The Knave let out a roar of outrage, quickly flipped over, and began to saw at the rope around her ankles with the Sword of Light.

Alister ran over to a stone monolith and gazed at its nice flat surface. He nodded to himself. The rock made a nice canvas. But, what should he paint? He wracked his brain for an idea. I wish I had some reinforcements right about now…that’s it!

Alister quickly began to paint a wolf on the stone monolith. Lastly, he painted its eyes and then added its pupils. As soon as he’d added the pupils the drawing glowed and peeled off the surface of the stone. Seconds later, the wolf materialized into existence - a real flesh and blood wolf with brown fur and very sharp teeth.

At this point, the Knave had managed to cut through her bonds, and was stalking towards Alister again with menacing, predatory steps. She didn’t appear to be all that concerned with the sudden appearance of the wolf. “Two can play at being a predator.”

“Wolf…go get her!” Alister commanded the wolf. With a loud bark the wolf obediently charged towards the Knave, baring its teeth in a snarl.

The Knave arched an eyebrow at the charging wolf. “Not bad, Artist. But even this won’t be good enough to stop me!” With a two-handed grip on the sword, the Knave waited until the wolf leapt at her. She dodged, turned to face the wolf’s side, and brought the sword down on the wolf’s neck. “Off with your head!”

Alister watched in horror as the wolf’s head was cut off, blood spewing through the air. Bile rose up in his throat at the gory sight, and he covered his mouth. That poor wolf was very dead.

“Ahhh…oooo,” Clover moaned loudly.

Alister glanced over at Clover in concern. At this rate, the White King was going to get his arms and legs ripped off soon. That damned masochistic King! He had to do something. He had to save Clover. But, how? What would Katrina say?

Just paint something, Silly Boy.

That’s it! The Knave was prowling towards him again. Shit! Alister crouched down and began to draw a large circle on the floor. That should stall her at least. Then, Alister rushed over to one of the stone monoliths and began to paint something else.

The Knave continued her way forward until she was suddenly sinking down in a mud puddle that had appeared from out of nowhere beneath her feet. “Ack! What the hell is this? Cowardly tricks! Argh!”

Alister determinedly continued to paint. “Insult me all you want. I don’t care…as long as I can save Clover! There! Let there be light!” Alister’s picture glowed, and only ended up glowing brighter and brighter.

Alister had painted a sun.

The sun’s rays hit the monolith Clover was restrained to.

“Kyah!” the shadow fairy let out a pained shriek, let go of Clover, and sank back into the stone monolith from whence she came.

Clover stumbled forward a few steps and sank to his knees in pain. He coughed and wheezed for breath. Dark purple bruises were already forming around his throat. His arms and legs felt like jelly. “A-Alister…”

Alister gave Clover a thumbs-up. “Aha! I did it! I saved him.”

“Well, whoop-dee-doo,” the Knave said sarcastically in her deep, throaty voice. She’d gotten out of the mud puddle and was approaching Alister once more with dogged steps. “Someone give the boy a prize. But, the real question is…who’s going to save you?”

Alister shrugged unconcernedly. “At least I won’t die a coward, and I managed to save someone, in the end.”

“What sentimental nonsense,” the Knave scoffed right before she swung her sword at Alister. “Die, Alister! Off with your head!”

Alister shut his eyes, and prepared for the inevitable.

“I don’t think so!” a sassy female voice declared. Alister’s eyes snapped back open. He knew that voice. It was Madeline!

From her position perched on top of one of the stone monoliths a woman leapt down through the air and her sword clashed against the Knave’s with a mighty clang.

“Mad- er, who the hell are you?” Alister blinked.

The woman turned to Alister, raised an index finger to her lips, and winked. The woman appeared to be a Dark Fairy. She had onyx-colored skin, red eyes, long white hair, pointed ears, and a pair of dark blue butterfly wings was outstretched behind her. But, strangely enough she was wearing a top hat, and Alister recognized the Vorpal Sword in her hand.

It was Madeline in disguise.

“I am the brave fairy known as er…” Madeline trailed off as she tried to pick a good alias.

“Er?” the Knave asked, her lip curling back in a condescending sneer. “Never heard of you.”

“I’m from Erland,” Madeline said matter-of-factly.

“Well, Miss Er, you need to get out of my way. I need that man’s head so that I can present it to my beloved Crim on a silver platter!” In that moment, the Knave’s dull brown eyes literally turned into two pink hearts.

Alister let out a groan, and slapped a hand to his forehead. “Ugh. Please don’t tell me you’re in love with Crim too?”

