Chapter 14
Alice was awakened by lapping water. As her eyes adjusted, she squinted against the bright sun, listening to the sound of the water gently pushing and pulling, feeling the familiar comfort of sand at her palms. A rush of cool water half covered her, stirring her to complete consciousness before retreating.
She lay upon a beach, but where this beach was and how she’d arrived upon it, she hadn’t a clue.
Sitting up with her legs stretched towards the sea, she looked out across deep shades of cerulean blue—a sharp contrast to the murky brown water she was accustomed to from summer trips to Eastbourne.
The water sparkled as it rolled towards her, with the delicate trickle of shells being tumbled before they disappeared at the base of the wake.
A fin appeared in the distance, its silver and iridescent purple spine weaving in and out of the wave like a sewing needle.
Alice watched as it made a sharp turn and headed toward shore.
The creature’s spine wriggled at first, side to side, and then, like a paper plane catching the breeze, glided straight.
Hearing shouting from behind her, Alice looked to see a woman in a red gown and scarves waving as she trotted down a path lined by succulent hedging.
Alice strained to hear but could not make out the woman’s words.
In the water in front of her came a thrashing where the finned creature was breaching the wave.
It looked part fish, part human, and entirely horrifying.
Alice screamed, pulling her soaked dress from the sand, yanking her feet and trying to stand, but her impractical cream boots, selected by Guinevere, sank into the surf as the iridescent creature with spiked arms, long webbed claws, a face hauntingly like a woman’s, and a human torso covered in silver fish skin rolled over the wave onto the sand.
With arms that moved like a crab, it began to scurry toward Alice, its fin flapping frantically behind it.
Trapped, Alice struggled as the creature crawled atop her.
She screamed as jagged teeth chomped close to her face.
A flash of white and water splashed over her, jettisoning the creature from her body. She quickly rolled over, trying to dig herself from the sand, just as the woman from the distance met her on the ground in the surf.
“Help! Grab her other arm!” the woman instructed a man in a scarlet uniform, who quickly did so, and Alice was yanked from the surf and onto dry sand.
She looked back in time to see the silver fin slip into the outgoing tide.
Then she spotted, on the shore, the driver.
He lay naked and panting in the wet sand, blood streaming from many cuts.
Alice’s instinct was to run to him, but the man in scarlet was already attending to him, and she did not know where safely to look.
The woman who’d come to her rescue helped her to her feet and took her by the arms. “Are you all right, dear? You must be in shock!” The woman, who was exceptionally tall, shook Alice as if to wake her from sleep.
Alice nodded, in shock indeed. She had no idea where she was, what had just happened, or who this woman was. “What in the world was that creature?”
“A terrible and unnatural mistake the sea must have made!” The woman’s dark eyes scanned Alice, then she turned like a soldier toward the driver. “You, sir. Do you know this young woman?”
“I do not,” the driver said. Blood mingling with saltwater trailed to where he cupped himself. “I am indebted, Your Majesty,” he added, bowing his head.
Your Majesty! A Queen? Alice felt panic; should she have curtseyed? And he would lie to royalty? “Nonsense,” Alice asserted. “This man saved my life, though he quite nearly got me killed first. We do know one another, though not intimately.” She dipped her head, hoping it passed for proper.
“Forgive me, Your Majesty,” Alice went on, choosing to leave the driver’s glare unanswered. “Where exactly is it that we are?”
“We are in the Kingdom of Ev,” the queen said, her smile infectious. Knowing the name of where she was didn’t help at all.
The driver dropped his head, but it was too late. “Do you not know with whom you are speaking?” the queen asked, her posture straightening.
“Forgive her, Queen Rosemarie,” the driver said quickly. “She must have suffered quite a blow.”
“That is not true,” Alice said, “and I would appreciate it if you refrained from speaking for me, sir. I do not know any of these things, and I should always think it best to be honest about matters one is discovering.”
The queen laughed lightly. “What a strange delight you both are together! Come, you will be my guests. You will both join me and King Evoldo for dinner. I simply must know every detail.” She relinquished her regal posture and arched her back, as though it were tense, and beneath her robes Alice distinctly saw her very round belly.
The queen was expecting! Alice wished to congratulate her but knew it would be improper.
“Your name, and from where do you hail?” The queen extended her hand. Was Alice to kiss it?
“I am Alice, I hail from…” What home did she have left? She was in no one’s keep. “Wonderland,” she said. The queen’s eyes grew large, then she smiled. “A pleasure, Alice of Wonderland.” Alice took her extended hand and, erring on the side of caution, kissed it with a curtsey.
“You are magnificent,” the queen said. “Blinkem, we must find you something to cover that milk-white skin of yours before you turn into a crab.”
But how was it the queen knew the driver’s name?
Had Alice missed his introduction? Surely not.
A name like Blinkem wouldn’t have slipped her mind.
Her mind, however, was full. Where had Wendy gone when she vanished?
The queen’s figure only caused further thoughts to race.
What had become of Wendy’s child? How old would the little girl now be?
Where was she? Alice did not know, but the queen had turned and begun walking, so Alice followed her.
As she and the queen climbed the manicured, rolling, hedged property, Alice trailed slightly so she could look back at the ocean from the higher vantage point.
