She opened her eyes and saw nearly
a thousand of them. This had better work. She wouldn’t be able
to
maintain the NRG shield for much longer. With the sound of a straining girder—eeeeeeeeeeeeeehh—the largest orb generator ever seen by Wonderlanders dropped from the artificial sky: armageddon for the Glass Eyes in Penniken Fields. WabooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMB!
The force of the explosion knocked Alyss and the others through the hedge that bordered the meadow and served a double function—as decorative planting and as camouflage for the wall behind it. Alyss and Dodge, the chessmen and generals went crashing through the wall and out to the street below. Alyss lost her imaginative focus; the protective cocoon was dissolving as they hit the pavement, making their landing not as pain-free as it might have been.
Stunned, they were still picking themselves up when— Thew, thew, thew, thew!
A whir of S-shaped blades, spinning fast around a common axis, coptered over their heads and sliced through an unnoticed Glass Eye that, from a fourth-story window of the Wondronia Hotel across the street, had been taking aim at them with an orb cannon. Thew, thew, thew!
The weapon boomeranged back to the gloved hand of its owner, Hatter Madigan. With a flick of the wrist, he returned it to its innocuous incarnation as a top hat and set it on his head. “I’m ready to return to service, if my queen will allow it,” he said, bowing to Alyss. “Hatter!” She would have hugged him if she hadn’t thought he’d be bothered by the display of affection. “Pretty good timing.” Dodge smiled. “A little sooner and you would’ve been perfect.” The eight generals surrounded the Milliner, each insisting on shaking his hand and offering a hearty welcome.
“Your return is a boon to the confidence of our military,” said one General Gänger. “The queendom simply isn’t the same without you,” enthused another. “Welcome, welcome!” cried a pair of General Doppels. Bleep bleep. Bleep bleep.
“Incoming transmission.” The rook pressed a button on the keypad strapped to his forearm. A projector-like light beamed out of the nozzle on his ammo belt. A screen formed in the air, visible to all, on which Bibwit appeared, still in the palace’s briefing room. “Were we not in the midst of a crisis, Queen Alyss,” gushed the royal tutor, “I would tell you that I am as proud as I’ve ever been of any of my students! Such a clever strategy you employed! Such victorious ways! Such wisdom in so young and inexperienced a sovereign!” “Bibwit?” the queen said.
“Quite right, yes. I shall embarrass you with praise some other time. There are still troops of Glass Eyes
maintain the NRG shield for much longer. With the sound of a straining girder—eeeeeeeeeeeeeehh—the largest orb generator ever seen by Wonderlanders dropped from the artificial sky: armageddon for the Glass Eyes in Penniken Fields. WabooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMB!
The force of the explosion knocked Alyss and the others through the hedge that bordered the meadow and served a double function—as decorative planting and as camouflage for the wall behind it. Alyss and Dodge, the chessmen and generals went crashing through the wall and out to the street below. Alyss lost her imaginative focus; the protective cocoon was dissolving as they hit the pavement, making their landing not as pain-free as it might have been.
Stunned, they were still picking themselves up when— Thew, thew, thew, thew!
A whir of S-shaped blades, spinning fast around a common axis, coptered over their heads and sliced through an unnoticed Glass Eye that, from a fourth-story window of the Wondronia Hotel across the street, had been taking aim at them with an orb cannon. Thew, thew, thew!
The weapon boomeranged back to the gloved hand of its owner, Hatter Madigan. With a flick of the wrist, he returned it to its innocuous incarnation as a top hat and set it on his head. “I’m ready to return to service, if my queen will allow it,” he said, bowing to Alyss. “Hatter!” She would have hugged him if she hadn’t thought he’d be bothered by the display of affection. “Pretty good timing.” Dodge smiled. “A little sooner and you would’ve been perfect.” The eight generals surrounded the Milliner, each insisting on shaking his hand and offering a hearty welcome.
“Your return is a boon to the confidence of our military,” said one General Gänger. “The queendom simply isn’t the same without you,” enthused another. “Welcome, welcome!” cried a pair of General Doppels. Bleep bleep. Bleep bleep.
“Incoming transmission.” The rook pressed a button on the keypad strapped to his forearm. A projector-like light beamed out of the nozzle on his ammo belt. A screen formed in the air, visible to all, on which Bibwit appeared, still in the palace’s briefing room. “Were we not in the midst of a crisis, Queen Alyss,” gushed the royal tutor, “I would tell you that I am as proud as I’ve ever been of any of my students! Such a clever strategy you employed! Such victorious ways! Such wisdom in so young and inexperienced a sovereign!” “Bibwit?” the queen said.
“Quite right, yes. I shall embarrass you with praise some other time. There are still troops of Glass Eyes