Alice and the Voyage of the Honeybee

[Heathcliff]

1. The dark mirror

# Account from the Duke of Roses

Alice is the starting point of our story. She was a clever young girl of twenty-one years of age. She felt on the verge of adulthood.

In her teenage years she had been drawn into Wonderland, where she had defeated the evil Knight of Roses, and had, inadvertendly, taken the Knighthood herself. This was no small achievement, as the Knight was bound to certain duties... and Alice was about to realise this. It didn't help that she suffered badly from hayfever, and in the greater land of the Garden there were many flowers.

But I'm getting distracted. So, what was happening with Alice? It started when she had a dream.

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Tossing and turning in  bed, she saw a vision. She felt she was flying over the land she had seen- but then over water, and voices calling to her. They knew her name. I am simply trying to document all of this, but I was afraid then that some person was trying to take advantage of her. If I had known at the time... well, a most evil presence was making itself known.

Something strange was happening. A shadowy figure was creeping about in the Great Garden, and it looked like Alice! And it was not soon after that that the Prince went missing.

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I should explain- I am Christopher, Duke of the House of Roses. I'm royalty, but from a house that is aging.
Several houses I have known have pursued the strange shadowy figure. I fear it may be our greatest threat, I sense magic in it. I have asked The Knight of Daffordils but his silly mechanical horse is not working. I have looked into getting pollen which is the one things which may stop it, if nothing else.

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I have recieved
through the post a big black mirror
but I don't understand why.
This worries me.

TO BE CONTINUED

Edited December 23, 2020 by Heathcliff

[Heathcliff]

# Alice and the Shadow

Alice felt grumpy, it had been a foul day. With the Coronavirus her family were having a small Christmas, but even so she had caught a cold. She was using one of her handkerchiefs to rub her nose, as she felt that a sneeze was close. Usually she was was not worried to sneeze, but she felt today it was too embarrasing.

Across the street she saw someone in a hooded coat. They looked very cautious, as though they were shielding themself from the rain. Suddenly Alice felt a very strong need to sneeze. She took out a handkerchief.

"Ah... AAh...!"

She hitched.

"Bless..." said the shadowy figure.

"AAAAH-SHOOOO!" sneezed Alice before she could prevent it. "Thanks." she said, to the figure in the hooded coat. It was a woman, she saw now.

"Bless you." said the Shadow. "Don't be embarrased, I have a sensitive nose too."

Alice scrabbled in her bag for a tissue.

"I feel like I've met you before..." she said, before thinking.

"Not really, but you know me intimately..." said the cloaked woman. "We are almost one and the same."

"What do you mean?" shouted Alice.

"In time, you'll understand."

The Shadow vanished.

# The Honeybee

"AAA-SHOOOOO!"
sneezed Alice. She rubbed her nose with her handkerchief to try and remove the itch. It worked, to a point- the smooth cotton against her nose felt good, and she didn't feel like she would sneeze again just yet.

Alice felt another sneeze building up. She held the handkerchief stretched between two hands, ready for the sneeze. But it didn't come- not just yet.

"Ah... Ahhh?-"

As she gasped, she realised she was looking at a painting in her home. She saw it in front of her, it changed and moved. For a moment she felt dizzy, but then something inside her told her what she was seeing was real.

The ship in the painting stopped being static, sitting on sweeps of oil paint. It was now an image of a ship rocking back and forth on the sea, struggling to stay afloat.

"What the- oh, I'm really going to sneeze-" Alice covered her face with her handkerchief again and let her sneezes come. They were so irritating but so very relieving at the same time.

"Ahhahaa- AAA-SHOOOOO! AAAAHTSCHOOO!"

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# Blue Peter

The captain walked across the deck and eyed her carefully. One of his eyes seemed to be skewing off to the left, and his bushy grey beard looked like it hadn't seen any form of a wash for a few weeks at least.

"Well, **** me! This is a bit ****ing unexpected." said the captain.

"Er- yes... good day, Captain." said Alice. "I am Alice, knight of the house of Roses, I ask for safe passage on your ship."

"A disciple of Roses, eh?" said the captain, stroking his thick and tangled beard. "Yes, that's ****ing ok. Glad to have you. Now let me see..."

The captain turned away back to his cabin.

"Does he always swear this much?" said Alice, asking the bo'sun.

"Yes, he... pretty much doesn't stop" said Mr Snee. "We all just got used to it."

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# The Fiery Isle

"So, this is our ship!" said Blue Peter. "And aint she a glorious thing? The Honeybee- no finer craft on the ocean."
"She is wonderful," said Alice, "If only I had my sword-" but she realised that the sword of Roses was at her side."Well," she said "I'm well placed if we ecounter a foe..."

"You are f****ing are miss!" said Blue Peter. "And quite a foe we might find. Good Lord, look at that!"

On the horizon they saw an island crowned by a large mountain from which fire belched from the top. Around the beach Alice could see that a monstsous demon was stalking on his hands and feet.

"Land there?" said Pete's mate. "Are you off your head?"

"I think he might help us." said Alice.

"What?"

"Alice is the knight, and if she thinks so it's worth landing."

Some of the crew looked on the verge of disagreeing. But they didn't. So they put ashore on the firey island.

# THE ISLAND OF THE DEMON

Upon this islad, Alice found sandy land and forests. In the distance there was a great mountain.

As she looked, the mountain exploded with fire at the top. She saw a shape at the top, shaded in darkness, coming towards her. Could it be the Shadow who was following her? No - it wasn't possible, this thing was far too big.

The enormous winged thing flew closer and hovered for a moment. It was red-skinned but the skin was blackened, perhaps by fire. It had wide curved horns.

"Greetings, Alice. My name is Azazel. You're a bit off course, you know."

Alice drew her sword and pointed it squarely at the giant creature in front of her.

"I'm not scared of you" she said, trying to hold her sword steady.

"You don't need to be." said Azazel, stepping backwards. "All I want is a quiet life Sir Alice."

"I won't argue with that!" said Alice, lowering her sword.

Azazel crouched down, closer to Alice's level. Alice smelled sulphur on his breath and was scared.

"Between you and me, girl" said the demon, "Your true enemy is the shadow. That thing could destroy Wonderland."

To be continued

 

Edited December 23, 2020 by Heathcliff