by Lotus Rose
Hatter, Malice, and the Snark all exchange glances.
“I can’t do this one,” the Snark says. “I cannot summon up my feelings of love, for I love no one. There are none like me other than me for me to love.”
Udu gives him a puzzled look, whilst Hatter rubs his chin.
“I don’t think I can do it either,” Malice says, “because...” She trails off, doubting whether to finish her sentence, because it would be too awkward to admit that, since she got a new heart, her romantic feelings for Humpty and Hatter are gone and that she now has disturbing romantic feelings for Dorothy.
After a few seconds of silence, Hatter says, “She just got a new heart, so she has to start all her loving feelings over from scratch.”
Malice just nods awkwardly.
“Righto!” Hatter says, and he slaps his palms together in a wide arc. “It seems it’s up to me, then.” To Udu, he says, “So how exactly do I do this?”
“Take that egg there and place it outside the nest.”
He does.
“Now look at it.”
He does.
Udu says, “Now think of someone you have romantic love or strong affection for. Try to project those feelings to inside the egg.”
Hatter says, “The egg isn’t going to take them away, is it?”
“No, but it shall feed upon the feelings, though. Just give it a go.”
Hatter presses two fingers to each of his temples. He removes them, lets his arms fall limply at his side, and says, “I must say, I don’t know why exactly I have to do this. Who came up with this little requirement, anyway? And why did they make it so silly?”
“This is a jabberwocky realm,” Udu explains, “where everything is symbolical and magical. No single entity made the tasks—they arose from the collective consciousnesses of the jabberwocks. Rather than complain, it would really be much simpler for you to just go along with it.”
The Cat mocks, “Who are you going to think of to conjure up the lovey dovey feelings?”
Malice knows Hatter will be thinking of she herself—Hatter has no other love interests that she was ever aware of.
Udu says, “Whomever you choose to think of, the feelings must be very strong in order to work.”
Hatter gives a nod, presses two fingers to each temple. “Okay, I’m thinking of...a being, who could be human or not, and she could be a female or a male, who knows?”
“Does her name begin with an M?” the Cat says.
“Don’t tease him,” Malice says.
“Is the being here with us today?” the Snark says.
“She or he very well may be,” Hatter says, “unless it or she isn’t.”
Malice points a warning finger at the Emperor’s face.
Udu says to Hatter, “Bring up the feelings you have for the girl—”
“Could be a boy,” the Cat says.
Udu continues, “Let the loving feelings build to their strongest point, then project them into the egg.”
“Okay,” Hatter says. His face contorts into a grimace of concentration. “The love,” he whispers, “is filling me.”
“It’s me, isn’t it?” the Snark says. “You’re in love with a snark.”
Malice stomps over to him and punches him in the arm.
“Oi!” he shouts and rubs his arm with a hurt frown on the Emperor’s face.
The egg starts glowing with a pink light. It wobbles for a few seconds, now it slowly spins, and as it turns, grows larger. It shifts into an upright position, and comes to rest, the glow recedes and it sits in a vertical position, having reached a height of about 5 1/2 feet.
“Excellent,” Udu says. “Your love for the female entity or person turned out to be strong enough.”
Hatter glances at Malice, before an alarmed expression shows on his face and he returns to staring at the egg.
Udu says, “So now, in our symbolic reenactment of the steps leading to flight, the egg has been formed. Now let’s move onto the next step: the hatching.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
UDU SAYS TO MALICE, “You’re the obvious choice for this next step, since the third step requires the use of wings. Now this second stage, pays homage to the hatching of a chickie, or little jabberwock hatchling. First you must get inside the egg—you’ll be playing the role of a hatchling, so you must then bust out of the egg, thus symbolizing birth.”
Malice says, “Is there a way of getting inside the egg that you’d recommend?”
“Yes. Embrace the egg. It is currently filled with love, in a magical sense—open yourself up to it, and let the magic take it from there.”
She gives Udu a doubtful look, says, “Righto. Magic sure works in bizarre ways. So here I go hugging this eggy.” Gingerly, she embraces it—her arms don’t go all the way around it, though.
“Excellent,” Udu says. “Now make yourself receptive to all the love inside the egg—in your mind.”
Malice closes her eyes. “Oh, egg. I accept your, er—”
“Yolk of love,” the Cat suggests.
“Um, sure,” Malice says. “Whatever it is, I open myself up to you.”
She feels the egg shell growing warm as it gives off a glowing pink light that shines through her eyelids. She feels herself being absorbed by the egg, as if the shell has taken on the consistency of warm jelly—she presses forward and sinks inside the egg.
Inside it, it feels like she is surrounded by a cloud of pure energy. Her eyes open and she is inside the empty shell, the insides are glowing with a gentle pink light and she can partially see outside from the light glowing through the shell—everyone outside of the shell look like black shadows to her.
She looks to the silhouette of Hatty—and she feels a jolt of love filling her. For a moment, she’s confused, because the loving, romantic feelings aren’t her feelings for Hatty—for how could they be? No, these are the feelings Hatter put into the egg, these are his feelings for her, and the sheer intensity of his affection and love is overwhelming—it makes her breath catch.
