Chapter 2: Wonderland

“Take one more step Cheshire and I will kill him!” She yelled.

“What’s the point of this Dinah? Some money? I can give you money if that’s all that you want.” I tried to bargain, but she refused to listen. I thought to myself “If I attempt to subdue her, she will kill the duke, but if I don’t it will look like I gave up on him... and she’ll kill him anyways.” I stood up straight and said “Dinah, I give up, he’s all yours to do with as you wish.” I hoped she would lose the satisfaction of killing him, she picked him up off of his knees and held him by his left shoulder.

“Good people. This man, your Duke, has been using your hard earned tax dollars to pay for his own luxuries. That is a felony! And this man Cheshire wants to stop me from bringing this man to justice! I say we kill Cheshire as well! Who’s with me?!” The crowd became explosive with rage as they all ran toward me and pinned me to the floor. “Good! Now bring him to me!” She exclaimed. The crowd of people threw me onto the stage with the Duke. She now had both of us in her grasp. “Now who do I kill first?” She asked the crowd. Adrenaline began to fill up inside me, the crowds chants were getting louder, I lost control of my actions, I grabbed a dagger from Dinah’s belt and turned it on her while holding her to the floor. I looked into her eyes for a split moment, and then I was taken back to a simpler time, my first birthday, I was sitting in my chair and beside me, a girl.

“Happy Birthday son,” My father lifted me out of my chair, he walked over to the girl and said “Happy Birthday Dinah.” The flashback ended, I lowered the dagger and said

“Dinah, Dinah Aston?” I said suspiciously, she rotated the pin and now I was on the bottom.

“Where did you hear that name?” She asked

“Dinah, it’s me,” I whispered “Jeremy, your brother.” A faint grin grew on my face.

“It can’t be, Jeremy died the year of my first birthday. What is this some kind of cruel joke? I’ll give you something to laugh about.” She stuck her dagger into my mouth and began to carve it into a smile. Everything went silent, all I could see were tears falling from Dinah’s face to mine, and I could feel the blood pouring from my mouth, could this have been the end? I thought so, until the Duke ran over to the stage and called for all the kings’ horses and all the kings’ men. Moments later an army burst through the door led by a white knight on his steed. He rushed the stage, pushed Dinah to the floor and clubbed her over the head. The rest of the knights carried me off to a wizard who would put a spell on me to keep me alive. I left the wizard’s hut the next day and went back to my house. My mother was waiting at the door.

“Jeremy Warner, what on earth happened to your face?!”

“I got into a quarrel, mother. I don’t know if I can stay here much longer, there are people who want my head and I also need to find myself, my true self.”

“Jeremy enough with the crazy talk.”

“Mother, this is not your decision to make. It is my destiny.”

“Ok Jeremy, but before you go, I have something to tell you.”

“Yes?”

“Your father and I are very proud of you. You are a survivor Jeremy and that’s something that London needs. Promise me you’ll become something great.”

“I don’t deal in absolutes. But I will do my best. I’ll see you mother.”

“Goodbye Jeremy. Oh, and by the way. Thank you for saving your father and I earlier this week.”

“You knew it was me?”

“You never were very good at hiding anything.”

I nodded, went to my room to grab my cat and walked out the door, I headed for the castle so that I could speak to Dinah in the dungeon, but mostly, so I could see Abigal one last time. When I got to the gates, one of two guards asked “What is your business here, sir?”

I replied “I would like to speak with the Duchess.”

“Who are you?” He replied

“I am Jeremy, a friend of hers.”

The guard gestured with his head and the other guard went inside.

“Why must you speak with Mrs. Oeffharts?”

“I am leaving, I must say goodbye.”

“Where to?”

“I’m not quite sure, wherever my legs take me I guess.”

The other guard came back outside. “Mrs. Oeffharts said to let him in.” The first guard nodded and opened the gates. I walked over to an opening drawbridge. I walked in and the butler led me to a common area where she was waiting on a chair. The guard stepped outside and I sat in the chair in front of her. 

“Your Grace.” I bowed my head

“Hello Jeremy.”

“How are you?”

“I’m doing fine, how are you?”

“I’m...leaving.”

“Leaving? Where would you go?”

“I need to speak to the assassin before I decide.”

“By the way, what happened to your face? It looks like you can’t stop smiling.”

“It’s a long story, trust me.”

“Well, before you go, is there something I can give to you?”

“Besides your love Abigal, there is nothing.”

“Well-” I interrupted her

“Well? Abigal don’t get any funny ideas, you’re married.”

“Well, not exactly.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s still not consummated.”

