Into the Woods

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The sound of heavy paws scratching the ground greeted Alice as she awoke from under a tattered coat. Realizing he’d covered her at some point, she smiled fondly. Faint beams of light trickled in through the vine covered opening of the cave, and she sat up, blinking away the last vestiges of an uneasy sleep.

One look told her that her friend had already left, and she reached out and felt the floor where he’d lain. It was cold. Her neck popped unpleasantly, and she gingerly rubbed at the stiffness a night of sleeping on a cave floor brought about.

Outside, the morning light was desperately trying to stream in through the dense canopy, and Bandy was still pawing anxiously at the ground. She walked over to him, stroking his coarse fur and scanned the thick overgrowth of trees for any signs of orange.

“Has he been gone long?” she asked, slipping her arms through the too-big sleeves of the coat.

He butted against her hand and ruffled his shoulders. Again, the forest seemed abnormally quiet. Shouldn’t forests be buzzing with numerous forms of life?

In the distance a tree limb snapped. They both turned in its direction, listening. She strained her ears and by the by the hurried sound of something crashing through the underbrush grew louder.
Alice sincerely hoped it was the Hatter, as she’d inconveniently left her dagger behind in the cave.

When his auburny-orange head popped up from behind a low hill, she relaxed momentarily. Until she realized he was actually running from something.

“Quickly, Alice, we must be off!” His lisp had returned, and she sprang into action.

He ducked into the cave and emerged seconds later with their minimal supplies jumbled in his arms. He tossed the blanket and her things to her and then turned back to scan the forest while she packed his items into a canvas bag.

“All ready good let’s go,” he said in one breath and rushed passed her. Slinging the bag over his shoulder, he jumped onto the bandersnatch and reached down for Alice, impatient to get moving. She’d finished cinching the belt and dagger around her waist and reached for him.

Up and over she went, and she’d no sooner placed her hands at his waist when the Hatter kicked Bandy in the sides and leapt ahead at full speed.

“Why are we running?” she gasped as they sailed over a fallen, mossy tree and splashed over the stream.

He mumbled something she couldn’t hear and tossed a glance behind her for good measure.
They kept up the fast pace for several minutes before the Hatter allowed their steed to slow.

“Shh,” he called over his shoulder to her and leant forward.

Intrigued, Alice mimicked his action and leaned forward on his back. She bit back a grin as she imagined he thought this might somehow help to disguise the fact that they were currently riding on a gigantic, fearsome beast galumphing through a forest.

Minutes later they appeared to arrive at their destination. “Easy nauw,” he murmured, and Bandy slowed to a stop. “Yeh’ll have ta wait here.” He eased down and just stopped himself from offering Alice assistance.

She slid off and followed as he deftly tiptoed through the forest, darting behind trees and boulders, all the while keeping a finger to his lips.

She came up to his side behind a pair of trees he was peeking out from and she glanced up at him and understood why he had looked different. He almost had colour to his skin and she wondered exactly how long he had been out in these woods.

“Slowly,” he breathed. “Look.”

Alice tilted her head from behind the tree and inhaled. In the clearing ahead was a camp of men.

“Loyalists. They’ll be joined by some very angry comrades soon,” he lisped with delight. “No dou’ they’ll be missin’ their arms.”

Alice turned to look at him, eyebrows raised in surprise. “Weapons?”

That intriguing smirk he’d flashed at her the night before returned and he nodded. “Aye.”

“Is that why we left so quickly?”

His lips twitched in response.

“And where are these arms?”

He shrugged. “Threw ‘em ou’ as I ran.” His back pressed against the trees and he turned to look at her. “This is but a small group. There are dozens more.” He looked up at the trees and surrounding features and pulled out a worn scrap of parchment that looked like a map. He bent forward and ran a finger through the soil, then used it to make a mark on the map of their location. He showed her the map he’d kept of each of their locations. There were several smudges dotted throughout and Alice was vaguely surprised the number. In the center was a cirlcled dot labelled “Stayne.”

