Into the Woods

A/N: Mild non-con ahead.

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The sound of the bandersnatch crashing through the woods caused numerous birds and rodents to relinquish their night-time hiding places. Alice had long since given up the notion of having the element of surprise. Perhaps the sound of some great, lumbering beast would stall whatever horrible activities that she imagined were taking place in her mind, in the clearing.

Bandy abruptly turned and went up a steep incline. She leaned forward, gripping his sides with her knees, and his fur with her fingers.

They arrived as the last meek rays of twilight twinkled down through twisted branches, and they slowed to a quieter pace. At first glance the clearing appeared empty, and Alice was terrified that they had been too late. But then the bandersnatch caught the scent of something familiar and lowered his face to the leaves to snuffle about.

“Watch where you’re goin, you brute!” a tiny voice shouted from somewhere on the ground.

“Mallymkun?” Alice called with an insanely happy grin on her face.

“Who else?” the fierce little dormouse called indignantly.

Alice slid down and bent forward to collect her small comrade in hand.

“How did you get here, and where are the others?”

The dormouse had the grace to appear very slightly abashed. “Chess brought me ahead to wait. Said I complain too much.”

Alice looked about the otherwise vacant clearing, confused. “I don’t understand, where is Hatta?”

Mally heaved a long-suffering sigh and crossed her arms. “Didn’t you listen? I said they aren’t here yet. I’m the first.”

The bandersnatch looked up and growled out at the surrounding darkness. Alice drew her blade.

“But the boy,” Alice said, feeling increasingly foolish. “He said there was trouble. That the poison…”

A tree limb snapped in the dark.

“Trouble?” The dormouse drew her hatpin sword, confused at this unexpected turn of events. “What’s goin’ on?”

“Alice,” a familiar, oily voice called from the forest, “is that you?”

The bandersnatch snapped its razor sharp jaws and stepped in between Alice and their adversary. More limbs and leaves were disturbed around them and instantly Alice understood with painful clarity what had happened.

“Hide Mally,” she whispered, allowing the dormouse to scamper away down her legs.

A long shadow separated itself from the others, and to Alice’s horror, Ilosovic Stayne emerged just as tall and forbidding as she’d remembered. Several others joined him, surrounding Alice, searching the darkness for others.

“Who were you talking to, my dear?”

The bandersnatch jumped forward and swiped his powerful claws at the former Knave of Hearts. The knave easily countered them with his sword, cutting a long gash along the beast’s arm.

“Subdue him,” he called to his companions, and approximately thirty men appeared and began trying to take the beast down.

“Leave him alone!” Alice cried helplessly as ropes and nets were cast, and staffs and blades slashed and beat the majestic bandersnatch into submission.

Alice trained her blade on Stayne with a sick feeling settling in her stomach. She had been set up. There had been no attack.

Stayne circled Alice and she took a deep breath.

“I didn’t realise how much I’d missed you, Um,” he murmured, a step closer to her left.

She turned and considered the benefits of going on the offensive first. Perhaps she could at least harm him enough to make it easier to attack when the others eventually found him. Even if she wouldn’t be alive by then.

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“You’ve already got him,” she said affecting calm, indicating the howling bandersnatch behind her. Her heart broke at the sound of his pain while he struggled to keep defending his Champion.

“That’s too bad,” Stayne said, halting his movements. “I had so hoped to see your other friends.” She could almost hear the smile in his voice. “But you’ll do in a pinch.”

Alice set her jaw.

“There’s no one else here,” said a man somewhere to the right.

“Bind her hands.”

Alice lashed out blindly then, swinging her pitiful dagger at any and everything she could as several men pounced, surrounding her. Honestly, the Hatter would have been quite pleased with her performance – she had done surprisingly well considering the circumstances. At least she had until a shattering pain erupted at the base of her skull and she dropped to her knees and blacked out.

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The dull throbbing at the back of her head finally pulled Alice from unconsciousness. She lay, sore and bruised, with her eyes closed on a warm bed, and there was a funny taste in her mouth. She longed to reach back and feel what kind of damage had been done to her skull and wouldn’t be surprised if it had been cracked wide open, because it certainly felt as if it were. She would have checked if her hands weren’t bound.

Licking her dry lips she slowly opened her eyes while her brain struggled to remember why she was in this situation in the first place.

