WonderLand

WonderLand was the most terrifying place in the world.

I had deduced this fact while sitting behind the White Knight on his horse, gripping him about his armored waist as tightly as I could, with my eyes screwed shut.

The beginning of our journey had been smooth enough. Humpty Dumpty had led me back to my room, where I was allowed to pack a saddle bag with borrowed clothes--pants this time, thankfully--and anything else I needed. Almost as an after thought, I ended up grabbing the Cat's hat as well, and shoving it to the bottom of the bag.
Humpty had brought me out around the back of the Tea Shoppe, where The Doormouse, the White Knight, and Griffin were waiting by some stables. The Doormouse got us three snorting, stomping horses, and saddled them up. Our bags were slung over their backs, the three of us mounted, and we were off, steering our steeds into the unnatural darkness of the Forest.

I admit I was already on edge--who wouldn't be, after everything that had happened-- and there was something almost claustrophobic about the closeness of the massive trees and the heavy stillness in the air as we rode carefully through the undergrowth. The more nervous I became, of course, the more nervous the horses got, and the more nervous the horses got the more annoyed Griffin got and the more annoyed Griffin got the more he snapped and me, and the more he snapped the more tense I became, so when a pack of what looks liked bats but a million times worse suddenly swooped down through the air over our heads, I panicked, and both me and my horse were sent crashing to the ground in a moment of terror.

Was it silly of me?
Yes.
Did that stop me from taking up the White Knight's offer to let me ride with him?
No.

So here I am, trying to ignore all the ominous rustling in the bushes around us and the glowing eyes in the distant shadows watching our every move, and waiting for the Cat will jump out of nowhere with an army at any second so the Queen of Hearts can lop off my head.

It has been a very long day.

"I'm an inventor, you know," The White Knight remarked, in a tone of rather forced cheeriness. He had been keeping up a mostly one sided conversation with me for a while now, evidently trying to distract me from, well, everything.

"Oh?" I managed to squeak, trying to sound interested instead of terrified as the horse stumbled over one of those bushes with the spiky leaves that kept seeming to make grabs for the horse's ankles.

"Oh yes." The White Knight went on. "I mean, I'm not terribly good at it, and most of what I invent doesn't really work the way it is supposed to," he added, sounding a little apologetic, "But I'm getting much better at it! Just the other day, in fact, I invented these spiked shin guards for horses, you know, to protect their legs from shark bites and what not."

At this, the Griffin, who was leading my unburdened horse and had remained stoically silent for the past hour or so, snorted condescendingly. "And why would a horse need to be protected from sharks, pray tell me? Do you plan to come across any here?" he scoffed sarcastically.

My anger flaring, I opened my eyes just wide enough to glare at Griffin. "I think it's a great idea." I defended the White Knight hotly. "Sharks can attack in as little as a foot of water, you know! I bet you'll be singing a different tune the next time you're riding along the beach and a Great White leaps out of the surf and kills you!"

"That is a completely ridiculous scenario!" Griffin snapped.

The White Knight, on the other hand, half turned to smile at me and say, "Thank you," quietly.

"Just don't let me die out here," I replied, burying my face back in his ill-fitting armor. "How close are we?" I asked, desperately hoping the answer was "very".

"Not close enough." Came Griffon's reply. "And besides, the Chess Board isn't much safer than the Forest."

"You're kidding, right?" I groaned.

"I'm afraid he isn't." The White Knight answered apologetically. "It is true the Chess Board has less... well, unpleasant creatures lurking in it, but for the most part, the Forest tends to offer some degree of protection to those it deems worthy. Both Griffin and I, for example, can often make short trips through the Forest relatively unscathed."

"Often? Short? Relatively?" I repeated, my voice rising an octave with every word.

"But the Chess Board, well, it's really more of a... free for all." The White Knight explained, sounding a little uncertain.

"A 'free for all'?" I said tentatively, sensing where this was going.

"It's essentially a giant battle field." The Griffin said. "Once you're on it, everyone and everything becomes your enemy. Thankfully, the same will be true for the Cat. The Chess Board also has a certain set of rules players have to follow, which should make it even harder for the Cat to catch up. If we can just get there before he finds us, we can shake him, hopefully for good."

"Oh that sounds just peachy!" I growled sarcastically. "So I guess when you say 'chess board', you literally mean, a giant chess board then?"