“You’ve found his location?”

He nodded, folding the parchment and putting it away.

“Let’s go,” he whispered and led them back the way they’d come. Alice marvelled at how he slipped in and out of his two different vocal patterns. It was as if he’d flip-flopped.

When they reached Bandy she looked behind her. “What about those men? Are we just—”

“Gon’ ta leave them, aye. We’re only two. They’re more.” He jumped back onto the bandersnatch and rearranged his canvas bag across his chest. “They won’t be leavin’ this camp soon. Don’ worry.”

Alice looked up to him and the dark expression on his face. “Hatter, we need to discuss the queen’s plan.”

“Aye. La’er. At the momen’, I’ve somewhere ta be.” He looked down at her expectantly, and she shook her head with a sigh. He reached down for her, helping her up, and they took off once more.

-----

They’d set out in a different direction to another part of the forest Alice hadn’t yet seen. The trees thinned out here, and in places there were even patches of grass large enough for a few animals to graze on.

“This area is beautiful,” Alice casually remarked.

He turned to look at her with approval. “My family home is near here.” Quietly he added, “P’raps one day I’ll show it to yeh.”

They continued on, and at one point leapt over a small stream when something clinked in Alice’s satchel. “Oh!” she said, remembering the phials the Healer had asked her to deliver. “I nearly forgot. I was asked to give these to you.”

The Hatter twisted around, curious, to see what she had and his eyes widened in surprise. “Lilas gave these ta yeh?”

She pursed her lips at the sound of her name and nodded. “She said you would know what they were.”

He took them from her and stowed them away in a pocket on his morning coat, and said nothing further on the subject.

As they travelled, he told her about Stayne and what he had been up to in her absence. About how after his banishment, the disgraced knave had quickly fallen in with less than reputable characters in the Outlands. As a man who understood manipulation and had plenty of intimidation given his imposing stature, he’d secured a moderate amount of power amongst the thieves and lowlifes that roamed the outskirts of civilisation.

“But how did this escape Mirana’s notice?”

The hatter fidgeted in front of her. “It wasn’ easily apparen’ a’first.”

He explained how reports of seemingly unconnected incidents of violence or unrest had reached Marmoreal. Each event had seemed arbitrary and their threat level had stayed just under that of concern. They hadn’t reason for suspicion.

“Acciden’s. One after another. One family here, another lan’owner there. A robbery or two a week la’er. Eventually, i’stopped bein’ random, an’ by then Stayne had established himself.”

Alice was confused. “But, where was the guard? Isn’t there a militia? Surely Mirana has some kind of constabulary in place here.”

She felt his quick sarcastic exhalation under her hands.

“No’ here. Run off.”

“Run off?”

He turned his head and nodded. “Outlanders don’ take kindly ta those they consider ta be trespassers on their land.”

Alice snorted sarcastically, recalling each confrontation with a frown. “They don’t seem to be very hospitable in general.”

Before her, he shook his head. “People are afraid. They’re simply worried about the ones they love. Lately the only thing Change has brought here is death. Or worse.”

Alice considered this. “But why won’t they accept help? Isn’t this a part of the queen’s realm?”

He chuckled. “Tha’ kin’ of talk round here will ge’ yeh in loads o’trouble, lass.”

The bandersnatch sniffed the air and shivered lightly. Hatta looked around and went stiff beneath her hands in alarm, when a blue-grey swirl of smoke suddenly materialised before them and turned into a floating Cat.

“Chess!” Alice called happily, smiling. Tarrant nodded in greeting.

“Finally,” he sighed dramatically. “I’ve been looking for the pair of you for hours.” His whiskers twitched in agitation. “For a man typically surrounded by vivid colours you’re disturbingly hard to find in a forest.”

The Hatter smirked. “What news do yeh have?”