The Knave shot Alister a questioning glance. “You’re in love with Crim?”

Alister flushed. “No! I was talking about Katrina! And how all the girls in Wonderland seem to be in love with the King of Hearts.”

The Knave waved her hand dismissively through the air. “Oh, that annoying Cheshire Cat slave? She’s just an animal. Crim would never fall in love with someone as lowly as her!”

Alister grew pissed. “Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure about that. When Katrina got injured protecting Crim earlier he looked pretty devastated about it.”

“Devastated? Crim?” The Knave nibbled on her thumbnail. “You lie! Off with your head!” The Knave tried to get past Madeline, but the Hatter smoothly stepped to the side to block her way, sword raised before her.

“If you want his head, you’re going to have to take mine first,” Madeline exclaimed.

The Knave smiled sharply. “So be it, Er. Let’s see how good you are with that sword of yours! I should warn you though…Crim taught me himself. And there are only a handful of swordsmen in Wonderland who rival his skill with a sword!”

“Is that so? The man who taught me was also a Master Swordsman,” Madeline said nonchalantly.

The Knave grew curious. “Who was he?”

“Now, that…” Madeline leaned forward and the Knave leaned forward slightly in an expectant manner so that she could hear Madeline’s response better. “Is a secret!” Madeline gave the Knave an impish wink.

“Grrrr! Enough chitchat!” The Knave attacked Madeline with the Sword of Light. Madeline blocked the attack with her sword, and a clanging sound echoed through the chamber.

While Madeline was busy fighting the Knave, Alister took that opportunity to run over to Clover and see how the poor guy was doing. Alister crouched down at the man’s side and put a hand on his shoulder. “Hey, you okay, man?”

Clover gave Alister a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry about me…I’m a fast healer.” Clover looked over at Madeline and the Knave fighting, and frowned. “I’m more concerned about your mysterious rescuer though. The Knave is rumored to be undefeated in mortal combat, despite being a woman.”

Alister gawked at Clover. “You don’t recognize who she is?”

Clover arched a quizzical eyebrow at Alister. “Should I?”

Alister opened his mouth to respond, but then closed it. Madeline wasn’t allowed to help him complete these impossible tasks, or else she risked forfeiting her hand in marriage to Crim. “No. I just thought maybe you knew her.”

Clover stroked his chin thoughtfully as he observed Madeline fight. “No, I don’t know her, but…she’s quite beautiful, isn’t she? And, she’s also very…fierce.” Clover’s green eyes literally turned into two pink hearts.

Alister rolled his eyes. “Oh, brother.”

It appeared as though Madeline had the upper hand, and that the Knave was being pushed back, until-

The Knave suddenly wrapped her left hand around the hilt of the enormous broadsword strapped to her back, and brought it down in front of her. The Knave’s right hand wielded the Sword of Light while her right hand now wielded the huge broadsword. Wielding such large swords should have been next to impossible due to their combined weight, but the Knave started to fight Madeline using both swords easily, and spun like a deadly, spinning top.

That’s when Madeline’s confident smile slipped off her face, and it was her turn to be pushed back.

Alister watched Madeline retreating across the chamber, and knew that he had to help her. An image of the bleeding and injured Katrina cradled in Chesher’s arms flashed through his mind. He couldn’t let that happen again!

Alister ran over to one of the stone monoliths and started to paint a giant eagle. Lastly, he added pupils to the eagle’s eyes, and as soon as his painting was finished it started to glow. The image of the eagle peeled itself off the stone and materialized into a real, flesh and blood eagle.

The eagle flew over and landed on Alister’s outstretched arm, its talons digging into his arm painfully. But, he didn’t mind the slight pain. Alister whispered into the eagle’s ear: “Get the Sword of Light.”

Madeline was starting to struggle with blocking blow after heavy blow until her arms were trembling from the effort. The Knave was physically stronger than Madeline, and each blow she blocked was taking its toll. In a battle to see who had more stamina - Madeline knew she would surely lose.

With a savage twist of her wrist the Knave managed to disarm Madeline whose grip had gotten weaker. The Mad Hatter’s sword clattered to the ground. The Knave was grinning savagely. “You lose, Er! Off with your head!” The Knave swung the Sword of Light towards Madeline, prepared to take her head. However-

The cry of an eagle echoed through the stone chamber. Then, an eagle swooped down with lightning speed, wrapped its talons around the Sword of Light’s blade, and snatched the sword right out of the Knave’s grip. “No!” The Knave shouted angrily. “Get back here you thief!”

