by Dani Hoots
The first soldier started to get up, even with a wounded leg. Melvin slashed down at him but the man deflected the attack and parried it.
I watched in amazement as these two men fought like they did. I didn’t realize how good they were at sword fighting. It seemed like it was necessity in this place.
Suddenly, as I watched them fight, I felt someone grab me from behind. As I screamed, the person put a knife under my throat.
“Alice!” Melvin exclaimed as he cut down his opponent. “Let her go!”
Davis got distracted and I watched as his sword was knocked out of his hand and the soldier punched him in the nose. Davis hit the ground.
Melvin started for him, but the guy that held me stopped him. “No, you stay there. I am not kidding or the girl gets it.”
He stopped and stared at me, trying to figure out what we should do next. I struggled but it was useless. Besides, this man had a knife under my chin.
That was it. A knife.
I still had the knife from earlier. I reached for it, acting as if I was still trying to struggle as he kept his attention fixed on Melvin and Davis. The soldier was thrusting at Davis, trying to stab him through the stomach. Davis crawled away from him, trying to get back in a better defensive position but it was almost pointless. I had to act fast.
Drawing my knife, I stabbed the man that held me straight in the stomach, moving my neck away from his own knife as I spun around and stabbed him again. As he went down, I pulled out my katana and deflected the other soldier’s rapier as he thrusted at Davis.
“Not today!” I yelled as I slashed forward right through the man’s torso. The man hit the ground just as the other two had fallen.
I just killed someone. He had been attacking my friends, there was no other way. But still… I didn’t know what to think, but with everything going on, I didn’t have time to waste, I knew that.
Looking back up I found Davis and Melvin just staring at me.
“What? Shouldn’t we get going?” I asked, wanting to change the subject. I had to deal with this later.
“Yeah, let’s go,” Melvin put away his own saber. Davis quickly picked up his claymore and hurried after us.
As we ran, I noticed that it seemed like more and more men were starting to follow us. I hoped Malcolm and Howard were all right, after seeing many soldiers dashing through the city. Were they only going after Bill? Or were they trying to fight them all?
I could hear the clashing of swords behind us. Malcolm and Howard must have been close. I felt a bit excited, knowing that they were still okay, but then I realized that meant Bill was near, and our chances of escape were growing smaller and smaller. I kept running, hoping that we could make it out of the city in time.
My legs were aching even more, the adrenaline starting to weaken. I was going to be so sore later, but if we made it out alive I wouldn’t care. The pain was nothing compared to what I had endured in the Circus.
Just as we rounded a corner, Chase appeared in front of us.
“Chase—” I began but he cut me off as he turned to Melvin and Davis. They appeared as if they were going to punch him.
“I will meet you all there.” With that, he quickly grabbed my wrist and the last thing I heard was Davis and Melvin yelling at him.
Before I could even blink, I was up high in the tree, in the same place he took me the other night. His tree fort. I tried to catch my breath but my heart was racing and everything around me was a dizzy mess. Why would he pull me out of there? Had the plan changed, had something gone wrong?
“Calm down, you are safe here.” Chase sat down next to me, looking down at the battle that was going on. There were so many soldiers, I had no idea. There had to be over a hundred running through the streets, searching for us.
“Why...”
“They would have captured you if I didn’t intervene. They were naïve to think they could just run away from Bill.” Chase sighed as his attention was still on the city below. “This was the only way.”
“I thought Bill could find portals, won’t he be able to find us?” I asked as I sat down next to him. There really wasn’t anything I could do, as there was no way I could get down without Chase deciding to take me along with him.
Chase shook his head. “I made too many portals, he would have to know this was the right one.”
I stared down at the city. It was scary to imagine just moments ago I was in the middle of all that. “How did he find us?”
“I don’t know, I made over four dozen portals. He shouldn’t have been this prepared, if anything he would have just sent scouts to each. He knew this was the correct one somehow,” Chase said, frustrated that he had failed at his job. I felt bad for him, knowing that Howard and the others may blame him for Bill finding us. But I knew it wasn’t his fault, there had to be something else going on.
“What now?”
He took a deep breath. “We wait. I told the others where to meet. We wait for everything to die down then we will meet them there.”
I looked back down at everything going on, searching for the others. I found Melvin and Davis still running towards the edge of the city, knowing that they still had to act as if I was with them to keep the soldiers chasing after them. As for Malcolm and Howard, it took me a moment to find them, but when I did I couldn’t believe what I saw.
The two of them were fending off at least twenty men. Were they really that strong? Could they really make it out of there alive?
Malcolm promised me that they would be okay, he promised me that they would make it out safely and meet up with us, that he would be there when we faced Morpheus again. But the odds were completely against him. There was no way that someone could fight that many men at once.
My eyes didn’t leave the two of them. I could see exactly how the fight was going, but I could tell that many of the soldiers had fallen to the ground from the two of them fighting their hearts out. Malcolm and Howard were back-to-back as they went up against their next attackers. Even though they were surrounded, they had the upper hand with that stance. I had faith in them, but the worry they’d lose still wouldn’t leave my mind.
