The Wisdom of Madness

by C. J. Archer

  "Is that so? What is in the pro-Wonderland column?"

  He winked. "That's a secret, but I can tell you he's handsome, clever and can sew a split seam faster than any seamstress."

  "Please introduce me to this remarkable man. I cannot wait to meet him." She laughed. God, it felt good to laugh.

  Markell reminded her of Seth, in a way. Or rather, the way Seth was with other women—charming, confident, and above all, himself. Seth had never quite relaxed enough around Alice. That's where he and Markell differed.

  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the tent flap move. How much had Seth seen and heard? And how did it make him feel to see Markell flirt with her?

  "In all seriousness," Markell said quietly, "I know you have very good friends in England. That small woman, for one."

  "Charlie is my dearest friend, but she is only one person."

  He glanced at Seth's tent but said nothing.

  Alice yawned. "Markell, tell me about my parents."

  "I know very little about them. I was young when they died and had met them only rarely. They say you look a lot like your mother, but I'm afraid I can't remember her features well. She was liked by those who knew her. Your father was respected as a king, but his reign was plagued by his mad sister's desire for the crown."

  It was difficult to reconcile these people as her parents. She'd wondered for so long about them, but now it felt like she was hearing about two strangers. It wasn't right. She ought to feel something for them.

  "It must have hurt them deeply to send me away," she said, almost to herself.

  "By all accounts, it did. Your baby brother, too, after he was born."

  "Myron," she whispered, tears pooling in her eyes. "He died so young."

  "I know." He went to place his hand over hers but hesitated.

  So she clasped his instead. His fingers curled around hers, the gesture comforting and, in some way, a link to the past and the people she only remembered in her dreams.

  They awoke with the birds at dawn, and after a quick breakfast of leftovers, they packed up their tents. Lord Blaine asked Alice not to help when she set to work, but she assured him she was capable. She wanted to help. Waiting would not only bore her to death, it would be somewhat embarrassing. They were doing this for her. The least she could do was contribute.

  "You had a long discussion with Ironside last night," Seth said as he helped her roll up the tent.

  "We have a lot to discuss. We hardly scratched the surface of things I need to know."

  He stopped rolling and sat back on his haunches. "You've already decided to stay?"

  "Not yet. It would be foolish to make up my mind after being here less than twenty-four hours. But I can't dismiss it so quickly, either."

  "You would abandon Charlie?"

  "Charlie doesn't need me. She has Lincoln. I would miss her, though."

  He resumed rolling. "What about the rest of us? Would you miss us too?"

  "Of course. But I suspect none of you need me either."

  "What makes you say that?" He didn't look at her. Because he couldn't? Or wouldn't?

  "I just know."

  "Lucky you," he muttered.

  They finished rolling the tent and tied it together with the strips of leather. Seth took the bulky tent while Alice reached for the pack containing her dress, corset and petticoat. She went to join the others dousing the fire but Seth caught her arm.

  "We may not need you," he said quietly, "but we do want you. Err, I mean, we want you around, as a friend. Or…or something more. If that's…on offer."

  "Is that what you want, Seth? Something more than friendship between us?"

  "I…I suppose."

  "Supposing isn't enough. Just because everyone expects us to fall in love doesn't mean we should."

  "So…you're not in love with me?"

  She thought about it so long that Seth began to look worried. He couldn't stand still, shuffling his feet, looking at her then away, adjusting the weight of the tent in his arms. He was so like Markell when he was nervous, it was somewhat alarming. "I could love the man I sometimes saw in you."

  His brows crashed together. "I don't understand."

  "You never showed that man to me, Seth. He was always there with others—Charlie, Lincoln, Gus—but never in my presence. The only man I ever saw was a stiff, formal, dry gentleman."

  "You find me dull," he said flatly.

  "I didn't say that."

  "Stiff, formal and dry imply excitement in your vocabulary?"

  "You're not being fair," she said hotly.

  "And you are?"

