“Alister Kingsley.” Alister confirmed Crim’s suspicions and raised his chin defiantly, even though inwardly Alister was shaking in his metaphorical boots.

“Alister Kingsley,” Crim echoed in a drawling tone, and a wide, malicious smile spread across his face as he looked around the surrounding mushroom grove. “And you’re out here all alone? I would have thought Madeline would be here to protect you.”

“She’s at home,” Alister said dryly. “And she’s not allowed to interfere in the tournament, remember?”

“Indeed,” Crim agreed with a curt nod. “I assume by your presence here that you too are a contender?”

“That’s right,” Alister admitted even though he was beginning to feel like a mouse in the presence of a snake waiting to strike.

“You think you have what it takes to complete this impossible task?” Crim arched an eyebrow at him.

Alister shrugged carelessly. “Maybe.”

“Pity you won’t get to find out.” Crim raised his hand and started to reach out towards Alister’s chest, prepared to rip Alister’s heart out, and crush it to dust in his bare hand.

However, a pair of purple lips appeared next to Alister’s head at that moment, and spoke: “Bad form, Crim, darling.”

Crim snatched his hand back as if it’d been burned and watched as Katrina began to materialize next to Alister in her human form, and with her arms wrapped around Alister’s neck protectively while she was floating a few feet above the ground. A vein at Crim’s temple immediately began to throb in anger. “Katrina! What the hell are you doing here?”

A wide, mischievous smile spread across Katrina’s face. “I’m here to help Alister navigate through Underland. I’m acting as his guide.”

“You…you can’t help him!” Crim sputtered indignantly. “You’re my slave!”

Katrina raised a purple eyebrow at the King of Hearts. “Oh, do you need my help then, Your Majesty?” The cat-woman gave Crim a hopeful look.

“Help?” Crim scoffed. “I don’t need anyone’s help!”

“Then, you won’t mind if I help Alister?” Katrina questioned in a candid manner.

Alister noticed uneasily that Crim’s face was literally starting to turn red with anger. “You would betray me to help him! You traitorous-”

“You forget, Your Majesty, that I love you,” Katrina interrupted him in a purring tone. “That’s why I can’t just stand back and watch you win this tournament without doing anything to try and stop that from happening. I can’t let you marry Madeline. Not when I want you all to myself.”

The red began to leave Crim’s face, as his anger seemed to leave him at Katrina’s words. “Oh,” he said in a petulant tone. “You’re still disobeying my orders by helping him. I should punish you.”

“Oh, yes, please do,” Katrina said in a husky voice, a lustful glint in her golden eyes.

Crim rolled his eyes at the needy expression on her face. “Crazy, masochistic cat…I think I won’t. You’d just enjoy it.”

Alister didn’t like where this conversation was going. “If you hurt her…I’ll paint a hole in your stomach so that your intestines will fall out,” he found himself saying before his self-preservation instincts could kick in and remind him that threatening the Red King was probably not a very good idea if he wanted to live very long.

“I would never-!” Crim caught himself and bit into his lower lip hard enough that a bead of red blood formed there. He coughed into his hand to hide his blunder. Katrina’s depressed expression morphed into something more hopeful. “What I do or don’t do with my slave is really none of your business, peasant!” Crim snapped hotly.

Alister had caught Crim’s slip, however, and gave the King of Hearts an assessing look. Maybe Crim wasn’t so bad after all. At least, where Katrina was concerned. Perhaps, there was hope. “Well, if you two are done with your S & M play…shall we get going?” Alister motioned towards the red door located on the mushroom stalk.

A vein at Crim’s temple throbbed in irritation. “We?” Crim raised his nose up into the air. “We’re not going anywhere together, peasant.”

For some reason, Alister grew amused by Crim’s overly haughty attitude. The King seemed to act with a lot of bluff and bluster. “Well, Katrina and I are going to Underland and if you’re not coming with us…I guess that means you’re just following us.”

“I follow no one!” Crim snapped before stalking towards the red door, opening it and entering. Alister and Katrina shared an amused look before following after Crim. The trio made their way down a narrow spiraling staircase until they reached the bottom.

The group entered what Alister could only describe as being a tavern that was filled with the most unsavory and suspicious looking characters he’d seen in Wonderland yet. All of the tavern’s patrons were wearing masks on their faces. Some were wearing plain domino masks while others were wearing flashy masks decorated with feathers and jewels. Alister shuddered when he saw a man wearing what looked like a creepy plague mask. “What is this place?” Alister asked Katrina in a low voice.

