Chapter Nineteen
The clearing in the wood was still black and covered in ash from the last encounter. The White Queen’s people approached in silence, the heavy weight of their sad history hanging over them. Alice glanced at the Hatter, her heart aching for him as she thought of all the family he had lost here.
The Red Queen waited on her steed, a malevolent smile plastered across her enormous face. Her eyes glittered with hatred as her sister rode into the clearing.
“Hello, Iracebeth,” said the White Queen, pulling her white horse to a halt.
“Hello, Mirana,” said the Red Queen coldly.
The White Rabbit blew his trumpet and unrolled a scroll. “On this, the Frabjous Day,” he announced, “the queens, Red and White, shall send forth their champions to do battle on their behalf.”
The White Queen stared into her sister’s eyes, tears trembling on her beautiful long lashes. “Oh, ’Racie,” she said.
The Red Queen’s eyes softened at the sound of her childhood nickname.
“We don’t have to fight,” the White Queen went on.
The Red Queen snapped her mouth shut and glared suspiciously. “I know what you’re doing,” she snarled. “You think you can blink those pretty little eyes and I’ll melt like Mummy and Daddy did.”
The White Queen held out her smooth white arms beseechingly. “Please,” she said sweetly.
“It’s my crown!” screamed the Red Queen. “I’m the eldest! JABBERWOCKY!” Her horse pranced and spun, feeling the bolt of terror that shot through the crowd as an enormous dark form rose up behind the Red Queen.
The Jabberwocky’s vast wingspan blocked out the sun and darkened the clearing. It swung its reptilian head, studying them all with small, glistening eyes. Its long, spiked tail whipped across the grass. It extended one long, deadly claw and adjusted its red vest.
Alice could barely contain her fear. “This is impossible,” she whispered to the Hatter, standing loyally beside her foot.
“Only if you believe it is,” said the Mad Hatter. He looked up into her eyes, and his words sparked a memory of her father.
“Sometimes I believe as many as six impossible things before breakfast,” Alice said, smiling down at him.
“That is an excellent practice,” the Hatter agreed. “However, just at the moment, you really might want to focus on the Jabberwocky.”
That was the right answer. Alice slid off the Bandersnatch, tossed back her hair, and adjusted the sword at her waist. She was ready.
“Where’s your champion, sister?” the Red Queen sneered.
“Here,” said Alice, stepping boldly into the clearing.
“Hello, Um,” the Red Queen said.
The Jabberwocky hissed with pleasure. He slithered toward her, opened his slavering jaw, and roared.
“Six impossible things,” Alice whispered to herself, her voice trembling. “Count them, Alice. One! There’s a potion that can make you shrink. Two! And a cake that can make you grow.”
She drew the Vorpal Sword. The Jabberwocky lowered its huge head and loomed over her.
“Sssso, my old foe,” it hissed in a horrible voice that made Alice’s skin feel like it was crawling with insects. “We meet on the battlefield once again.”
Alice was shocked. She hadn’t known the Jabberwocky could talk . . . and she was sure she’d remember if they’d ever met in battle before. She couldn’t possibly have blocked out that part of her earlier visit, could she?
“We’ve never met,” she said, hoping he couldn’t hear the wavering in her voice.
“Not you, insignificant bearer,” said the Jabberwocky, casting her a scornful glance. “My ancient enemy, the Vorpal one.”
“That’s enough chatter!” Alice commanded.
Suddenly the Jabberwocky’s spiked tongue shot out toward the sword. Startled, Alice flung the sword up to defend herself, and it sliced right through the Jabberwocky’s tongue. The tongue flopped to the ground, wriggling in the dirt. Alice stepped back out of its way with a look of disgust. Now all the Jabberwocky could do was burble incoherently.
Alice was feeling triumphant when the Jabberwocky’s pronged tail whipped around and knocked her to the ground. Alice barely kept her grip on the Vorpal Sword, and her breath was knocked out of her. She lay still for a moment, gasping.
