The Looking Glass Wars (28 page)

―It had better not be,‖ Redd warned through thin, bloodless lips.

She swooped out of the dome, down the spiraling hall, and across the open expanse of a ballroom that had never been used. The far wall of the ballroom was decorated with a huge quartz and agate mosaic of the queen‘s face and, as Redd approached it, the portrait‘s mouth opened and she entered a secret passage known only to herself and The Cat. The passage led to a balcony overlooking the hollowed-out heart of the fortress. It was here, in the secret heart of the fortress, girded about by supports, that the Heart Crystal burned a dark crimson, as it had since Redd‘s assumption to power. She leaned over the balcony‘s edge and placed her hands on the crystal, its power surging through her, strengthening her for the coming battle.

CHAPTER 51

P RINCESS ALYSS Heart was spotted ordering a mug of cider in a brewhouse near the city center. She was seen nibbling a gwynook-kabob in Tyman Street and skulking along the avenue outside the Redd Apartments complex. She was glimpsed entering a tube station at Redd Square, on a safari in Outerwilderbeastia, and at various other locations engaged in a variety of activities.

But the Glass Eyes and card soldiers dispatched to destroy these Alysses found nothing because these Alysses were specters, reflections come to life, conjurings from the real princess‘

imagination that she had dispersed throughout the queendom to confuse Redd‘s all-seeing eye.

While Redd‘s forces were occupied with the decoys, Alyss and her companions made it to the outskirts of the Chessboard Desert. The checkered land stretched before them, the promontory of Mount Isolation visible in the middle distance. The white knight and rook were tending to their men, bandaging wounds suffered in the Emerald Drive skirmish, instructing them to double-check all ammunition supplies and be sure weapons were functioning properly. Dodge kept to himself, studying the sword in his lap as if to ensure that it would be able to do what he‘d set his mind to: taking The Cat‘s lives. Alyss should have been entirely focused on developing a sound military strategy, but she couldn‘t help glancing at Dodge every now and again, her attention divided.

Revenge cannot possibly purge him of hate, but he won‘t listen to me, won‘t listen to anyone.

―Alyss?‖

―Yes?‖

From the expressions of Bibwit Harte, Hatter Madigan, Homburg Molly, and General Doppelgänger, it was clear that she had missed something.

―There is a lot of desert still to cross,‖ Bibwit said, indicating the distance to the fortress.

―And the problem of storming Mount Isolation, so ideally suited for defense,‖ added the general.

―We‘ll need an army greater than Redd‘s.‖

―Our objective is to remove Redd from power,‖ Alyss said, loud enough for Dodge to hear. ―Our objective is the Heart Crystal, not vengeance.‖

Dodge didn‘t look up from his sword.

He heard me. I know he heard me.

―Where Redd is, that‘s where we‘ll find the Heart Crystal,‖ said Bibwit. ―She‘ll want to remain close to it to maximize her strength.‖

―But can you conjure a force of the size we‘ll need, Princess?‖ asked General Doppelgänger.

―I don‘t know.‖ To conjure several doubles of herself was one thing, but an entire army?

―You must try,‖ Bibwit said.

She looked to the others. Hatter made a silent, respectful bow. Molly nodded, eager. The chessmen watched, waited. Even Dodge was watching. To conjure an army she would need to be extremely focused and precise. The millions of details of dress and weaponry—if a single one weren‘t imagined vividly enough, it would compromise the whole and her imagining would fail.

She may have felt stronger than ever, but strong enough for this?

Her scepter, once again whole, showed the intensity of her effort. The white crystal heart at its top glowed brighter and brighter, flashed and zapped as it became a cloud of electrical charges with lightning-like bolts of energy sprouting out of it, encircling Alyss. When these fireworks stopped and Alyss again focused her sight on her surroundings rather than her internal visions, she beheld an enormous army of Alyssian soldiers standing in formation and fanned out behind her. The soldiers were a short distance off and she couldn‘t even see to the end of them, there were so many.

I did it. I—

Someone was laughing. Alyss turned.

―I‘m sorry, Princess Alyss,‖ Homburg Molly said, slapping a hand to her mouth but unable to keep from laughing.

What had come over the girl? Bibwit, never one to take appearances for granted, approached Alyss‘ conjured army for a closer inspection.

―Ah.‖

The army consisted of toy soldiers, figurines no larger than the tutor‘s ears.

