The Looking Glass Wars (25 page)

―It‘s back in Wondertropolis,‖ she said.

There were groans all around.

―That‘s like entering the jabberwocky‘s lair!‖ fretted Bibwit. ―Or stirring up the seekers‘ nest, or—‖

The green caterpillar puffed a cloud of smoke at the royal tutor. The smoke enveloped him and his expression slackened, relaxed.

―Oh, well.‖ He grinned, dreamy. ―I suppose we must do what we must do.‖

―Where in Wondertropolis?‖ Dodge asked.

―I was told only that Hatter can take us to someone who will know.‖

The others turned to the Milliner, but even he, who was able to maintain his composure in battles that would have sent most Wonderlanders running for their mothers‘ skirts, was a little exasperated by this.

―Me? How can I know anyone? I‘ve hardly been in Wondertroplis in thirteen years. The people I knew are all dead.‖

Bibwit, still feeling the effects of the caterpillar‘s smoke, put a hand on Hatter‘s shoulder.

―Relax, my good fellow. The oracle wouldn‘t say it just to hear himself talk. There‘s got to be a reason. Relax and think.‖

So Hatter thought. What would he have done thirteen years ago? To whom would he have turned for help? Where would he have gone?

―There is one place,‖ he said finally. ―I don‘t know if it still exists, but I used to go there whenever official sources didn‘t yield the information I needed.‖

―Well then, that‘s where we‘ll go,‖ General Doppelgänger said.

―Let‘s go already,‖ fumed Dodge. He didn‘t much care if they stirred up the seekers‘ nest; on the contrary, he rather welcomed it.

CHAPTER 46

I T WAS a long, exhausting journey without the ease of travel once afforded by The Crystal Continuum. Not wanting to risk further encounters with jabberwocky, the Alyssians skirted the Volcanic Plains, and luckily—though strangely, considering Redd‘s usual aggression—their trek was uneventful. They hadn‘t seen a single Glass Eye or card soldier, just the occasional flock of seekers circling high overhead.

They stood gathered at the base of an abandoned building, gazing out at a dingy Wondertropolis alley.

―Where is it?‖ General Doppelgänger asked.

―There.‖

Hatter pointed as two Wonderlanders tripped up the front steps of a basement tavern and stumbled into the alley, drunk.

―That‘s the place?‖ General Doppelgänger asked. ―It looks more than a bit…unsavory.‖

―It‘s the only place I know,‖ Hatter said. He cast a studious eye over his confederates: Bibwit in his scholar‘s robe; the general, Dodge, and Alyss in their Alyssian uniforms. No amount of camouflage could hide the fact that they were not average Wonderlanders. Still, they didn‘t have to bring unnecessary attention to themselves by flaunting their rebel colors, so Hatter folded his top hat into a stack of deadly blades and placed it in his inside coat pocket. He removed his coat and draped it over his arm. ―Ready?‖ he asked.

Alyss nodded, conjured hooded cloaks for herself and the others, and the Alyssians crossed the alley and entered the tavern. They paused in the doorway to let their eyes adjust to the gloom, giving the bartender and a toothless old smuggler at the counter an opportunity to size them up.

The rest of the patrons were too absorbed in their drink to notice the newcomers, slumped half-conscious on their tattered bar stools or passed out altogether.

―We don‘t have to put ourselves on display, do we?‖ Dodge said. ―Let‘s sit down.‖

They had hardly settled around the nearest table when the bartender jerked his head toward a corner of the tavern, and out of the vacuous dark stepped a girl wearing a homburg hat and a long overcoat not unlike Hatter‘s. She approached the Alyssians to take their order.

The shy girl I saw at camp, who brought tea when I had my first talk with Bibwit.

―You?‖ Bibwit said, surprised.

―Me,‖ the girl confirmed.

―But…how did…I don‘t…‖

It was the first time any of them had seen Bibwit Harte at a loss for words.

―My child,‖ he said, recovering himself, ―I don‘t know how you survived the raid on our camp, and of course it‘s pleasing to discover you, as it would be pleasing to find any of us alive, but…what are you doing here? You‘re too young to be working in a place like this.‖

―I‘m thirteen. Old enough, I think. And lucky to be working at all.‖

Alyss glanced at Dodge, and the questioning, slightly perturbed expression on his face told her that they were thinking the same thing. Is this who we‘re supposed to meet? It must be. It‘s too much of a coincidence. But the girl was so young—not at all what Alyss had been expecting.

―How well do you know the city?‖ General Doppelgänger asked.

