“Magnificent,” the Chessmaster says. “I am now sure it’s you and your old caterpillar who can find Carroll’s Knight,” he doesn’t explain why and says, “But first, I need to give you the first clue, and to do so, you need to answer a question you don’t have an answer for.”
“You mean you want to kill this woman anyways, like the one before?” I clench my fist. “Why is it important you kill them?”
“Life is a game of chess, Alice. One move at a time. With each move, doors either open or close for the next. Some of us are lucky to come upon several doors in a row. Pure luck, if you ask me. Some are doomed with a closed door after their first move,” the Chessmaster says. “Now here is my last question, which I promise to let the woman go if you answer correctly — but then again, you don’t know the answer, and The Pillar isn’t allowed to contribute.”
“I am ready,” I say.
“No, you’re not, but here it is: what was the color of the cover of the 1965 version of Alice in Wonderland’s book, published by McMillan at the time?”
“What kind of question is that?”
“The kind that kills,” he says. “Lewis Carroll insisted on that color, even though his publishers thought it would scare kids away.”
I glance at The Pillar who looks like he knows the answer, but if he tells me the woman dies. I myself have no idea. A color that Lewis Carroll insisted on two centuries ago? Why would his book’s color matter? Should I just make a guess?
“I don’t know the answer,” I tell the Chessmaster.
“Then the woman will die. Thank you very much.”
We all watch the man with the sword about to chop off her head when an old man calls out from the crowd. “Stop!”
The man with the sword actually stops, and even the Chessmaster seems to be interested in the old man from his screen.
“Stop! Don’t kill my wife.” The old man steps ahead with both hands in the air. “I will tell you what you want to know?” He is speaking to the Chessmaster.”
The Pillar and I exchange glances.
“Do tell,” the Chessmaster says. “Before it’s too late.”
“I will tell you how to get Carroll’s Knight,” the old man says, now hugging his wife, who was about to get her head chopped off.
“So this is what it’s about?” The Pillar says. “This whole game was a threat to make whoever knew the secret about that Carroll’s Knight speak up before his loved one dies. This was never about Alice and me or the puzzles.”
“Genius, isn’t it?” The Chessmaster winks.
“Sick,” I retort.
“I had my doubts if it were the first woman or the second,” the Chessmaster elaborates. “Since no one came to save the first woman, it wasn’t her. But the second is. And her husband knows the whereabouts of Carroll’s Knight. The book’s cover was red, by the way,” he mocks me. “The color of the Red Queen, but that’s a whole other story. Now let’s hear it from this old man who knows the secret to Carroll’s Knight.”
Chapter 17
The man’s name is Father Williams, which is a name The Pillar squints at, and I don’t know why.
I am surprised the man isn’t Italian. In fact, he comes from a family of English noblemen who have been instructed to live in Marostica all those years, as keepers of the secret of Carroll’s Knight.
“What secret?” I ask him.
“I will show you,” says Father Williams, gripping a torch and guiding us into the hallways of the high castle, Castello Superiore. “Follow me.”
The Chessmaster isn’t watching us at this point. He orders his man with the sword and a few snipers to follow us, until we get him Carroll’s Knight and bring it back to him. I am most curious about what’s really going on here.
“So your family was instructed to keep a secret in this town?” I ask Father Williams. “Why? Who instructed you?”
“Lewis Carroll,” Father Williams says reluctantly. “It’s his Knight you’re looking for.”
“You mean what the Chessmaster is looking for,” The Pillar says. “And by ‘Knight’ you mean what exactly?”
“I don’t know.” Father Williams says. “I only know of the place and have been denied looking upon the tomb where it is by my father.”
“Tomb?” I shrug, the shadows from the torch reflecting on the wall and worrying me.
“It’s where the Knight is kept,” Father Williams says.
“So it’s a person,” The Pillar says.
“Like I said, I don’t know.”
“Do you at least know why Lewis hid it here?” I ask.
Father Williams stops and stares into my eyes. “I am told it holds great evil.”
“Oh, please,” The Pillar rolls his eyes. “Great evil in a tomb. Is that some Hollywood movie again?”
“I can tell you’re scared,” Father Williams tells The Pillar.
“I’m not scared,” The Pillar says, though I think he is. Maybe he is claustrophobic. The Castle’s hallways are a bit too narrow and slightly suffocating. “I just hate this whole thing about an item that holds evil and will unleash it onto the world if you reopen it. I mean, if Lewis knew it was so evil, why not destroy it?”
“Plausible.” I nod at Father Williams.
“Funny, coming from people interested in a book where a girl gets taller when she eats a cake and shorter when she drinks a drink,” Father Williams logic starts to amuse me. “Do you want the Knight or not? I’d prefer to go spend time with my wife than with you.”
“Please forgive us,” The Pillar apologizes, then whispers something in his ears.
Father Williams looks sympathetically at me and says. “I pray for you.”
I pinch The Pillar immediately, but then the door to the tomb opens before us. The words ‘Carroll’s Knight’ are carved on the wall behind it.
Chapter 18
The tombs are not like anything I have expected. Its walls and floors are covered in black and white tiles, and there is a coffin in the middle. One side surprises me with two dead men, now skeletons, leaning onto a chessboard.
“Thieves,” Father Williams explains. “Some claim they’re Tweedledum and Tweedledee but I doubt it.”
“Then who are they?” The Pillar asks.
“They tried to steal Carroll’s Knight.” Says Father Williams.
“Why are they dead on the chessboard then?” I wonder.
“The tomb has a locking system. They were locked in and, by a Wonderlastic spell, they were forced to play chess, not until one wins, but until both died.”
“You people have really misunderstood that chess thing,” The Pillar says. “Anyone told you it’s just a game?”
“It’s not a game,” Father Williams insists. “Chess is life. Move one piece, take a step in life. Move another, yet another step. Make a bad move, spend a couple of moves correcting it and paying the price. And by move, I mean a year of your life.”
“I dropped out of elementary school, so don’t go poetic on me.” The Pillar chews on the words.
“I take it you can’t play chess,” Father Williams says.
“If you mean pulling hair for hours to make one move in a game so slow it’d make a turtle bored out of its mind, then the answer is no, I can’t play chess.”
“You have a lot to learn, Mr. Pillar,” Father Williams says. “And you, Alice?”
“Me?” I shrug. “I’m fresh out of an asylum. Doctors advised me I stay away from too much thinking.”
The Pillar looks like he wants to crack a laugh, but he goes inspecting the coffin instead.
“Now that you’re here, I’ll leave you to open it,” Father Williams says.
“Wait,” I wave a hand. “Open it? I thought you knew how to open it.”
“I don’t. I am just the keeper of the secret.”
The Pillar and I sigh. Not again.
“It’s shut and locked, so don’t try to push anything, it won’t work. I’ve tried,” Father Williams says. “The key to unlock it is in the groove in the middle of the coffin’s lid.”