“Today, Wonderland will be rid of Alyss Heart for good!” Jack of Diamonds asserted with a puffing out of his already puffed-out belly. He was perhaps too eager to please, because Redd flicked an annoyed glance at the Wig-Beast. “I…I beg your pardon for speaking, Your Imperial Viciousness,” he said.
“Beg all you want, you powdered and pampered idiot. If I don’t get into the Looking Glass Maze soon, it will make no difference to your fate.”
The Cat grinned and smoothed his whiskers. The Lord and Lady of Diamonds, the Lord and Lady of Clubs, and the Lord and Lady of Spades-who together made up Redd’s Cabinet of Military Oversight-shuffled their feet, cleared their throats, and in general enacted every nervous tic available to people unsure of how to ingratiate themselves with their moody, unpredictable leader.
“Your Imperial Viciousness?” the Lady of Clubs ventured. “With all due respect, even if Alyss is not a threat, we think you should move the Heart Crystal to a more secure location.”
Redd thought this funny, in a pathetic sort of way, since neither the Lady of Clubs nor any of the other cabinet members knew where the Heart Crystal was.
“‘We’?” protested the Lady of Diamonds. “The Lady of Clubs speaks for herself, Your Imperial
Viciousness.”
“Absolutely speaks for herself,” seconded the Lord of Spades.
And Redd, raising an eyebrow, asked the Lady of Clubs, “Did you just tell me what I should do?” “I apologize, Your Imperial Viciousness. I spoke out of-”
“You think my strength is not protection enough for the Heart Crystal? Do you, in fact, suppose that my reign is in danger?”
“No, of course not. What I meant-”
The Lady of Clubs was fortunate that the strangled-baby cries of homecoming seekers interrupted them. The Cat bounded out of the dome and returned in less time than it took Redd to grow impatient. In his paw he carried the glowing cube, key to the Looking Glass Maze. Redd held out her hand and it flew to her.
“In any case,” she said, pressing each of the cube’s sides, squeezing it all over, turning it this way and that, “none of you need worry about the Heart Crystal. It’s not here at the fortress. Why can’t I get this to work?”
Jack of Diamonds stepped forward. “Allow me, Your Imperial Viciousness.”
Jack took the cube. He pressed each of its sides, squeezed it all over, turned it this way and that. He began shaking it close to his ear, listening for loose parts inside, while Redd addressed her cabinet.
“I refuse to leave this fortress. It would look cowardly when I have nothing to fear. If Alyss wants to fight me, so much the better. I’ll put an end to her. But let no one say that Queen Redd is insensitive. If I have no power, you people have even less than I let you believe. Alyss wouldn’t spoil you as I do. If it will make you all feel better, order The Cut to prepare a defense. The Cat will see to the Glass Eyes.”
“Your Imperial Viciousness?” The Cat said, and drew Redd’s attention with a nod to Jack of Diamonds, who was still tinkering with the glass cube.
“What?” Jack said. “It’s not broken. It takes a minute to decipher the code, but I’ll have it soon enough. It’s not broken, I say.”
“It had better not be,” Redd warned through thin, bloodless lips.
She swooped out of the dome, down the spiraling hall, and across the open expanse of a ballroom that had never been used. The far wall of the ballroom was decorated with a huge quartz and agate mosaic of the queen’s face and, as Redd approached it, the portrait’s mouth opened and she entered a secret passage known only to herself and The Cat. The passage led to a balcony overlooking the hollowed-out heart of the fortress. It was here, in the secret heart of the fortress, girded about by supports, that the Heart Crystal burned a dark crimson, as it had since Redd’s assumption to power. She leaned over the balcony’s edge and placed her hands on the crystal, its power surging through her, strengthening her for
the coming battle.
CHAPTER 51
P RINCESS ALYSS Heart was spotted ordering a mug of cider in a brewhouse near the city center. She was seen nibbling a gwynook-kabob in Tyman Street and skulking along the avenue outside the Redd Apartments complex. She was glimpsed entering a tube station at Redd Square, on a safari in Outerwilderbeastia, and at various other locations engaged in a variety of activities. But the Glass Eyes and card soldiers dispatched to destroy these Alysses found nothing because these Alysses were specters, reflections come to life, conjurings from the real princess’ imagination that she had dispersed throughout the queendom to confuse Redd’s all-seeing eye.
While Redd’s forces were occupied with the decoys, Alyss and her companions made it to the outskirts of the Chessboard Desert. The checkered land stretched before them, the promontory of Mount Isolation visible in the middle distance. The white knight and rook were tending to their men, bandaging wounds suffered in the Emerald Drive skirmish, instructing them to double-check all ammunition supplies
and be sure weapons were functioning properly. Dodge kept to himself, studying the sword in his lap as if to ensure that it would be able to do what he’d set his mind to: taking The Cat’s lives. Alyss should have been entirely focused on developing a sound military strategy, but she couldn’t help glancing at Dodge every now and again, her attention divided.
Revenge cannot possibly purge him of hate, but he won’t listen to me, won’t listen to anyone. “Alyss?”
“Yes?”
From the expressions of Bibwit Harte, Hatter Madigan, Homburg Molly, and General Doppelganger, it was clear that she had missed something.
“There is a lot of desert still to cross,” Bibwit said, indicating the distance to the fortress.
“And the problem of storming Mount Isolation, so ideally suited for defense,” added the general. “We’ll need an army greater than Redd’s.”
“Our objective is to remove Redd from power,” Alyss said, loud enough for Dodge to hear. “Our objective is the Heart Crystal, not vengeance.”
Dodge didn’t look up from his sword. He heard me. I know he heard me.
“Where Redd is, that’s where we’ll find the Heart Crystal,” said Bibwit. “She’ll want to remain close to it to maximize her strength.”
“But can you conjure a force of the size we’ll need, Princess?” asked General Doppelganger. “I don’t know.” To conjure several doubles of herself was one thing, but an entire army? “You must try,” Bibwit said.
She looked to the others. Hatter made a silent, respectful bow. Molly nodded, eager. The chessmen watched, waited. Even Dodge was watching. To conjure an army she would need to be extremely focused and precise. The millions of details of dress and weaponry-if a single one weren’t imagined
vividly enough, it would compromise the whole and her imagining would fail. She may have felt stronger than ever, but strong enough for this?