“Three,” she said aloud to herself. “Animals can talk.”
Some instinct made her roll out of the way just as the Jabberwocky’s tail slammed down to impale her.
“Four,” she said, faltering. “Four, Alice!” She climbed to her feet. “Cats can disappear.
“Five. There is a place called Wonderland,” she said firmly. The Jabberwocky swiped at her with long, curved claws, and she deflected them with a clang of her sword.
“Six,” Alice said, taking a deep breath. She stood still for a moment, then slowly lifted her head. All the fear was gone. There was nothing but fierce intention in her eyes. She knew the sixth impossible thing . . . and she believed it.
“I can slay the Jabberwocky!” she cried. She swung the sword in a wide arc and attacked with fury. Surprised by her fierceness, the Jabberwocky jumped back, then lashed out in defense. Now the battle had really begun.
Alice whirled, distracted, and claws scraped down the back of her armor. The Hatter winced. Alice backed up toward the Hatter, fending off the Jabberwocky.
“The Hatter’s interfering!” howled the Red Queen. “Off with his head!”
The Knave of Hearts drew his sword and ran at the Mad Hatter, who promptly drew his own sword to fight back. The well-ordered duel between champions erupted into a full-scale battle, with Alice and the Jabberwocky at the eye of the storm.
Mallymkun leaped onto Bayard’s back, Bielle growling fiercely at his side. Together, the bloodhounds and the Dormouse leaped at the JubJub Bird, wielding teeth and hatpins against its deadly talons.
The Cheshire Cat appeared in front of a Red Knight, then vanished as a sword was thrust at his middle. Confused, the Knight spun around and tried again, but the Cat could not be cornered.
With a howl, the Bandersnatch attacked four Red Knights at once, his strong jaws snapping around their armor. Meanwhile, the Tweedles fought back-to-back, with perfect precision and timing and nary a single argument. Not far away, the March Hare managed to shake off his paralyzing fear and started flinging anything he could find like a wild man, knocking out Red Knights right and left.
But the crux of the battle was still between Alice and the Jabberwocky, and she didn’t have time to watch her friends to make sure they were all right.
Alice attacked the beast with fierce thrust, swipes, and uppercuts. But the Jabberwocky was no easy opponent. It swiped back, and Alice was hit! The Vorpal Sword was knocked out of her hand, and she landed with a grunt at the bottom of a staircase. She quickly picked up the sword and ran up the stairs, where the battle continued. The Jabberwocky’s long, scaly neck snaked past her for barely a moment, and she seized the opportunity to leap onto his back, pulling herself up his sharp, bumpy scales. She could feel the edges of the scales cutting into the armored gloves on her hands. The Jabberwocky twisted and snapped, trying to shake her off.
The Vorpal Sword nearly wrenched itself out of Alice’s hand in its relentless pursuit of the creature’s head. Alice could barely keep her grip on it. She threw herself into the air.
“OFF WITH YOUR HEAD!” she yelled.
With one powerful thrust, Alice sank the Vorpal Sword into the Jabberwocky’s neck, severing its head from its vile body. The head rolled down the stairs and landed at the feet of the Red Queen.
Alice was too exhausted to speak, but the dead creature’s head seemed to say everything. The Queen pointed at Alice imperiously. “KILL HER!” she bellowed.
Chapter Twenty
There was a long, tense pause as the battling stopped all around the clearing. Alice stared at the Red Queen’s finger, which was only inches from her neck. She was still breathing too hard to speak.
The nearest Red Knight tossed his sword down on the ground. “We follow you no more,” he said to the Red Queen, “Bloody Big Head.”
“How dare you!” shrieked Iracebeth. “Off with his head!”
