More than One Rabbit Hole

Chapter 4: Medicine of the Heart, the Red Queen

-~:8:~-

"'Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!'"

—Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass

A/N: Next chapter. New characters. And some utterly necessary backstabbing revealed. Hope you enjoy, my fellow outsiders. :)

~:8:~

The throne room was stunning. There was no better word for it. The high stain-glass windows with vivid colors and dramatic designs— were stunning. The heavy red velvet curtains pulled back by gold ropes— were stunning. And the granite steps leading up to the three red thrones— well, they were stunning too.

Then, of course, I should also mention that the two people sitting upon these thrones were also completely and indisputably eye-catching.

The girls took the one seated in the middle to be the Red Queen. She was fairly tall, with short, slightly curled auburn hair and chestnut eyes. Her pale skin contrasted against her elaborate red and black satin dress, detailed with gold. The whole outfit, complete with puffed sleeves, would have looked ridiculous on anyone but this queen, whom somehow, managed to appear only grander for it. Upon her head sat a simple gold crown. Or I should say nearly simple since encircled by the traditional rings of several prongs was a knob about the size of a teacup.

The other throne accommodated the king. He was seated to the right of the queen, and his crown was alike to hers, but rather that a knob it was centered with a cross and what looked like red velvet was stuffed around the inside. He seemed to be just a bit above the queen's age, but at the same time had the type of face that gave the impression of a care-free person rather than a king. He was donned nearly completely in red, and held a five-foot long scepter topped with a red jewel which was partially caged by a collection of gold loops. It was cocked to the side and tucked under his arm idly. His head was resting on his hand, and he wore his orange-yellow hair is a silly bob-cutted style. He, for your information, had drowsy black eyes, but this couldn't be realized at the moment since he was, in fact, asleep.

The third throne was empty.

Once the girl's had finished observing their new surroundings, (and pointedly ignoring the few brave onlookers who lined the courtroom-like benches along the edge of the chamber) they realized that the Red Queen was staring at them quite piercingly.

Jasmine was the first to shuffle her worn black dress shoes against the checkerboard floor, then after a quiet cough from August, the three outsiders remembered themselves and bowed hastily.

The queen returned the gesture with a slow head nod and extended a pale hand in their direction, her red and black nails gleaming in the bright window-light.

"Outsiders," she said in an unexpectedly, but not extremely, high voice. "We welcome you to Wonderland. We are the Red Queen. But you may call us Vivian."

The three girls nodded unsurely. The queen looked as if she were about to say more, but just as she opened her mouth a clock sounded from somewhere deep below their feet. The queen tilted her head to the side and listened carefully as the clock rang three times, counting the chimes.

When the room finally ceased resounding with the voice of the clock, the queen turned her attention back to them.

She smiled slightly. "It seems as though it is tea time. We would have you join us in the garden for some refreshments."

The girls glanced around for August, but found that he had vanished. Fighting the sudden panic his disappearance brought on, they one by one nodded.

"We would be honored, Your H—…Vivian."

Vivian, after dismissing the rest of the court—all but a few faceless guards whom she kept near until they reached their destination—led them to a grassy expanse of bright green lawn in the center of a neat garden. To the right side of this lawn were a series of hedges, with scattered openings that made the girls assume the inside was some sort of maze. A circular glass table with exactly four chairs sat in the middle of the lawn, laden with a fine mismatched tea set and far too many silver cake platters, upon which sat a most artistic array of petit-fours and other such delicacies.

The queen bid them to take a seat and, after a moment of staring at them unabashedly with her chin resting on her long intertwined fingers, broke the oh-so-awkward silence by laughing aloud.

The three outsiders looked at her confusedly.

When she stopped laughing she had to bite her blood-red painted lip to stop from chortling anew at their expressions.

"Oh don't look so uncomfortable!" she exclaimed, voice dense with glee. "All that formality back there was just for show (mostly)—we must always appear strong and composed as the Red Queen. Please, help yourselves." She pushed a plate of what might have been cherry-sauce covered brownies towards Gwen (whom was seated in the middle of the trio).

Slowly, one after the other, they each took one, still eyeing the queen dubiously.

Vivian smiled and leaned forward, pouring a good portion of tea into each of their teacups, and taking a scone for herself.

"We were so surprised to hear of the arrival of outsiders in our country. As a girl we would pour over any volumes which had the slightest mention of outsiders. Tell us, what is your world like?"

The food had tasted innocent enough, so the girls sipped their tea and answered as best they could. First impression aside, Vivian seemed like a harmless enough woman, aged somewhere in her late twenties or early thirties, and seeming genuinely enthusiastic about their story.

That was refreshing. Lately they'd been the ones with all the questions.

