Alice In Chains (11 page)

‘You both look wonderful,’ Alice lied. ‘Please may I start the battle? That would be proper. I mean I am the prize you’re fighting for.’

She was worried they might put her back in her cage while they fought, which would be no use. She had to be in the open so she could make her break.

They led her out into the woods and tied her leash to a tree, then they squared up to each other. Alice realised she had to say something appropriate, but she had never refereed a duel before.

‘Right, I, er, want a good sporting fight, no low blows, best of, er, three falls or one submission. No time
limit
. Winner takes all … that’s me. Are you both ready?’

‘We are!’ they said.

‘Then … go!’

The twins charged at each other, swinging their wooden swords. There was a thump as their shields clashed, then they danced around each other hacking and stabbing with their swords. Alice winced at the ferocity of the blows, feeling a little guilty at being the cause of such animosity and the trick she had played on them. Then she remembered everything she had suffered at their hands and decided the pair would soon get over it.

Behind her back she was frantically sawing away at the rope with the nail. Crash! bang! Dum and Dee reeled about in furious motion. Alice felt the rope parting, gritted her teeth and jerked her arms sharply. The rope about her waist snapped and hung loose. She froze but, as she had hoped, the twins were too engrossed in their battle to notice.

Her elbows protested after having been twisted behind her for so long, but she forced her arms to stretch, sliding her bound wrists down over her hips and stepping through them with a gasp of relief. It was an agony to raise her arms in front of her and she whimpered in pain. Somehow she reached her collar, fumbled for the spring clip and unsnapped her leash.

She was free!

Slowly she edged round the tree until it was between her and the battle, then set off along the path she had been following almost a week earlier. She walked briskly, trying not to call attention to herself with any sudden movement. Just slip away, she told herself …

From behind her the clatter of combat suddenly ceased and was replaced with angry shouts. Then she began to run.

Alice raced though the forest, holding her still bound wrists awkwardly in front of her. She snatched a
rearward
glance. The pair were pounding along in her wake panting and puffing like steam trains, shedding blankets and ironware as they came. Despite their bulk they were gaining on her.

Ahead the path ran between a holly bush and a large rhododendron. A child’s rattle lay on the ground. She hoped Dum and Dee were too angry to realise where she was leading them.

With the twins almost at her heels Alice jumped with all her strength, landing on the far side of the pit, stumbling but staying on her feet. From behind her came a crash and snap of breaking branches mingled with yells of surprise, then the thump of two heavy bodies hitting the ground.

Alice did not look back but ran on towards the barrier. The two of them should be able to get themselves out all right – eventually. And when they did she wanted to be long gone.

The woods began to thin. Ahead it seemed as though the forest had been cut through with a giant knife right across her path.

Suddenly the trees ended and there was a misty, blurred barrier before her, running down the middle of a brook a few feet wide. Alice did not break stride but sprang across the narrow channel. She felt a momentary tingling, twisting sensation as she passed through the insubstantial curtain, then she landed on a soft grassy bank, rolled onto her back and lay there panting heavily.

She had made it through the first square, she thought as she regained her breath, and it had only taken five days!

Five

AFTER ALLOWING HERSELF
a minute to recover, Alice sat up and took in her surroundings.

Beyond the grassy verge a tall redbrick wall ran along the length of the dividing barrier. A little way to her left the wall was pierced by an arched gateway. In the other direction Alice could see where the wall ended and the corners of four squares met, the misty barriers rising up into the sky forming a perfect right angle. For the moment at least she seemed to have the narrow strip of land to herself.

Alice got to her feet and backed up against the wall, using her teeth to loosen the knotted ropes binding her wrists while she kept a keen watch all round her. But nothing had changed five minutes later when she threw the ropes into the ditch and gratefully massaged her bruised and sore wrists. Even in Underland the marks would take a couple of days to heal. She hoped Dum and Dee had hit the bottom of their pit good and hard!

But which way now?

The gateway was so obvious she felt wary of it. If, however, she went along to the end of the wall, perhaps she could see what was round the other side first.