He’d never let on just how strong his feelings for her were, and now they are being fully revealed to her in this egg.
The figure of Udu shifts, and her muffled voice comes to Malice through the egg shell: “Now, break out!”
“Okay!” she shouts. Tentatively, she pounds her fist against the eggshell. It doesn’t break. She pounds harder, and it bends without breaking while the egg threatens to wobble over onto its side.
“Harder!” the muffled voice of the Snark calls out.
“I figured that, you twit!” she shouts back, and she slams both fists into the eggshell, causing it to crack. She punches out, causing a piece to break off, letting light shine in. She notes that none of the others are helping her, but perhaps this is a task she needs to accomplish herself—like an actual hatchling would.
They do shout their encouragements to her, though, and she continues breaking off pieces of shell. As she does, the feelings of love dissipate. Partway through her jailbreak, the egg topples over onto its side, with her toppled along. Soon after, she breaks out a large enough hole for her to stand up. She’s pleased to find she’s completely clean and dry—there is no yolk of love on her.
Hatty cordially offers to hold her hand, which she takes—as she steps out of the egg onto the column surface.
She immediately locks her eyes with him. “Oh, Hatty, I had no idea.”
“What do you mean?” he says nervously. He releases her hand, but she grabs onto his again, tightly.
“The depth of your feelings for me,” she says. “You never revealed them, before...”
“Yes, well...” He rubs his thumb over hers. “I couldn’t very well, now could I?”
“But now we’re basically the same age. We are possible now. I was inside the egg, I experienced all those feelings you put inside it—all those feelings for me, and well, I’m just going to come out and say it...oh, my dearest Mad Hatty, tell me, will you be my boyfriend?” She bites her lip and looks
away in embarrassment.
She’s staring at the rocky ground, as she feels him lifting her hand upward, hears him say, “Yes, darling,” and now feels his lips pressed in a kiss against the top of her hand—turns her head just in time to see him doing it.
The new couple kisses for several long moments.
“Yucky,” the Cat says.
“Is that necessary?” the Snark says.
Hatter and Malice pull out of their kiss and dopily stare into each others’ eyes.
Udu says, “So the symbolic stage of hatching has been fulfilled. Now it is time for the third and final stage to be done: a hatchling’s first flight.” He looks to the Snark, the only team member in possession of (borrowed) wings.
“Errr, yes, quite.” He flaps the Emperor’s wings awkwardly.
Udu shakes his head. “Not that way. You must be pushed off the edge, like a real hatchling. Your leap of faith.”
The Cat chuckles.
“Oh, bother,” the Snark mutters. “I should be royally upset if I splat onto the ground.”
“And I should be royally amused,” the Cat says.
“Curse you, kitty. But I shan’t shirk my duty. It shall be I who returns flight to the mighty jabberwocks!” He steps to the edge, with his legs visibly quivering. “Go on then,” he says as he teeters on the edge.
Hatter and Malice exchange a look between them, before they each push onto one of the Snark’s legs.
They watch as he plummets toward death, but like so many hatchlings, he flaps his wings and begins laughing as he soars through the sky.
“Now the jabberwocks have flight again,” Udu says. “And the jub jubs do not...again.”
As the Snark soars and cackles above their heads, Udu smiles as she glows white and fades until she disappears. The ground beneath them begins rumbling, before the whole column collapses, then disappears beneath their feet, leaving Hatter and Malice on the ground again with the witch. “Let’s get back to Jabberwock Valley,” she says.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
JABBY, HUMPTY, AND Sleepy B find that they have been transported to a forest area, which is unremarkable save for the fact that a few feet away are a group of people seated cross-legged in a circle, holding cards in their hands.
One of the boys points at Jabby and the others, shouts, “Who are you?”
Sleepy B now realizes that the shouter is not a boy, but a munchkin, which explains why he is in all green, just like everyone else in their group, except for one girl.
The girl wearing a blue and white checkered dress turns her head. “Why, if it isn’t Jabby, Humpty, and Sleepy B! What brings you here?”
Humpty shouts, “Dorothy!”
The munchkin says, “They just appeared out of nowhere, Chief!” He stands and draws his sword.
“We have no quarrel with you,” Jabby says.
Humpty says, “We were teleported here by Goklam’s witch. We had no idea we’d end up here next to you.”
“Ah,” Dorothy says, grinning. “She must have done it on purpose. It just so happens I’m on a mission to thwart the Emperor’s ceremony two days from now. I could very much use the services of a little girl in my plan. We should talk. I believe we can come to a mutually beneficial arrangement...”
Jabby, Sleepy B, and Humpty exchange glances. Jabby and Humpty give a nod.
Sleepy B says, “We’re listening...”
“Excellent,” Dorothy says. “Put your sword away,” she says to the munchkin. “Let’s talk.” She turns around so that she can face the team. “Please sit, so I don’t have to look up at you. I apologize that we don’t have chairs. We’ve been traveling light. We set up camp here, deep in the forest to avoid detection whilst we await the ceremony.”
Everyone is sitting cross-legged now.
Jabby says, “What is this ceremony of which you speak?”
