her on their way to the ball the earlier night. She tightened her bow in the back and turned back to the cabinet. She pulled out a few of the hats to examine them. 'These kind of remind me of Hatter.' she thought warmly.

A loud creak came from the basement door and Alice quickly closed the cabinet and ran across the room with the Footman.

"Get your lazy behinds up here you two! I have work for you!" The duchess screamed down the stairs.

Alice and the Footman exchanged a look before they both made their way up the staircase.

The Hatter cracked his knuckles as he walked out to the entrance of the castle. There, the White Queen waited on her horse, with Mallymkun seated on her lap. Another white horse stood beside them.

"Good morning, Tarrant." Mirana said sweetly as the Hatter mounded his horse. "It will not be a 'good morning' until Alice is safe." Hatter said grimly, snapping at the reigns. Hatter and the horse sped out of Marmoreal. Mirana took in a breath and pulled at the reigns gently. The horse took off in pursuit of the Hatter and they were off to the outskirts.

to be continued...

A/N

i am baaaackk :) i hope you guys didnt mind the wait...oh who am i kidding...you all are ready to behead me, arent you? i took like six/seven months to update! im so sorry. anywho, i hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. if you dont know who the Duchess is, dont worry i didnt at first either. i found out who she was when i was in my school's school play of "Alice in Wonderland"! i was a lady and an amazing actress, April, was the Duchess, and our coustume designer and also a great actress, Emily, was the cook :) they inspired me to write them in and i came up with a brand new story line! i think you'll like this ending much more then my original. also the writing on the bottle says "Frong in one's throat"

anywho, thank you for reading! remember to review! :D

tootles!

~Taylorrr

review/fave/alart/all that jazz!