  She huffed out a breath. "Seth, I don't want to discuss this with you right now. I have a lot on my plate, and my nerves are on edge. I don't want to say something I regret. Let's say I like you very much at this point, but I don't know if it's love."

  "Fine. That's exactly how I feel too."

  She watched him stride off to join Gus, unsure if he was being honest with her or simply unwilling to admit he had feelings for her. Charlie would say that Seth wasn't like most men and wasn't proud, but Charlie knew a lot more about Seth than Alice did. Although Alice knew Seth had once been a pugilist, she suspected there was much more to his past, and Charlie was privileged to that information. Alice doubted she ever would be.

  That was entirely the problem.

  "What did you two talk about earlier?" Eva asked Alice with a nod at Seth up ahead. They walked side by side on the forest path, following Markell and his small crew of renegades. Markell had told them it would take all day to reach their next stop, a sympathizer's house where they would be kept safe while they plotted their revolution.

  "Love and friendship," Alice said, not wanting to divulge too much.

  Eva looked disappointed with the answer. "I hope he doesn't sulk all day."

  "Gus is trying to cheer him up." As Alice spoke, Gus shoved Seth hard in the arm. Seth lost his balance but managed to stop himself falling.

  "Or perhaps he's trying to kill him," Eva said.

  "Or knock some sense into him."

  Eva looked at Alice. "Do you think he needs sense knocked into him?" she asked.

  Alice lifted one shoulder, adjusting the weight of her pack. Despite containing very little, it was beginning to feel heavy. Not that she would tell anyone. Lord Blaine would insist someone else carry it, and Alice couldn't have that. If she was to rule these people, she needed to show strength. "He's a man. Of course he needs sense knocked into him."

  Eva laughed. Seth glanced over his shoulder and Alice saw a ghost of a smile touch his lips. Good. He wasn't feeling too miserable then. It lightened her own mood a little.

  "If I decide to stay here," Alice said carefully, "will you be a good friend to Charlie for me? She has Lincoln, but she needs female companionship. Someone other than Harriet Gillingham."

  "You don't like Lady Gillingham?" Eva asked.

  "She's an odd character, to put it mildly."

  Eva laughed again. "Very well. I'll be a good friend to Charlie. I already like her. She's very kind and sweet, and she manages Lincoln extremely well. I rather think she's a saint."

  Alice grinned. "Imagine what it was like when those two first met. It would have been a clash of wills."

  "She's fierce and courageous."

  Alice sighed. "I wish I had half her courage."

  Eva glanced at her. "Are you scared?"

  "Very."

  "No one would know. You hide it well."

  "I'm not the only one. You don't seem all that afraid and yet you're in a far-off land too, with the threat of imprisonment and death hanging over your head—as well as your brother's. If you're at all afraid, you're a better actress than I am."

  Eva didn't speak, and Alice thought she'd offended her, though she didn't know how. She'd thought their conversation over when Eva finally spoke.

  "I'll let you in on a secret," she said. "I know I survive this place. I have seen my future, and it's after this."

  "Y
ou mean you knew you'd come here?"

  "My mother did. I only saw what comes later."

  "That's why she left you that note to come to Lichfield! She knew you'd follow us through the portal and wind up here." Alice didn't think it was a very maternal thing, to send your child to another realm, but she didn't say so. Eva seemed unconcerned. Indeed, she seemed to accept her fate. "I thought the events you see in your visions aren't necessarily inevitable? I thought they were one possibility and that we have the power to change them. Is that not true?"

  "It's true. As my mother would say, the future is not yet written."

  "Have you ever known your mother's visions not to come to pass?"

  "No."

  Eva's gaze connected with Alice's. Alice felt a chill run down her spine. Imagine knowing the future. Imagine knowing who around you lived and died. She knew Eva's visions weren't as powerful as her mother's, but clearly her mother confided in her daughter.

  "What about the rest of us?" Alice asked. "Did she see our fates too? Or did you?"

  Eva focused ahead. "Only one."

  "Your brother," Alice said, nodding. It made sense that Leisl would know the fates of her two children. She had to admit to a measure of relief. She didn't want to know if her life was to be cut short here in Wonderland.