That was when it happened. The soldiers made them break their stance.
Chase slowly stood up, his cat-eyes fixated on Malcolm and Howard. They no longer held a great defense, separated from each other. One of the soldiers, thrusted at Howard and I watched as the sword went through his stomach.
I tried to scream out but Chase quickly placed his hand over my mouth. “Shh! We can’t be heard up here.”
After a few deep breaths, I nodded and he let go of me.
“Alice, I have to go down there and save Malcolm, he won’t be able to fight all of them by himself. I’m leaving you here alone. Don’t make a sound, all right? You will be safe you just have to wait for me.”
I wanted to say no, don’t leave me, but he was right. He had to get Malcolm out of there. There was no way Malcolm could defeat all those men by himself.
Chase disappeared and I peered down to see him appear next to Malcolm. Malcolm looked surprised and pissed but Chase grabbed him and they both disappeared to another place.
I looked around, searching for them but I saw no trace. I closed my eyes and whispered to myself. “It’s all right Alice, he will be back, he will be back for you.”
Minutes went by, which felt like hours as my heart pounded in my chest. If anything happened to them, I would be stuck up here. How would I get down? I was at least five stories high in a tree.
I heard footsteps behind me. “Chase?” I spun around to find a tall brown haired man. Not Chase. It was the man I had seen in the forest. It was Bill, his brown hair a bit messy as he had been fighting below. Blood stained his coat but he didn’t seem to be injured. He smiled, as if victorious.
“Sorry, young lady, but your friends have failed in protecting you. It’s time you came with me.” He started to reach out for me but I quickly backed away and pulled out my katana.
“Get away from me!”
“Just put the sword away, I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Liar.” I thrusted forward but he stepped out of the way of the attack.
“I see the boys tried to train you with a sword. How adorable.”
I swung at him again and again but he dodged each attack. He didn’t even pull out his own sword.
“You better put that thing away before you hurt yourself,” he teased.
“Stop treating me like a child!” I thrusted forward again but he simply stepped out of the way once more. This time though, I lost my footing and slipped backwards towards the edge. Dropping my katana, I screamed as I began to fall down off of the board towards the ground way below.
Bill caught my arm and pulled me back up. “Don’t worry, I got you.”
I looked down, imagining what could have happened. Pancake, that is what would have happened. “Why did you save me?”
“I told you, I’m not here to hurt you. I just want to take you back to the King and Queen. They have a few questions for you.”
“Alice!”
I turned to find Chase standing there. He pulled out his sword to fight Bill.
“Sorry kitty-cat, but you lost this one.” Bill kicked Chase straight in the stomach and he tumbled down off of the branch.
“Chase!” I screamed as he fell down towards the ground.
“He’s alright, he can make portals remember? Kitty-cat always lands on his feet.” Bill pushed a few buttons on his wristband. “Now, let’s get out of here, shall we?”
CHAPTER 18
I never saw any of the others as Bill took me by horseback towards the Dream Kingdom. I had to admit, it was pretty awkward having his arms around me to grab the reigns. I just hoped that we wouldn’t have to ride this way too long.
There were still at least seventy soldiers left in the group, all of them surrounding Bill as he made his way back to the Dream Kingdom. I admit, I was quite relieved that he was taking me to the King and Queen instead of to Morpheus. Although I knew nothing about them, I felt a bit safer not having to worry about going back to the Circus, to the place that held my greatest fear.
I hoped that the others were safe and were trying to figure out a way to help me. Not that I only relied on them to save me, I would also try to figure out a way to escape, but I wanted to trust that my friends would help, that I wasn’t alone in this. There was only so much I could do, I didn’t know everything about this place, but I would keep an eye out for any chance to run that I could.
Getting rather bored with the ride, I started to look around me. Just as everyone else was, each of the soldier’s eyes were masked with darkness. Morpheus had gotten to them as well. I wondered what all of their fears were and why they couldn’t overcome them. I also wondered why they were awake, when I couldn’t wake up until Malcolm took the shadow out of me. Maybe Morpheus did something different so I wouldn’t come back, something that left me completely paralyzed. And, if that was the case, why did he go to such lengths for me? Did he really think I was a threat deep down and didn’t want to take any chances?
At this point, it didn’t matter. He no longer worried about me being a threat, as he told me again and again. And, truthfully, I didn’t see what I could do to bring him down and save this place. It was out of my reach to even consider doing something. On top of that, the supposed original Alice had left me something in case help was ever needed, in case her successor, which I still doubted was me, needed to fight. I wondered why she would hide something for another to find, but not tell a soul. Did she not trust anyone here? Not even Malcolm or Chase? That seemed hard to believe, but I guess if you didn’t know what the future held, you couldn’t be too careful.
How would I even know what it was that she left me? How was I supposed to understand something that was never explained? This place held so many questions that it was starting to get annoying.
It hit me again, what had happened back there—the fact that I had stabbed someone. In this place all the citizens were dreams, did that include soldiers? Or were they like in the stories of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and simply here to fill a roll? But either way, I couldn’t have let my friends get hurt, no matter the cost. I owed them that much, as they had risked their lives for me.
