Playing in the Queen of Hearts' Castle

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Me: *sees everyone standing over her* What on earth.....?
ToJ: Thank goodness you're alright!
Me: *sits up and rubs the side of my head* Yeah, sure. *winces*
Peter: What happened?
Me: It was the birds. They looked like crows, and they were a lot bigger than normal crows. They were coming from that way and - oh, never mind.
 
With the cold weather advancing southward, Emmett and Jake thought it a bitter joke that now, more than ever, they were NOT welcome at the castle that could have provided shelter. At least they knew that Trinity would keep the Gunslinger Steakhouse running smoothly in their absence; and she could phone Copperfox if she had questions.

Cowboy range-survival experience now kicked in. Before long, the brothers had their horses unburdened and rubbed down, a lean-to built, their bedrolls inside it, and a campfire going. Under some circumstances, they might have postponed the fire as long as they dared, to avoid giving away their position; but as it was, they had no doubt they could be located by magical tracking anyway. With a fire, they could cook the fish that Emmett had speared from a stream. Besides the fish, they had a package of hardtack with them: something they had tried introducing at the restaurant, with limited success.

After they had eaten, they inspected their weapons, did what they could for the horses' comfort, and settled down to wait out the storm. To pass the time, they very quietly played a word game which, as they had learned, Copperfox used to play with his Janalee to keep her mind stimulated on long highway trips:

"Horse." "House." "Mouse." "Moose." "Loose." "Lose." "Hose." "Chose." "Choke." "Chore." "Shore." "Share." "Shark." "Spark." "Spar." "Star." "Stare." "Stale." "Tale." "Tall." "Stall." "Still." "Spill." "Pill." "Hill." "Hall." "Halt." "Malt." "Salt." "Silt." "Silo." "Solo." "Polo." "Pole...."
 
Jake urged Emmett to sleep first, because Emmett had done more of the work. Nothing happened while Jake was keeping watch, except that Jake rubbed both horses up and down to help them against the chill. When he woke his brother up around midnight, Jake still couldn't immediately get to sleep; so he listened awhile to the more philosophical Emmett's musings:

"Y'know, seein' them hobbit fellas awhile back reminded me of hearin' stuff about them books that Brit guy Tolkien wrote about 'em. He had this pervasive theme about evil critters both desirin' the good and hatin' it, all at the same time. Like as how they don't know themselves just what it is they DO want."

"I guess I seen folks like that," agreed Jake. "Remember our buddy Mal--all the grief he had gettin' his sister Rae out of trouble? Not that she's evil, but I'd say she didn't know for the longest time what she wanted; right near had ta get killed 'fore she got her head straight."

Emmett rechecked the barrel of his Winchester 1873 to make sure nothing had clogged it. "And then there's that there big tall shrewish female that Aslan put in the ground: Janie or Mavis or whatever it was. She wanted to be IN Narnia, which by all tellin' is a right pretty place--but then she had to go an' spoil it while she had it."

Presently Jake was ready to sleep; and Emmett began his watch, with his new spear placed where he could get at it, in the event he had to empty his rifle and had no time to reload.
 
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Peter: Birds? Alice, what are you talking about?
Me: You mean, you didn't hear or see them?
Peter: No, I guess we didn't. Are sure it wasn't your imagination?
Me: Of course it wasn't!
 
Toj and Casian notice Peter

Toj: Where did you come from?
Pc: Yea i thought you wanted to go find the sword
Peter: I um... right... These birds....something must be going on,
we can't sit here!
Toj and Pc looked at each other grinning
 
Rabbit: I wonder what is going on
Hatter: So do I
Rabbit: They seem to be a while away from us
Eric: I'm going to take a look
Rabbit: Are you kidding???
Eric: There is nothing wrong with that
Hatter: But they are miles away from here...are you going to walk?
Eric: Nope....I'm going to ride

Eric points at the motorbike he used before

Rabbit: Eric...........sigh
Eric: Don't worry. I'm not going off the road this time
Rabbit: You said this before
Eric: But I took the other road and I won't do it this time. I will follow this path
Hatter: Alright then.......I don't think he is going to face trouble Rabbit
Rabbit: How come?
Hatter: Because this path doesn't have any obstacles
Merry: But this is wonderland...you'll never know
Hatter: We do know my dear Hobbit

Eric grabs Nessa's hand and takes her with him to the bike

Eric: You are coming with me, don't you, love?
Hatter: Of course she is coming with you. She has been with you from the start even when you brought her into troubles
Eric *blushes*: I know but I never left her side and I won't do it now
Merry *whistles*: True love...oww yes....sigh
Me *glares*: Merry...............
Merry *grins*: Sorry...............lovebirds

