Wonderland (Intergalactic Fairy Tales Book 1) (20 page)

"That sounds reasonable," said Alice. "I guess it probably knows moves that I could never do because of my size as well. It wouldn't do much good for it to show me those."

"Exactly," said Lyla. "Think of the sword as just a really competent teacher. It does its job so well that you barely realize that you're learning."

"I've been thinking," said Alice. She looked around at the jungle surrounding them. "We can't just keep running all night."

"True enough, though you're the one doing all the running. I'm just along for the ride." Lyla slapped her tiny paw down on Alice's shoulder.

"So, let’s find a place to fight."

"Now that sounds like a plan that's more to my liking!"

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

The Bandersnatch snuffled its way along the trail that Alice had cut through the jungle. It was clear, wide, and straight as an arrow. The Bandersnatch didn't charge down it in a hurry, which indicated that it was rather intelligent.

Alice watched it come from her perch in a tree on the other side of the clearing. Lyla was somewhere below, winding her way through the underbrush.

Slowly and steadily the Bandersnatch made its way into the clearing which was much smaller than the one the ship had landed in, though still large enough to play a game of football in. It would sniff along the ground for a few feet and then hold its nose up in the air and look left and then right. If it weren't so big and bulky and didn't have that strange leathery tail it would look almost like a hunting dog. So, that is to say that it looked nothing like a hunting dog.

Alice watched intently as it took its time wandering around the clearing, still dense with brush that came up to Alice's knees. It finally made its way back in line with the patch she'd cut through the jungle just below the tree she was sitting in. "Now, Lyla," she whispered to herself. "Now."

A few terrible seconds passed and then a startling shriek came up out of the undergrowth just in front of the path. Alice clenched the sword tightly in both of her fists and held it at waist level, blade pointed down. The Bandersnatch charged after Lyla, who was making more noise than seemed possible for a creature of her tiny size. Everything was going according to plan. The vorpal sword yearned to bite into the flesh of such a wild and powerful creature.

Just before the Bandersnatch passed under her, Alice leaned forward and pushed herself off the branch and into the air. Her blade was pointed perfectly at the base of the beast's neck. It would die instantly. Unfortunately, the ragged hem of her shirt, where she had cut away the tiny skirt, caught on the tree. Jumping from over three meters in the air was a big enough scare. The tugging sensation at her back caused her to jerk reflexively to try and protect herself from whatever had grabbed her. Too late, she realized it wasn't anything to worry about.

Alice hit its back with a resounding thud that sent stars dancing across her vision. The vorpal sword missed its mark by half a meter and opened a deep cut in the creature's shoulder and front leg. She tumbled off, clutching at her stomach, gasping for air that wouldn't come. It felt like she was dying. Maybe a rib had punctured a lung.

The Bandersnatch tumbled the other direction, smashing the foliage flat and flinging blood into the air. It let out an unearthly howl that normally would have had Alice covering her ears if she weren't so busy trying to pull air into her lungs. After several long seconds that felt like minutes, her stomach stopped convulsing and let her pull in a ragged breath.

Once she had air going to her brain again, she remembered she was in terrible danger. She canvased the area for the vorpal sword. It wasn't anywhere to be seen. The only spot she couldn't see was under the writhing Bandersnatch. It was rubbing its wounded shoulder into the dirt and yowling uncontrollably. For such a large, fearsome creature, it sure did cry a lot.

"Hey, ugly, over here!" called Alice as loud as she could manage with her still diminished lung capacity.

The Bandersnatch snarled and lunged at her, one giant paw swiping inches from her head when she dove to her right. She rolled and came up on her feet, her eyes searching the trampled ground where the Bandersnatch had rolled. Snicker-snack was right in the middle.

At a run, Alice snatched the hilt of the sword and brought it up in time to whirl around and swipe it at the beast's open maw. The blade let out a vicious snapping sound and lopped off one of the beast's huge upper fangs. The fang dropped to the ground and the Bandersnatch howled again in pain.

