"Are you crazy?" I hissed. "You can't go down there alone."

Chesh shrugged, still watching the twins pensively. "This was supposed to be training for you, but there are too many guards," he said.

I crossed my arms, determined if not wary. "I'm not letting you go risk your life on your own. It's too dangerous," I said. "I want to help. What's the point of me coming if I'm just going to stay and hide?"

This time Cheshire shot me a glare, annoyed. "I'm not going to argue with you. Stay put and wait for me. Do not come down," he ordered. I shrunk back at his tone of voice and he noticed my unease. Chesh gave me a small smile. "Sorry," he apologized. "I don't mean to be harsh, I just can't let you get hurt. You're too important, Alice."

He was right, but I still didn't feel right about this. "Yeah..." I mumbled.

I knew Cheshire would see I wasn't entirely settled on this grand plan of his, but he ruffled my hair encouragingly and slipped over the balcony railing. Curiously, I peeked over and watched him glide through the bushes towards the twins standing in the center of the courtyard. At least he seemed to know what he was doing.

"Do you have anything to say for yourselves?" a tall man with a sword at his waist asked the twins, his hand holding the sword's handle.

The two boys sneered at the man. "Yeah, we have somethin'," one of them said while the other nodded courageously. He pointed to the queen. "Off with her head!" he shouted.

The second boy, sounding identical the first began to chant. "Off with her head! Kill the Queen! Off with her head! Kill the Queen!"

At this, everyone in the courtyard gasped and started whispering amongst themselves. The pampered lady's face twisted with anger and she held out her hand. "Give me my ax," the queen demanded. The trial was over and everyone knew it. A small child ran forward, barely able to carry such a large weapon, and hoisted an ax into her hand. She stood up, and with halting steps, walked towards the twins who had stopped chanting to glare at her. She raised the ax, eyes narrowed. "I'll show you 'Off with a head', " she growled.

The twin's eyes grew wide with fear, and I couldn't watch. I ducked behind the wall, prepared to hear the slaughter even from where I was. However, before the sound of blood spraying across cobble stones could be heard, there was a sudden sound of nails on a chalk board and cringed at the noise, covering their ears. When I looked over again, I was overjoyed to see Cheshire standing in the center of the courtyard, his nails dragging down the side of the metal ax as yawned lazily. "Too loud," he complained. "Shut your mouths already, would ya?"

Everyone stood in shock, and the Queen looked ready to burst at the very sight of the rude cat. "Excuse me?" she demanded.

He glanced at her with one eye open. "You heard me," he said. "A cat's gotta sleep, ya know?"

A whizzing sound came from the bow of one of the nearby guards and an arrow flew right past Cheshire's cheek. He barely flinched, simply tilted his head. The Queen lowered her ax. "Don't mess with me, kitty. You'll regret it," she warned.

A few more arrows were shot, each in quick succession of the last, but Cheshire avoided them as he stepped in front of the twins. "Try me," he said tauntingly, daring her to do her worst.

Another arrow was fired, but this time Cheshire grabbed it right out of the air with one hand. He smirked and snapped it in two, letting the fragile pieces of wood fall uselessly to the courtyard grass. The twins eagerly stepped up next to him and he quickly freed them from their shackles. They stuck their tongues out at the queen. "Meany," one said.

The queen's eyes darkened. "Guards," she said. Immediately, the swordsman pulled out their weapons and the archers readied their bows. As I watched, the Queen walked up to the three rebels. She looked at Cheshire inquisitively. "I know you. You're the little kitty cat that's been commissioned to take care of that girl," she said.

My eyes widened slightly. How did she know about me? How much did she know about me? My hands began to sweat uncontrollably. What if she knew where I was? She would surely send an army. Or maybe, if she didn't, I wasn't as big of a threat as we thought I'd be. Doubt pooled in my stomach.

Cheshire didn't answer her accusation, but it was clear on his face that she had been correct. The Queen's eyes narrowed and a sly smile crossed her blood red lips. "A little birdy told me that you found her. They also said she was here in Wonderland." The queen's eyes showed amusement. "So, where is she? If she's so great, why isn't she here now? Is she afraid to face me?"

Cheshire grinned, and it sent chills down my spine to see. "Whatever little birdy told you that is wrong. We have no such girl," he said.

The Queen shook her head, walking towards him. "You're lying. Lying is a crime in my kingdom," she said. "Do you want to lose your head too?"

