Chapter 4 Twins

"Cheshire!" Connor called, raising his voice so she could hear above the several hundred yards between them, "wait up!"

She stopped and turned looking surprised at his call. She looked down, "You should have said something sooner."

"I didn't want to slow you down." He rasped in between breaths.

"We should take a break." She said, though she didn't look slightly winded or thirsty, while Connor could barely catch his breath and felt as though he had no water in his body all of it was outside.

"Do you have food?" He rasped.

Cheshire sighed and said "I'll call Duldee and Duldum to watch you while I go get some."

Cheshire let out a quiet whistle and two kids appeared, they couldn't have been older than 10. Both had brown hair, both had one red eye and one white eye, and both had the exact same features, except one had pigtails and the other's hair was falling around his face messily.

"Ches!" The girl squealed and appeared upside down in front of Cheshire, hugging her.

"Hello Duldee." Cheshire said, peeling the little girl off of herself, "Duldee, Duldum, please protect our guest here. He's a guest of the queen. I'll be back when I can.

"Alright!" The girl said and turned, "Hi human boy!"

"Duldee, don't scare the poor guy." The boy scolded, " He is just a human."

"Oh," Duldee said, "I'm sorry if I scared you."

"No you didn't! It's fine!" Conner rushed to assure her.

Cheshire has already vanished into the forest.

"So Conner," Duldum said, appearing so close in front of him Connor's eyes crossed to see the child clearly, "On a scale of 10 to 10, how pretty is Ches?"

"Um, that's not much of a- wait how did you know my name?" Connor asked stepping away and almost tripping over Duldee who looked up at him with wide eyes. The kids appeared next to each other, holding hands. Duldum wore red overalls over a striped black and white shirt, Duldee wore the same but her overalls were a dress.

"You told us." Duldee said, looking kind of hurt that he forgot he told them.

"I never sa-"

"Duldee you're getting it mixed up, he didn't tell us you read it." Duldum scolded the young girl.

"Oh," She said, eyes brightening and rosey cheeks lifting in a bright smile, "Oopsie!"

"So human boy," Duldum said, appearing floating in front of Connor's face again, "On a scale of 10 to 10 how pretty is Ches?"

"Um," Connor said, taking a step away from the floating child, "I guess, 10?"

"So she isn't pretty." Duldum said, looking disappointed.

"No! No, she's pretty-"

"Then why didn't you say she was a 10?"

"I did!" Connor said, getting defencive.

"You weren't enthusiastic about it." Duldum said, vanishing and reappearing next to his sister, who had begun messing with a leaf.

"Ugh," Connor groaned. This endeavor with the twins was giving him a migraine, on top of his dehydration headache.

"Cheshire please hurry up." Connor moaned, he had long since been turned into the twins' jungle gym. It felt like hours had passed, though it couldn't have been more than one.

"So human," Duldee said, messing with his hair, "what makes you think the red queen won't kill you?"

"I… I don't know but if its a chance to survive here… I guess I have to take the chance." Connor replied, uncomfortable with the subject of the red queen.

"She isn't kind like Ches is," Duldum said, messing with his coat pocket, "She's merciless in her control, she's strong. When you do meet her, don't insult her and don't argue with her. Those simple things might save your life."

If Cheshire was what these people considered the Oxford definition of kind, Connor really didn't want to see what they considered mean.

"Ches is too nice for her own good." Duldee said, voice quiet as she played with Connor's hair, "She's too merciful. It makes her soft, that's why she could never rule us."

"What do you mean?" Connor asked.

"She forgives too easily. There are those that take advantage of that, and for that reason she is too weak to be strong."

"She's pretty damn strong by what I've seen."

"You've seen her fight. When she fights, her other selves take her. When she isn't fighting…. well let's just say this is kindest of her lives she's had." Duldee said, idly braiding a few strands of his hair.

"How many lives has she had?" Connor asked, eager to change the subject. For some reason, the prospect of someone abusing Cheshire angered him.

"She is currently on her ninth." Duldum said.

Connor laughed. Duldum just stared at him, seemingly not noticing why anything was funny. Connor quickly stopped laughing and just looked down, somewhat embarrassed.

"What's funny?" Duldee asked.

"Nine lives, you know that legend that cats have nine lives." Connor said, giving up on explaining it almost after he started.

"It's a human legende." Duldum said to Duldee. Duldee nodded, as if that explained it all.

"Well in this case, it's true." Duldee said, "Cheshire has nine lives and then her existence vanishes, then she starts anew. Though, she won't be dying for a long time now. Cheshires live for almost three thousand years."

"Oh." Connor said, the empty forest space falling into an uncomfortable silence.

"I'm back." A quiet voice said and Connor turned to see Cheshire holding a small bucket atop her head and a bag in her hand. She took in the scene of Connor playing the part of jungle gym and giggled.

"Ches!" Duldee yelled happily and leapt up hugging Cheshire around her waist then bounded over to Duldum.

"Well, we'll be off. Good hunting Ches, and good luck human." Duldum said and the twins locked hands and vanished.

"Good bye you two." Cheshire said, waving to them as they vanished.

Cheshire lowered to a kneel and gently listed the bucket of water of her head and set it down in front of Connor, then began rifling through her sack. She pulled out fruits and nuts then brought out a rabbit, skinned gutted and ready to cook.

Connor felt himself begin to drool and launched himself at the water, ready to gulp it all down but Cheshire's hand grabbed his mouth twisted and he ended up sprawling on the ground as she made a disapproving cluck noise.

"For heaven's sake don't just guzzle it all down like a cow. You'll puke. Sips, human, sips." Cheshire said, shaking her head and beginning to arrange wood for a fire.

Connor felt sullen at her words but consented to taking sips of the water while Cheshire prepared his meal. No food had ever tasted better.