Another Red Knight threw down his sword, then another, and another, and gradually every single Knight in the clearing disarmed himself, staring defiantly at the Red Queen. She stamped her feet furiously, and then her shrieks of rage grew even louder as the crown lifted off her head and started to float through the air. Iracebeth grabbed for it, but it wafted out of her reach and over to Mirana, where it settled gently on the White Queen’s head.
“Iracebeth of Crims,” said the White Queen, “your crimes against Underland are worthy of death. However, that is against my vows. Therefore, you are banished to the Outlands. No one is to show you any kindness or ever speak a word to you. You will have not a friend in the world.”
The Knave of Hearts sidled up to the White Queen and bowed unctuously. “Majesty,” he said in his slippery, slimy voice, “I hope you bear me no ill will.”
“Only this one,” Mirana said, pointing without looking at him. “Ilosovic Stayne, you will join Iracebeth in banishment from this day until the end of Underland.”
The Knave went very pale. Knights seized his arms and chained him to Iracebeth. The former Red Queen leaned toward him, batting her giant eyes. “At least we have each other,” she said.
In a panic, Stayne pulled out a knife and tried to stab Iracebeth. She screamed as the Hatter threw a pair of scissors and knocked the knife away. Stayne dropped to his knees before the White Queen.
“Majesty, please kill me . . .” he begged. “Please.”
“But I do not owe you a kindness,” the White Queen said, looking down at him with no pity in her eyes.
“Take off my head!” he pleaded.
Knights dragged the unfortunate pair away. As they vanished into the woods, everyone could still hear Iracebeth screaming at Stayne. “You tried to kill me! HE TRIED TO KILL ME! He tried to kill me!”
Her voice faded into the distance, and a soft breeze seemed to send a sigh of relief through everyone in the clearing. All at once, the Hatter burst into an enthusiastic dance.
“Oh, the Frabjous Day!” he sang out happily. “Calloo! Callay!”
“What is he doing?” asked Alice, amused. She had taken off some pieces of her heavy armor and was breathing more easily now.
“Futterwacken,” the Cheshire Cat answered her, grinning.
The White Queen knelt beside the body of the fallen Jabberwocky and caught a drop of its blood in a vial. She stood up and handed the vial to Alice as the Hatter let her go.
“And blood of the Jabberwocky,” said the Queen. “You have our everlasting gratitude. And for your efforts on our behalf, I give you this.”
The Queen handed the vial to Alice. She held it up to the light, surprised by the color of the blood inside. “Will this take me home?” she asked.
“If that is what you choose,” said the Queen.
Alice lifted the vial, but stopped as the Hatter put his hand on hers.
“You could stay,” he said, his gaze warm and full of promise.
“What an idea,” Alice said softly. “A crazy, mad, wonderful idea.” She looked around at all the strange and wonderful beings she’d met in this and wonderfully strange place. She imagined what it would be like to stay—to talk to animals every day, to ride the Bandersnatch and explore Underland, to dance the Futterwacken with the Hatter whenever she chose.
But thoughts of her mother and sister and unfinished business intruded, and she knew she could not stay . . . at least, not now.
“But I can’t,” she said to the Hatter, taking his hand. “There are questions I have to answer. Things I have to do.”
She poured the new potion into her mouth. “I’ll be back again before you know it,” she promised the Hatter.
“You won’t remember me.”
“Of course I will!” she said. “How could I forget? Hatter . . . why is a raven like a writing desk?”
“I haven’t the slightest idea. Fairfarren, Alice.”
All of Underland began to shimmer around him, and his hand disappeared from hers as everything dissolved into—
—the meadow where Alice had first chased the White Rabbit. Alice found herself clinging to the edge of a rabbit hole. She pulled herself up and out of the hole. Grass was tangled in her long hair, and her clothes were wrinkled and torn. She shook her head, trying to remember what had happened. How odd. Had she fallen asleep? She stood up and brushed off her skirts. Whether she wanted to or not, she thought, she’d better get back to Hamish and the party.