The girl shrugged. ―Better than most.‖

Hatter caught sight of a vein in the shape of an h below her left ear. His face hardened. ―She‘s a halfer. Civilian and Millinery spawn. Not to be trusted.‖

―Hatter—‖ Bibwit began.

―I don‘t need your trust,‖ the girl said. ―I serve the princess…if she‘ll let me.‖ With a bow too subtle for those around them to notice, she directly addressed Alyss for the first time: ―Homburg Molly, at your service, Princess.‖

Alyss dipped her head in response. ―We are looking for a certain puzzle shop. Do you know of it?‖

―I think I do.‖

―How can we be sure you won‘t lead us into a trap?‖ The question came from Hatter.

―You can‘t.‖

―Hatter, I don‘t think we need fear the girl,‖ said Bibwit Harte. ―And judging by the looks we‘re getting from the other patrons, we could use a friend in this place.‖

The longer the Alyssians remained in the tavern, the more the regulars woke from their alcohol dreams and squinted menacingly at them. Alyssians were not welcome. The toothless smuggler heaved himself away from the bar and hurried out, glaring at them.

―I wonder where he could be going,‖ Dodge said, sarcastic.

―If you‘re afraid,‖ Molly said to Hatter, ―you can stay here.‖

―Afraid?‖

―It happens to everyone.‖

―Keep it lively, you!‖ the bartender shouted.

―You better order something,‖ Molly said.

―Bring us whatever will keep you out of trouble,‖ Bibwit said.

Molly went to fetch the order and received an earful of abuse from the bartender for her so-called laziness—he filling five cracked mugs with frothy, steaming brew all the while.

Bibwit shook his head. ―What sort of world is it when a youngster must become a barmaid in a place like this to survive?‖

―She‘s a halfer,‖ Hatter repeated, as if the fact in itself was enough to ward them off the girl.

―We had halfers at the Alyssian headquarters, Hatter,‖ said General Doppelgänger. ―After the Millinery went down, several members lived with us for a time. Many halfers were born under our care. They‘re not as disloyal as you suppose.‖

―Their only duty is to their own self-interest.‖

―She says she knows the puzzle shop,‖ Alyss said, and the table fell silent. ―She‘s the only one the caterpillar could have meant. Look around. There is no one else.‖

―Assuming this is the place the caterpillar meant for us to be,‖ Dodge said.

But Alyss had made up her mind. This was the place. Homburg Molly was the one. ―It is,‖ she said.

Molly returned with their drinks and began setting them on the table.

―You see that poster over there, Princess? The one for Redd‘s Hotel and Casino?‖

―Yes.‖

―It‘s a false wall. Behind it is a way out. We use it whenever we‘re raided. The Cut is already on its way.‖

―Thanks to our friend with no teeth,‖ Dodge said.

Indeed, a division of The Cut was at that moment rounding the corner into the alley, led by the toothless smuggler. The unmistakable rasping of the card soldiers‘ marching, steel-like legs echoed off the buildings. By the time it was heard inside the tavern, it was almost too late. The Cut burst in and the suddenly sober patrons overturned tables and trampled one another in their efforts to flee. Fighting broke out. Dodge, Bibwit, General Doppelgänger and Hatter formed a circle around Alyss—the first three with their swords drawn, Hatter with his wrist-blades spinning. Homburg Molly steered them through the brawling soldiers and patrons, ducking to avoid the reach of pummeling fists, her homburg flattened into a razor-edged disk to shield her from the soldiers‘ swords. Dink! Clank! Pong! In close formation, the thirteen-year-old guided the Alyssians to the false wall, down a dank tunnel, and safely outside.

The street was quiet, no hint of the violence from which they had just escaped. It could have been an ordinary night in Wondertropolis. Molly kept walking, calmly continued down the street, knowing exactly where she was going. The Alyssians stood watching her until the girl stopped and turned to them.

―Well? Come on if you‘re coming.‖

CHAPTER 47

E MERALD DRIVE was one of the oldest streets in the capital. In Genevieve‘s time and before, it had been a grand thoroughfare of upscale shops and restaurants, but the wealthy and privileged gradually moved elsewhere as the surrounding streets became havens for looter gangs, imagination-stimulant manufacturers, and Wonderlanders engaged in other illicit but profitable employment. The squalor had at last reached its fingers into Emerald Drive itself, and the once-celebrated promenade was now indistinguishable from the scum-heavy streets around it.

