“Well, we have to get to her somehow!” General Doppel said.

“But without an army of soldiers that are of a more normal size,” said General Ganger, “our cause is lost.”

It was Alyss’ turn to approach the soldiers. To her, they had looked suitable enough. She picked up one of the toy soldiers and imagined it marching back and forth in her hand. “I have an idea,” she said.

T HE FORTRESS was surrounded. Regiments of The Cut had been amassed from across the queendom and stood ready to defend Redd’s stronghold. Their ranks formed the front line and, behind them, as the second line of defense, were platoon after platoon of Glass Eyes. Both the card soldiers and Glass Eyes were armed with the full array of weaponry available to them in Redd’s Wonderland-orb generators, whipsnake grenades, crystal shooters, cannonball spiders, AD52s, all manner of knives and swords.

As the suns rose on a new day, Redd was breakfasting on spicy, crunchy tuttle-bird legs in the Observation Dome. The Cat and the members of her cabinet, none of whom had eaten since the previous midday, looked on with hungry eyes but said nothing. Jack of Diamonds had wisely excused

himself from the dome, but more because he feared Redd watching him toy unsuccessfully with the key to the Looking Glass Maze than because of his stomach’s grumbling.

Redd’s teeth crunched down on the only remaining tuttle-bird leg, the last scrap of night’s shadow faded with the day, and they all saw it at once. Gazing out through the telescopic glass, it would have been

impossible to miss: An Alyssian army, seeming to rival the population of the queendom itself, massed a short distance off and waiting to attack. Like Redd’s forces, the Alyssians were armed with orb generators, whipsnake grenades, cannonball spiders, AD52s.

“How has Alyss gathered such an immense army?” the Lady of Spades asked. “They’ll just have a larger body count,” Redd fumed.

Sitting astride a spirit-dane at the head of the soldiers, Alyss raised her arm and held it above her head a moment before bringing it down in a quick motion. The Alyssians charged toward the fortress.

“Deal the first hand,” Redd ordered.

Outside, The Cut launched orb generators and cannonball spiders at the advancing Alyssians-direct hits many of them, which should have taken out entire columns of the enemy. The card soldiers followed up the barrage by charging into the smoke and flame. Confident, Redd eyed the scene from her perch in the dome, but when the smoke cleared she saw her soldiers surrounded by tiny Alyssians. Her weapons had had zero effect and the miniature army continued to push toward the fortress.

Redd’s face contorted with a sudden realization. “How could I have been so stupid?”

The Cat was trying to decide if this were a rhetorical question when she roared, “It’s a construct!” With a dismissive swing of Redd’s arm, Alyss and her army began to shimmer, the billion points of

energy that formed them momentarily visible before exploding apart into nothing. Redd scoped the queendom with her imagination’s eye. “Where are you, Alyss? Where is my dear little niece?”

Alyss and the others could hear the explosions and the rasping, metallic sounds of The Cut racing toward the conjured army as they came upon the fortress from the opposite side. Until now, their approach had been covert; they’d traveled only over the desert’s black squares of tar and volcanic rock to camouflage themselves from Redd’s lookouts. But to enter the fortress they would have no choice but to show themselves in open warfare.

Under cover of the black rock, Hatter flicked his top hat into blades and winged them at the card

soldiers and Glass Eyes guarding the fortress’ entrance. While the weapon was still in the air, he activated his wrist-blades and charged. Molly flattened her homburg into its slicing shield and took up his left flank with Dodge, while Generals Doppel and Ganger took up his right, and the chessmen followed.

“We must be getting close to the Heart Crystal,” Alyss said to Bibwit. The tutor looked at her, his ears bent in a questioning manner.

“I feel…I don’t know how to explain it.”

The princess reached out both arms and extended her ten fingers toward the fighting in front of her.

Star-bright branches of energy shot out of her fingers, forking and attaching themselves to card soldiers and Glass Eyes until every single one of them was caught on an end while the other ends were, ultimately, still attached to Alyss’ fingers. The princess then raised her arms above her head and the card soldiers

and Glass Eyes lifted into the air, helpless. She sent them reeling through the sky. Somewhere in the

Chessboard Desert it was raining card soldiers and Glass Eyes.

The sound of orb generators exploding on Alyss’ conjured army still assaulted the Alyssians’ ears, but it

stopped almost as soon as they entered the fortress. Silence could mean only one thing. “She knows,” Alyss said.

“Can you see her?” asked Bibwit.

Alyss felt that she was close to the Heart Crystal. Remote viewing wasn’t something she’d been able to do before, but Redd was now clearly visible in her imagination’s eye, standing in a large, open room at the foot of a spiral hall, beckoning Alyss with a cold smile on her lips. The steady pulse of the Heart Crystal was behind the queen, obscured somehow.

“She’s waiting for me,” Alyss said.

“We should split into factions for safety,” General Doppel urged.

“Two targets may be harder to combat,” agreed General Ganger, “and we can surround Redd if it comes to that. Bibwit, Rook, Molly, you come with us.”

“I’m staying with Princess Alyss,” Molly said.

Exchanged glances all around. The girl looked quite adamant and this was no time for argument. “Let her come with me,” Alyss said.

The generals dipped their heads; whatever the princess wished.

“Knight, Hatter, and Dodge will also accompany you,” said General Doppel, which was when they noticed that Dodge was no longer among them.

“Where did he go?” asked General Ganger.

To find The Cat. Alyss sighted him in her imagination’s eye, cautiously picking his way down a hall. If he crosses paths with Redd, he’ll try to engage with her. She cast her worried eyes toward Bibwit. He too knew why Dodge had left them. And Dodge’s selfish desire for retribution might compromise the Alyssians’ chance for victory.

“We’ll split the pawns between us,” said General Doppel.

“Meet us at the Heart Crystal,” Alyss said. “Look for a spiral hall.”

The generals bowed. “By which time, may the peace of White Imagination have descended on the queendom.”

Using her imagination’s eye as guide, Alyss led Homburg Molly, Hatter Madigan, and the chessmen through the fortress. It was as if she had been there before, the way she maneuverd without hesitation through the passageways, heading straight for Redd while elsewhere, avoiding detection by the packs of card soldiers that patrolled the gloomy rooms and halls (it was easy to avoid the enemy when he worked alone), Dodge hunted for The Cat.