“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.
“We are sorry,” the generals said again. But they had what remained of their army to comfort; they left him and strode among their soldiers, dispensing words of consolation to the wounded and commendations of bravery to all.
Dodge didn’t remember falling asleep, wasn’t aware that he’d even been sleeping until he woke the next morning with a sudden start, an idea blazing in his brain and the resolve to carry it through already firm. When the generals came upon him, he was ripping the fleur-de-lis badge off his guardsman coat, and they watched as he put his coat on inside out and rubbed handfuls of dirt over himself until it became virtually impossible to tell that he wore a guardsman’s uniform.
“What are you up to?” General Doppel asked.
“If it’s too late to do anything for Alyss, there’s at least something I can still do for my father.” The generals exchanged a worried glance.
“I’m going to get his body,” Dodge said. “The leader of the palace guard deserves a burial proper to his station and I’m going to give it to him.”
“You can’t go back there,” General Ganger said. “Why not?”
“Well,” said General Doppel, “who’s to say that Sir Justice’s body is even still there, and-” “And Redd’s soldiers are everywhere,” General Ganger finished. “You’ll never make it.” “I’m going.”
“But we forbid it!”
Dodge Anders had always shown respect for chains of command, for the discipline required of military men, but he suddenly barked, “Who are you to forbid it? Do you have Anders blood in your veins?”
“I’ll go with him if it’ll make you feel better, Generals.”
The white rook. Dodge felt his heart thumping in his throat. He was breathing short and fast. The chessman came and stood next to him. It was all right. Dodge didn’t know the rook well, but it was all right. It would be good to have company.
The generals shook their heads, couldn’t help being impressed by the boy’s character despite the foolishness of the proposed errand. In silent agreement, they removed the exact same crystal and gemstone quadruple-heart medal from their uniforms and presented them to Dodge.
“With utmost respect for your father,” General Doppel said.
“Please give him these,” said General Ganger.
Dodge took the medals in his hand and pocketed them carefully. He could feel his bottom lip quivering. He turned and hurried into the woods.
“Take care of him,” the generals told the chessman.
The rook knew he would be easy to spot in the capital city, so as he left the encampment, he grabbed a blanket and draped it over his battlements to give himself the appearance of an anonymous pauper. Silent, alert, he and Dodge made their way to Heart Palace.