Footsteps crunching through dry leaves sounded nearby, and Alice’s vision slowly re-focused and took in her surroundings. It was dark, but a lit oil lamp beside her showed that she was currently inside some kind of sparsely furnished, canvas tent. The rustle of fabric being pushed aside alerted her to an intruder and she closed her eyes and lay still.

“Bring the tea as soon as it’s ready.”

It was Stayne.

Alice carefully tested the strength of the knots holding her captive. They were pretty solid. With a pang she figured she was probably doomed.

“Still asleep, my pet?” he whispered, coming to kneel at her side. He ran a gloved hand along her jaw, and a freakishly long finger traced across her lower lip and toyed with prising them apart.

Alice bit down.

The knave yelped and wrenched his hand free before slapping her hard across the face.

Her cheek stung, but nonetheless she glared up at him and struggled against her bindings.

“Let me go,” she grit through clenched jaws.

Stayne smiled sadistically down at her and shook his head. “I think not.”

Behind him a woman with a black eye, dressed in rags, entered holding a tray with a silver teapot and tea things. She carefully set them on the table that held the oil lamp and immediately shuffled away.

Stayne bent forward to inhale the steamy wafts of fragrance curling up from the teapot with reverence and ignored Alice’s frantic flopping about. “You must try this blend. I know how fond you are of tea parties, and I find this combination incredibly refreshing.”

She watched as he began delicately peeling away his black leather gloves and carefully, purposefully, laying them aside, and then set about removing his boots. Next, he poured himself a cup of tea and took a sip before standing back to admire Alice’s prone form. His black eyes travelled up and down her figure and with each passing second Alice’s skin crawled under his scrutiny.

“You’re a very hard girl to find,” he said, now loosening his belt. A shock of fear travelled through Alice’s body.

“The Hatter is a gifted tracker,” he added.

“You’d better hope he doesn’t track you,” she said, once again trying to pull her arms free, her mind scrambling to find a way out of this mess. “In fact, I’m surprised he hasn’t found you already. You’ve been very lucky.”

He chuckled at this and shrugged as if that were an honest compliment, then set his teacup down.

“I keep good company. Although now that Mirana, in all of her infinite wisdom,” he sneered, “has finally seen fit to put an end to my little conquests, I doubt I’ll have many for much longer.”

Alice stopped fighting and pleaded with him. “Then stop this now and give in to her demands. You can’t win this… whatever it is you’re trying to win. It’s laughable to think you can walk away unscathed.”

The knave crossed to Alice in one step and leaned down, his face inches from hers. “It isn’t the White Queen I want,” he whispered dangerously. “It’s that Hatter.”

Alice flinched at the venom in his voice.

“He’s the one who ruins everything.” Stayne inhaled Alice’s scent and dragged a long hand to her throat. She swallowed and tried to twist away but the cords binding her arms to the bed prevented any such mercy.

He placed his fingers around her throat and lightly squeezed. “He found You, and helped You get the Vorpal Sword, thus defeating that wretched Iracibeth. He chased me to the outskirts of civilisation, and now that I’ve finally managed to eke out a comfortable living in the land the White Queen’s Realm had forgotten, he’s forcing me to once again fight for my survival.”

His hand brushed lower and settled over Alice’s breast. She swallowed against the bile at the back of her throat and continued fighting to get away from his touch.

“I can’t beat Mirana,” he leaned over her now, pressing his body against hers, “but I can beat him. And I can beat you,” he whispered in her ear. “Unlike that daft lunatic, you have your uses. And I intend to Use you, Alice.”

She twisted and bucked until he settled his full weight on top of her.

“Get off!” she screamed, kicking as desperately as she could and feeling as though she could wretch.

“And now, thanks to his little friend,” he grunted, “I have exactly the tools I need to make you mine, and to make him squirm.” His mouth lowered to her throat as his hands slid up and down her arms. To her horror, she felt his excitement pressing insistently against her hip, and tears formed at her eyes.

“That one little sip will make you my slave forever. And if you’re good, we can play a little longer while you’re able to enjoy it.”

Alice froze.

“What?” she choked. “I’m not drinking anything.”

He chuckled once more and nuzzled her other breast causing Alice to writhe in revulsion and panic.

“I take it you already know to what I refer?”

Her mind was yelling at her to pay attention amidst her consuming need to flee and fight, but she was unaccountably afraid for some reason. Something was wrong.

