“She’s dead?” said a voice from behind a curtain. “Alyss is dead?”
Redd waved her hand and the curtain swung back to reveal Bibwit Harte. “If it isn’t my wise and learned tutor,” she said.
Bibwit Harte was a loyal fellow, and it was because of his loyalty to Genevieve and Alyss and White Imagination that he determined, then and there, to ensure his own survival by appeasing Redd. Though a scholar, he vowed to one day topple this mistress of Black Imagination and return Wonderland to the glory of peace. He bowed his head. “At your service, Your…Imperial Viciousness.”
Redd sneered. “‘Your Imperial Viciousness’? Ha! Yes, that’s perfect. From now on everyone will refer to me as ‘Your Imperial Viciousness’ or die. You there!”
“Yes, my quee-” a Two Card started, but was immediately pierced through the lung by one of The
Cat’s claws.
“You!” Redd said to a Three Card.
“Um, y-yes, Your…Your Imperial Viciousness?”
“I want a list of those considered sympathetic to the former queen who are not dead in this room. I am aware that General Doppelganger is not among the bodies here. Begin the list with him. For the rest, ask them.” She turned her gaze upon the suit families, who stood clustered together, trying to take up as little space as possible. “I’m sure they’ll be helpful.”
“Oh yes,” declared the Lord of Diamonds, still with a hand on Jack of Diamonds’ shoulder. “Absolutely,” said the Lady of Spades.
“Of course, by all means,” said the Lady of Clubs and her husband.
Redd was not an idiot. She knew that she couldn’t rule the queendom by fear and intimidation alone. The suit families had relationships with mayors of principalities and influential business men, with key members of what remained of the queendom’s military force-relationships that would have to be exploited for her profit and exaltation.
“There are to be some changes in the queendom, which may prove beneficial to you all,” Her Imperial
Viciousness announced. “Not the least of which is that since I have no heirs of Heart descent, nor do I
want any, I will choose my successor from one of the ranking families. Whoever among you serves me best can be assured of nothing, but you will at least have a better chance at the crown than the others.” She ventured a smile, which the Lady of Spades, for one, found more gruesome than many of the lifeless bodies surrounding her, and which, if truth be told, it physically hurt Redd to accomplish. “I trust you don’t mind my preying on your ambitions in this way?”
“Oh no,” declared the Lord of Diamonds. “Absolutely not,” said the Lady of Spades.
“By all means no,” said the Lady of Clubs and her husband.
The suit families struggled to remember who had escaped, mentioning pawns, a rook, a knight, numerous card soldiers.
“Dodge Anders has escaped!” Jack of Diamonds asserted, louder than the others. “And who might Dodge Anders be?” asked Redd.
“He is in love with Princess Alyss but pretends not to be. He’s a guardsman’s son. That’s his father, there.” Jack pointed to Sir Justice, lying dead on the floor.
Redd approached the boy. The rogue soldiers paused in the midst of their celebrations. The Cat stood motionless. No one knew what Redd might do.
“You’re a helpful one, aren’t you?” she said, squeezing his cheeks like a loving grandmother. Jack couldn’t answer because of her grip.
“Add Dodge Anders’ name to the list,” she commanded, and released Jack of Diamonds. Small bruises formed where her fingers had touched his cheeks. She removed the crown from her head and tossed it to Bibwit. “Prepare for my coronation at the Heart Crystal. Now. All members of ranking families must attend-unless, of course, they prefer the comfort of eternal sleep.”
Surrounded by Bibwit Harte, The Cat, the suit families, those of her soldiers who were not too drunk to remain upright and some who were, Redd stood in the palace courtyard before the Heart Crystal and lifted her voice to the lightning-storm sky.
“I am prepared to forgive those who thrived during my exile and did little to support my return, with this exception: Anyone harboring or aiding a creature sympathetic to the former queen or White Imagination will be hunted down, imprisoned, made to suffer untold tortures, and then executed. Now put the crown on my head.”
Bibwit Harte stepped forward to fulfill the request, but fast as he was, he proved not fast enough for
Redd. With a curl of her finger, the crown leaped from his hands and landed on her head. “I reclaim my queendom,” she declared, placing both hands on the Heart Crystal.
A jolt of energy shook her. The crystal turned from white to red-a red so deep and piercing that Bibwit and the others had to turn away or close their eyes to prevent their pupils from scorching.
Redd had claimed the power of the Heart Crystal as her own.
CHAPTER 15
G ENERALS DOPPEL and Ganger and the few who survived Redd’s attack avoided the Crystal Continuum in case the invading force had already taken control of its shimmering byways. They made their way on foot to the Everlasting Forest, found refuge in a small clearing surrounded by trees that would alert them of approaching enemies. The healthy carried the wounded, but all suffered emotionally from their defeat and the loss of beloved left behind.
“We must organize quickly,” General Doppel urged.
“Before Redd settles into her rule,” agreed General Ganger. The white knight nodded.
“Our only chance to amass an army is now,” Doppel continued. “However ill-timed such recruitment may be.”
The three turned their eyes toward the battle-numbed card soldiers dragging themselves into the sanctuary of the forest.
“My bishops and I are prepared to risk everything for the good of the queendom,” said the knight. “We will find Wonderlanders to fight with us against Redd, you can rest assured.”
The knight gathered his bishops and their pawns. “Spread out through the capital city,” he ordered. “Find anyone willing to fight for White Imagination and tell them where we’re camped. They must make their own, careful way to us. But be sure they’re sincere in their wish to join our cause or you will give us
away and we’ll be doomed.”
Among the soldiers gathering in the forest sat one who wasn’t a soldier at all-just an inconsolable boy, slumped against the base of a tree, crying in fits and jags and not caring if Redd herself heard him. The generals would have known better how to subdue a raging jabberwock than a mourning child.
“You should never have brought me here,” Dodge moaned. “I shouldn’t have left them.” “There was nothing you could do, son,” General Doppel said.
“You would have been killed,” said General Ganger.
“At least I would have died alongside my father! I could have protected Alyss!” “If Hatter couldn’t-”
“Then no one could have provided protection enough, I’m afraid.” Dodge wiped his nose.
“We are sorry,” generals Doppel and Ganger said as one. “I’ve lost my father and…and Alyss!”
The Generals lowered their heads, took a moment to speak. “We have all lost Princess Alyss-”
“And feel your suffering on that score.”
Dodge doubted it. They couldn’t possibly know how he felt-the pain, the sudden wretched loneliness. They might have lost their princess, but Alyss was so much more than that to him. Would he never more see lively, sweet-smelling Alyss Heart? Never again confide to her his dreams of soldier-fame? What good were dreams now? And then his father…he could hardly take it all in. He would never see his father again. Where the two greatest loves of his life had been, he was faced with nothing, blankness.