“No further pleasantries? Very well then. The queen’s army left Marmoreal yesterday and are en route as we speak.”

The Outlander nodded and told him of a place she should direct her envoy to at the edge of the forest, not far from Farowen. Currently, there were no Loyalist outposts nearby.

“Anything else?” the prickly feline asked.

“Say hello to Mallymkun.” Alice said.

The Cat’s grin spread to his ears as he floated upside down above her. “Wonderful. Her incessant nattering has already reached a peak level I can hardly tolerate as it is.” He began to fade and with a wave of his paw he called, “Fairfarren.” and disappeared.

-----

Eventually, they came to a stop outside a small farm. The Hatter jumped down, and Alice watched with interest as he imitated some sort of bird’s call. He waited for a moment, listening, until a similar call was echoed from further off.

Turning towards Alice he opened his mouth to speak but froze. She peered down at him curiously and when his eyes travelled, slowly, from her ankle to her thighs and up, and a low hum sounded deep in his throat, she felt her cheeks heat from the unexpected attention and was momentarily struck speechless.

As soon as his eyes re-focused he briefly looked towards the cottage through the trees, and then nervously glanced back at her.

“On secon’ though’, p’raps yeh bes’ stay here.” He paused for a moment to consider his own counsel, and then nodded. “Aye. Stay here. I won’ be long.”

He adjusted the satchel around his chest and headed for the cottage, leaving Alice utterly bewildered and annoyed.

“What was that all about?” she huffed to her silent companion. “I’m getting a little tired of being ordered around like an errant child.” Where had her polite Hatter gone?

She jumped off of Bandy and paced, occasionally glancing in the direction that completely baffling, mad hatter had disappeared and kicked over a stone. Bandy sniffed a patch of mushrooms.

Thirty minutes on, he still hadn’t arrived, and she cursed his definition of time. What if someone had been lurking out there while he’d been gone and she were ambushed?

The bandersnatch chose that moment to knock over a small tree in order to get at the roots he’d been trying to eat for several minutes.

‘Alright, so I’m not completely alone,’ she thought wryly.

Regardless, she felt useless just sitting there, and with a sigh she stared out at the surrounding flora, trying to decide whether or not to ignore the ever-present and irksome feeling of being watched. She swore the trees in this forest had eyes. She also wondered who her friend had gone to visit, and why she hadn’t been allowed to follow. And why he had looked at her like that.

Alice brought her attention back to the cottage. It was a simple wooden structure that looked like many of the houses she’d passed in Witzend. There were chickens roaming on the sparse front lawn, and animal pens adjacent to the rear of the house. There didn’t seem to be anyone outside, and every now and then she caught a glimpse of a figure or two passing by a dim window within.

The bandersnatch stopped rooting in the ground and raised his great head to sniff the air, causing Alice to shift her attention from the cottage and her reverie.

“An’ who migh’ you beh?” asked a tiny voice to her left.

Alice was alarmed to find herself at the end of a very sharp looking arrow that was strung in a fine bow, which was furthermore attached to a precocious looking little girl.

“Be’er talk fas’ or I’ll have ta shoot. Strangers aren’ welcome.” The hardness of her tone was a strange contrast in the voice of a child so young.

The banderstatch watched the girl carefully, but apparently found no real threat as he wasn’t reacting to the fact that Marmoreal’s Champion was being held at arrow point.

“Hello,” Alice said, raising her hands, “my name is Alice.”

“Wha’s tha’?” the girl asked immediately afterwards, looking towards the spotted beast with concern.

“That’s my friend.”

“Doesn’ look frien’ly.”

“Looks can be deceiving sometimes.”

The little girl kept her gaze on Bandy, but the arrow fixed on her.

“And who might you be?” Alice echoed carefully.

“I live here. Wha’ are you doin’ out here with tha’?” she jabbed the arrow in the bandersnatch’s direction.

“I’m waiting for my friend.”

“Wha’ frien’? Another one of those?” she asked fearfully looking again at Bandy.