Still, the idea left me shaking and I didn’t know what to think. I decided that I had to push those thoughts behind me and keep my mind occupied.
“Why don’t you just transport me to the King and Queen? Wouldn’t that be easier than riding horseback the entire way?” I asked, sick of the quiet. Even with the enemy, I couldn’t stand staying quiet for too long.
“Only the Cheshire Cat can make portals, I just have a way to reopen them in a small timeframe. That’s how I found you. He wasn’t very smart putting you somewhere where you couldn’t escape,” Bill explained.
“He didn’t think you would find the right portal.” I tried defending him.
“Well, he was wrong then, wasn’t he?”
I glanced around the wilderness that surrounded me. It was quiet other than the crunching of leaves under the horses’ hooves. There wasn’t another living being in sight.
“They will come for me,” I stated as a matter of fact. “You will see.”
“Oh, I’m counting on that. Otherwise this story wouldn’t be very interesting.” Bill lashed on the reins to make the horse start galloping faster.
It seemed like hours passed as we headed towards the edge of the forest and into the Dream Kingdom. Although I was practically being arrested, I kind of wanted to know what this kingdom looked like. It was called the Dream Kingdom, but did that mean the kingdom would be themed like the Red and White Kingdom? And if so, what theme is a dream? Would it be all clouds, fluffy and serene? Or was it different, more of a hazy existence?
There still was no sign of any of the others. Although I knew Chase could pull through with his portal jumps and land safely on the ground below, I still hoped that he was okay. It was nerve-racking watching someone start to fall that high up, even more so when it was one’s self. I had almost fallen as well, and unlike Chase, I couldn’t land on my feet, so to speak.
I was lucky that Bill wanted me alive, lucky that he didn’t just watch as I fell, my life ending right then and there. He needed me alive for some reason, saying that the King and Queen wanted to see me. Why was that? Why would they want to meet me? It was confusing, to say the least, as all of them had been influenced by Morpheus. Could Morpheus be there as well? We weren’t going to the Cirque de Rêves, but that didn’t mean that he couldn’t travel somewhere else.
I thought back on the last moments before Bill had captured me. Howard, he died trying to make sure I got out of there alive. I couldn’t believe he was dead, I couldn’t believe all of this had happened and I was still in the enemy’s hands. That meant his death was for nothing, that meant I had failed on my task of staying safe and getting to the meeting spot.
Then it hit me—if I did escape, I had no idea where to look for the others. I had no idea where the meeting place was. Yes, they would probably be figuring out how to get me out of Bill’s grasp, but what if I figured it out before then? What if I escaped? Then what do I do? It wasn’t as if I could hide or ask for help, everyone was shadowed in the darkness that represented fear. Another thing to think about, on top of everything.
Once we came out of the woods, I could see the Kingdom of Dreams in the distance. I gasped. It was brilliant and more beautiful than I could have ever imagined. Everything around it appeared to be night, but the Kingdom itself was lit like the starry sky. I didn’t know if it was actually night or if it was always like that. It seemed to be daytime in the woods just a moment ago, so it had to be the natural state.
The Kingdom was surrounded by small buildings, almost like an ancient style Japanese village with paper doors and tiled roofs. Lanterns lined the streets and everything seemed to be a dream, perfect to someone like me. If I hadn’t just been kidnapped I would have bee
n pretty excited to visit such a place.
When we got closer, I could make out more of the palace. It was a lot grander than anything around it. A large steep bridge was the only way to enter the palace. It seemed to be something from the historic district of Kyoto. It glowed in the town like a gem in the rough. It was more colorful than I could have imagined, with royal purples, blues, and reds making up most of the walls.
As we entered the kingdom, I watched as people hid away in the buildings before we came close to them. They were afraid, afraid as everyone else was in this kingdom. Was it just a general fear, or did they fear Bill and his men. It probably had something to do with the Cirque de Rêves. Masked with darkness, they couldn’t see the light. Some people didn’t hide, though, but went about their business. They didn’t fear Bill like the others did.
Bill led the horse over the steep bridge. I looked down to see the palace surrounded by water. I could see orange glowing fish as they swam around. It was wondrous.
We stopped in front of the entrance and Bill helped me off of the horse. My legs were completely sore, but I still managed to walk like I was fine. Never show pain, that was my motto. That and I didn’t know what they would do to me if I couldn’t walk. I didn’t say a word as he led me inside.
The inside was even more spectacular than the outside. Everything was lit up, softly but boldly, in solid primary colors. Lanterns hung from the ceiling and I swore even the walls seemed to glow. Magnificent scrolls covered the walls, scrolls of what appeared to be depictions of past battles. There was one that looked like the battle against the Heart Kingdom and one of the Red and White Kingdom. They were beautiful and I stared at them in awe. I wished I could paint like that.
Along with these gems, there were other paintings of different things such as butterflies, dragons, landscapes, and so on. Each one had to have taken hours and hours, but I supposed that they had a long while to create this decor, as the kingdom had been created shortly after the last Alice left.