“This establishment is known as Salome’s Tavern,” Katrina said softly.

“And who are all these people?” Alister asked with great curiosity.

“Most of the beings in this place are human outlaws, thieves, assassins, bandits, or dark mages that have used the mushroom to shrink themselves down to the appropriate size to interact and do business with the Dark Fairies that rule Underland,” Katrina explained.

Alister nodded. Now their sinister appearances made more sense as did the vicious weapons strapped to everyone’s sides.

“The other creatures are talking bugs,” Katrina continued.

Alister’s gaze went to the bugs that were the same size as the shrunken humans: ants, cockroaches, millipedes, roly polies, green June beetles, and stag beetles with huge, impressive antlers. The bugs were dressed in human clothing and talking to the shrunken humans seated at their tables as if this were the most natural thing in the world.

Alister caught sight of a female spider wearing a red, wide-brimmed hat on her head that was decorated with a curling, black plume. She was also wearing eight red high-heeled shoes on her feet.

I really hope I don’t see a dung beetle here. Alister shuddered at the worrisome thought since most of the creatures in Wonderland seemed to literally take after their namesake. “How the hell are we supposed to find a magic bean here? Wait, are we going to buy one from one of these sketchy people?”

“Shhh!” Katrina slapped a hand over Alister’s mouth, and gave him a reproachful look. “It’s not that easy. The Dark Fairies hoard and carefully guard their precious magic beans. Only very rarely will they sell them to anyone that isn’t a fairy, and when they do it’s for a King’s ransom.”

Alister’s brow furrowed in confusion. “Then how are we going to get one?”

“We’re going to steal one from the Dark Fairies, of course,” Katrina said slyly. “So there’s really no sense in warning them of our nefarious plot before we’ve even managed to slip into the tunnels of Underland.” Katrina inconspicuously nodded her head in the direction of two Dark Fairies that were seated at the bar.

Alister followed Katrina’s line of sight and saw two Dark Fairies seated at the bar counter - one male and one female. Both of them had the same onyx-colored skin, elfish ears, white hair, and glowing red eyes.

The female was wearing a translucent, black gown of spider silk, had long hair, and there was a pair of black and blue butterfly wings on her back. The male fairy was wearing black steel armor, had a sword strapped to his side, and his wings resembled a dragonfly’s.

The Dark Fairies had an intimidating, dangerous aura that caused Alister to gulp out of nervousness and fright. He could tell that they were more deadly than any of the other criminals inside of the tavern.

Alister gawked as Crim casually sauntered over to the two Dark Fairies and started to engage them in easy conversation. A scowl formed on Alister’s face. “What’s he doing? Is he going to make an offer for a bean? I suppose a King would have a King’s ransom.”

Then Crim turned, pointed right at Alister, and spoke in an overly loud voice, “He plans to steal one of your precious magic beans!”

Suddenly, all eyes in the tavern were on him and Katrina. “Son of a bitch!” Alister swore. “He just sold us out!” He turned to Katrina for help, but she was quickly turning herself invisible in order to avoid danger. “Hey!” Alister snapped in an indignant tone.

“I thought you didn’t want me to get hurt.” A pair of purple lips reminded.

Alister returned his attention to the two Dark Fairies that at this point had slid off their barstools and had started to stalk towards him with graceful, predatory steps. He watched as Crim waggled his fingers in a mocking goodbye before managing to slip unnoticed into the cave tunnel next to the bar. “Yeah, well…I’m a coward, remember?” Alister muttered to the invisible cat-girl before backing away from the approaching Dark Fairies.

“You’re The Artist,” Katrina reminded, her voice tinged with exasperation. “Just paint something!”

“Easy for you to say!” Alister turned around and took off running through the bar. There was no way he could fight against those battle-hardened Dark Fairies. The fairies leapt up into the air and using their wings flew after Alister. As they flew over people’s tables the female fairy tossed a handful of dark pixie dust towards Alister.

Alister barely managed to dodge out of the way in time. The dust ended up hitting a shrunken woman who’d been seated at a table, and Alister watched as she transformed into a ladybug. The ladybug continued to sip her tankard of mead as though nothing were amiss.