“Why not? Actually never mind, I don’t care why not, just get me down to the dungeon and I’ll meet with you after, do you mind watching my cat while I’m down there?”

I handed her my cat.

“What breed is this?”

“It’s a Cheshire cat. I suppose he’s the last of his kind.”

“And why is he grinning like this?”

“Because, that’s what Cheshire cars do.”

“Interesting. GUARD!” The guard walked in

“Yes, Your Grace?”

“Take this man to the dungeon to see the assassin.”

“It will be done, follow me sir.” I followed him down the dungeon, it smelled like horse feces and people were screaming louder than I could imagine, when I got Dinah’s cell, I said.

“Dinah. I need to talk to you.” She ran to the front of the cell and yelled

“Who are you and how do you know my name!” She grabbed me choked me through the bars but then released “Hello Cheshire.”

“How did you know?” I asked

“What other man in town has a smile shaped scar on his face?”

“Listen Dinah, I need you to tell me everything you know about our parents.”

“I will do no such thing. I refuse to believe that you could be my dead brother.”

“Please Dinah, what can I do to prove it to you?”

“When is your birthday?” She asked

“The Fifteenth of May in the year 1556.”

“How do you know this?!” She yelled

“Look into my eyes Dinah, I am Jeremy, your Brother.”

She paused for a moment and then said “It is you. Listen, mother is hiding away in a hovel in the side of a mountain out on the western seaboard, she lives there with our father. Together they are trying to discover a way to slay mother’s old master, Professor Jabberwock, an evil wizard who lives in a hut nearby, he is known for bringing people back from the dead, but in doing so, he makes them mad.”

“Mad? What do you mean mad?”

“Absolutely insane.”

“Thank you sister. I will be seeing you when I return.”

“Goodbye brother.”

The guard brought me back to the place where I had met with Abigal, she was sitting in the same chair as before. “Come with me.” She whispered

“Where are we going?” I asked in reply

“To the guest bedroom.”

“Abigal,” I hesitated as my deepest desires and a rush of adrenaline coursed through my veins “Let’s go.” We entered the bedroom, I removed my clothing and laid on the bed, she did the same we were entangled in a passionate embrace for roughly 25 minutes, until the door opened, standing there was the Duke and his cousin from Oxford.

“And this is where you’ll be-” He stopped, dropped his cup on the floor and drew his sword “Abigal! How could you?”

“Well, it wasn’t that hard, you’re like 30 years older than me and I don’t exactly love you, so.”

“I’m not angry with you Abigal, it’s this man that must die. How unmanly to sleep with another man’s wife.”

Out of nowhere, my cat pounced at him which knocked him to the floor.

“I’m sorry Abigal, but I must leave. Perhaps we will meet again. But until then, remember, madness is just the universe’s way of telling you to take risks and never, ever, form to the rules and restraints of this world because there will always be somebody who loves you, somebody who watches over you, somebody who will live in your reality.” I whistled and the cat jumped on my shoulder, I ran out the door past the duke and down to the dungeon, when I got to the main door, I punched through and dropped a smoke pellet. I killed every guard that I could see through the smoke and reached Dinah’s cell, I used one of my blades to break the lock.

“Let’s go sister.”

“Jeremy, why are you nude?”

“I’ll explain later, let’s go.” I grabbed armor off of one of the knights and put it on. We fled the palace and as we were running away. A small man and a young girl were riding rapidly on a horse toward the palace.

“Oh dear, Oh dear, I shall be late!” He exclaimed. I stuck out my hand for him to stop. “What do you want?”

“How rude.”

“My apologies, but I shall be late for my meeting with the queen.”

“Who are you?”

“Whitney Cuniculus. I work at the bank.”

“Do you mind if I borrow your horse?”

“Yes I mind, I shall be late without it.”

I pulled out my blade “Get off the horse.”

“Okay, Okay.” He fell off the horse, he stood up and brushed off his waistcoat “Let’s go Mary-Ann.” The girl got off the horse and followed him. Dinah and I mounted the horse and rode him westward bound.

“So Dinah, tell me more about this Jabberwock.”

“He used to train our mother in the mystic arts. He was always fascinated with the mind and how it worked. He spent most of his life trying to figure out how to make society turn against itself and tear itself apart. He learned that turning people mad and making their deepest desires rise without question was the way to do it. He would go out, harvest dead bodies, bring them back to life and make them mad using a particular spell that mother was never taught.”

“This man seems rather mad himself.”

“He is, when he eventually got powerful enough, he created a realm where mad people go after they die.”

“Any idea what it’s called?”

“He calls it...Wonderland.” 

Author's Note

Ignore Grammar Problems. Mature Themes in this chapter nothing too graphic.