Wonderland (Intergalactic Fairy Tales Book 1) Page 5

  The guards each rubbed their ears and then gestured with their clubs for her to walk in front of them. Alice wasted no time complying. She only spared a glance for her fallen sword, apologizing mentally to her father for its loss. She’d do anything to avoid the pain promised by those horrible metal clubs.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  The Red Palace holding cells weren’t at all what Alice imagined they would be. She’d pictured something dark and dank in a basement, with iron bars and stone floors. In short, she’d expected a dungeon. Instead, Alice was led by two of the cards to an elevator and taken to the fortieth floor. Neither of them spoke and Alice was too frightened to ask questions.

  They ushered her off the elevator with gentle nudges from the clubs they held in their hands. Alice lunged away from them, not wanting to feel their awful pain again. The guards laughed at her awkward wriggling. There was no pain to accompany their touch this time. It must have been something they could turn on and off. Alice turned and stared at the guards and their clubs. She noticed there was a round red button on the handles.

  One of the guards caught the path of her eyes and reached up to press the button. A wicked hum filled the elevator and he stepped forward. Alice turned around and hurried down the hallway. The guards laughed again and Alice wished for her lost sword. Clubs or not, she would make them pay for her burning humiliation.

  After a couple of turns down nondescript beige hallways, they turned into a room lined with clear plastic cells. Most held miserable looking occupants who didn’t bother to look up. It was nothing like the jails Alice had seen in the movies, where the prisoners all hooted and hollered, banging on their bars, shouting their innocence. The air in the jail room seemed heavy and oppressive. It made Alice’s skin crawl and her shoulders slump. She looked in at every prisoner as she walked past and found each of them staring blankly into the distance, except for one.

  That prisoner sat on his cot, arms wrapped around himself while he rocked slowly. He looked Alice directly in the eyes, but never stopped chanting. “Off with his head, off with his head.”

  That’s when Alice realized what she was feeling in the room that made her skin crawl: hopelessness. She’d only ever seen it in one person before. There had been a picture of a man in the news. He’d suffered some sort of mental break and been arrested for trying to jump off an overpass and into traffic. That same look was mirrored in all the faces around her. Not a single one of the prisoners expected anything good would ever happen to them again.

  “Open cell two thirty-seven,” called one of the guards. The other one gripped her upper arm tight enough to bruise.

  A loud buzz sounded and the clear plastic door slid up into the ceiling. Alice pushed back away from the door, but the guard was ready for that. He’d obviously done this task countless times before. Her panic level rose along with her pulse. Her vision started to go dark at the edges and her knees grew weak. Without missing a beat, the guard dropped his club to hang from a strap around his wrist and propped her up with his other arm.

  “In you go,” he said, almost sounding like a father putting an unwilling child to bed.

  “Stop!” called a cool, crisp woman’s voice from the end of the hall.

  The guard released his grip on Alice’s arms immediately and snapped to attention. Alice stumbled a few steps into the cell before she caught her balance and turned around. The door was still open. The jail had gone eerily quiet except for the click of heels on the marble floor. The guards that had escorted her stared down the hallway, sweat pouring down their faces that wasn’t there just a moment before.

  Alice tried to look down the hall through the clear cell walls, but all she could see was a blurry red shape through the thick plastic. After what felt like an eternity of clicking a woman appeared in front of her cell. She was tall, even without the heels, much taller than Alice’s mother, and possibly taller than her father. And she was strikingly beautiful, with skin as perfect as a porcelain doll and full red lips that pouted into a heart shape. Her eyes were a deep emerald green that practically sparkled. Her hair was pulled up into a neat bun and topped with a crown of diamonds and rubies.

  There was no one feature that made her particularly intimidating, other than her height. If you focused on her eyes, or mouth alone, she might even appear pleasant. Taken as a whole, from head to toe, she exuded fierceness like a lioness. It wasn’t a facade that was put on and could be discarded any easier than a lioness could discard her large teeth and jaws. It was her nature.

