Chapter Two

Yay XD

CHAPTER TWO: The Ice Owl

 

I spun on my heel and gasped. Sherlock patted my shoulder. "Good luck."

 

"You're not really going to leave me to fight them, are you?" I growled, staring at the shriveling deamon, a toadskin, that squirmed in front of me. It's skin was leather that folded over it's self in disgusting wrinkles. It had the face of a bat and wings that were shredded. There were three of them schreeching and batting their claws.

 

Sherlock laughed, "Of course not." I heard a shing behind me, and smiled. He ran in front of me, clutching a blade of his own. Toadskins were tough fighters, but my Wonderland's Sherlock was experienced with fighting disgusting beasts that inhabited my mind. He drove the blade into the first toadskin's shoulder, and it hooked under his collarbone. The beast screamed and swatted at his face.

 

Sherlock popped out his collarbone and I winced. But the toadskin's eyes rolled back in it's head and collapsed to the floor.

 

The other two didn't care. One lunged at me. "These things are persistent!" I gasped slashing my blade at the toadskin's head, running the knife clean through it. It groaned and fell to the floor, and didn't move again. When I looked up from the monster, another was launching itself at me. It's arm was cut off, courtesy of Sherlock, but I still had to drive the Featherblade through it's stomach before it gave up and died.

 

I let out a deep breath and stared at Sherlock. he whiped a bit of blood from his face and looked over at me, "That, sweetheart, is only the beginning." He shoved his knife into his coat and walked passed me. "You know where to find him, don't you? That obnoxious owl?"

 

"Don't talk about him like that." I grumbled, "and I can't find him. He finds me."

 

"Well, you'll manage? Because I have my own things to deal with. You sure you can handle yourself?"

 

I rolled my eyes, "I think I'll be fine, Sherlock."

 

He nodded, waved, then vanished into the trees. That wouldn't be the last I saw of him.

 

After he left, I looked around. I hadn't seen my Wonderland in two years and it was much more different than I imagined. In the outlines of fimiliar places, where fillings of new buildings and houses and plants. Just because I wasn't there, that didn't mean the inhabitants' lives stopped.

 

The sky was bright orange. The color changed according to my mood, apparently. I didn't really know what orange signified. The Cavern of Tears had shining cobalt blue walls, that glowed like gems, with black, obsidian veins that cut through the walls. Water flowed down the sides, the water reflecting off of the natural light the angel statue radiated. There were random branches and vines that came out from the walls. The Cavern was big; there were tunnels and pathways that lead off to different areas of my Wonderland. I only vaguely remembered which path went where.

 

The owl Sherlock was talking about was named Tobias. He was clever and swift, and never slept. When I was little, my brother, who killed himself a few months before the fire, was attacked by an owl when we were hunting in the forest. Tobias appeared shortly after.

 

Luckily, I didn't have to wait long for him.

 

He landed on a branch and ruffled his wings. He was bigger than a normal owl, and had snow white feathers, with a large black strip around his neck like a collar. His eyes were huge, shining yellow, piercing into you. His beak was black, like his claws, and he stared with a violent, bloodthirsty look. This was how I remembered him. He hadn't changed. The rest of Wonderland saw him as the Ice Owl, but I just saw him as Tobias.

 

"Miss me?" he hissed, staring down at me. "You're gaining alot of attention for being in Wonderland for about five minutes, aren't you?"

 

"Toadskins are everywhere," I shrugged simply.

 

"I'm not talking about toadskins," Tobias narrowed his eyes into slits, "When you came in, birds saw. And as you know, birds talk. They spread news like a wildfire, but more effectively. People are talking. She is worried."

 

I frowned, "She? She can't be alive. I killed her. She's dead!"

 

Tobias didn't reply, just swooped down and landed on a closer branch and leaned in to me. "You look much older than you actually are. You've had to grow up too fast, haven't you?" I didn't respond. He twitched his head, "Do you hear that? The whispers? You're attracting a lot more attention than is safe. Come, we must go see Octavius."

 

"What does that fool have anything to do with this?" I snapped. "I just want to go home, Tobias!"

 

He opened his eyes from the slits they were in. "Don't you get it? You can't.

Sherlock brought you here so you could restore what you broke. You destroyed lives, and brought down empires. Ashton, you might have killed the Queen of the Deck, but you didn't not break her empire. Her followers turned on the people you love, and took them as captives. At the moment, Octavius is the only one that can help you save your Wonderland from the Deck. Besides, I hear he's preparing a rebel group."

 

I sighed and crossed my arms. "Fine. Then can I go home?"