The eagle flew across the chamber and returned the sword to the White King.

“You stole it from the White King first!” Alister reminded.

The Knave shot a disgusted look the White King’s way. “He’s the White King? Crim’s brother? But, they’re so…”

“Different.” Alister smirked.

Madeline ducked, rolled, and grabbed her fallen sword before leaping to her feet again, sword in hand. “Now, we can have a fair fight, Knave!”

The Knave frowned at the dark fairy woman. “That won’t help you.”

Madeline charged forward and tenaciously attacked the Knave with renewed vigor. Soon the Knave was being pushed back. Madeline was smiling again while the Knave was frowning.

Alister frowned at the Knave when he noticed something amiss. “Is it just me…or did the Knave get bigger?”

Clover stroked his chin thoughtfully as he looked at the Knave. “No. You’re right…she is bigger. She’s at least eight-feet-tall now. Or should I say she’s around fourteen-inches tall now?”

The Knave’s face began to turn red out of embarrassment, and she shot a heated glare their way. “Did you just call me ‘big’! I’m not big. I’m just…big-boned! That’s all!”

Madeline took advantage of the Knave’s distracted state, spotted an opening in her defenses, and with a skillful twist of her wrist, Madeline finally disarmed the Knave.

The Knave sank to her knees in defeat and hung her head in shame. “I can’t believe I let myself get defeated…”

Madeline swung her sword and stopped it at the Knave’s throat. “I win.”

The Knave nodded grimly. “Do it. Kill me.”

Madeline raised her sword, and her smile widened. “That’s not really my style.” She used the hilt of her sword to knock the Knave unconscious.

Now that the immediate threat had passed, Alister ran over to Madeline with a huge grin plastered to his face. “You did it. You won!”

Madeline gracefully sheathed her sword and smiled. “It appears so. Are you alright?”

“Thanks to you, I-” Alister was saying when Clover cut in front of him and interrupted him.

“My fair lady, I thank you for your assistance!” Clover started in a flamboyant manner. “You showed such bravery, such courage, such valor! I must know your name?” He took Madeline’s hand and placed a gentle kiss on the back of it.

Madeline blinked at Clover, caught off-guard by his flirtations, and hesitated. “Er…”

“Ah, yes, I heard you say your name is Er. What an unusual name,” Clover remarked with a twinkle in his green eyes.

“I’m from Erland,” Madeline said nonchalantly.

Alister snickered behind his hand, and Madeline shot him a dirty look.

“Well, my Lady Er, it appears as though you have caught us red-handed trespassing in your tunnels.” An apologetic expression settled over Clover’s face. “I suppose, you’ll have to take us prisoner.”

“I will?” Madeline echoed in confusion.

“I only ask that you spare this young man,” Clover said as he waved a hand in Alister’s direction. “He has somewhere important he needs to be. I’ll let you take me prisoner instead.”

“You will?” Madeline said.

At that moment, Clover whipped out a pair of fuzzy, leopard-print handcuffs, and put them on his wrists. He then held his wrists out before him in a meek pose. “I am now your prisoner, Milady. Take me away to the Dark Fairy dungeon, and do your worse. Torture me. Spank me. Whip me. Whatever you deem is an appropriate punishment for my trespass, I will gladly submit and take it.”

Alister slapped a hand to his forehead and groaned. “Oh my God.” He should have seen this coming.

Madeline was having a hard time keeping a straight face. “You know what? I’m feeling rather benevolent today. I’ve decided to let you both go with a warning.”

Clover’s hopeful expression fell and he pouted. “A warning?”

“Hurry up and leave here before I change my mind. Shoo.” Madeline waved her hand at them in an imperious manner.

Clover’s dejected demeanor turned hopeful. “You might change your mind, Milady?”

Alister grabbed Clover’s arm and started to drag him towards the exit tunnel. “Come on, Romeo, don’t lose sight of your goal. You want Madeline to spank you, not some random Dark Fairy chick, remember?”

Clover grew aghast at his own actions. “You’re absolutely right, Alister! Oh, how fickle is my heart! I hope Madeline can find it in her heart to forgive me. The temptation of being imprisoned and tortured by a beautiful woman was just too great to resist. Of course, you understand, don’t you, Alister?” Clover gave Alister an expectant look.

“Nope. Not one bit, Romeo.” Alister laughed jovially. “And thank God for that!” The artist watched as Clover sheathed his sword and then went over to pick up the Knave. Clover’s arms strained with the effort it took to support her weight. “What are you doing?”