  “What have we here?” asked the queen, her identity obvious without any need for introduction.

  “A trespasser in the royal docks, my queen,” said the five of hearts.

  “Nothing you need to concern yourself with, my queen,” said the four of hearts. He immediately gasped and covered his mouth. He was the guard who’d hit her with his club.

  “I’ll be the one to decide what concerns me,” said the queen, in a conversational tone. She stepped into the cell and smiled down at Alice. “Off with his head!”

  Outside the cell there was the distinct sound of a sword being drawn and then a scream was cut short. Thick red liquid splashed across the clear plastic of the cell, followed by a smaller thud and then a larger one. Alice was thankful that her view was blocked by the queen. Even so, she imagined the guard’s head tumbling to the floor, his mouth still open. The queen didn’t seem to give it a second thought. She looked Alice over from head to toe and then back to her hair. She took a lock of it between her fingers and smiled. “Such beautiful hair. So rare to find a blonde in Wonderland.”

  “Th-thank you,” stammered Alice. It seemed strange to be exchanging pleasantries while a corpse was cooling just out of view, but some part of her knew it would be a mistake not to answer. Another part, something deep down inside where she hoped nobody would ever see, was a bit glad he was dead. The memory of the pain that club caused would haunt her nightmares.

  Behind the queen was a lot of metal clanking and grunting. Another couple of soldiers had arrived and were bent over the corpse visible just behind the queen’s feet. Alice noticed the queen’s feet were rather small for a person her height. Like the rest of her clothing, her shoes were a deep red that Alice now recognized as the color of dried blood.

  “So, what were you doing at the royal docks, my little beauty?” asked the queen, though she didn’t seem particularly interested to hear the answer. Her eyes were focused on the distance as if she were lost in thought.

  The queen’s lack of interest in a question she’d just asked provoked Alice to tell the truth. Just as she was about to open her mouth, however, the queen began to pace, unblocking her view of the dead guard. Two of his comrades were hefting his headless body, still oozing dark blood from the neck. A third guard held his head under his arm as if it were a helmet. They all trudged away silently, like they were doing the most menial task they could imagine, instead of carrying away the body of one of their own dead, whose only crime was saying something the queen didn’t like. If they bore the queen any ill will, they didn’t show it in the slightest.

  Alice fought the urge to vomit. Bile burned her throat, reminding her that she hadn’t eaten in quite a long time. The queen continued to pace, one delicate finger tapping her chin. If Alice didn’t answer soon her head may be on the floor. “I was down there talking to your living ship. It took me away from my world and I was just trying to get it to take me back home.”

  “A bloody nuisance, that ship is, always running off and having to be brought back. If it weren’t so exceedingly rare and such a good conversation piece I’d have had its head long ago. Assuming it even has a head.” The queen stopped pacing in front of Alice and cupped her chin in her hand. “You would never dream of being such a problem, would you my dear?”

  “Never, your majesty,” said Alice wholeheartedly. She didn’t want to do anything to get on this woman’s bad side.

  “Wonderful,” said the queen, a small cackle escaped her lips along wit
h the word. “I think I shall take great pleasure in showing you off at the croquet match. Do you play croquet?”

  “Yes, your majesty. I’ve played quite a lot with my parents,” said Alice. Her rapidly pounding heart began to slow. Maybe she could go play a game of croquet with the queen of Wonderland and then be on her way. While she hadn’t gotten her ship back, at least she could leave with her head. She’d find another way to get him back later.

  “A rare beauty, and you know how to play croquet. I think you shall be the most prized thing in my menagerie. Perhaps I’ve been too hard on that ship. He does bring in the most lovely things sometimes.” The queen turned on her heel and headed out the door of the cell. Alice stood stock still, unsure if she should follow or not. “Come along dear.”