―The princess is too far from the Heart Crystal,‖ he said. ―She cannot defeat Redd from here.‖

General Doppelgänger split into the twin figures of General Doppel and General Gänger and the two of them paced, in perfect step with each other.

―Well, we have to get to her somehow!‖ General Doppel said.

―But without an army of soldiers that are of a more normal size,‖ said General Gänger, ―our cause is lost.‖

It was Alyss‘ turn to approach the soldiers. To her, they had looked suitable enough. She picked up one of the toy soldiers and imagined it marching back and forth in her hand. ―I have an idea,‖

she said.

CHAPTER 52

T HE FORTRESS was surrounded. Regiments of The Cut had been amassed from across the queendom and stood ready to defend Redd‘s stronghold. Their ranks formed the front line and, behind them, as the second line of defense, were platoon after platoon of Glass Eyes. Both the card soldiers and Glass Eyes were armed with the full array of weaponry available to them in Redd‘s Wonderland—orb generators, whipsnake grenades, crystal shooters, cannonball spiders, AD52s, all manner of knives and swords.

As the suns rose on a new day, Redd was breakfasting on spicy, crunchy tuttle-bird legs in the Observation Dome. The Cat and the members of her cabinet, none of whom had eaten since the previous midday, looked on with hungry eyes but said nothing. Jack of Diamonds had wisely excused himself from the dome, but more because he feared Redd watching him toy unsuccessfully with the key to the Looking Glass Maze than because of his stomach‘s grumbling.

Redd‘s teeth crunched down on the only remaining tuttle-bird leg, the last scrap of night‘s shadow faded with the day, and they all saw it at once. Gazing out through the telescopic glass, it would have been impossible to miss: An Alyssian army, seeming to rival the population of the queendom itself, massed a short distance off and waiting to attack. Like Redd‘s forces, the Alyssians were armed with orb generators, whipsnake grenades, cannonball spiders, AD52s.

―How has Alyss gathered such an immense army?‖ the Lady of Spades asked.

―They‘ll just have a larger body count,‖ Redd fumed.

Sitting astride a spirit-dane at the head of the soldiers, Alyss raised her arm and held it above her head a moment before bringing it down in a quick motion. The Alyssians charged toward the fortress.

―Deal the first hand,‖ Redd ordered.

Outside, The Cut launched orb generators and cannonball spiders at the advancing Alyssians—

direct hits many of them, which should have taken out entire columns of the enemy. The card soldiers followed up the barrage by charging into the smoke and flame. Confident, Redd eyed the scene from her perch in the dome, but when the smoke cleared she saw her soldiers surrounded by tiny Alyssians. Her weapons had had zero effect and the miniature army continued to push toward the fortress.

Redd‘s face contorted with a sudden realization. ―How could I have been so stupid?‖

The Cat was trying to decide if this were a rhetorical question when she roared, ―It‘s a construct!‖

With a dismissive swing of Redd‘s arm, Alyss and her army began to shimmer, the billion points of energy that formed them momentarily visible before exploding apart into nothing. Redd scoped the queendom with her imagination‘s eye. ―Where are you, Alyss? Where is my dear little niece?‖

Alyss and the others could hear the explosions and the rasping, metallic sounds of The Cut racing toward the conjured army as they came upon the fortress from the opposite side. Until now, their approach had been covert; they‘d traveled only over the desert‘s black squares of tar and volcanic rock to camouflage themselves from Redd‘s lookouts. But to enter the fortress they would have no choice but to show themselves in open warfare.

Under cover of the black rock, Hatter flicked his top hat into blades and winged them at the card soldiers and Glass Eyes guarding the fortress‘ entrance. While the weapon was still in the air, he activated his wrist-blades and charged. Molly flattened her homburg into its slicing shield and took up his left flank with Dodge, while Generals Doppel and Gänger took up his right, and the chessmen followed.

―We must be getting close to the Heart Crystal,‖ Alyss said to Bibwit.

The tutor looked at her, his ears bent in a questioning manner.

―I feel…I don‘t know how to explain it.‖

The princess reached out both arms and extended her ten fingers toward the fighting in front of her. Star-bright branches of energy shot out of her fingers, forking and attaching themselves to card soldiers and Glass Eyes until every single one of them was caught on an end while the other ends were, ultimately, still attached to Alyss‘ fingers. The princess then raised her arms above her head and the card soldiers and Glass Eyes lifted into the air, helpless. She sent them reeling through the sky. Somewhere in the Chessboard Desert it was raining card soldiers and Glass Eyes.

