The Adventures of Alice and Max
Chapter 31: Alice and Max Gather the Allies
Alice and Max journeyed with King Edward and his men back to the Forgotten Forest but not all was well.
As the ship swept through the raging seas as they sailed underneath the towering Platforms above, the crew witnessed the bat goblins wreaking mayhem.
The evil shapeshifters cackled in the dark night. Wings swooped and claws cut into human skin. Bones were ripped out of sockets and flesh was bitten. Bodies were flung at the King’s ship as they raised their shields from the deadly blows above.
“Stay the course, men!” Edward called out of cover. The ship guided along and found the small grass and earthen port extending out of the entrance of the Forgotten Forest. Planking and anchoring, they all exited. Alice and Max ran down after the King and his men trying to follow where he led.
The sky was streaked with red as they hurried along the grassy pathway. Screaming sounded horribly throughout the dark woods. Edward led them ferociously until they saw the grassy door was violently broken down. Blood was sputtered on rocks.
Alice’s heart stopped and pounded incessantly.
“Be on high alert! Be strong!” King Edward shouted as he raised his sword. Charging and entering the Sanctuary where the oak tree was planted, they slowly crept. Dark shapeshifters were causing chaos among the Free People. They picked up old men and hurtled them across the way as they smashed on the ground.
Douglass shot arrows at the Transfigurans as they soared above. Three ghouls noticed the King’s men as they dropped down from the many branches of the giant oak tree and turned into large, spiked, and armored trolls armed with broad swords. Edward, Winston, and Ferdinand wielded their swords and sliced and diced them in every which way. The creatures were shapeshifters but were dumb and not skilled in sword fighting.
With swords in their hands, Alice and Max cut and swung and gashed the evil goblins. They saved young children from being eaten and killed. Max threw a rock at one and it died instantly. Alice chucked throwing stars at a few while one bigger Transfiguran swooped down and picked her up.
“Alice!” Max called.
Douglass, slaying hundreds with his arrows, turned and eyed the large bat who had Alice dangling from his foot. He aimed and waited until the monster flew over a tree branch and fired a single arrow resulting in a headshot and an instant kill. Alice dropped onto the tree branch and stumbled to climb onto it, gripping the branch. She managed to rise to her feet but was surrounded by two ghouls who laughed, amused at easy prey.
But Alice whipped out two daggers and said, “Come at me.” They lunged like wild dogs as she impaled both of them in the neck, twisted it, and flung them down onto the hard ground below. There were hundreds on the branches of the oak as Alice swung on them and kicked and cut them all. She swung on the branches like a monkey, cutting and slicing the ghouls with no mercy.
Scared and terrified, most of the cowardly creatures jumped down and fought to the last as Winston, Max, and Ferdinand fought with their swords. Douglass killed the last remaining in the tree.
Finally, Alice saw a single and brave one still in flight as he guffawed, “You will never defeat us. We are too many! The Queen will-”
But Alice had dug her knife into its back as he flailed in agony as she rode him like a snowboard and crashed onto the earth.
As they all stood up silently, they all looked around in case any other ghoul was left alive but none were found. Mostly, black blood covered the oak and the rocky steps. Some of the Free People were in a daze, some were injured, few were killed but the grief still was felt by the King’s people.
Shouting erupted across the woods because of parents slain and children murdered. It rang throughout the secluded woods. Old and young men began carrying the corpses of their people to the far reaches. They carried them gingerly and carefully to the cemeteries where graves were set for miles on end through the blackness of the forest trees.
Alice saw the terror of the evil creatures and the insanity they caused in her. The sights disturbed her, the white filmed eyes with no life in them terrified her as she shook and held herself, standing and staring blankly.
Mothers ran to their babies who were lost for a moment and young children ran to their murdered folks who lay dead on the hard earth.
Max had to keep on working to avoid the grief and sadness that penetrated his soul. He busied himself with heaving bodies with Winston.