Eric climbs on the bike and Nessa is about to climb on it as well when the Rabbit approaches her

Rabbit: I think you should drive to the mountain. Not on the mountain but in this direction because I could sense the footsteps are coming from there
Me: Okay but aren't you coming along?
Rabbit: No, we will stay here and wait till the others return
Hatter: Oww yes! Peter and Alice are gone for a while now
Merry *grins*: Eric and Nessa always wandered off together and so do Peter and Alice....I see a pattern
Me: Merry!
Merry *grins*: A walking pattern

Eric starts the bike. Nessa and Eric wave at the others and then they drive away on the road into the direction of the mountain


The Snow Queen sees her messenger coming

SQ: Tell me, what news do you bring me?
Bird: The King agrees with our plan my Queen. The two men are somewhere in Wonderland but they couldn't trace them yet
SQ: But I can. I'm following them in my Globe. Right now my target is awake and he is warming himself at a fire. His compagnion is asleep
Bird: Shouldn't we attack them now?
SQ: We can't attack them over there my little evil darling. They have to do it
over there. The King and Queen of Hearts are the ones who are in charge. I promised them full controle over the lands of the Aces, Clubs and Diamonds.
Bird: But what are we going to do next my Queen?
SQ: Be patient my little one. The cards are moving. Soon these two men will be captured
 
Me: *stands up and leans against a tree* They were here. Hundreds and hundreds of them. They were coming from that direction, and they were making such awful noise. Something is up and I don't like it one bit.
 
When the first faint light of dawn grew visible, Emmett awoke Jake. The younger brother's first words were, "Sure, Ellie Mae, I'd love ta climb some trees with yuh!" His first words that made any sense were, "No bushwhackers yet?"

"Not yet, but the day's young," grunted Emmett. "I already got the horses saddled up; help me get the rest of the gear loaded, and we'll move out. See if we can detour through them woods where that foofaraw hockey player was fiddlin' around 'stead of doin' anything useful."

"No breakfast?"

"I'm concerned more 'bout us not _bein'_ breakfast. If we can give the varmints the slip, we'll be safe back at the steakhouse in time for lunch."

"So ya ain't curious 'bout whether this cold lady's really sweet on ya?"

"Not _that_ curious. The Lord His own self, when He was tempted in the wilderness, said as how ya shouldn't _look_ for trouble; so I ain't lookin' for it."

"But weren't we lookin' fer trouble when we joined Inkling to head off them furry-type critters?" asked Jake.

"That was for a _reason;_ I ain't gonna beg for no trouble just 'cause I'm _curious!_"
 
Nessa and Eric are following the path and a bit futher Eric stops.

Me: What is it love?
Eric: Wait...

Eric climbs a rock and looks around. He sees nothing and comes back and gets on the bike and continues his ride. Eric and nessa are coming closer to the mountains and the again Eric stops.

Eric: Nessa wait here...I'm back in a moment

Eric climbs on the rocks to get a higher spot. He looks and sees nothing. He climbs a bit higher and then he hears a sound of birds. A large group of birds are flying over his head and dive down to attack him. Eric quickly throws himself on the floor and keeps himself down. The birds fly over his head and continue their journey.

Eric *Jumps up*: Nessa! Are you alright?! Nessa!

Eric rushes down to the bike and panics a bit.

Eric *whispers*: I hope she is alright! OMG! You fool!

Nessa lies onn the floor with her head down. Eric immidiatly rushes down to her and throws himself on the floor and turns Nessa on her back

Me: Are they gone?
Eric: OMG! You're alive! Thank God! I thought they had killed you!
Me: No, they didn't. I saw them coming and they attacked me but they didn't pick me at all. They just wanted to scare me I guess
Eric *takes Nessa in his arms*: Darling, I was so afraid something happened to you!
Me: Did they attack you?
Eric: Yes they did but the same as with you, they only tried to scare me
Me: But what are these birds doing here?
Eric: I don't know. I really don't know

Then Eric and Nessa look up and hear the sound of a drum or something similair. Eric quickly jumps on the bike and Nessa gets on as well. Eric drives up to the mountain and stops. He gets off and grabs Nessa her hand and pulls her with him. They climb up and look down

Me: OMG! What is that?!
Eric: These are the army of cards on their way to their destiny
Me: These are the cards the Hatter and Rabbit talked about?
Eric: I guess so
Me: On their way to war so it seems
Eric *looks up*: Nessa! Look up! Over there!
Nessa *looks up*: The whole sky is turning black! It looks like it's going to rain any moment
Eric: No, it's going to snow. We better stay here for a while

Eric wraps both arms around Nessa and together they watch the sky which is coloring more and more dark. The cards below them are all passing by. There seem to be thousands and thousands of them.

