Chapter 2: The House of Cards

Hatter stopped walking down the hall when he heard the sound of metal clanking; the sound of card soldiers walking. He threw his back to the wall and slid quietly to the corner to peak his head around. There was a group of five soldiers walking together, the one in the front of them had the number 10 in black on his right shoulder, and the others that walked side by side behind the one with the 10 Hatter could not see what their numbers were. As Hatter leaned back against the wall wondering what he should do Cheshire whispered in his ear, "You know that you're invisible right now, so as long as you don't make too much noise or bump into anyone you can walk around freely."

"So then what White Rabbit was talking about back there, you really can make me invisible?" Hatter replied quietly.

"Regardless you're going to find out in a moment, best we not speak any more until we find Alice."

Hatter was starting to question Cheshire's role in everything for the first time since they met when the sound of the soldier's metal clanking with each step brought him back to focus on his current situation. For a moment Hatter panicked, believing everyone but him was mad and when the guards turned the corner he would be spotted and would have to run away. Then Hatter thought back to the night the cards invaded his village when he hid inside the small building the card soldiers walked right past him as if he was invisible.

Hatter took a deep breath, exhaled then walked around the corner casually. He only starred forward as he walked past the card soldiers careful not to get to close to them. Hatter's heart was beating faster and faster with each step, he still believed everyone was mad and that he really wasn't invisible, but instead the card soldiers hadn't fully registered why this stranger was walking about casually inside the castle. He even believed that he had gone mad and any second the cards would turn and attack him, but before he even realized they turned the corner behind him and kept walking as if he wasn't there at all.

"Cheshire you and I are going to have a long conversation when we return home." Hatter said. And then Hater much less nervous than before, continued walking down the hall slowly searching the castle; invisible and free to go anywhere without trouble.

March and White strode throughout the castle walking with a sense of urgency but making sure not to go to fast as to gather unwanted attention. The occasional guard would glance at them but only briefly and none stopped them nor even questioned them. For a while they were making good progress checking around for the dungeon, corridor after corridor. White Rabbit wanted to ask a guard for directions to the dungeon but he was too afraid it would arouse a lot of suspicion on him and bring question to his brothers company with him. So in silence the two rabbits walked around searching for the dungeon, though White had lived there for 20 years he never explored around in places he was not required to go due to lack of necessity; now he was beginning to regret that.

White knew the castle was large but it was still frustrating for him to not know the place much better than he should. As White and March went down another long and empty corridor a group of card soldiers running slammed right into them, knocking them down; the soldiers kept running as if nothing happened. Before March could question what that was all about White said, "Someone has found the Jack dead, we must hasten our search time is running out."

Then the two stood up and started running down the next hall when a tall elegant woman ran in front of them going down the other hall connected to it and stopped when she saw the two of them. White caught by complete surprise and a little startled turned his head to signal for March how to act but his brother was one step ahead of him. As the queen of hearts walked down the hall heading towards them one hand on her blade March kneeled down to one knee and waited for her to approach. "Your highness," White said in his normal tone. "What a pleasant surprise I was just giving my brother here a tour of the castle." The lie was quick and filled with many holes but for the time it worked as the queen was to busy dealing with other more important matters.

The queen did not even look at March she just walked up to White and said, "Someone has managed to infiltrate my castle through the Maze and they have slain one of my Jack's. I think that it's the last of the white knights, there is a prisoner in the dungeon I intend to use her as bait because she is obviously what they came here for. I need you to go to the dungeon and escort her to my chambers, I will have my guards accompany you and show you where the dungeon is."

Then a few card soldiers came out from the hallway where the queen was in and walked over to them. The queen handed White a large black key then turned to walk away when he called out to her, "your majesty would it be alright if I went to my room and equipped my armor and weapon before setting out to handle this dangerous prisoner?"

The queen didn't even look back as she said, "Yes that is fine, but make sure to bring her to my chambers quickly before the intruders are found." Then the queen turned down the hall and was gone, White immediately set off towards his room to arm himself.

When White and March arrived at White's luxurious room the first thing White did was go to his wardrobe slid the clothes apart and opened a secret compartment behind it. There were over a dozen types of swords hanging on the secret wall, White pulled out a pair of one sided twin swords and then told his brother to find any sword he liked. March studied the various blades then pulled out a thin fencing sword. March studied the blade, it was completely sharp all around and could cut from any angle, it was made for speed and quick attacks; perfect for March's fencing style.