  Alice heaved a sigh of relief and followed behind the queen, doing her best not to look at the blood that was now being mopped up by a young girl whose face and arms were covered in puckered scars. Things were definitely not right in this place. The queen was demented in a way that didn’t seem to make any sort of sense. Perhaps Rabbit had been right, most of Wonderland was mad and if she tried to point it all out, she’d never do anything else. At least the queen had taken her away from the jail. For now, it seemed the best way to keep her head was to play along as if everything were just as normal as a stroll in the park. Still, it bothered her the way the queen talked about her like she was hers.

  They passed from the jail area without comment from the guards. Four of them stepped into formation around Alice and the queen when they walked by. Alice pulled back from them reflexively, expecting one of them to grab her.

  “Don’t worry dear, nobody here shall harm you while you’re with me,” said the queen. It was meant to be soothing. All Alice could hear was the implied not if they value their heads.

  They stepped into the elevator and one of the guards poised his hand in front of the control panel. “Fifty-two,” said the queen. It was the top floor of the palace. The guard punched the number and the elevator rushed upward.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  The top floor of The Red Palace was truly a sight to behold. Most of the floor was open, allowing a spectacular view of all the amazing acts going on. The ceiling was at least ten meters tall and higher in some places, such as the acrobatics area, where three people balanced on top of one another on a high wire about forty meters above the bare wood floor. If one of them fell they would surely die.

  Most of the people in the room paid little attention to the mind-blowing acts going on around them. They stood in groups of four or five near tables of food grand enough to serve several hundred people when there weren’t more than a hundred people in attendance. It was obvious from their clothing and bearing that these were important and powerful people. Just the sort of people you would expect to attend a party with a queen.

  Alice felt woefully underdressed in her simple blue dress. It was her favorite, but not nearly fancy enough for a party this spectacular. She found herself lagging behind the queen in an attempt to draw less attention to herself as they made their way toward a stage set up on one side of the room.

  “Come along, dear, we mustn’t keep my guests waiting,” said the queen, turning to wave at Alice. The gesture actually felt benign this time, with no implied threat.

  “But, I’m hardly dressed for such a fancy occasion,” said Alice, her steps growing smaller and slower the closer the stage loomed.

  The queen turned and came back to her, a flicker of what could have been concern in her eyes. “Nonsense, dear, you are a beautiful young woman in a lovely blue dress and you are my companion for the evening. I can assure you that you’ll fit in wonderfully.”

  Alice nodded skeptically, eyeing the stage. The thought of standing up on a stage in front of a room full of rich and powerful people made her want to bolt. Only the four guards with their swords and clubs kept her from trying it. “Do I have to go up there, though?”

  The queen looked up at the stage and then down at Alice, her green eyes turning soft with concern. “Oh, little one, you have stage fright. How thoughtless of me. This would be an intimidating situation for someone not used to such things.”

  “Yes,” said Alice, not sure if she could trust the queen’s seemingly genuine concern. She glanced at the sword on the belt of the guard nearest to them.

  The queen followed her gaze and a wicked smile lit up her face. “Well, how about we get you something to make you feel more comfortable, my little morsel.”

  The queen turned and marched off toward a set of double doors that were flanked by two more guards, holding poleaxes crossed before them. They straightened their weapons immediately upon seeing the queen headed their way. One moved quickly to swing the doors wide. The hall beyond was lined with evenly spaced doors on either side, each one about ten meters apart.

  “Welcome to my collection of beautiful and powerful things,” said the queen, stopping at the third door on the right. She placed her hand on a panel next to the door and a wave of blue light washed over it. “If you continue to please me, I may show you through all the rooms one day. For now, I have something that should banish your stage fright.”

  There was a resounding click that echoed through the hallway and the wooden door swung inward. It was then that Alice realized there was no handle on it. The queen stepped inside and gestured for Alice to follow. While the door looked like a normal wooden door from the outside, it was actually just a wood panel over a thick, steel vault door. The air inside the vault was very dry and a bit stale, smelling like old pennies.

