The Looking Glass Wars (27 page)

―No!‖

She smashed the glass, and her entire surroundings—the circular room, the nonsensical Bibwit—

showered down around her in fragments, leaving her standing before the entrance glass in the maze; on the other side of the glass, the clash between Alyssians and Redd‘s soldiers was stopped in time.

―Why am I here? What does this mean?‖

―Ahem hum.‖

A stream of smoke crossed her vision. She turned and saw the blue caterpillar puffing at his hookah.

―It means you failed, Princess.‖

―I—?‖ Can‘t fail. The maze is intended for me. ―But—‖

―You were unable to navigate the maze. It is unfortunate for all of us, but nothing can be done.

You must leave through the glass and re-enter the battle.‖

Failure‘s not an option. She would rather have been anywhere else, but she couldn‘t leave yet.

Not as a failure. ―Unacceptable,‖ she said. ―I don‘t accept it.‖

And before Blue could blow smoke into her face, she ran deep into the maze. She was quickly lost, but all was not lost so long as she remained here. She could still succeed. She would succeed, other wise what would become of—

A figure strode into the corridor up ahead.

―Hatter!‖

Oh, she was glad to see him. But the Milliner said nothing, raised a sword and rushed at her.

―Wait! What are you—?‖

She had to do something quick. She imagined a sword in her hand and, almost before she realized it, she and Hatter were fighting—he the aggressor, she surprising herself with a defense that relied on mirroring his moves.

Hatter at last lowered his weapon and stepped away, approving. ―Good.‖

So he was assessing her, Alyss understood, developing her warrior skills—or rather, he was training her imagination in the service of her warrior skills. Still, when a second Hatter Madigan appeared…

I have to fight two of them?

In addition to the sword, Alyss armed herself with a Hand of Tyman. She parried with the two Hatters. Clangk! Shwink-ding-shlank! Whenever one of them made a move she had never seen before, she quickly appropriated it—imagined it as part of her own repertoire. But merely conjuring herself into a better swords woman wasn‘t going to be enough; she had to employ her imagination in other ways, because a third and fourth Hatter appeared, then a fifth and a sixth.

Clashing weapons with one Hatter, she imagined that the others felt it. But this proved insufficient as more Hatters stepped forward, so she conjured her numberless reflections to her aid. They jumped from their looking glasses, swords in hand, and for every Hatter Madigan there was now an Alyss Heart to battle him.

―Excellent,‖ one of the Hatters said, and at his signal the Milliners gave up their swords and activated their wrist-blades, employed their boomeranging top hats.

Alyss imagined razor-cards shooting from the sleeves of her uniform, but the Hatters batted them down easily enough. Never had she wielded her imaginative powers so precisely, so intensely, or for so long a time.

Getting tired, not sure how much longer I can…

Sensing her own defeat, she shot wads of a thick, gummy substance from the sleeves of her uniform. The wads hit the Hatters‘ weapons and stopped up their rotary workings and, in the same instant, Alyss took a deep breath and exhaled, causing such a wind that the Hatters were blown off their feet, lay sprawled on the floor throughout the combat arena.

The fighting was over. Alyss was alone among the defeated Hatters, her reflections back in their looking glasses.

―Control and power aren‘t everything,‖ one of the Hatters said. ―Allow yourself to be the agent by which a cause greater than any single individual triumphs. Then perhaps you‘ll be worthy of the Heart Crystal.‖

The Hatters picked themselves up, bowed, and backed away down the maze‘s various corridors.

After a short rest, Alyss felt infused with power and health, better than she had before running into the Hatters.

Better than I have felt in a long, long time—maybe ever.

It was a lot like she used to feel before her seventh birthday, when she thought herself capable of anything and the world was a beautiful place.

What was that?

A creaking sound, like something being hoisted. And voices.

Off to the left? Yes, there they are again.

She followed the sounds and, coming to the end of a shallow passage, found Dodge, Bibwit, Hatter, General Doppelgänger, the white knight, and the rook kneeling with their hands fastened behind them, their heads locked in an enormous guillotine. Queen Redd and The Cat were standing by the lever that would drop the blade, waiting for her.

―But I killed you,‖ Alyss said.

―Did you?‖ Redd turned to The Cat. ―Why wasn‘t I informed?‖

The Cat shrugged.

Is this real or a figment? Can‘t be real since she‘s not dead, so there‘s no danger to anyone if I walk away. Just walk away.