“The Walking Death?” she shuddered.

“Mm, such a clever girl,” he hummed against her throat, his hips slowly rocking into hers. Alice bit down on his ear and he cried out. The back of his hand connected to her cheek with a loud smack.

“Enough of that!” Long fingers encircled her throat again and this time squeezed painfully. Alice’s eyes bulged and her windpipe constricted. In a panic, she thrashed her legs out and managed to catch him in the ribs.

He straddled her hips, hands still on her throat, with a manic gleam in his eye. “Perhaps you don’t want to play, is that it?” Spittle gathered at his lips, and with one hand he began working his trousers open.

Alice squirmed against him and continued gasping for air she wasn’t receiving. The edges of her vision began to grow dim.

“I’d hate to think of damaging you, dear Champion, but I’ll try to keep you intact for as long as I can.” He fumbled to raise Alice’s tunic, and gripped the waist of her own trousers and tugged. “How exciting it will be to see the look on his face when he realises what I’ve created.”

Alice’s mind was shutting down, and her movements slowed as her body used up its oxygen supply. Dimly, she switched her internal demands from hoping to get away to simply hoping it would soon be over. How desperately she wished Tarrant were here.

Then the most unexpected thing happened. His fingers relaxed its hold on her throat.

Alice inhaled violently and coughed. Blinking through tears, she noticed that Stayne had an odd expression on his face.

In fact, he’d stopped all movement other than bracing himself against her shoulders.

“What is this?” he slurred and wobbled.

Alice’s heart was slamming against her ribcage and she watched him, feeling the tiniest glimmer of hope well within her. Something was happening to him.

Before she could wonder at this stroke of luck, he collapsed on top of her and was still.

Alice’s mouth fell open in surreal shock and she felt his breath hot against her cheek.

“I thought he’d never shut up!” Mally exclaimed at her side. The little mouse’s eyes were wide with fear, and for a second Alice even thought that the fearless Hatter’s protectress was trembling.

“Mally?” Alice whimpered.

The dormouse leaped from the side table near his teacup to the bed and began hacking away at the ropes tying Alice down. She occasionally tossed the girl a worried look in between chewing and cutting.

“We’ve got to hurry.” she said after gnawing through the first rope. “I only had a small amount of that sleeping draught on me and he won’t be out for long.”

The realisation that Alice had been saved finally kicked in and she grinned.

“Mallymkun, if I ever doubt you again, you have my permission to jab me with your hatpin sword every time.”

Finally, the remaining cords were cut, and Alice pushed the knave off of her and collected her friend once more in hand.

“How do we escape?” Mally whispered. Alice raised the corner of the tent’s flap and peeked out. It was well past dark now and there didn’t appear to be anyone nearby.

“How long have we been here?”

Mally looked up anxiously to Alice. “At least two hours, I’d say.”

Alice blanched. “Two hours?” The fact that Alice had been unconscious for two hours in Stayne’s captivity re-doubled her fears.

“Shh!” the dormouse hissed, rubbing her paws together. “I wasn’t even sure you’d wake up after…”

With increasing alarm, Alice waited for her to go on. “After what?”

Mallymkun inhaled and looked up to Alice with pity. “After he’d poured that potion down your throat. I don’t know what it was, but considering what he’d said… ”

Alice’s blood froze and she felt a chill creep up her body.

“That one little sip will make you my slave forever.”

“Mally?” her voice was surprisingly calm, “Are you saying that Stayne poisoned me with the Walking Death?”

The tiny warrior met Alice’s eyes. There was no way for either to know, and yet somehow, she did.

The two stared at each other in silence while Alice tried to process this new revelation.

On the floor, Stayne moaned faintly. Mally snapped back into action.

“We’ll figure the rest out later, for now we have to go.”

Alice shook herself and agreed. The tent flap was raised once more, and seeing no one about, she slipped out and crept down it’s side.

Looking around, they realised with alarm that they were, in fact, amongst dozens of ragged tents in a makeshift village of sorts. It appeared to be Stayne’s main camp.

She peeked her head around the next corner and blinked as her vision doubled. Alice dismissed this as coincidence and crossed a lane to the next canvas hut. They listened for the sound of anyone nearby, and somewhere in the darkness they heard a low howl.

“Bandy!” she whispered. “Mally, if we can get to him, maybe we can escape.”