This time instead of lunging, it withdrew, limping heavily on its wounded front leg. It didn't seem to have any trouble with its rear leg or its hearing. Alice added impossibly quick healing to the creature's list of strengths.

Alice stood with her sword at the ready, waiting for the Bandersnatch to attack again. It pulled back further, favoring its front leg and glancing down at its tooth on the ground. Then it turned its gaze to Alice and licked the stub where the fang had been cut off, and whined. There was something very canine about the way it behaved.

"Finish it, Alice," called Lyla from an invisible position in the brush to her left.

Snicker-snack agreed and really, there was no reason to argue. The monster had been trying to kill her and had seriously injured Dee's arm the previous night. With Snicker-snack the end would be quick and nearly painless.

She raised the sword for a quick downward stroke to the creature's head. If it weren't for the vorpal sword’s extraordinary ability to cut through bone like butter, her strength would never be enough.

The Bandersnatch watched her warily, its eyes darting back and forth from the sword to her face. It didn't try to flee, nor did it seem ready for an attack. It just waited.

Alice spared a quick glance up at the sky, cursing the queen for leaving her no choice, and then lunged. The vorpal sword arced through the air, making its trademark snicker-snack sound. A guttural cry escaped her lips. The Bandersnatch flinched backward, an instinctive reaction to avoid watching the blow that would end its life. Snicker-snack fed a quick correction to Alice to ensure that the blow would cleave the beast’s skull. In that split second she made a decision. Instead of correcting, she deliberately altered the path of the blade in the other direction.

The sword hit the ground with a dull thud. The Bandersnatch let out a puff of breath that would have been called a sigh if it were human. It looked up at Alice with one brow raised.

"What are you doing?" complained Lyla. "Kill it before it gets its senses back and eats you whole."

Alice looked the Bandersnatch in the eyes. There didn't seem to be any malice, only pain and defeat. "I can't kill it."

"If you need me to do it, I can. I know it's hard to kill for the first time, especially when you're so young." Lyla stepped out of the tangle of undergrowth, her sword held in front of her.

"No, that's not it," said Alice. "I don't think it really wants to kill us. At least not any more."

"That's all a Bandersnatch does, Alice."

"Well, if that's true, then why is it sitting there and licking its wound instead of eating my face off?"

The Bandersnatch was now completely ignoring them, absorbed in licking the wound on its shoulder and leg. The only way it could have seemed more docile was if it had rolled over on its back and whined to have its belly rubbed.

"What in the world?" asked Lyla. She lowered her sword and scratched her head. "This has to be some sort of trick."

"Yeah, it's so smart that its leaving itself wide open to a death blow in order to lick us to death when we're least expecting it."

Lyla shrugged. The sarcasm seemed completely lost on her. "Everything I've ever heard about them says they kill indiscriminately. They're one of the few wild beasts that kills for sport, rather than just to protect itself or for food."

While they stood there and talked, the wound on its shoulder had actually knitted itself back together. In a few more minutes, it seemed likely that it would disappear completely. It continued to ignore them, its tongue making loud smacking sounds.

"Didn't the twins say something about them being extinct, though?" asked Alice.

"Yeah, they were all supposed to have been gone for several years. I'd never actually seen one in person until yesterday." Lyla frowned and looked up at Alice. "Why?"

"What if this isn't a Bandersnatch at all?" asked Alice.

"That doesn't make any sense, Alice. I may not have seen one in person, but I've seen hundreds of pictures and read about them. This thing is a Bandersnatch." Lyla slid her sword into the scabbard on her back and crossed her arms.

"A Bandersnatch that understood that it had lost a fight and allowed me to swing a sword at its head without trying to stop me?"

Lyla nodded a few times and then switched to shaking her head. "This isn't adding up, you're right."