When White had put on his armor that was much better than his brother's, he spun the blades around a bit then went back to the wardrobe and grabbed the sheaths for him and his brother's weapons. Next White pulled his armor off the wall that was hanging above his bed; a chain mail vest with plating covering his torso and began to put it on. When White finished he went over to his brother and undid the buttons to his long cote. His brother was wearing similar armor except his was thinner and of lesser quality.

"Heh, I suppose it will do in a pinch but when we return to the cottage you are acquiring an upgrade." White said.

"Hatter made this for me its light and allows me to move about much more freely it may not be as fancy as your armor but Hatter made it and he did a damn well good job considering what little he had to work with." March said.

The two brothers then left the room, March not bothering to hide his armor as much this time. They kept their swords at their sides ready to use in a moments notice as the card soldiers led them to the dungeon.

Hatter and Cheshire searched throughout the castle and its various rooms, halls, and floors; invisible everywhere they went. The two walked in strained silence with tension between them slowly rising, when Hatter would ask a question in whisper Cheshire would not reply. Hatter knew it wasn't because they needed to keep silent all the time but for some reason Cheshire just was not talking to him, Hatter also knew it wasn't because Cheshire had to focus on keeping him invisible.

With each new area covered and absolutely no sign of Alice yet Hatter was becoming extremely frustrated and growing angry. The lack of communication with his friend only feeding his anger; until Hatter decided his friend had been ignoring him for too long and didn't seem to care at all if they found Alice or not. When Hatter came to another empty room in the castle he stopped and called out to Cheshire no longer whispering, "Cheshire it's time you start talking." He said.

"Keep your voice down were not alone." Cheshire replied.

"There is no one else here I made sure to check now I need you to tell me-"

"No, no, no." Cheshire said interrupting Hatter. He was still whispering but he was completely visible now. Cheshire's eyes darted around the room as he turned and flipped, and even sniffed the air searching for something. "Can't you sense it, there is someone else here, and they have been following us since we arrived here."

Hatter didn't notice at first but Cheshire was completely paranoid, and now he was more anxious than ever. "Cheshire what are you talking about?"

Cheshire didn't respond he only continued his strange movements all around the room when he suddenly stopped. Then he said, "It can't be, she's waking up. Responding to me I cannot stay, meet back up at the chess kingdom all will be explained there."

Then Cheshire disappeared leaving Hatter alone in the room, on his own in the house of cards; surrounded by enemies. Hatter stood there incredulously, Cheshire abandoned him; for the first time since they met his best friend abandoned him. For a long moment Hatter did nothing but stand there, until his thoughts went to Alice and he remembered what he was there for in the first place.

Hatter took a deep breath and continued his search ever more cautious then before, with no more invisibility he would have to avoid guards entirely. Hatter peeked his head out of the room checking to see if there was anyone around, when he saw no one he continued his search heading for stairs that would lead him further up; he already checked the one lower floor on the east side and had no luck it was time for him to check the upper ones now. Hatter got to the stairs and started running up them, he went past the first floor and continued to the second when he spotted a group of cards running towards the stairs. Hatter immediately turned around and almost tripped as he ran back down the stairs and turned into the corridor that would lead him back towards the first floor where the throne room was.

Hatter hid on the left side of the wall to the stairs and the corridor and lowered himself down incase the cards decided to entire the corridor through the stairs like him. As the sounds of the cards marching came closer and closer, hatter contemplated pulling out his knives and ambushing the cards. Hatter started to draw the blades when he remembered how badly that one Jack beat him, if they had another one of them with them Hatter would be doomed; so he slid the blades slowly back into there sheaths and waited. After a moment the card soldiers turned down the corridor and marched forward in unison, as Hatter saw there were no Jacks with them but there were more than he saw when he first spotted them and ran.

When the medium sized group of cards passed Hatter completely he let out a deep sigh, took a quick glance up the stairs then stood up and ran back up them. Hatter noticed for the first time that the cards were not running around in desperate search of the person responsible for killing the Jack soldier. Hatter thought either the queen didn't want to cause too much commotion to arouse suspicion amongst her workers or she knew that the intruders could not escape her and she need not sweat about it.

Then thinking about it as he continued making his way up the stairs Hatter finally realized something he should have a while ago; not only did he encounter much fewer guards inside the castle then he should have but there hasn't been any sign of a single worker for the queen at all. Something was very wrong with this picture but Hatter couldn't figure out why, instead of focusing on it he put it out of his head for the time being, focusing on finding Alice.