  “Lights,” called the queen, and a plethora of spotlights turned on, each of them glinting off a shiny piece of metal. Swords, shields, armor, and various weapons Alice couldn’t describe, stood on pedestals around the room.

  “This is amazing,” said Alice, her mind racing with the possibilities of plundering the vault. Everything in there looked like it was priceless beyond her wildest dreams; covered in gems and gold. Surely none of these things were used for fighting and were meant only for show. Just selling one piece would probably outfit an entire crew in good practical pirating gear.

  “Oh, it’s but one of my little treasures. Weapons are so rarely made beautiful or interesting. They are tools for killing and thus, usually made so practical. Most of these pieces were made for kings and queens who would never see battle, but wanted to play at it during parades and state dinners.” The queen walked toward the center of the room and stopped at a pedestal containing a single sword. A strange, luminescent bubble surrounded it, making the details of the weapon hard to make out. It was the only one in the room she could see that had any sort of added protection. “Hand me something you wish to dispose of.”

  Alice reached into her pockets, though she had very little. The queen had made it an order, and disobeying one of her orders clearly wasn’t an option. All she had in her dress pockets were the mushroom the caterpillar had given her and the smutty business card the guy on the street had handed her. Even though the mushroom was probably worthless, she didn’t want it destroyed, so she handed the queen the card, her cheeks burning with humiliation. “I didn’t mean to take it,” she said.

  The queen smiled down at the card and then winked at Alice. “I won’t tell anyone, my dear. Liza is a rare beauty who has shared my bed on more than a few occasions. I think I’ll introduce the two of you later. I might even let you play with her for free.”

  Alice’s cheeks went past burning as all of the color drained from her face. “But I wasn’t,” she stammered. The queen couldn’t possibly think she was holding the card with the intent of using it. The woman was quite beautiful, but she wasn’t ready for sex yet. And even when she was someday, she couldn’t picture herself hiring someone.

  “Sure you weren’t, my little deviant.” The queen winked again and turned to face the strange bubble around the sword. Alice decided there was no further use in arguing.

  “Now, watch closely.” The queen flicked the card at the bubble
and it evaporated in a puff of smoke the instant it met its luminescent surface. “It could do the same to a full grown man.”

  Alice gasped, her embarrassment about the card forgotten. She wasn’t certain she wanted to touch anything the queen felt the need to put behind something like that.

  Something of her thoughts must have been expressed on her face because the queen addressed them. “That’s a high energy force field, the energy it takes to keep that on for a day could power a small village for a week. While the object behind it is valuable, it’s not nearly as valuable as the energy it takes to guard it. I put it behind that force field because it is dangerous. It is the most dangerous weapon to ever have been forged in Wonderland.”

  The queen reached up and touched another panel like the one next to the door. This time after the blue light passed over her hand, the bubble around the sword disappeared. Without the distorting effects of the force field, it was easy to see the sword, resting on a pair of raised hooks. It wasn’t a very large sword. For someone of Alice’s height it might be considered a bit on the long side, but for a large warrior type it would be quite short. The blade was straight and a couple of fingers in width. All down the length of it were carved strange looking runes and sigils. The hilt was wrapped in what appeared to be simple leather and the pommel was plain metal designed to balance the weight of the sword. There were no jewels on the crossguard either, just a simple, slightly curved piece of steel meant to protect the fighter’s hand from the opponent’s blade. This weapon wasn’t meant for decoration. It was meant to be used.

  After a slight hesitation, the queen reached up and lifted the sword from its display rack. A metal ting rang through the air. It didn’t dissipate until the queen gently caressed the flat side of the blade. “This, dear girl, is the vorpal sword. It is said to have been forged by elves eons ago. One of four such swords given to each of the four kings of Wonderland as gifts. They each bore the symbols of their kingdoms at the base of the blade. This was forged for the King of Hearts.” She held the blade down for Alice to see the stylized heart etched at the base of the blade. “The runes are said to say the blade’s name: Snicker-snack.”