SQ: You see my little darling...I will always get what I want and if it's not brought to me freely I will grab it
 
Peter: *to himself* It wouldn't be the first time that you've said that.
Me: What?
Peter: Nothing - really, it was nothing.
Me: Okay...... *pause* I really wish I knew what was going on here. Oh dear!
ToJ: What?
Me: Don't tell me that you can't hear that!
Caspian: Hear what?
Me: They're coming back! Oh no, they're coming back!
Caspian: What is?
Me: The birds, you silly! They're coming back!!
 
Emmett and Jake, on their way east and south, also noticed the numbers of birds that were aloft. But what they were already doing--keeping to cover where possible--was the best thing they could do about the birds anyway; so on they went. They wondered, meanwhile, if the adventurers they had protected from the snow-beasts were safe by now. They also wondered what Lady Inkling was up to today.
 
Nessa and Eric stand there and hold each other tightly when it starts to snow

Me: Snow.....like you said
Eric: I knew it Love. The sky looked like it would deliver snow
Me: Look at them........that's a large army
Eric: All cards going on a mission. I don't want to know their mission
Me: But they aren't all hearts. Some diamonds are with them
Eric: Some hearts are easily corrupt
Me: You mean real hearts or the cards?
Eric *laughs*: You are right about that. I didn't think about it. I mean the real hearts inside
Me *laughs*: I knew you ment this but I was only teasing you
Eric *kisses Nessa*: Come on love. I think we better go before the snow is getting to high
Me: But what about the cards?
Eric: We won't pass them

Eric and Nessa get on the bike and return to the Gardens. The Hatter and Rabbit are looking at the sky. The snow falls heavily.

Hatter: Something unusual is going on
Rabbit: Look!

The Castle door opens and both the Queen and King are coming out together with a large group of servants.

Hatter: What are they doing?
Rabbit: I don't know but they seem to go to the gate

The gate is still closed but the King and Queen seem to wait
 
The noise of the birds is at first very faint, and the other three wonder how on earth Alice was able to hear it. Slowly though, the noise increased, and they could see the black shapes of the birds beginning to fly through the trees above them. alice shuddered.

Me: They're coming back! There's more of them this time.
 
Emmett calls a halt...dismounts...brushes snow away from a selected spot of ground...and places his ear to the ground. "Lotsa feet marchin'," he reports. "Gotta assume it's them sissy card-costumed toy soldiers."

"Yeah, they's sissies," replies Jake, "but there's a fair passel of 'em. If'n they insist on corrallin' us, we're gonna have no choice but to start killin' some of 'em."

"So remember what I said about makin' every bullet count," says Emmett, remounting. "And if there's hills, remember t'keep lower than the skyline."
 
Alice slips into a sitting position on the ground with her back against the tree still. "Stay as low to the ground as possible, and maybe they won't notice us," she whispered. In her head, she was thinking, "Alice, this is silly; why be afraid of all these birds? Because they could kill you, that's why! No, that's silly! No, it's not! Oh dear!"
 
Peter, stared in shock, slowly taking out his sword prepared to fight
Caspian followed suit
But Toj had a mysterious twinkle in her eyes.
 
She placed the flute on her lips and played soft gentle memorizing tune, that caught the attention of the birds, they grabbed her by her shirt and carried her far far far away ......
still playing the tune, which was getting much more dramatic.
 
Jake was thinking, "I sure would feel better if I had something suitable for killing birds at need." An instant later, a double-barrelled Remington shotgun appeared right across the saddlebow of his horse, and a pouch of birdshot shells appeared on his gunbelt.

"Hey, Emmett, lookie at this! Seems like the spell of per-tection Lady Inkling cast on us DID do some good after all!" As Emmett marvelled, Jake looked to see if the shotgun had shells loaded already; it did. He went on to count the supply in the pouch...

Emmett said, "Okay, I wish we were already back home." Nothing happened. "Be sure you put that shotgun to good use, Jake; I think it's the extent of what Inkling's good magic will do for us--apart maybe from makin' it harder for that there Snow Queen to bamboozle us."

 
ALice was shocked. She could say nothing. She wanted to scream, but she couldn't. What had happened? And what was ToJ doing? Everything was happening so fast. She wanted to reach out and slow everything down so she could at least TRY and grasp it; but she had no control over such things.
 
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