Alice pointed towards the cottage and smiled gently. “My friend is inside. He asked me to wait.”

The girl lowered the arrow. “Tarrant?”

Alice blinked. “Yes,” she answered. “Do you know him?”

The girl smiled at first, then reaffixed the sharp glare she’d directed at the trespasser. “Aye. Bu’ how do I know you aren’ lyin’?”

Alice experienced a severe feeling of déjà vu. However, she considered the question and supposed it might look like a stretch given that she was on the girl’s family’s land with a frumious looking monster; no offense to Bandy of course. She went with the answer she’d given the last person who asked her the same question.

“I suppose you’ll just have to trust me.”

“An’ why should anyone do a thin’ like tha’?” answered a third, unfamiliar voice from the trees.

Alice stepped back and quickly adjusted her attention to the newcomer. Bandy growled quietly behind her.

The Hatter, who had been trailing after, noticed the girl with the arrow and ran to the child. “Nauw, nauw, lower it, lass,” he crooned, stepping in front of the arrow, lest it find its unintended mark.

The girl looked put out and glared once more at Alice. “You know her?”

“Aye, she’s with us,” he said quietly before turning back to the man he’d come with.

Alice breathed a sigh of relief and looked curiously at the woodsman whose face was hidden behind the hood of the cloak he wore.

The man appeared to glance between Alice and the Hatter, and then held an arm out to the girl. “Come, Bryn. Inside.”

The girl lowered the bow fully and scampered over to the man who was turning to walk back to the cottage.

“I found her, ‘Lan; was I good?”

“Aye, lass, bu’ don’ be goin’ after people alone.” His words trailed off as they got further away, and Alice glanced curiously at her friend.

“Who are they?”

The Hatter twitched a grin, and fluttered his fingers. “No one, everyone, secrets.” He laughed to himself then goggled at her. “Champion. You were bested by a little girl!” he lisped, making his way back to the bandersnatch.

Alice smiled and followed. “No, I wasn’t.”

“Tha’ wee li’tle gel had yeh a’ her mercy.” He climbed up onto Bandy, his loony smile fading to a frown.

She quirked her head at his change of mood. “Hatter?”

Resolute, he gazed down at her.

“We need ta work on your trainin’.”

She vaguely wondered if she should be offended. “And how do you propose we do that?”

He looked at her curiously. “Practise o’cors’.”

Once again, they set off. Alice’s curiosity wouldn’t remain silent and she asked again after the man and child.

“Do Outlandish children always go around carrying weapons?”

The Hatter chuckled. “Family trade. Tha’ gel can use a bow better than mos’ hunters in Witzend.”

Alice smiled. “So, are these people part of your circle, then?”

He turned his head to glance at her and thought for a moment. “Aye.”

“We need to discuss Mirana’s plan. How many here are willing to help her put all this madness to an end?”

He wiggled before her, muttering something like gibberish. Then, “Many want him gone, bu’ no’ many will help.”

“How many will so far?”

He considered this and shrugged. “I’ll have a better idea tomorrow perhaps.”

“What’s tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow is when we shall rally the troops.”

“Good.”

They turned up a steep incline, and Alice grabbed him round the waist in surprise. He stared ahead with a sly grin upon his lips.

She cleared her throat and released him. “Well, a few are at least better than none, I suppose.”

“We’ll b’meetin’ them tanigh’ a’tha inn. Til then it migh’ be best to no’ discuss it…” he waved his arms about them to finish the sentence. “Everythin’ has eyes.”

Alice nodded and looked out at the sea of forest before them. “What are we doing in the mean time?”

He tossed a rakish glance at her from over his shoulder and she blushed. That hadn’t exactly been what she meant.

He lowered his voice. “Practise.”



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A/N: In reply to my lone reviewer (hello and thank you!), no, this will be 10 chapters long. They are finished, so posting will go pretty quickly.