The sound of orb generators exploding on Alyss‘ conjured army still assaulted the Alyssians‘

ears, but it stopped almost as soon as they entered the fortress. Silence could mean only one thing.

―She knows,‖ Alyss said.

―Can you see her?‖ asked Bibwit.

Alyss felt that she was close to the Heart Crystal. Remote viewing wasn‘t something she‘d been able to do before, but Redd was now clearly visible in her imagination‘s eye, standing in a large, open room at the foot of a spiral hall, beckoning Alyss with a cold smile on her lips. The steady pulse of the Heart Crystal was behind the queen, obscured somehow.

―She‘s waiting for me,‖ Alyss said.

―We should split into factions for safety,‖ General Doppel urged.

―Two targets may be harder to combat,‖ agreed General Gänger, ―and we can surround Redd if it comes to that. Bibwit, Rook, Molly, you come with us.‖

―I‘m staying with Princess Alyss,‖ Molly said.

Exchanged glances all around. The girl looked quite adamant and this was no time for argument.

―Let her come with me,‖ Alyss said.

The generals dipped their heads; whatever the princess wished.

―Knight, Hatter, and Dodge will also accompany you,‖ said General Doppel, which was when they noticed that Dodge was no longer among them.

―Where did he go?‖ asked General Gänger.

To find The Cat. Alyss sighted him in her imagination‘s eye, cautiously picking his way down a hall. If he crosses paths with Redd, he‘ll try to engage with her. She cast her worried eyes toward Bibwit. He too knew why Dodge had left them. And Dodge‘s selfish desire for retribution might compromise the Alyssians‘ chance for victory.

―We‘ll split the pawns between us,‖ said General Doppel.

―Meet us at the Heart Crystal,‖ Alyss said. ―Look for a spiral hall.‖

The generals bowed. ―By which time, may the peace of White Imagination have descended on the queendom.‖

Using her imagination‘s eye as guide, Alyss led Homburg Molly, Hatter Madigan, and the chessmen through the fortress. It was as if she had been there before, the way she maneuverd without hesitation through the passageways, heading straight for Redd while elsewhere, avoiding detection by the packs of card soldiers that patrolled the gloomy rooms and halls (it was easy to avoid the enemy when he worked alone), Dodge hunted for The Cat.

―Here, kitty, kitty. Here, kitty, kitty, kitty.‖

He had already crept around the fortress‘ lower floors, visiting the seekers‘ cave and the empty hall of the Glass Eyes, and was now systematically working his way up, floor by floor. Ahead of him, the hall curved up and out of sight like a corkscrew. He could have taken any of the corridors that branched off to the left and right of him, but something—a feeling, an instinct—

propelled him forward. Not three spirit-danes‘ lengths away from the ballroom in which Redd waited for Alyss, he heard urgent, hushed voices coming from behind a door on his right. He didn‘t care if it was to be among his last actions in life. He didn‘t care about anything except confronting his whiskered nemesis. He kicked open the door and found—

Not The Cat, but Jack of Diamonds and the walrus-butler, hiding from the violence. They both jumped, startled at Dodge‘s sudden entrance, but Jack was quick to recover. He took a small knife from his waistcoat pocket and jabbed the air in the general direction of the walrus.

―Ha-yah! Yah! We‘ve got you now! Thank Issa you‘ve come,‖ he said, to Dodge. ―I thought I‘d have to kill all of them myself. Hoi! Cha! Cha!‖

Jack went on jabbing the air, but Dodge wasn‘t fooled, especially because Jack was trying to shove the key to the Looking Glass Maze into a pocket of his pantaloons.

To Dodge, anyone who had collaborated with his father‘s murderers was an enemy. ―There‘s only one reward for a traitor,‖ he said and raised his sword to strike Jack of Diamonds a fatal blow, when—

The unmistakable sound of purring. He spun around, saw The Cat standing in the doorway.

―And what is my reward?‖ asked the beast.

Dodge gave voice to no warrior yell, no cry of attack. He simply ran at The Cat, sword first. The creature leaped to the side and Dodge‘s blade missed, clanged against the stone wall just as The Cat swatted his shoulder with a claw, tearing his Alyssian uniform. Dodge himself was only grazed; four thin lines of blood formed on his skin. It could have been worse.

―A little something to match the ones on your face,‖ The Cat said, indicating the scars on Dodge‘s cheek.