"Well…" Jasmine began, sipping her tea, "For one thing, everyone has a face in our world. And the grass doesn't grow like a checkerboard."

"And people can't create things like teacups—or anything really—from thin air." Clover added, brushing back a strand of her long dark-blonde hair.

"How intriguing!" Vivian replied, watching them sip their tea. "…Say, is it true that all people in your world have hearts?"

"Wha—!" The girls nearly spilled their tea.

"Th—then do people here…!

"Not have hearts?!.." Jasmine finished Clover's shocked question, her brown eyes huge to match Clover's green and Gwen's hazel.

The Red Queen just smiled and smoothed the red satin of her sleeve.

"There are many things you will find are different in this world from yours. Wonderland has a myriad of secrets, ones that we are confident you will understand in time."

"…"

"I…am quite curious about this world. However…"

"We do not have time. We need to return home."

"Oh, but you can't." Vivian said, turning her tall tea cup.

"We're sorry. We really did enjoy meeting you. And Wonderland is lovely and all but we really must find a way back home now."

"No," the Red Queen said, pulling a little vial from the plentiful folds of her skirt. "You are not able to leave now. You've all drunk this 'medicine' you see. It was in your tea."

Vivian smiled sweetly; Clover, Jasmine, and Gwen stared at the vial in horror.

Gwen clutched her throat and made a sound like she thought she'd been poisoned.

"What…You…!" Clover coughed and stood up, wide eyed.

"Oh, please don't be angry!" Vivian beseeched them. "We only wish to spend more time with you." She held up two more heart-capped vials. "This is 'Medicine of the Heart'. Since you have consumed it, you must play 'the Game'."

"What…what game?" Jasmine asked in an understandably distrusting tone.

Vivian smiled again. "That we cannot tell you. But know that only outsiders are able to play the Game."

The Red Queen began walking in the general direction of the palace. Having no other idea of how to get out, the three girls hesitatingly followed.

"The vials will not remain empty," Vivian explained as they walked along, her steps measured and balanced. "As you travel through Wonderland and interact with its people, the bottles will fill up, up!" Vivian turned to look at them. "When they are full, you will be able to return home, if you so wish."

Whilst hearing this, the outsiders' minds were busily trying to comprehend the situation. Later that night, they would spend hours discussing their dilemma, and what they aught to do next.

"But, until then…"

"Of course, you are more than welcome to stay at the palace!" The offered hopefully. But, seeing the untrusting look she received from the three girls (she had after all slipped something rather suspicious into their tea, thus entrapping them in a world not their own) she sighed and assured them that "We are sure that the Tracker—August Van— would happily allow you to stay in his home as long as you'd like, although our offer is always open."

"What makes you so sure?" One will contradict even a queen it seems, in the event of such a scheme.

"It is because you are all outsiders. And outsiders are people whom the inhabitants of Wonderland can feel for."

This wasn't a very thorough answer to Jasmine's question, so the girls raised their eyebrows in confusion.

More questions would have likely been asked, but they had arrived at the black gates of the palace, and August was waiting for them by one of the tall pillars.

"We…" Vivian surprised them by speaking suddenly in an unsure voice. "We hope that you can forgive us for using an underhanded method to keep you here. We have no bad intentions. Already we 'love' you three."

With that the Red Queen left them, and the three girls exited the palace grounds to meet up with August.

When reached him, August asked how their audience with the queen went, his gruff face calm. But receiving only frowns as answers, he began walking them back to his house.

Somewhere during the walk back, the sky suddenly turned black—becoming evening without any warning. Had the three outsiders not been so exhausted, they might have asked August for an explanation. But as it was, they filed away the question for a later date, and continued to follow the huge man through the strange forest.

They were silent for most of the journey, but when they reached the heavy oaken door of the Tracker's house, Jasmine stopped him with a hand on his trench-coat sleeve.

"…You knew, didn't you." She stated.

"…I'm sorry," he replied after a moment. "It is the part which I must play."

~:8:~

A/N: Now updated with a few touch-ups. So? What'd you guys think? Vivian—the Red Queen's—character came out a little different than I'd planned, but I think it suits her well enough. I actually have an entire file saved on my computer full of all the brainstorms I've done for all these characters, and a bunch of concepts for other parts of the story. Maybe I'll use it as a bonus chapter at the end of the fanficton.) I went back after completing this chapter and tried to add more detail. I'll try even harder for more visual descriptions next chapter. Anyway, now that they're stuck in Wonderland (those lucky little…), the real fun can begin. I kinda want to start working on the next chapter right away, but its 2:43 AM and the computer screen looks blurry. So see you next chapter! PLEASE REVIEW!