“They’re faster than we are,” she said.

“Good! Then we’ll have to fight!” Dodge spun the animal around and hardly had time to raise his sword before he was locked in combat with two of the card assassins.

Alyss lost her balance and fell to the ground. “Alyss!” cried Bibwit.

But The Cat was upon her. “How you’ve grown,” he hissed. “The last time I saw you, you were only this high.” He held a paw level with his waist and grinned, baring his fangs.

She tried to run, but he batted her back in front of him. His tail puffed up and he spat. Again, she tried to run and again he swatted her back, toying with her as a kitten toys with a cockroach before killing it. She knew what she should do-imagine something, conjure a defense, but it had been so long since she’d been able to use her imaginative muscle that…Try anyway. Have to…She did try, shaking and frowning with the effort. But it was no use. Nothing happened.

The Cat raised his paw to strike. Alyss took in what she supposed would be the last things she ever saw: Dodge jabbing his sword into a card assassin, which folded to the ground, dead; the remaining assassins attacking him with increased fury; Bibwit hurrying toward her, saying, “I’m a scholar, not a warrior. In a battle of wits perhaps I could…” as he thrust himself between her and The Cat.

“Redd will not like such behavior from her secretary,” The Cat hissed, claws glinting.

Bibwit squeezed his eyes shut. “A nano orb at rest tends to stay at rest and a nano orb in motion tends to stay in motion so long as neither is acted upon by an external force,” he whispered, as if he might indeed combat The Cat’s physical strength with the superior strength of his mind. He went on to recite a host of learned titbits that he was amazed he had time to utter considering the usual efficiency and speed of The Cat when piercing some poor soul to the quick.

Alyss was just as amazed as Bibwit, though for different reasons. Her eyes were wide open and, just as The Cat was bringing his paw down on the tutor, five white pawns dropped from the trees, two of them taking the blow meant for Bibwit. A battery of white chessmen jumped from the brush, and a camouflaged pack of Redd’s Cut dealt themselves out with the sound of rapidly opening and closing scissor blades. The Skirmish of the Whispering Woods was in full blood.

Alyss tugged at Bibwit’s sleeve.

“Oh,” he said, opening his eyes to the scene.

“Leave here!” a rook shouted at them. “We’ll keep them at bay! But go! Now!” Though engaged in a deadly contest with a Three Card, the rook managed a bow to Alyss. “Princess,” he said.

Dodge came galloping up on a spirit-dane, lifted Alyss into the saddle behind him. Bibwit clambered up after her, and the three of them sped off as the clashings of steel on steel, the guttural grunts and hoarse cries of combat faded into the distance. Alyss turned for a last look at the raging Cat, at the brave chessmen who had put themselves in mortal danger for her sake.

“Most of them won’t make it,” Dodge said, urging their spirit-dane toward Wondertropolis, where they would skirt major thoroughfares on their way to The Everlasting Forest. “But you’re safe. For now.”

“T HEY SHOULD have returned by now.”

“I warned you,” said Jack of Diamonds, nonchalantly popping dried dormice feet into his mouth. “Hope for the best, but expect the worst.”

“They should have returned,” General Doppelganger said again, pacing back and forth in the tent, an activity that apparently fell short of soothing his anxiety, for he split into the twin figures of Generals Doppel and Ganger and they paced; but this did not ease their minds either, and the generals melded back into one.

“It will come as no surprise to me if Dodge fails,” said Jack of Diamonds. “We should be planning for a future we still have the power to shape.”

He glanced uneasily at Hatter Madigan, who’d been sitting silent and still in a corner of the tent, a

pocket-sized holographic crystal in his hand, ever since General Doppelganger told him of the Millinery’s bloody demise. Every so often, Hatter pressed his thumb against the back of the crystal and its image came to life, a female Wonderlander laughing and saying something in a teasing tone. Hatter made Jack uncomfortable. What was going on in that hatted head of his? What if he had gone slowly insane from his thirteen years of exile with its mysterious traumas and challenges? An insane fellow with such deadly skills…To lessen his fears, Jack tried to engage the Milliner in a little chitchat.

“Tell me, Hatter. On your travels, did you have much time to explore what the fruit pies were like?” Ever so slowly, Hatter turned to face Jack and blinked several times, as if adjusting his eyes to the sight

of the wigged gentleman.

Jack laughed uneasily. “Just trying to break the monotony of all this waiting.” He held a handful of dormice feet out to Hatter. “Dormouse foot?”

Hatter looked away, said nothing. A cheer sounded from outside. Hatter stood, pocketed his holographic crystal, and walked quickly out of the tent. General Doppelganger and Jack of Diamonds hurried after him, and if ever there was a welcome sight to a mourning Milliner, this must have been it: Princess Alyss, safe and apparently healthy, surrounded by happy Alyssians, gwynooks, and tuttle-birds, the forest trees adding their voices to the chorus celebrating her return. A welcome sight, to be sure, yet Hatter showed little emotion-a slight upward flicker at the corners of his mouth. Dodge caught his eye and the two nodded to each other in mutual respect.

“Is it…Hatter?” Alyss asked, spying his top hat in the crowd. The Alyssians parted to let him through.

“I am pleased to find you well, Princess.”

Alyss looked at her surroundings. “Am I well? I shouldn’t say so.”

Hatter lowered his head. “Yes, there is no excuse for my losing you and I accept full responsibility. If you choose to demote me to an inferior post as a result of my failure, I hope I may accept it with grace. But Princess, there is much to do if you are to be successful against Redd.”

Alyss sighed, and when she spoke next she sounded more like a monarch than she would have thought possible. “It’s not surprising, Hatter, that you blame yourself for this ‘failure,’ as you call it. But I do not blame you. Who’s to say it wasn’t I who lost you so many years ago? I just meant that all of this”-with a gesture she indicated the Alyssian headquarters-“is a bit of a shock to me after so long a time away.”

Hatter stepped aside as General Doppelganger bustled up to her, bowing repeatedly, then splitting in two. “Princess Alyss!” Generals Doppel and Ganger simultaneously cried. “We are ecstatic to find you safely returned to us! Welcome, Welcome!”

The assembled throng was too busy celebrating to notice the cloud that had darkened Jack of Diamonds’ brow at the sight of the long-lost princess. But Jack was nothing if not willing to turn an unforeseen circumstance to his advantage. He worked his lips into a smile and, sensing a lull in the greetings, butted his way through the crowd.