It did not take long to walk to the corner, but when she got there she found the wall extended into a tall thick hedge which ran at right angles to the brook, cutting right across it. The barrier marking the file
boundary
ran down the middle of the hedge. Alice tried to push her way through the hedge around the end of the wall, but it was just too thick. She supposed she could jump the brook back into the first square, find a way through the hedge into the square beside it, then across the continuation of the brook to the square above that, then through the hedge again to the other side of the wall. But was it worth all that trouble to spy out the land or would she run even more risk by passing through those equally unknown extra squares? What was worse, would she be permitted to make the detour? If she really was the Red Queen’s pawn, was she limited only to moving forward in a straight line, as was her counterpart chessman? How closely was she bound by the rules of the game? She was not sure she wanted to find out.

Thoughtfully, Alice walked back to the gateway.

Set within the archway was a green wooden double gate, with one side invitingly open, and on the other a neatly painted sign which read: GARDENS OPEN – ADMISSION FREE. Through the gate she could see a stretch of paved path and a flowerbed overflowing with colourful blooms.

Is it just a nice garden or is it too good to be true? Alice wondered.

She continued on along the wall to check the other end, but it was a duplicate of the first. It looked like the gate was the only way to go. But as she turned back towards it she paused, frowning.

It had only taken her a couple of minutes to walk the length of one side of the wall square, yet it shared a common boundary with the Uffish square, which had been several miles across at least. How could they both fit together? Oh, of course. It must be the effect she had seen from the hillside. Different squares really did contain different amounts of ground, yet they all appeared to be the same size from without. She had not
considered
what it would be like to experience at first hand. Did it mean that this square was little used? Well, at the very least, if she could walk straight through, it would only take her a couple of minutes to reach the next one. Surely she could manage that.

She marched up to the gateway again and, taking a deep breath, cautiously stepped inside.

A wave of rich scents enveloped her, riding on a waft of air that was warm and tranquil. A path ran along between the main wall and a second slightly lower inner one, which was banked with more flowerbeds, interspersed with classically draped statues and ornamental urns. Bees buzzed and butterflies flitted lazily, and somewhere not far away she could hear a fountain splashing. In a daze she walked slowly along the path, wishing she knew the names of all the perfect blooms before her. She remembered, many years ago, visiting a stately home with her parents. They had walked in its lovingly tended gardens and she had been amazed by the spectacle of so many flowers all in one place. Well this was like that but more so.

Alice sighed regretfully. All right, she must not get distracted. Where was the next path that led forward? Perhaps she could get though this place without anybody seeing her. There did not seem to be many visitors about at the moment.

She walked quickly along the path until she saw an open archway leading to some inner court. Turning into it she almost ran into a large man pushing a wheelbarrow.

Alice stepped back guiltily, but the man only beamed at her. ‘There now, mind how you go,’ he said mildly, with a distinct country burr. He was wearing heavy boots, shapeless old trousers, a collarless shirt with rolled-up sleeves and a battered straw hat, from under which spilled strands of red hair. His cheerfully creased face was ruddy and his expression mild.

‘I’m sorry, Master,’ said Alice, lowering her eyes deferentially.

‘No harm done,’ the gardener replied with a broad smile.

Alice blinked. His manner surprised her. Of course Underlanders were used to girlings and she did not expect him to be shocked by her nudity, but they were rarely so amiable. Even servants in Underland considered themselves superior to girlings and usually took great pleasure in letting them know it.

‘I didn’t mean to go where I shouldn’t, but there was no other way,’ she explained.

‘Bless me, now.’ The gardener gave a fruity chuckle. ‘You saw the sign, girl? The gardens are free to all. Nobody’s goin’ to stop you looking round, as long as you don’t mean to pick the flowers.’

‘No, of course not, Master,’ Alice assured him. ‘They’re lovely. It all looks … beautiful.’

‘That’s as it’s meant to be. This is a place for lovely things to flower and be enjoyed.’ He was looking her up and down. ‘Dear me, you look a mite the worse for wear.’