  A soft thud was all the warning Alice got. The next thing she knew, a gloved hand covered her mouth and cold metal pressed to her throat.

  "Alice!" Eva screamed.

  Figures dressed in white dropped from the trees on both sides of the path, blades drawn. Seth, Gus and Markell whipped around, swords ready, and engaged. The other renegades pulled out knives and crossbows, but at least two weren't fast enough. They fell to the ground and bled into the soil.

  Eva and David huddled together, surrounded by fighting. David held a sword but he didn't look as if he knew what to do with it. Eva wasn't armed. Nor was Alice. That was a mistake, Alice realized as she was dragged away, the blade at her throat. A very big mistake.

  Chapter 6

  Eva

  Eva wouldn't die here. She knew that from her vision. It didn't mean she wasn't scared witless. She couldn't be as certain about her friends' lives as she was about her own. And then there was David.

  His back pressed against hers. "We have to get out of here," he said, voice trembling. "Run into the bushes—"

  "We can't leave the others!"

  Since David and Eva didn't engage, none of the guards targeted them. So far, Seth, Gus, Markell and the renegades kept the attackers occupied, but Alice was being dragged off. Her feet scrabbled on the ground, trying to gain purchase, and her hands pulled on the guard's arm, wrapped around her waist. Her huge eyes darted toward Seth and Markell.

  Both men slashed at their opponents with deadly precision. The guards fell one by one, yet another always took their place. They wouldn't get to Alice in time.

  "She needs help!" Eva quickly checked the nearby guards to make sure they weren't bothering with her then ran after Alice.

  "Eva! What are you doing?" he cried.

  Eva pushed through the bushes, shoving low hanging branches aside. Her skirt tangled around her legs and snagged on twigs. Damned thing. Not to mention the restriction of her tightly laced corset made it hard to breathe. Alice had left a trail to follow in the dirt with her heels but no sounds came from up ahead. Behind Eva, the clang of clashing metal and the grunts continued. She glanced back but David hadn't followed her.

  She ran as fast as the terrain and her clothing allowed. The sounds of fighting retreated and she focused her seer's senses forward. There. The rustle of leaves, a muffled cry, and an awareness of Alice. They weren't far away.

  She slowed her pace and tried to avoid anything that would alert the guard to her presence. She crept on her toes, dodging twigs and carefully parting branches. Up ahead, a flash of metal and a harsh guttural growl.

  "Stay still!" the guard growled.

  Eva watched through the leaves as the guard dragged Alice across a small clearing. He no longer held a knife to her throat but he'd pinned her arms to her sides and his other hand covered her mouth. She wriggled and tried to stomp on his feet. Their pace slowed as she made it increasingly difficult for the guard.

  Eva tried to reach her seer's sense back toward the main fight but failed. However, nor could she hear anyone following. She watched as Alice's kidnapper dragged her into the forest.

  Eva couldn't defeat him, and as soon as she revealed herself, he might hurt Alice or even kill her. The queen had been going to execute her anyway, after putting her through a trial, so there'd be no real need to keep her alive.

  That settled it. Eva had to act.

  Instead of following them, she veered off. Despite her skirts, she maintained a good pace, faster than Alice and the guard. She picked up a thick stick along the way and, using a combination of her seer's sense and her own estimations, cut off their path.

  With his back to the way he was heading, the guard didn't see her. She smashed the stick into the back of his head as hard as she could.

  He crumpled to the ground without a sound. Blood dampened the hair at the nape of his neck.

  Eva's heart dropped. She was supposed to save lives and help the injured.

  "Eva! Thank God." Alice clutched her tightly. "Thank you." She followed Eva's gaze. "Is he…?"

  Eva crouched and checked the pulse at the guard's throat. She felt a strong beat. Her eyes fluttered closed and she cast up a prayer. "He should live."

  "Then let's go before he wakes up."

  Eva accepted Alice's hand and allowed herself to be led back through the forest, following the track gouged out of the earth by Alice's heels. Her head felt full of wool and she tripped over her own feet twice.