But Alyss couldn‘t; the sight of the captured Alyssians kept her rooted to the spot. She couldn‘t chance it, however much reality the scene might contain. Redd‘s (apparent) multiple lives notwithstanding, who could be sure that if one died in the maze, he or she would still be alive on the outside?

―I‘ll kill you again if I have to,‖ Alyss said, stepping forward.

―Perhaps,‖ said Redd, ―but that won‘t save your friends.‖

Alyss again imagined wads of the sticky substance shooting from her sleeves, gumming up the guillotine‘s works and keeping its blade from falling.

Nothing.

She imagined the blade turned into water and splashing down on the Alyssians‘ heads.

Nothing.

Redd laughed. ―The lovely thing about being here,‖ she said, gesturing at the maze, ―is that I‘m able to imagine your imagination powerless. Ah, if only that were the case on the outside. But enough chitchat. If you‘re going to die—which you are—I‘m sure you‘d like to get it over with.

These people are no threat to me without you. There is only one way you can save them: Give yourself up. You might as well. I‘ll eventually kill you anyway. Then you and your friends will be dead. However, to save myself some trouble, I‘m giving you a choice.‖

But how could Alyss be sure that, if she sacrificed herself, Redd would allow her friends to live, let alone live freely? Wasn‘t it more likely that once Alyss was dead, Redd would kill the Alyssians because she could? But what if, because of some unknown leniency in Redd, she did allow them to live? They had fought on behalf of White Imagination for thirteen years without Alyss. If, by sacrificing herself, she could secure for them the promise of longer lives, didn‘t duty demand her sacrifice? They might yet manage to escape; Hatter might find a way. The spirit of White Imagination would live with them. It lived only so long as they did.

Thinking it the final act in her short, troubled life, Princess Alyss Heart knelt down before her aunt.

―Here‘s to my legacy,‖ Redd said, lifting her scepter. But the moment its cold blade touched the tender back of Alyss‘ neck—

Zzzomp!

—the scene vanished and the princess stood directly in front of the white heart scepter. She reached for it and, as her fingers closed around the scepter‘s shaft, she was transported by the magic of the maze back into the puzzle shop, amid the chaos of battle once again raging between the Alyssians and Redd‘s soldiers.

CHAPTER 49

T HE KEY to the Looking Glass Maze pulsed with radiance. Alyss was surprised to see it in her palm, but an Intended never left the maze with less than when she entered—although hopefully, as in Alyss‘ case, she left with much more.

Holding the glowing cube in one hand and the white heart scepter in the other, Alyss stood unflinching amid the fighting. A Four Card tried attacking her but she blew at him and he went crashing back through a wall of the puzzle shop.

―Princess!‖ Homburg Molly shouted.

―She has the scepter!‖ Bibwit‘s joy would have had him speared on the end of a Two Card‘s blade if Molly hadn‘t jumped in front of him with her hat-shield.

A couple of Three Cards broke away from Hatter, but before even he could react, with a quick one-two, Alyss jabbed the pointed end of her scepter into the medallion-sized area above their breastplates. The card soldiers folded up, forever inactivated, as a seeker careened into the shop and snatched the glowing cube out of Alyss‘ hand. Molly was about to throw her hat at the creature when—

―Let it go,‖ Alyss said. ―We don‘t need it anymore.‖

She could hear the seekers disperse through the sky, heading back to Mount Isolation. Now for the rest of the card soldiers. Alyss banged her scepter on the floor and it splintered into many smaller, identical scepters. With a sweep of her hand, the miniature replicas launched themselves into the vulnerable spot of every single card soldier, each of which folded, no longer a menace.

The Alyssians stood in sudden peace with the dead members of The Cut scattered about them.

Dodge, General Doppelgänger, the chessmen—all turned to their princess. The vaguely luminescent quality she‘d had as a child was now unclouded by immaturity, uncertainty, or reluctance. She stood like a sun among them, radiant with newfound strength, and any lingering doubt in the Alyssians‘ minds about her ability to lead them vanished at the sight of her.

―I‘d say she‘s ready, wouldn‘t you?‖ the rook said.

The Alyssians cheered, all except for Dodge, whose opportunity for revenge had never been so close. Alyss‘ luminescence faded to a steady glow as she studied her childhood friend. Her experience in the maze had made her more wary of his behavior. She would have to keep an eye on him, as she would on anyone who stoked their potential for Black Imagination with the tinder of hatred.