“Well, that explains most of the clientele in this crazy place,” Alister remarked dryly. A few seconds later, Alister was forced to dodge a sword swing as the male Dark Fairy tried to cut Alister in two.

Come on, Alister, think! What can I paint to get myself out of this mess? I could paint a sword, but it’s not like I’d know how to use it. I’m more likely to cut my own foot off! Unable to come up with a good idea, Alister had no choice but to continue running haphazardly through the tavern with the Dark Fairies in close pursuit.

He knocked a chair over to try and slow their progress but they just flew higher and were able to avoid it. The entrance tunnel to Underland now had another Dark Fairy standing guard in front of it. Shit! All of a sudden getting into Underland had gotten a hell of a lot more complicated.

If only he could turn himself invisible like Katrina, Alister mused. There had to be another tunnel exit somewhere inside of the tavern, or a door-

A door. That’s it! Alister knocked over a table where a group of cockroaches had been seated and playing poker in order to cause some chaos that would slow the fairies’ pursuit, and ran over to the far wall. He whipped out his paintbrush and quickly painted three lines and a doorknob. His drawing glowed with a gold light right before a real door appeared.

Yes! Alister grabbed the doorknob, opened the door, and quickly crossed the threshold. A quick glance over his shoulder and he saw that the fairies were flying towards him with angry, murderous looks on their faces.

“You there! Don’t you dare close that door! You’re under arrest!” the male fairy shouted, red eyes flashing.

“Sorry!” Alister spun and slammed the door shut right in their faces. The door disappeared because Alister had willed it to. Immediately, Alister was plunged into total darkness. He gulped nervously and sweat formed on his brow. “Where the hell am I? I can’t see a thing.” Alister was just about to start hyperventilating when two large, glowing, golden cat eyes appeared in front of him, floating in mid air.

“Not bad, Alister,” Katrina praised in a purring tone. “You seem to work well under pressure.”

“Katrina,” Alister let out a sigh of relief. Now he wasn’t alone in this dark, creepy place. “Where are we?”

“These are the tunnels of Underland, of course. All the tunnels down here lead to the Dark Fairy Kingdom. It’s on the outskirts of the Kingdom that the bean fields are located. That is where we’re going.”

“But I can’t even see two steps in front of me,” Alister complained petulantly. “How will I ever-”

“Paint a lantern, silly boy,” Katrina chided.

“Oh, yeah, right.” Alister whipped out his paintbrush and using the dim glow that was coming from Katrina’s golden cat eyes to work by he painted a glass lantern on the stone floor. When his painting was finished it glowed and then the lamp materialized becoming real.

Alister reached out and picked it up off the floor. The lantern had a wrought-iron handle, glass panes, and inside stood one lit candle. The lantern produced ample light to see by. Alister held the lantern aloft and squinted into the darkness of the tunnel. “Which way do we go?”

Katrina materialized fully into her human form and Alister watched as the furry, purple and pink striped ears on the top of her head twitched. “That way.” Katrina pointed off in one direction of the tunnel. “I hear footsteps.”

“It’s probably that backstabbing bastard Crim,” Alister muttered glumly to himself. “Let’s get going.” The duo started off down the winding, narrow tunnel. After a few minutes of heavy silence had passed Alister decided to ask the cat-girl a question that had been plaguing him for quite a while now. “Katrina, do you mind if I ask you something?”

“Go right ahead,” Katrina said airily.

“Why do you love a sadistic asshole like the King of Hearts?” Alister questioned.

“He wasn’t always cruel,” Katrina said after a moment. “I knew him when he was just a boy. He used to be sweet and kind.” A warm, far-off expression formed on Katrina’s face as she took a little trip down memory lane inside of her head.

Alister let out a disbelieving snort. “You have got to be kidding me. What happened?”

“He lost someone very important to him and his heart was broken,” Katrina explained, her voice laced with sadness. “And I don’t know if it will ever be truly mended.”

Alister was starting to grow more curious about Crim’s past and wanted to ask Katrina more questions, but the tunnel ahead of them abruptly opened upon a large, spacious chamber. At the far end of the chamber were several tunnel openings to choose from to continue their journey. One of those openings appeared to be larger than the others, and also appeared to have been shaped by stone-carving tools to give it a perfect curve. Enormous, rectangular-shaped stone monoliths were scattered around the floor of the chamber.