“Sorry, young lady, but your friends have failed in protecting you. It’s time you came with me.” He started to reach out for me but I quickly backed away and pulled out my katana.
“Get away from me!”
“Just put the sword away, I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Liar.” I thrusted forward but he stepped out of the way of the attack.
“I see the boys tried to train you with a sword. How adorable.”
I swung at him again and again but he dodged each attack. He didn’t even pull out his own sword.
“You better put that thing away before you hurt yourself,” he teased.
“Stop treating me like a child!” I thrusted forward again but he simply stepped out of the way once more. This time though, I lost my footing and slipped backwards towards the edge. Dropping my katana, I screamed as I began to fall down off of the board towards the ground way below.
Bill caught my arm and pulled me back up. “Don’t worry, I got you.”
I looked down, imagining what could have happened. Pancake, that is what would have happened. “Why did you save me?”
“I told you, I’m not here to hurt you. I just want to take you back to the King and Queen. They have a few questions for you.”
“Alice!”
I turned to find Chase standing there. He pulled out his sword to fight Bill.
“Sorry kitty-cat, but you lost this one.” Bill kicked Chase straight in the stomach and he tumbled down off of the branch.
“Chase!” I screamed as he fell down towards the ground.
“He’s alright, he can make portals remember? Kitty-cat always lands on his feet.” Bill pushed a few buttons on his wristband. “Now, let’s get out of here, shall we?”
CHAPTER 18
I never saw any of the others as Bill took me by horseback towards the Dream Kingdom. I had to admit, it was pretty awkward having his arms around me to grab the reigns. I just hoped that we wouldn’t have to ride this way too long.
There were still at least seventy soldiers left in the group, all of them surrounding Bill as he made his way back to the Dream Kingdom. I admit, I was quite relieved that he was taking me to the King and Queen instead of to Morpheus. Although I knew nothing about them, I felt a bit safer not having to worry about going back to the Circus, to the place that held my greatest fear.
I hoped that the others were safe and were trying to figure out a way to help me. Not that I only relied on them to save me, I would also try to figure out a way to escape, but I wanted to trust that my friends would help, that I wasn’t alone in this. There was only so much I could do, I didn’t know everything about this place, but I would keep an eye out for any chance to run that I could.
Getting rather bored with the ride, I started to look around me. Just as everyone else was, each of the soldier’s eyes were masked with darkness. Morpheus had gotten to them as well. I wondered what all of their fears were and why they couldn’t overcome them. I also wondered why they were awake, when I couldn’t wake up until Malcolm took the shadow out of me. Maybe Morpheus did something different so I wouldn’t come back, something that left me completely paralyzed. And, if that was the case, why did he go to such lengths for me? Did he really think I was a threat deep down and didn’t want to take any chances?
At this point, it didn’t matter. He no longer worried about me being a threat, as he told me again and again. And, truthfully, I didn’t see what I could do to bring him down and save this place. It was out of my reach to even consider doing something. On top of that, the supposed original Alice had left me something in case help was ever needed, in case her successor, which I still doubted was me, needed to fight. I wondered why she would hide something for another to find, but not tell a soul. Did she not trust anyone here? Not even Malcolm or Chase? That seemed hard to believe, but I guess if you didn’t know what the future held, you couldn’t be too careful.
How would I even know what it was that she left me? How was I supposed to understand something that was never explained? This place held so many questions that it was starting to get annoying.
It hit me again, what had happened back there—the fact that I had stabbed someone. In this place all the citizens were dreams, did that include soldiers? Or were they like in the stories of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and simply here to fill a roll? But either way, I couldn’t have let my friends get hurt, no matter the cost. I owed them that much, as they had risked their lives for me.
Still, the idea left me shaking and I didn’t know what to think. I decided that I had to push those thoughts behind me and keep my mind occupied.
“Why don’t you just transport me to the King and Queen? Wouldn’t that be easier than riding horseback the entire way?” I asked, sick of the quiet. Even with the enemy, I couldn’t stand staying quiet for too long.
“Only the Cheshire Cat can make portals, I just have a way to reopen them in a small timeframe. That’s how I found you. He wasn’t very smart putting you somewhere where you couldn’t escape,” Bill explained.
“He didn’t think you would find the right portal.” I tried defending him.
“Well, he was
