Chapter 24 #2
One of the theories rattling around in my brain was that the Hatter had been held hostage, compelled against his will to assist the General with his nefarious otherworldly plots. But it appeared as though he had formed an alliance with the man.
The Hatter set his umbrella to one side, barely acknowledging anyone. “Oh, but I am so very busy today. We shall put out the tea a bit later.”
I couldn’t stop staring. “Hatter? What’s…happened to you?”
The Hatter I had met once was a homunculus of a man with wiry red hair, sticking all out of his oversized top hat.
He still wore his usual dusty overcoat with ruffles bursting out of each sleeve.
He used to toe the line where genius and insanity blurred, except now it seemed he had crossed this line altogether.
His wrinkly face appeared all the more weathered, hair silvering at its roots, his cheeks sunken deeper against even sharper cheekbones.
The Hatter set about immediately climbing the scaffolding around the fantastic machine. “The great machine is almost ready. It’s almost time. Ah, time—it is a very interesting concept. Did I tell you time is my friend? Or he used to be. We quarreled just last March.”
The king’s narrowed eyes slid past the Hatter toward the machine, the determination in his gaze crystal clear. If he couldn’t stop the General, he would stop the machine instead.
His jaw clenching, he lifted his hands. His shadows burst forth at the machine of gears and glass, but just as he directed the wrath of his colossal anger, the shadows scattered upon it, the torrential streams of magic simply wafting away.
My eyes widened in full dread.
Nothing.
His Majesty’s powerful magic had absolutely no effect on the metal beast. Frowning, he jerked back in his stance.
“Rabb, stop.” I winced in alarm.
Grunting under his breath, he curled his fingers to push more magic against the mechanical beast, flicks of charm and sorcery crackling. His energy draining, his knees shook to keep him upright. He was going to exhaust his powers this way.
“Your Majesty—” I urged, pulling on his arm.
The king’s dark shadows withdrew with a fizzle. His shoulders heaved as he panted harder, staggering back. His hands trembled with exhaustion.
“Your Majesty?” The General’s eyebrow rose in amazement, seeming impressed.
“Why, this is quite an exciting turn of events.” He shot me a look.
“I am no longer surprised I had not come across you on this land earlier, Doctor. You must have been under his protection. I must say your king does possess quite powerful magic.” His smirk tilted. “But mine’s better.”
With another displeased grunt, the king lifted his hands again. A brilliant arc of whipcrack light shot out of his hands, aimed for the machine. Except just like before, the magic wafted away—futile, useless.
“Oh, Your Majesty, that’s not going to work.
” Off to one side, the Hatter tinkered with copper wiring snaked between the exposed mechanisms, not even sparing a glance up.
“If you were any less ignorant about science and magic in this mystical world, you would know that one ends where the other begins.”
The king let out a growl of rage. “Hatter, you traitor—” Before I could stop him, he launched himself toward the Hatter’s form, only for more ghostly villagers to throw themselves at him, impeding his attack.
I bit my lip. There were too many of them. Between the General’s science, the Hatter’s ghosts, and the king’s power weakened by the otherworldly energies, this was impossible.
The king staggered beneath the weight of the throng of ghosts as they crowded closer, surrounding him from every direction. One clung to his back. Another wrapped both arms around his waist.
Before I could jump in to help or pull him back, another bracing arm grasped across my middle, “Ah—!” and I was yanked backward against a chest.
“Hello again, my lady.”
That voice, the scent of damp wool and sweat. It was Tannis. He wasn’t a ghost like the others.
“Let me go!” I cried out, but I couldn’t break free of him easily.
“Take care of our dear doctor, Tannis. We could probably still use her expertise.” The General’s eyes gleamed with malice as he stood back and watched the king struggle to fight off the ghosts, as if it were mere entertainment.
“No!” All at once, the shadows beneath the king’s feet stirred. Darkness erupted from him in a vast, expanding ring. The force blasted outward across the grass like a storm wind. Ghostly villagers cried out as they were hurled backward, bodies tumbling across the grass in every direction.
The king remained at its center, chest heaving, shadows coiling around his boots like living smoke. His gaze turned to me, scowling in fury at my captor—
“Oh, you silly folks are simply being too noisy. I cannot concentrate on my work.” Almost absently, the Hatter lifted one hand with terrifying calm, and blazing magic erupted from his palm in a violent surge of crackling electric light that struck the king square in the chest.
The king cried out as his entire body ignited in a brilliant white glow, shadows lashing wildly around him as the air filled with burning magic, and then—within the space of a single heartbeat—the light collapsed inward.
Where the king had stood only moments before, a small, fluffy white rabbit sat on the grass.
“Oh my god!” Horror crashed through me so violently, I thrashed against Tannis. I needed to scoop the animal up before it got trampled on. However, Tannis’s grip was still firm. There was no escape.
All at once, I was overwhelmed by the storm of furious panic and helpless rage, wild and violent, as the king’s emotions detonated with the spell stripping his body away.
“Why am I…?”
My eyes caught the glint of the enchanted jade ring as it rolled across the ground, having slipped off the king’s form before altogether disintegrating into the ether from the immense magic.
I could feel him again. And moreover, I could hear his thoughts.
“Not like this—god. What have I done? Allie, I’m sorry.”
He couldn’t hear my thoughts since I still wore the hairclip, but at least he couldn’t feel my utter, helpless devastation.
No… no…
“Wonderful show!” the General clapped his hands. “I haven’t seen a display of such powerful magic since I arrived on this land.” He gave Tannis a wave. “You can let her go now. It’s over.”
Tannis threw me onto the grass and I collapsed to the ground on my knees. Before I could scramble up to grab the rabbit, the General strolled across and picked it up by the nape of its neck.
Lifting the animal, he peered at the bundle of snowy-white fur with long velvety ears. “Well, well. This is a much more handy form for your king, isn’t it?”
As if it didn’t care for his sly grin whatsoever, the rabbit wriggled in his grasp, its teeth bared, one paw shooting out as though to defend itself.
The General chuckled. “Oh, better not let it bite me.”
Tears stung the corners of my eyes. Clenching my jaw, I ignored the General’s petty posturing. I shot toward the Hatter with an enraged look, my words nearly exploding out of me, “Undo it!”
The General’s ghosts immediately blocked my way.
“No! Let me go—!”
Clammy hands dragged me back, my boots scuffing against the grass, even as I tried to kick and struggle away with all my might.
The Hatter merely turned away, as if he didn’t even hear me. Clamping leather and brass goggles to his face, he busily inspected the ratcheting iron piston and the spinning clockworks as they ticked.
The General clicked his tongue, giving me a frown of feigned remorse. “Maybe later. For now, Doctor, please—” His eyes glinted. “Take a load off, stick around. For old time’s sake, I would love for you to be here to witness the grand, inaugural activation of our wondrous machine.”
My heart pounded in my chest.
“Allie. You must run. Leave me.”
The king’s command rang clear in my mind.
I shot the rabbit a wide-eyed look.
No chance in hell.