The water at her back resembled paintings of the Mediterranean, although the land could have been Scotland—deep saturated greens were everywhere from the natural fauna to a sculptural hedge perimeter which stretched high into the air, forming a fortress wall around whatever lay inside.
High above Alice, where the stone steps that led through the dunes ended at the hedge wall, a plaque was suspended boasting “Roseland.” Three rose depressions were intertwined with thorny vines behind a raised golden “O” with a “Z” at its center.
Below this, in smaller raised letters, was the phrase “Blessed Land of Ev, Territory Oz.”
The endless stretch of sparkling blue at her back and the manicured wall of green ahead of Alice was staggering. How quickly one can feel so tiny and insignificant in the splendor of nature, she thought, and how man can bend nature to serve his own needs.
“Welcome to the gates of Roseland, Alice,” the queen said as two hidden doors began to open. Beneath the disguise of the hedge, iron gate works creaked nobly.
Following the queen through to the other side of the hedge, Alice found herself standing on a meticulously manicured lawn that encircled a breathtaking crystal greenhouse. The greenhouse, with its majestic octagonal design, was as bright as the glimmer it cast on distant waves of the sea.
Beyond the crystal house of roses stood a row of scarlet soldiers stationed at the steps of the manor. Alice flinched for a moment at the sight of more guards but soon recovered. Of course a queen would have guards.
With his hands still covering his front, Blinkem walked ahead, escorted by the soldier, turning to look at Alice as he passed.
For this, she was grateful, as it kept her eyes from wandering to the rest of his physique—a physique that, even if she could ignore its musculature, was so pale against the lush green of the garden that not staring would have been impossible.
So, she kept her eyes locked with his, wondering what more he knew about their circumstances that she did not.
Abruptly, the sun’s radiance caught a new angle of the greenhouse, catching her eyes.
Simultaneously, faint murmurs, like a hushed church congregation, filled the surroundings.
As Alice redirected her attention to the crystalline structure, the glare revealed an open door, the source of the mysterious voices.
“Is anything the matter?” Rosemarie, waiting a few paces ahead, inquired.
“Is there a gathering?” Alice squinted back to the crystal structure.
Rosemarie made her way back to Alice. “In the greenhouse, you mean?” Rosemarie’s voice was hushed and drew Alice’s eyes from across the yard.
“Yes, the voices. Is it chanting? Is it a house of worship, I mean?” Alice was once again pulled by the low muffled hum.
“There is no one in there but the roses,” Rosemarie said and drew Alice’s arm under hers.
Alice wished to protest, for the voices proved there was someone inside, but she quickly decided it was something Rosemarie did not discuss with strangers.
Do not pry, she told herself. It would be horribly uncouth to risk insulting the queen or her religious practices.
She nodded and allowed Rosemarie to lead her away, even as her own voice nagged her: Find out what’s really inside the crystal building.
Hush, she told it.
The interior of Roseland Manor would have been cloaked in darkness were it not for the crystal pane windows that allowed glimpses of outside light to pierce through.
Guided by a scarlet-clad guard, Alice was led to a door adorned with the same rose motif as the gate, intricately carved with delicate gold leaf accents.
“The queen has asked that we bring you something to tide you over until dinner, which won’t be for another few hours.
The king is on his way here from Thorncrest in Evna,” the guard said politely.
There was something boyish about him, in his rounded features and smooth skin. It was a friendly face, Alice decided.
“That would be lovely, thank you,” Alice said. “Is this my room?”
“Yes. If any of the gowns are not to your liking, there is a call bell in the wardrobe. Other options can be arranged.” If Alice didn’t feel so out of sorts, the similarities to Guinevere’s willingness to dress Alice would have concerned her, but all she could think about was a moment alone and to be out of the damp and sandy silver dress, though with a pang she wondered where Wendy was.
“Thank you, I’m sure it will be just fine,” she said. The guard bowed.
“Oh, and what is Evna?” she asked boldly, as he straightened.
“Evna is the Capital of Ev. And where the royal family’s palace, Thorncrest, is located.”
“This is not their palace?” Alice glanced around at the elaborate tapestries lining the hall.
The guard suddenly smiled. “This is their summer cottage,” he said, almost at a whisper.
Alice laughed, not so much at the absurdity that this enormous home would be called a cottage, but at the guard’s boyish mischief, then cupped her mouth.
The guard’s grin stretched, his broad nose flattened, and his round cheeks pushed up, revealing how young he truly was.
“My sister, Nan, is a maid there for the summer. She says that peacocks roam the grounds freely!”
“Do they?” Alice grinned.
“Can you even imagine!” he said, then looked around to make sure no one had seen him behaving so excitedly.
His joy in something so simple touched something in her heart, something she didn’t recall feeling since she was a girl.
Innocence. Alice was glad to think she might have found a friend. “What is your name, sir?”
“I am Bernard.”
“A pleasure to meet you, Bernard.” Alice smiled at his gleeful face.
“A pleasure to meet you, Miss Alice of Wonderland.” Bernard, still grinning, nodded, clicked his heels, and walked away, leaving Alice to enter the room, where she finally shed her damp silver dress, and, in a way, Guinevere’s strange cruelty.
But could Wendy so easily do the same, wherever she was? It was an ache that Alice could not shake. The driver, he must know something. She had to find out.