Alice looked down at herself. She was grimed with sweat, her legs were mud-splattered and there were bits of leaf and twig in her hair that she must have acquired during her frantic dash through the woods.

‘I’ve got a trough by the greenhouse, if you wants to wash yourself off,’ he offered.

I can afford to spend a little while getting cleaned up, Alice reasoned. And the neater I look the less chance I have of calling attention to myself. ‘That’s very kind of you, Master,’ she said. ‘I’d like that.’

‘Oh, I ain’t your master, girl,’ he said, taking up the handles of his wheelbarrow and leading Alice along the garden path. ‘People just call me Ruddle. And what would your name be?’

‘Alice. Alice Brown.’

‘“Alice Brown.” Now that has a nice ring to it. Pretty and practical …’

They passed under a second arch and along another path, past even more spectacular arrays of blooms, then through a gate into a yard beside a huge whitewood greenhouse. About it were neatly laid out all the paraphernalia of gardening: buckets and barrows, forks and spades, stakes and trellises. In one corner was a horse trough fed by a long-handled pump mounted at one end.

‘Have a drink from the spout if you need, then climb in,’ Ruddle told her. ‘Its only water for the flowers, and they won’t mind a pretty thing like yourself having dipped in first.’

Alice worked the pump handle and drank from the clear stream that gushed forth, then ducked her head under it to rinse out her hair. She hesitated a moment before climbing into the trough, smiling at her own reticence. In Underland she could walk around naked without a second thought, but taking a bath with a strange man looking on seemed more intimate. However, she could hardly object if he wanted to watch her and besides, she was meant to be a girling and therefore supposedly incapable of embarrassment. She got in, shivering a little as she sat down, and began rubbing at the dirt on her legs.

As she washed, Ruddle said, ‘If you don’t mind my asking, girl, how did you get to be here?’

‘I was, um, on an errand for my mistress,’ Alice explained. ‘But I got caught by some boys in the square back that way. They … had some fun with me. I’ve only just got away from them.’

‘What, two lads looking as though they came from the same pod? Faces like sour pumpkins?’

Alice giggled at the description. ‘Yes, that’s them.’

‘The Tweedle twins. Bad lots. Used to have trouble with them sneaking in here and making mischief. But
the
last time I caught them and gave them a good hiding and haven’t seen hide nor hair since. So where are you headed?’

‘Brillig.’

He whistled. ‘That’s a fair way. Quite a journey for a girling on an errand. Won’t your mistress be missing you?’

‘I think she knows it might take a while.’

‘That it will, if you falls foul of types like the Tweedles again, or worse. It’s dangerous out there in places even for warriors like those that fought in the Great War, let alone dainty things like you. Find yourself somewhere safe to stay, that’s my advice.’

‘Thank you. I’d like to, but I have to do this.’

Ruddle shook his head sadly. ‘As you will. Well, I’ll be in here when you’re done. There’s no hurry.’ And he turned away and entered the greenhouse.

Alice lazed back in the trough. It was tempting to dream of staying somewhere like this. Perhaps she could offer to lend Ruddle a hand in the gardens for a few days if he would put her up. No, there had already been enough delay. She seemed to hear the Queen’s voice once again urging her on. Funny, but she’d hardly thought about her while she had been the twins’ captive. Her hand slid down between her legs to her feathery delta. And she had her own reasons for wanting to complete her journey as soon as possible.

Feeling much cleaner, she climbed out and shook herself off. From past experience she knew she would soon dry in the warm air, which was even better than thick fluffy towels. She padded over to the open door of the greenhouse and peered inside. In the enclosed space the scent seemed rich enough to be tangible. Beyond the rows of pots and trays of sprouting seedlings and shelves laden with jars of feeds and weed killers, she saw Ruddle tending a single tall plant with the most remarkable multicoloured blooms, shaped like daffodil trumpets.

‘Hello, Mr Ruddle,’ she said as she walked up, the plant scent growing even stronger. ‘I wanted to say thank you and … um, what’s that called?’