  What was wrong with her? She hadn't killed the guard and she'd saved Alice. She ought to be pleased. She was pleased to have saved her friend.

  She cast a long look over her shoulder and tripped again. Alice stopped and clasped Eva's shoulders. "I know this has upset you," she said. "But it was him or me, and I'm glad you were here to save me. Very glad." She took Eva's hand again. "Now, come on."

  Leaves rustled and twigs snapped. Someone up ahead didn't care about staying silent as they thrashed through the forest, heading toward Eva and Alice. Fear snapped Eva out of her stupor. She darted behind a large tree and Alice took a position behind another.

  "Alice! Eva!" The voice belonged to Gus.

  Eva almost wept in relief. "Here," she said, emerging at the same time as Alice.

  Gus's scarred face split with his grin. "Found them!" he shouted then pulled Alice into a hug.

  Seth joined them from one direction and Markell from another. Eva watched Seth closely as his gaze took in Alice's appearance. She expected him to embrace Alice, as Gus had done, but he merely adjusted his grip on his sword and turned to Eva.

  "You're all right?" he asked.

  She nodded then found herself enclosed in Gus's arms. "Bloody hell, you gave us a scare," he mumbled into her hair. "Both of you."

  "Are you harmed?" Markell asked Alice as his gaze tracked a similar path as Seth's, only it lingered on Alice and didn't switch to Eva.

  "We're both fine, thank you," Alice said, smiling.

  "Why did you charge off like that?" David asked Eva. He'd joined them, along with the rest of the renegades, who all looked relieved to see Alice unharmed. "You could have been killed."

  "I could have been killed where I stood," she shot back. "And Alice was in trouble."

  "I would have gone after her if I'd seen which direction she went in. But I had my back turned."

  Eva sighed. She didn't blame David for staying put. He wasn't trained in swordsmanship like Seth and Gus, nor was he a seer like Eva. Nor could she reassure him and tell him his fate wasn't to die here in Wonderland.

  "It's all right, David," she said gently. "I knew I'd be fine, that's why I went."

  His brows angled into a severe frown. "You can't know for sure. Mother is alw
ays telling you that visions aren't set in stone."

  She cocked her head to the side and raised her brows. "Name a single vision of mine or hers that hasn't come true."

  "Eva," he warned. "Promise me you'll be more careful in the future. I'd like both of us to get out of this hell in one piece."

  Eva sighed and turned away, only to see several pairs of eyes on her. Did she have dirt smudged on her nose? She wiped it just to make sure.

  Alice looped her arm around Eva's. "I was just telling them how marvelous you were, Eva. I didn't see or hear you approach."

  "I used my seer's senses to guide me," Eva said.

  Several gasps echoed around the clearing.

  "Seer?" Lord Blaine said. "You know the future?"

  "Not really."

  "Some of it?"

  "No," David snapped. "She doesn't see anything."

  "But she just said—"

  "It doesn't matter what she said. I'm telling you that she can't see anything."

  Lord Blaine's back stiffened and his whiskers twitched. "Do not speak to me in such a manner."

  "Why not? You might be an important man to those people, but you’re not to us. To us, you're just a heathen from a Godforsaken country—"

  "David!" Eva cried. "Stop at once."

  "We have gods," Lord Blaine sneered. "And they have not forsaken us. They have delivered our rightful queen to us, and they will help us put her on the throne."

  David opened his mouth but Eva growled, "Don't," and he closed it again.

  She pulled him away, out of earshot. Then she rounded on him. "Do not insult these people."

  "Why not? What does it matter? Are we even sure they're human?"

  She stared at him, unsure what to think anymore. David had never been the easiest person to get along with, but he'd never been outwardly rude to strangers. "Have you gone mad? Of course they're human."

  "How do you even know?" He kicked a clump of dirt and leaves. "They're the reason we're in this predicament. If they hadn't come for Alice, we'd be at home, safe. Instead, we're hiding in forests and living in tents, scared for our lives."