Dorothy says, “The Emperor has announced throughout the valley, that he shall make a grand announcement, after which he shall execute the Queen of Hearts in front of all attendees. We intend to stop him from doing that.”
Sleepy B says, “Are you aware that the body of the Emperor has been taken over and is now controlled by the Snark?”
“I wasn’t, but that explains a lot. It doesn’t affect my plan, though. My plan is to prevent the Emperor—or the Snark, as you claim—from executing the Queen of Hearts.”
“Why are you so concerned whether she lives or dies?” Jabby says.
Dorothy smiles at him. “Let’s just say she’s worth more to me alive than dead. I think the more important issue is that we seem to have a common enemy. You are opposed to this Snark, correct? You don’t wish him to succeed, am I right?”
“Quite,” Sleepy B concurs.
“Well, I can help you to thwart his plans, if you cooperate with me. After that, I shall take my leave. Honestly, I have no interest in delving any further into jabberwock politics.”
Humpty says, “What’s in it for us if we help you?”
“You’ll be able to thwart your enemy, the Snark, and save the Queen of Hearts’ life. I understand that your Queen Malice doesn’t believe in the death penalty.”
“That’s true,” Jabby says, “but what do you intend to do with the Queen of Hearts?”
“I intend to free her.”
“Free her?!” Humpty shouts. “Preposterous!”
“According to Malice’s morality, it would be better for the Queen of Hearts to be set free than allow her to be killed.”
Sleepy B says, “What if we don’t agree to help you?”
“That is your choice.”
Sleepy B says, “Why don’t you tell us what it is you’d like us to do.”
“You say the Emperor is controlled by the Snark? Well, the Snark has invited jabberwocks and little girls to attend his ceremony. I want you and the Jabberwock to blend in with the crowd.”
“What of me?” Humpty says.
“You’ll have to stay with me, hidden in the forest area, watching the ceremony from afar. When the time is right, I’ll send one of my tornadoes to carry the Queen of Hearts away. It’ll be a magical tornado that shall seek her out specifically. But before it carries her off, I want Sleepy B to free her from her bonds. Everyone around the Queen of Hearts should scatter when they see the tornado coming—Sleepy B must convince her that the tornado is there to rescue her, and if everything works out right, the Queen of Hearts shall be whisked away.”
“To where?” Jabby says.
“Elsewhere.”
“Why do you wish to save her?” Humpty says.
“I have my reasons.”
“You’re not being very forthright with us,” Sleepy B says.
“Do you wish to help me, or not?”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
HATTER, MALICE, THE Snark (using the Emperor’s body), and the witch reappear in the cave chamber that serves as the Emperor’s throne room.
About ten feet away, Nellie sits in a chair, reading a book. About a half dozen guards stand at attention throughout the chamber.
“Hello, again, my good cook!” the Snark booms.
Nellie jolts in her chair.
All the jabberwock guards draw their swords.
“You’re back,” Nellie says.
“Yes,” the Snark says. “Have Jabby and the others arrived yet?”
“I haven’t seen them,” Nellie says.
Hatter says, “You told us you were going to let us go.”
“Indeed I did. Put away all your swords,” the Snark says to the guards.
Malice says, “Where’s the rest of our team? Are they still in that jabberwocky realm?”
The Snark looks at the witch, says, “Well?”
“No, they left, after having accomplished their mission of canceling the kissing spell.”
“So where are they now?” the Snark says.
“I transported them somewhere safer for them—they were worried you might try to capture or kill them.”
“Well, I have good
cause to do those things to Jabby in particular, but no, I am a monster of my word. I wouldn’t have harmed him...not until the end of our agreement.”
Malice says, “What’s your problem with Jabby?”
“Yeah,” Hatter says whilst pointing his finger at the Snark, “Huh, bub?”
The Cat’s head begins appearing behind the Emperor’s body, but is ignored.
“I have nothing personal against him, even though he does have a disgusting fondness for humans. But he’s a hero to the jabberwocks now, who helped abolish that revolting kissing curse—he’s fully earned the right to regain his name, his vorpal blade, and his royal station of prince.”
“Jabby’s really a prince?” Malice says.
“He is indeed.”
Malice says, “Is that what your problem with him is?”
“No,” the Snark says. “Let me explain. It is foretold that within the next few days, a new age shall be ushered in for the jabberwocks, a time of great change brought to fruition by a ruler who has, in the prophesy’s words, ‘both human and jabberwock been’. I myself fulfill that condition. But you see, your Jabby used to have a human body, so one might claim he has ‘both human and jabberwock been’.”
“So you think he might fulfill the prophesy?”
“I don’t see how, because he has no power over me. But I’m not going to take the risk, so as soon as my promise ends, I shall have him hunted and killed.”
“Not if we have anything to do with it,” Malice says.
“Admirable,” the Snark says. “You stand up for your friends. I must admit, he has helped me a great deal, and I am quite grateful. It’s a pity he’s not here for me to formally reinstate his name and station, and to return to him his vorpal blade.”
“You would do that?” Malice says in astonishment.
“Of course. I promised that I would, and I always keep my word.”
Malice says, “Might I take his sword with me, so I can give it to him, when next I see him?”