Chapter Twenty-One
The garden party was still going on at the Ascot estate, although the guests were rather subdued after the failed proposal. Most of them stood in clumps across the great lawn, whispering in bewilderment.
Hamish spoke to some of the confused guests, his sideburns wrinkling as he complained. “She left me standing there without an answer,” he whined.
“A case of nerves, no doubt,” said Fiona reassuringly.
Suddenly, silence fell as Alice wandered back onto the lawn. Everyone stared in shock at her disheveled appearance. She looked as if she’d been through a great battle.
“Alice?” said Hamish.
“Good lord,” said Lord Ascot. “Are you all right?”
Alice’s mother hurried to her, gently taking her arm. “What happened to you?” Helen Kingsleigh asked, worried.
—“I fell down a hole and hit my head,” Alice answered, although she couldn’t help but feel that she was missing some part of the story.
“You look a frightful mess,” Lady Ascot sniffed.
Alice turned to Hamish. Her adventures in Underland were gone from her memory, but the self-confidence remained. And there was a lot she needed to say.
“I’m sorry, Hamish,” she said. “I can’t marry you. You’re not the right man for me. And there’s that trouble with your digestion.” She turned to her sister. “I love you, Margaret. But this is my life.
I’ll decide what to do with it.” Her sister’s husband was standing next to Margaret, twitching nervously. “You’re lucky to have my sister for your wife, Lowell. I know you’ll be good to her. I’ll be watching very closely.”
Lowell blanched at her veiled threat. Alice went on to her aunt Imogene. “There is no prince, Aunt Imogene. You need to talk to someone about these delusions.” Her chin went up as she faced Lady Ascot. “I happen to love rabbits,” she said, “especially white ones.”
Lady Ascot looked disapproving, but she didn’t say anything as Alice turned to her mother and kissed her on the cheek. “Don’t worry, Mother. I’ll find something useful to do with my life.”
Helen squeezed her hand, smiling through proud tears. Alice had never reminded her more of her dear Charles.
Alice noticed the Chattaway sisters hovering nearby. “You two remind me of some funny boys I met in a dream,” she said with a grin. She looked around. Was there anyone else she meant to speak to?
Lord Ascot lifted a finger. “You’ve left me out,” he said.
“No, I haven’t, sir,” said Alice. “You and I have business to discuss.”
“Shall we speak in the study?” He took her elbow to lead her away, but Alice turned back for a moment.
“Oh, and one more thing,” she said. She lifted her skirts above her ankles and did a brisky, happy Futterwacken to the shock of some and the delight of others. Then she calmly followed Lord Ascot into his mansion.
Maps were spread across Lord Ascot’s desk, along with ledgers and other documents of the business he had taken over from Charles Kingsleigh. Alice leaned over a map of the world.
“My father told me he planned to expand his trade route to Sumatra and Borneo,” she said, tracing the outlines of the exotic countries with her finger. “But I don’t think he was looking far enough.”
“Not far enough?”
said Lord Ascot, astonished.
“Why not go all the way to China?” Alice asked. “It’s vast, the culture is rich, and we have a foothold in Hong Kong. To be the first to trade with China. Can you imagine it?”
She looked up at him. Her eyes were shining just like her father’s had.
Lord Ascot smiled. “You know, if anybody else had said that to me, I’d say, ‘You’ve lost your senses.’ But I’ve seen that look before. As you’re not going to be my daughter-in-law, perhaps you would consider becoming an apprentice with the company?”
Six months later, Alice stood on the deck of a China Trading Company ship, waving to her mother, sister, and Lord Ascot on the dock below. White sails billowed overhead as the ship pulled out into the ocean, and Alice felt the wind lift her hair into a wild dance of freedom around her head.
A beautiful monarch butterfly with blue-tinged wings landed on her shoulder. She smiled, one memory breaking through as clear as day.
“Hello, Absolem,” she said.
The butterfly took wing, and Alice watched it soar away into the sky with a smile of pure joy on her face.
Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland Page 10