weapons, with physical traits that
had evolved over generations of adaptation to Boarderland’s
various
terrains.
“Decks at crossings 32-a and 29-d are to converge!” Alyss heard the generals’ voices through the speakers on Bibwit’s desk. “Converge on the breach!” But more of the barrier will be left unguarded. “Chessmen fall back!” the generals shouted. “Tighten the lines around Wondertropolis!” Alyss conjured a rainfall of orb generators to drop on the Glass Eyes and tribal warriors advancing through the defunct demarcation barrier, then turned her imagination’s eye on Dodge for the swiftest of glances. He was standing outside the palace’s front gate with his guardsmen, his hand on the hilt of his father’s sword, his face stonily alert.
He hates having to wait for The Cat to come to him, hates— “Alyss!” Bibwit shouted, because her orb generators were, inflicting no harm whatsoever upon the enemy.
Kccrkchsshk! Pfoooghaashhh!
Redd had conjured orbs to collide with Alyss’, causing them to detonate uselessly above the heads of the warring soldiers.
“Another breach!” Bibwit reported. “And they’ve penetrated the Everlasting Forest!” They were working their way toward the palace, Alyss knew, toward her. She reached out for the Heart Crystal, stiffened with the influx of power that coursed through her, but the Boarderland tribes were adept at blending in with their surroundings and she lost sight of them. Where the forest’s edge faded into Wondertropolis’ outskirts, she imagined finemeshed nets of blade-proof fibers—a mine field of camouflage nets resembling fallen foliage. The Boarderland warriors would have to pass this way in their push to the capital city. They would set foot in the nets, which would fold shut on them like the petal-jaws of a Venus flytrap.
Alyss redirected her imagination to the border battles. She sensed something: Redd watching her. With her scepter, Alyss tried to shoo away her aunt’s sight, to block it—once, twice, she tried, but Redd remained there, in her imagination’s eye, staring. “One of the forest bases has been hit!” Bibwit called. “Our Snark Mountain post is outnumbered!” Alyss began to exert herself with greater effort, moving her scepter left, right, up and down, conducting an orchestra of defensive cocoons, automatic cannons, low-drifting energy clouds that exploded with Glass Eye-piercing lightning, and every form of weaponry she’d ever seen in Wonderland and on Earth…
Clashing with Onu and Scabbler warriors in a quadrant of the Chessboard Desert, the white knight and his pawns were nearly surrounded, losing bodies and ammo fast, when an energy cloud unexpectedly dropped in front of them. Lightning bolts flashed out of it, struck dead enough warriors to create an opening, and as the knight and pawns fought their way to relative safety, unmanned bayonets formed in the air to aid their escape…
At a forest military base, Maldoids and Gnobi were driving the white rook and a hand of card soldiers into a dry-goods storehouse. The Maldoids’ kill-quills lodged into the storehouse’s front wall, the
terrains.
“Decks at crossings 32-a and 29-d are to converge!” Alyss heard the generals’ voices through the speakers on Bibwit’s desk. “Converge on the breach!” But more of the barrier will be left unguarded. “Chessmen fall back!” the generals shouted. “Tighten the lines around Wondertropolis!” Alyss conjured a rainfall of orb generators to drop on the Glass Eyes and tribal warriors advancing through the defunct demarcation barrier, then turned her imagination’s eye on Dodge for the swiftest of glances. He was standing outside the palace’s front gate with his guardsmen, his hand on the hilt of his father’s sword, his face stonily alert.
He hates having to wait for The Cat to come to him, hates— “Alyss!” Bibwit shouted, because her orb generators were, inflicting no harm whatsoever upon the enemy.
Kccrkchsshk! Pfoooghaashhh!
Redd had conjured orbs to collide with Alyss’, causing them to detonate uselessly above the heads of the warring soldiers.
“Another breach!” Bibwit reported. “And they’ve penetrated the Everlasting Forest!” They were working their way toward the palace, Alyss knew, toward her. She reached out for the Heart Crystal, stiffened with the influx of power that coursed through her, but the Boarderland tribes were adept at blending in with their surroundings and she lost sight of them. Where the forest’s edge faded into Wondertropolis’ outskirts, she imagined finemeshed nets of blade-proof fibers—a mine field of camouflage nets resembling fallen foliage. The Boarderland warriors would have to pass this way in their push to the capital city. They would set foot in the nets, which would fold shut on them like the petal-jaws of a Venus flytrap.
Alyss redirected her imagination to the border battles. She sensed something: Redd watching her. With her scepter, Alyss tried to shoo away her aunt’s sight, to block it—once, twice, she tried, but Redd remained there, in her imagination’s eye, staring. “One of the forest bases has been hit!” Bibwit called. “Our Snark Mountain post is outnumbered!” Alyss began to exert herself with greater effort, moving her scepter left, right, up and down, conducting an orchestra of defensive cocoons, automatic cannons, low-drifting energy clouds that exploded with Glass Eye-piercing lightning, and every form of weaponry she’d ever seen in Wonderland and on Earth…
Clashing with Onu and Scabbler warriors in a quadrant of the Chessboard Desert, the white knight and his pawns were nearly surrounded, losing bodies and ammo fast, when an energy cloud unexpectedly dropped in front of them. Lightning bolts flashed out of it, struck dead enough warriors to create an opening, and as the knight and pawns fought their way to relative safety, unmanned bayonets formed in the air to aid their escape…
At a forest military base, Maldoids and Gnobi were driving the white rook and a hand of card soldiers into a dry-goods storehouse. The Maldoids’ kill-quills lodged into the storehouse’s front wall, the