At scattered points along the drive‘s ruined glory, the homeless warmed themselves around pits glowing with fire crystals, their mumbled conversations brought to a pause by the sight of a strange array of Wonderlanders approaching a shop that hadn‘t been open for business in many lunar cycles.

―ZZLES &‖ was all that remained of the sign that had once declared the shop‘s wares. Its massive front door, through which two spirit-danes could have easily passed side by side, was locked. The single front window was covered with dust and revealed nothing. Dodge pounded on the door.

―I doubt anyone‘s in,‖ General Doppelgänger said.

Bibwit‘s ears twitched. ―I hear trouble.‖ Paler than usual, the tutor removed a sword from beneath his robe and gripped it with two hands.

It wasn‘t long before they all heard it. The dark sky turned darker as Redd‘s moon was eclipsed by a screaming swarm of seekers.

The homeless Wonderlanders scattered as kreeeeech!—the seekers attacked. Dodge, Alyss, Bibwit, and the general slashed at the creatures with their swords while Hatter sent his top-hat blades into the thick of them. Thimp thimp thimp! Thimp thimp thimp! The blades sliced through the flock, wounding and killing several, and returned to him. Molly flicked her own hat flat and used it as both shield and offensive weapon, digging its sharpened edges into the alien creatures when they shot toward her out of the sky with their hungry insect mouths.

―Aah!‖

One of them swiped Dodge on the shoulder, knocking him to the ground and sending his sword clanking out of reach. The seeker circled, was coming in for the kill with its talons drawn when someone kicked Dodge‘s sword back to him.

―Seek this!‖ Dodge hissed through clenched jaw, stabbing the beast. He rolled away from the creature as it writhed in its death throes, saw the rook and white knight battling alongside him, together with a small platoon of surviving chessmen.

―Hope you don‘t mind us always showing up unannounced like this,‖ the rook said.

―We followed the seekers,‖ explained the white knight.

Next to each other now, standing, Dodge and the rook whirled, aiming their swords skyward just in time for an attacking seeker to impale itself on them and perish with a hideous howl. A division of Redd‘s Cut appeared at the end of Emerald Drive. A few of the card soldiers were armed with AD52s—automatic dealers capable of shooting razor-sharp projectiles the size and shape of ordinary playing cards at the rate of fifty-two per second. Hardly had the soldiers rounded the corner and spotted the Alyssians when a Four Card let loose with a spray of razor-cards.

―Incoming!‖ General Doppelgänger shouted.

The Alyssians dropped facedown in the street, all except Alyss and Homburg Molly, who flattened themselves against the front of the puzzle shop as the first of the razor-cards sliced past.

Hatter jumped in front of them and, with his wrist-blades activated and his arms moving in a blur, knocked the rest of the razor-cards to the ground.

Another round of AD52 fire quickly followed, but this time Alyss closed her eyes and tilted her head back, and the deadly cards passed overhead and to either side. The Alyssians were in an invisible, protective bubble courtesy of Alyss‘ imagination. Zipping overhead, the razor-cards cut into many of the seekers, the beasts‘ lifeless bodies raining down around the Alyssians and landing with a splat on the pavement.

With Redd‘s Cut closing in, Hatter hurled his top-hat blades at the puzzle shop window. Hitting the glass, the blades rotated and cut a hole large enough for Alyss to fit through.

―Go!‖ he shouted.

General Doppelgänger split into Generals Doppel and Gänger, swords held at the ready.

Dodge glared at the advancing card soldiers, his words directed at Alyss: ―We‘ll keep them busy.

You just find the maze.‖

But there are too many. Even with the chessmen, we‘re outnumbered.

Homburg Molly tugged at her sleeve.

No choice. No choice but to go.

Before Alyss followed Molly into the shop, she imagined the AD52s plugged up, useless, and could only hope her imagining had been successful, because she didn‘t wait around to find out.

She dived through the window into the shop.

As was perhaps appropriate for any shop specializing in the sale of puzzles and games, this one was itself built in the shape of a puzzle. Hand-crafted bookshelves were arranged to form a simple maze. Alyss and Homburg Molly ran up and down the narrow passages but found nothing. Every shelf was bare. They began toppling bookcases, opening every cabinet, trapdoor, and dummy window they came across.

―What are we looking for?‖ Molly yelled.

Alyss could barely hear her over the battle noise from outside. ―I don‘t know!‖ But then a bluish twinkle, a wink of colored light, caught her eye. She looked up and saw it: on the edge of the tallest bookcase in the shop, a glowing crystal cube.