I couldn't watch this banter anymore. Cheshire was surrounded, he would surely be caught and killed if I didn't do something. Before I came up with a real plan, I slid over the side of the balcony and bust out of the bushes below. "He's not lying!" I said, rushing forward.

All eyes turned to me and Cheshire's confidence faltered. He glanced at the Queen who was staring at me. "And who are you?" she asked.

Cheshire shook his head frantically at me, but I ignored him. We needed a distraction to get out of here, and this was the only thing I could think of. "My name is Alice, and I'm not the girl you're referring to. I'm the boy," I said. Though I had said my name confidently, when I saw Chesh cringe, I suddenly wondered if it had been a bad idea to tell her.

The Queen's eyes lit up with understanding and she laughed brightly. "Oh, I see. So, you're the brave little child sent by my sister. Are you here to defeat me? Should I be afraid?" she asked. She smiled at me. "Or are you going to run with your little tail between your legs?"

I held my head high and tried not to show my nervousness as I watched the guards closing in out of the corner of my eye. "I'm not going to run," I said.

The amusement in her face disappeared in an instant and she appeared disappointed. She looked down at her ax. "Oh... Well, in that case, I hope you have some means of defense," she tried.

I glanced at Chesh and he rolled his eyes, clearly annoyed to have to be my back-up after such an incredibly stupid decision. I watched as he slipped his tail around the ax, and I crossed my arms. "Of course," I said.

The queen smirked. "Then what is it?" she asked.

Suddenly, Cheshire managed yanked the ax from the queen's hands, holding it away from her as she scrambled to orient herself as to what had just occurred. When she finally got a grasp on the situation, her eyes narrowed and all weapons were turned on Cheshire. He smirked. A moment later, all hell broke loose in the courtyard. Arrows flew, swords clashed and whipped around, and civilians screamed in terror. I was surprised I didn't get shot or stabbed in the course of the scuffle, but somehow, I got pulled into an empty hallway and a door closed between us and the fighting.

Cheshire held both of the twin's wrists to keep them close. "I told you to stay put," he grumbled as he looked down both directions of the hallway. I dropped my eyes, not really remorseful, but ashamed enough to be sorry. He sighed and began pushing me and the twins down the hall to the right. "Run and don't stop," he ordered. 

"Where are we going?" I asked as he began running down the hall, me at his heels.

He looked around the corner. "We're leaving. Those halfwit guards probably think we're still in the courtyard. We have just enough time to get out and be gone before they realize," he explained.

We went down a million different halls and corridors and I felt like we were going in circles. Though Cheshire knew more about the castle than the rest of us, even he seemed lost. After a particularly long hallway that lead to a potted plant we'd already seen two times before, Chesh growled in frustration. "Stupid woman. Changing the halls every four months. What good is it?" he asked aloud. He turned to a window and kicked it once, smashing it instantly. "I'm done with hallways. Jump out," he said to the twins.

They did as he told them, and he picked me up, lowering me down to them. They helped me to the ground, their eyes watching for guards as my feet reached the grass and I was on stable ground again. They appeared to have done things like this before, even though they were so young.

Chesh jumped out beside me and glanced around. "Okay, let's go," he said.

We ran along the wall surrounding the castle until we came to a gate. We ducked into a nearby bush as about fifty solders came running through, shouting at the top of their lungs that they were to find us before sunset.

Cheshire hissed at them and his ears flattened. "Crap. This is the only gate," he said. "We wasted too much time in the castle."

"What are we gonna do?" one of the twins whispered. 

"Yeah, what? We can't go out this way," the other spoke up in agreement.

Chesh took a deep breath before turning around and hurrying back the way we came, guiding us along with him. We went all the way to the other side of the castle and I frowned. "What are you looking for?" I asked.

We rounded a corner and Cheshire grinned triumphantly. "I knew it was recent," he said. "The Queen likes to change the castle several times a year and I hoped she might still have some scaffolding leftover."

There was a whole area of castle covered with scaffolding and it reached all the way to the top. It looked new and solid. The twins looked excited. "If we can get to the top, we can jump across to the wall," they said, understanding. "From there we can jump down."

I was less enthusiastic. "That wall is almost two-hundred feet tall up," I said. "We can't jump."

This damped the twins' excitement and they nodded in agreement. Chesh rolled his eyes. "It's not that high," he said.

"You're a cat," the twins said in unison. 

Chesh puffed his cheeks and looked back up at the scaffolding. Then we heard the sound of stomping boot and he shoved us towards the base. "We'll figure it out later. For now, just get up there," he said.

*******

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