―More of The Cut will be coming,‖ General Doppelgänger warned.

―Let them come,‖ Alyss said.

She left the puzzle shop and the Alyssians followed. She walked out into the middle of Emerald Drive and gazed up at the rotted buildings and towers of the surrounding neighborhood, as if able to feel the pain of these inanimate structures, the toll exacted by Redd‘s rule on her beloved Wondertropolis. Then she turned her imagination to the holographic billboards around the city.

Without so much as a wince of effort, she imagined her own face in place of their usual advertisements and reward offers.

―I‘ve finished running from you, Redd. It‘s time for you to run.‖

As Alyss spoke the words in Emerald Drive, her holographic images voiced them on every street. Wonderlanders paused amid lawful and unlawful pursuits to stare at the beautiful woman speaking from signs on which, until now, they had only ever seen Redd. More than a few wanted the mistress of Black Imagination to remain in power, knowing how to profit in a world such as hers, but most, though not yet daring to cheer aloud, celebrated Alyss‘ rise in their hearts.

CHAPTER 50

―I, RUN?‖ Redd guffawed. She squinted out the Observation Dome as Alyss‘ transmission ended. ―Alyss Heart‘s misplaced confidence will be the death of her.‖

―Today, Wonderland will be rid of Alyss Heart for good!‖ Jack of Diamonds asserted with a puffing out of his already puffed-out belly. He was perhaps too eager to please, because Redd flicked an annoyed glance at the Wig-Beast. ―I…I beg your pardon for speaking, Your Imperial Viciousness,‖ he said.

―Beg all you want, you powdered and pampered idiot. If I don‘t get into the Looking Glass Maze soon, it will make no difference to your fate.‖

The Cat grinned and smoothed his whiskers. The Lord and Lady of Diamonds, the Lord and Lady of Clubs, and the Lord and Lady of Spades—who together made up Redd‘s Cabinet of Military Oversight—shuffled their feet, cleared their throats, and in general enacted every nervous tic available to people unsure of how to ingratiate themselves with their moody, unpredictable leader.

―Your Imperial Viciousness?‖ the Lady of Clubs ventured. ―With all due respect, even if Alyss is not a threat, we think you should move the Heart Crystal to a more secure location.‖

Redd thought this funny, in a pathetic sort of way, since neither the Lady of Clubs nor any of the other cabinet members knew where the Heart Crystal was.

―‗We‘?‖ protested the Lady of Diamonds. ―The Lady of Clubs speaks for herself, Your Imperial Viciousness.‖

―Absolutely speaks for herself,‖ seconded the Lord of Spades.

And Redd, raising an eyebrow, asked the Lady of Clubs, ―Did you just tell me what I should do?‖

―I apologize, Your Imperial Viciousness. I spoke out of—‖

―You think my strength is not protection enough for the Heart Crystal? Do you, in fact, suppose that my reign is in danger?‖

―No, of course not. What I meant—‖

The Lady of Clubs was fortunate that the strangled-baby cries of homecoming seekers interrupted them. The Cat bounded out of the dome and returned in less time than it took Redd to grow impatient. In his paw he carried the glowing cube, key to the Looking Glass Maze. Redd held out her hand and it flew to her.

―In any case,‖ she said, pressing each of the cube‘s sides, squeezing it all over, turning it this way and that, ―none of you need worry about the Heart Crystal. It‘s not here at the fortress. Why can‘t I get this to work?‖

Jack of Diamonds stepped forward. ―Allow me, Your Imperial Viciousness.‖

Jack took the cube. He pressed each of its sides, squeezed it all over, turned it this way and that.

He began shaking it close to his ear, listening for loose parts inside, while Redd addressed her cabinet.

―I refuse to leave this fortress. It would look cowardly when I have nothing to fear. If Alyss wants to fight me, so much the better. I‘ll put an end to her. But let no one say that Queen Redd is insensitive. If I have no power, you people have even less than I let you believe. Alyss wouldn‘t spoil you as I do. If it will make you all feel better, order The Cut to prepare a defense.

The Cat will see to the Glass Eyes.‖

―Your Imperial Viciousness?‖ The Cat said, and drew Redd‘s attention with a nod to Jack of Diamonds, who was still tinkering with the glass cube.

―What?‖ Jack said. ―It‘s not broken. It takes a minute to decipher the code, but I‘ll have it soon enough. It‘s not broken, I say.‖