"I think the queen has somehow made a beast that looks like a Bandersnatch so that she can scare people with it. This thing seems to be more like a dog than anything else." Alice looked at the Bandersnatch and gave it her biggest smile. “Who’s a good boy?”

The Bandersnatch cocked its head to the the side, its tongue lolling out.

“Who’s a good boy?” repeated Alice, roughening her tone in that way that all dogs seemed to enjoy.

The Bandersnatch wagged its massive tale and stepped forward, only hobbling slightly on its quickly healing leg. Once it was within arm’s reach, it laid down on the ground and pushed its broad head up beneath Alice’s hand. Lyla stood off to the side and watched, her jaw dropped in amazement while Alice rubbed the beast’s ear.

From over head came the howl of engines and a gust of wind. In between one blink and another the jungle around them disappeared, leaving only a flat grassy field. The ship that had dropped Alice on the Imagisphere settled to the ground and out poured several dozen card guards, each holding a buzzing club in their hands.

The Bandersnatch licked Alice’s arm when she stopped rubbing his ears and whined. Alice ignored him and raised her sword with a grin. “I guess I’ve annoyed the queen enough for one evening?” she guessed.

“You are to drop your weapon so that you can be returned to your cell until the queen has need for you again,” said a guard wearing the number ten.

“And if she doesn’t?” asked Lyla, her own sword pointed and at the ready.

The guard looked around in confusion for the source of the voice and, not seeing Lyla, looked to Alice and answered. “Then we are authorized to use force to make you submit.”

“I didn’t hear the word lethal in there,” said Alice. “Judging by that and the fact that none of you have your swords out, I’d say it’s going to be a rough time for you.” She swished the sword in front of her and it issued forth a snick-snick-snack.

The Bandersnatch heaved its bulk to its feet and turned to face the guards. It looked from them, to Alice and back. The hackles on the back of its neck raised and a low growl rumbled in its throat.

“And it looks like Ugly here isn’t too happy with you for interrupting petting time, either,” said Alice. The lower ranked guards looked uncertain and more than a few started to lower their clubs and glance back at their ship.

The vorpal sword sang loudly in Alice’s mind, pointing her toward the weaker targets and prompting her to completely disable or kill any enemy as fast as she could. This time she didn’t disagree. The more of them she got rid of, the better her odds would be to make an escape later. She had no illusions that this would be her chance. She was outnumbered dozens to one. Eventually one of them would hit her with a club and the pain would take her down, but not before she took a bunch of them out.

Number Ten just glared at her, not bothering to argue. “Guards, capture her,” he shouted, and charged forward.

Snicker-snack kicked her song into overdrive, singing a fast-paced tune Alice remembered from one of her most demanding ballet recitals. Automatically, her feet moved to the music. A jump here to avoid a club aimed at her knees, followed by an artful wave of her hand that bit into another guard’s neck, sending a spray of blood across her side. Snicker-snack altered her dance moves just enough to make every one either a lethal blow or an artful dodge.

A pair of guards charged at her in unison, one from the front and one from the rear. Alice waited for them to come and then dropped into the splits just before their blows made contact. They ended up striking each other instead. While they stood there shaking from the pain of their clubs, Alice slashed at their guts and disemboweled them before rolling to the side and coming to her feet.

Lyla passed through the guards mostly unnoticed, unless she was slashing a throat. Then a guard would begin clubbing his fallen comrade who was still dying from blood loss in a sad attempt to get the dormouse.

The Bandersnatch wasn’t nearly as subtle. He barreled through the guards, grabbing them in snapping jaws and tossing them to the side crumpled and broken. Jolts from their clubs barely seemed to slow him down.

Still, despite their victories, the guards continued to fill in around them. One pirouette from Alice with her sword arm extended took out six guards who were immediately replaced by just as many, this time half of them keeping low to the ground and striking at her knees. There was no way to take them all out. One swipe took off the club arm of a guard in front of her and he toppled into his neighbor, leaving an opening in the enclosing circle.