I glanced around the wilderness that surrounded me. It was quiet other than the crunching of leaves under the horses’ hooves. There wasn’t another living being in sight.
“They will come for me,” I stated as a matter of fact. “You will see.”
“Oh, I’m counting on that. Otherwise this story wouldn’t be very interesting.” Bill lashed on the reins to make the horse start galloping faster.
It seemed like hours passed as we headed towards the edge of the forest and into the Dream Kingdom. Although I was practically being arrested, I kind of wanted to know what this kingdom looked like. It was called the Dream Kingdom, but did that mean the kingdom would be themed like the Red and White Kingdom? And if so, what theme is a dream? Would it be all clouds, fluffy and serene? Or was it different, more of a hazy existence?
There still was no sign of any of the others. Although I knew Chase could pull through with his portal jumps and land safely on the ground below, I still hoped that he was okay. It was nerve-racking watching someone start to fall that high up, even more so when it was one’s self. I had almost fallen as well, and unlike Chase, I couldn’t land on my feet, so to speak.
I was lucky that Bill wanted me alive, lucky that he didn’t just watch as I fell, my life ending right then and there. He needed me alive for some reason, saying that the King and Queen wanted to see me. Why was that? Why would they want to meet me? It was confusing, to say the least, as all of them had been influenced by Morpheus. Could Morpheus be there as well? We weren’t going to the Cirque de Rêves, but that didn’t mean that he couldn’t travel somewhere else.
I thought back on the last moments before Bill had captured me. Howard, he died trying to make sure I got out of there alive. I couldn’t believe he was dead, I couldn’t believe all of this had happened and I was still in the enemy’s hands. That meant his death was for nothing, that meant I had failed on my task of staying safe and getting to the meeting spot.
Then it hit me—if I did escape, I had no idea where to look for the others. I had no idea where the meeting place was. Yes, they would probably be figuring out how to get me out of Bill’s grasp, but what if I figured it out before then? What if I escaped? Then what do I do? It wasn’t as if I could hide or ask for help, everyone was shadowed in the darkness that represented fear. Another thing to think about, on top of everything.
Once we came out of the woods, I could see the Kingdom of Dreams in the distance. I gasped. It was brilliant and more beautiful than I could have ever imagined. Everything around it appeared to be night, but the Kingdom itself was lit like the starry sky. I didn’t know if it was actually night or if it was always like that. It seemed to be daytime in the woods just a moment ago, so it had to be the natural state.
The Kingdom was surrounded by small buildings, almost like an ancient style Japanese village with paper doors and tiled roofs. Lanterns lined the streets and everything seemed to be a dream, perfect to someone like me. If I hadn’t just been kidnapped I would have been pretty excited to visit such a place.
When we got closer, I could make out more of the palace. It was a lot grander than anything around it. A large steep bridge was the only way to enter the palace. It seemed to be something from the historic district of Kyoto. It glowed in the town like a gem in the rough. It was more colorful than I could have imagined, with royal purples, blues, and reds making up most of the walls.
As we entered the kingdom, I watched as people hid away in the buildings before we came close to them. They were afraid, afraid as everyone else was in this kingdom. Was it just a general fear, or did they fear Bill and his men. It probably had something to do with the Cirque de Rêves. Masked with darkness, they couldn’t see the light. Some people didn’t hide, though, but went about their business. They didn’t fear Bill like the others did.
Bill led the horse over the steep bridge. I looked down to see the palace surrounded by water. I could see orange glowing fish as they swam around. It was wondrous.
We stopped in front of the entrance and Bill helped me off of the horse. My legs were completely sore, but I still managed to walk like I was fine. Never show pain, that was my motto. That and I didn’t know what they would do to me if I couldn’t walk. I didn’t say a word as he led me inside.
The inside was even more spectacular than the outside. Everything was lit up, softly but boldly, in solid primary colors. Lanterns hung from the ceiling and I swore even the walls seemed to glow. Magnificent scrolls covered the walls, scrolls of what appeared to be depictions of past battles. There was one that looked like the battle against the Heart Kingdom and one of the Red and White Kingdom. They were beautiful and I stared at them in awe. I wished I could paint like that.
Along with these gems, there were other paintings of different things such as butterflies, dragons, landscapes, and so on. Each one had to have taken hours and hours, but I supposed that they had a long while to create this decor, as the kingdom had been created shortly after the last Alice