The duo didn’t know what had just happened. They knew what had physically occurred but had no concept or prior experience to understand or put into words the distraught feelings. An ache left itself in the pit of their chests, beckoning for something more. Hope was too far away.
Alice then sat down to rest after their long ordeal. She sat on the gigantic and gnarled roots of the oak. She was lost in thought and then remembered her father’s deeply wrinkled visage.
She remembered when her father used to sing her a song before sleep. He would sit by her bed and sing softly in a high beautiful voice:
Out here in the cold dark night
I hear you call in the morning
I know you’ll always be here
Whenever I call for you
Out here in the valley green
I know that you are near me
I feel your presence ringing
Whenever I call for you
Out here in the chilled evening
I see you in the distance
I feel your warmth breathing
Whenever I call for you
But that was a long time ago. And she didn’t hear him call in the morning. She never felt his presence. She didn’t see him far off somewhere, hidden and waiting for her. He was dead. And she was never going to see him again, never feel his breath against her face.
“Hey,” Max said. “Are…are you, OK?”
Alice looked away and thought of death and loneliness and trembled. She didn’t want to face the reality of her dark world. But she couldn’t help it, she couldn’t lie anymore.
“No,” she trembled as her lip quivered and then she planted her face in her hands and sobbed. Max put her arms around her as she cried in his lap.
“It’s OK,” Max said quietly. “We’re gonna be OK. Just a few more things need to be done until we see the Great Light.”
“How long?” Alice asked shooting up, bitterly. “How much longer? Because we’ve been nonstop for days, Max! Days! Never resting or anything. How much more things does the King need us to do!? Tell me!”
But King Edward had come to her and knelt beside Alice. “Alice, is everything alright?”
Her eyes grew wild with rage, “No,” she said quietly controlling her temper. “No, look around, King. What do you see? I see defeat. How are we ever going to defeat the Queen?”
“Alice, this is why we must fight,” King Edward said gently. “My people have suffered for many years. This is what war is like. It isn’t pretty. It isn’t easy for me either, losing people. Good people. It aches in your bones, I know. It does so in mine. But that feeling, aching inside you, that is not good, it is an evil. Death, they say is a part of life. Nay, it wasn’t always. No, death is a part from life. Life is good. Death is evil. Do not forget this truth, Alice. I will show you, the Light Beyond. I promise you and it will reveal all to you.”,
Alice then looking into his earnest eyes wiped her tears. Then she hugged him and said, “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, but you don’t have to continue if you’re too ill or distraught-”
“King,” she said pulling away and gazing into his eyes. “You can’t afford to lose any more people. And I won’t be the next one. Max or I.”
“That’s right, Ed,” Max said joyfully. “We’re with you till the end.”
King Edward smirked and then called his men forth. “Well, right. Ferdinand, Douglass!”
Ferdinand and Douglass presented themselves as they bowed.
“I need you and your men to scout the Queen’s Citadel. You shall go and take all your men, round them up, and bring the armies with you. Arm all the able men and boys and take them into the City. We shall infiltrate it.”
“King,” Douglass said quickly. “What is the meaning of this?”
Ferdinand protested, “Wait, why?”
“There is no time,” Edward said. “We must rescue the innocent and the vulnerable in the City.”
“King, we never agreed to do this,” Ferdinand said. “How do you expect us to do such a thing?”
“Protect the innocent in the City? No such thing, King!” Douglass yelled.
“Aye, there is. Not everyone who resides in the city is evil, Douglass.”
“Unheard of my liege,” Douglass scowled.
“Even among our own there were doubters,” Edward said, referring to Grub. “There were those who took control into their own hands. Who resisted a good and just cause. Should we judge all people in the same way? Should we show no mercy to those who incite violence? Should we accuse and hang them who dare defy us?”
Ferdinand remained quiet, but Douglass piped up, “Sir, this is ludicrous. This is unheard of.”
“This is an order, men. We will leave shortly. Gather the men. Gather the Allies. Gather all the people of the city, those who wish to defy the Queen and let us all unite. Let that be our rallying cry.”
To Be Continued…