"Well, of course," The White Knight replied, sounding a little surprised. "What did you think it was?"

"I was sort of hoping it was anything but." I explained sourly. "I've never really been very good at chess."
Understatement of the year. Someone taught one of the monkeys at my circus how to play chess. I don't think it understands the rules and it always tries to eat the pieces, and somehow it still manages to beat me everytime.

"You don't need to worry about that, my Lady." The White Knight said reassuringly. "Both the Griffin and I are excellent players. I assure you no harm will come to you as long as you are with us."

"As long as the Cat doesn't catch us first." I frowned. At my words, however, Griffin snorted.

"The Cat, that bastard. What in the name of WonderLand is he playing at, trying to sell us all out to the Queen? Does he want her to win the War?"

"Come now, Griffin," The White Knight said, frowning. "Nobody in their right minds would want that. Besides, we don't really know his motives. Maybe he's only pretending to work for the Queen. Acting as a double agent, you know."

Grifin scoffed, and rolled his eyes. "You're far too trusting, Knight. Face it, if the Queen gave him a good enough deal, he'd sell all of our skins to her without a second thought."

"I don't know," The White Knight mused unhappily. "I just don't believe the Cat is really like that. He has to know what the Queen would do if she was in charge of WonderLand. He has to realize what he would be ding if he brought Lady Alice to her-"

"Please stop!" I broke in, cutting them both off. Both the Griffin and the White Knight turned to look at me in surprise. I took a deep, steadying breath, and tried to compose myself. "I'm sorry, I just... I just don't want to talk about the Cat anymore." I said, flushing. Comprehension seemed to dawn on the Griffin's features.

"Ah, that's right. He betrayed you he sold you out right to your face, isn't that right, Miss Alice?" He said with officious politeness, his eyebrows raised smugly.

"That's none of your business," I snarled, glaring at him.

"Of course, you shouldn't feel too offended. He is a slimy, lying Cat, of course. He's pulled the wool over most everyone at one time or another, you're not particularly special." He went on, his tone mocking. "He manipulates everyone around him, you see. He did that when the Red and White Queens were in charge, and he's still doing it now. I don't know why anyone bothers to put up with all his crap. He's not worth the effort if you ask me."

"Nobody did ask you!" I shot back. "And besides, no matter how much of a lying, cheating, traitor he may be, the Cat is still tens times the gentleman you are!"

"Oh, is that so?" the Griffin scoffed incredulously, pulling up his horse short and turning to fix me with a poisonous glare. "And why exactly are you so keen on defending him, hm? What exactly has he done for you, you know, apart from selling you out to the Queen of Hearts so she can have your head on a plate?"

"Because," I spat, all the anger, frustration, and feelings of betrayal that had been swirling around inside of me finally breaking the surface, "Talking about someone behind their backs when they can't defend themselves is a sleazy, cowardly thing to do! And no matter what happened to the Cat before he betrayed me, he was the one who brought me to Hatter and Hare in the first place, and without their help, who knows what would have happened to me? So despite whatever the Cat may have done, I still owe him for that!"

Despite the passion of my short tirade, the Griffon gave a short bark of cold laughter. "You seem to think that the Cat is only betraying you here, my Lady," He jeered. "You're forgetting that by handing you over the the Queen, he is dooming the entire rebellion, all of WonderLand itself. It doesn't matter what you owe him. We ALL owe him for something. But it doesn't do anyone much good if we're all dead, now does it?"

"Knight, I want down!" I demanded, struggling to clumsily dismount the horse. I half wanted to slap the Griffon across the face, and half wanted to run off into the Forest on my own, and find my way to the Chess Board alone, come what may.

"My Lady, please!" the White Knight implored, grabbing my around my waist to prevent me from sliding onto the forest floor. "The Griffon doesn't really mean anything by-"

"Oh yes I do! I meant every word I said!" The Griffon interuppted him angrily, dismounting effortlessly from his own steed. "And don't bother, Alice. If anyone is leaving, it will be me. You won't have to worry about having to look at me ungentlemanly face tonight, I assure you." Leaving his horse unnattended, he turned his back on me and the White Knight and marched out of sight into the trees, his aggressively stomping footsteps still audible long after he had vanished.

"...Well," The White Knight said quietly after a long moment. "I suppose we will be setting up camp here for the night."