The dormouse nodded, and they carefully followed the sound of his tortured moans until they reached the edge of the encampment where the bandersnatch was tied without incident.

She squinted out at him and this time her double-vision couldn’t be blamed on a head rush. She leaned against a small tree that formed a post for an empty lean-to.

“Are you alright?” Mallymkun asked from her shoulder.

“I’ll be fine. I think there are only two guards, look.”

Sure enough, there were two guards standing on either side of the beast. They had tied several ropes around his neck which were then staked to the ground. Each guard had a sword, with more weapons nearby.

“I can take them,” Mally whispered fiercely at her ear.

“Good because I’ll definitely need the help.”

“Wait for my signal.”

Alice set the determined little fighter on the ground and watched as she scampered towards the nearest guard. She then proceeded to climb up the man’s legs, and before he even knew there was a small creature using him as a ladder, he cried out in pain when she stuck her hatpin in his eye.

The guard frantically swiped at his shoulders, not entirely sure what was happening, and the other sentry went over to investigate.

“Wha’s’wrong? Why’re’yeh flailin’ abou’?”

Alice took this time to dash out of the shadows, dagger in hand and bashed the non-injured guard in the head with its hilt. He dropped to his knees, and the man Mally had stabbed blindly swung out with his sword and yelled for help.

Alice dodged the blade that flashed before her, and rolled around, knocking his feet out from under him. This inconveniently placed the poor soul near the bandersnatch who then quickly disposed of him.

“Hold on, Bandy.” Alice began slicing through the ropes holding him down.

“Alice!” Mally yelled from the ground. “We’ve got to go now!”

The bandersnatch roared as several men began pouring out of tents and rushing towards them. She’d only cleared half of the ropes that bound him. But the dormouse was right.

“Can you get the rest of these?” she called frantically to Bandy. She was torn between wanting to run and wanting to help get him free.

The animal nodded and nudged her away before training his fearsome sight on the half-terrified Loyalists.

“Come on!” the dormouse yelled again and scampered up Alice’s leg.

She took off, shaking to clear her head to no avail, and reached out for what appeared to be many trees before her.

“I can’t see,” she mumbled, ducking and dodging every perceived impediment.

“To your left!” Mally shouted, trying to guide her.

Alice stepped to the right.

“Now you’re clear, run!”

Alice tore off down a hill as fast as she was able, but her limbs did not seem to be cooperating as usual. There was also very little light, and consequently they didn’t see the drop-off ahead before it was too late. With a collective yelp they slipped and slid over rocks and moss, until it simply became easier to go with gravity. Down they tumbled over more rotten wood and slimy stones, until they slammed to a painful stop by means of a large boulder.

“M-mmally,” she groaned. Her head was spinning, not altogether from the fall, and what she could see by the scattered forest moonlight was twisted and wavy.

“I’m not,” she gasped, “I feel odd…”

“Quiet!” Mally hissed at her ear, and gently stroked the side of her face, her ear cocked to the side. She’d heard something.

Before them were voices. Female voices. Behind them, the roar of the bandersnatch could faintly be heard from the camp.

Unknown to Alice and Mally, they had been heard by others while crashing down the hill, and within minutes, Alice turned her face away from the uncharacteristically bright glow of a lantern.

“Alice?”

Lilas Thistle stared down in shock at the girl while her sister immediately dropped to tend to her.

“How did you escape? Yeh should’nae be…” Lilas trailed off, brows furrowing in anger.

Alice drew a shuddering breath. “I… he’s coming…” she attempted to explain what had happened, but her voice simply gave out. Fear gripped Alice like a tangible fist wrapping its fingers around her like a vice. She was slowly losing all mental and physical faculties.

“Escape from who?” Mae asked, peering up at her sister.

The younger sister raked a hand through her hair. “From Stayne o’cours’!”

Mae looked up at her sister with wide, confused eyes. “What are yeh talkin’ abou’ ‘Li?”

“Get away from her, sister. We’ve go’ ta leave. Nauw!” She tugged on Mae’s arm, whipping her head around in distress.

Alice’s breaths were getting shallow and it was a struggle to even sit up with Mae’s help. In that moment, however, she understood what had happened.

She stared up into the shadowed face of Lilas Thistle and realised that it was she who had sent the boy. It was she who had betrayed her.




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