 

He rolled his eyes. "Whatever carries your wing. Come, we must find him."

 

---

 

Octavius is not a hard man to find. Probably beacuse he's 7'8, and has four extra arms that snake out of his back. When I found him, I'll admit, I was excited to see him. He was just as warm and welcoming as I remembered. His eyes lit up when he saw Tobias and me and his arms relaxed.

 

"Ashton! My darlling!" he exclaimed. He pulled me into a hug, and kindly did not let is other arms wrap around me and squeeze me to death. "You look marvelous! How beautiful you've become! Are you here for the rebels? We do need a leader." He glanced up at Tobias, "Thank you, Ice Owl, for bringing her to me."

 

His big, black eyes stared at us happily. He was tan skinned with dark brown hair that was neatly tucked behind his ears. He was big, muscular, but wouldn't hurt a fly without a good reason. He was the kind of person that wanted to talk things our before jumping into action and fighting pointlessly. I dearly missed Octavius.

 

"No, I'm not here to lead the rebels." I said.

 

Tobias lightly scratched the back of my neck with his claws. "Yes she is, don't mind her. She wants to save the captives from the castle."

 

"Fantastic!" Octavius smiled wide, "Come in, come in!"

 

The rebels were hidden in a deep cavern; deeper than the Cavern of Tears. It was near the Sea of Glass. So close that I thought the water was going to burst the silvery-gray walls and drown us all. There were bunks and sleeping bags and matts scattered across the main floor, with children playing and adults talking in hushed voices. Octavius recovered the doorway with leaves and vines, then turned to Tobias and me.

 

"We haven't arranged an attack yet, so if you have any ideas Ashton."

 

"Look," I said carefully, "I need to know who's in charge of the Deck before I decide anything. Can you just fill me in on what's been happening before I start comming up with any ideas on how to attack them?" I shot Tobias a glare that said, You die tonight. He just chuckled and flew off to meet up with other fighter birds on the other side of the room.

 

Octavius nodded. "Of course, Princess. Walk with me." I nodded and followed him down a tunnel. Moss lightly coated the walls as we walked. I noticed a few snakes slithering across the floor, but minded us and slithered around. "The leader of the Decks is the Queen's son himself, Percy. He's not very wise, but there are still advisors to help him make descisions. He's bloodthirsty, and ruthless. He'll stop at nothing to find you and kill you, to take over your Wonderland and rule over us all."

 

"He's just like his mother,"I muttered. Octavius laughed and nodded.

 

"With the right strategy, we'll be able to take him down."

 

"How many of ours have been captured?" He didn't reply for a long while. "Oliver Octavuis, how many?"

 

He sighed. "389 of our soilders. And a few significant people." I raised my eyebrows, feeling my stomach quiver with butterflies. "John Watson, Sherlock's friend. The Hatter. Wildcat. And you're dragon, Deathwing, along with many other dragons."

 

I felt my heart break inside my chest. "They have. . ." That was why Sherlock wanted my to be here so badly, the Deck had his friend. Watson was practically his brother. I felt like I was going to cry. They had the Hatter. They had Wildcat. They had Deathwing! They were torturing my dearest friends from Wonderland, and it was all my fault because I killed the Deck's queen. They turned on the ones I loved for revenge.

 

"We have to get them back." I growled, pulling out Featherblade and clenching my fist tight around the hilt. I heard Tobias come up behind me.

 

"Sorry to bother you two, but we have a small Deck warrior attack going on," the owl said. "Do you mind helping out?"

 

I nodded, "I will cut them to shreds, for taking my friends." I snarled, running past Tobias and out to the main room, where havoc and destruction was taking place on my rebels. A grin overtook my face.

 

These guys are dead meat. I will make sure of it.

Author's Note

Yay. Chaper two. Can anyone guess who Octavius is? Anyone? Four extra arms? Octopus? (HINT: I'M A MARVEL FAN. RING ANY BELLS?)

So, the ending was really weird, because I'm horrible at leaving cliffhangers/making good endings. And YES there is a Hatter in this Wonderland, but he is different, so don't say I'm ripping anybody off, alright? This is centered around a lot of my favorite books/movies/things so there will be a lot of inside jokes I hope you nerds get. If you don't just message me or something.

Thanks to anyone that reads/comments/gives feedback or any of that good stuff. I really like where this story is going and I hope you guys do too. I'm expecting around 15-20 chaptes, and at this length per chapter, it won't be the longest story, but I hope the content and it just being a fun story to read makes up for that.

Alright, well I'm gonna go draw and listen to Skillet because I have an idea. Thanks y'all! I love you all!

UntilNextTime
-Jenna