Between Roses ✓ | Wattpad Version

Chapter 27: In Which The War Began

Quartz squinted. "We need go to the Jabberwocky, the Red Queen, an—"

"I have Alyce," Eryn said to them. Quartz blinked and Sisha cocked her head.

"We can destroy the Jabberwocky together," Eryn said and noticed a vague white of Alyce coming into existence standing next to her with her lips pressed together in a tight line. But it didn't seem like Quartz or Sisha could see her.

"Suddenly you can use the alyce?" Quartz eyed her suspiciously. "I don't believe—"

"Let's trust her," Sisha firmly said. "I will."

Quartz sighed loudly and rubbed his face. "Alright. The rose garden. I saw her go there. The Red Queen, I saw her, I mean."

"I can smell her." Duxim sniffed the air and took Eryn's hand. Rugisque took her other one. As Eryn was about to go, Quartz and Sisha went off for the battle instead.

"Wait, you're going that way?" she called but they didn't even turn around. Eryn rolled her eyes. They could have told her their plan. "Well, Duxim, Rugisque, I guess it's just us."

Duxim and Rugisque looked up at her expectantly, waiting for the signal to go when Eryn had an idea. They would tell her, wouldn't they?

"Do you know where Ace is?"

Duxim shuffled the ground. "I'm not supposed to tell you."

"Please?" Eryn said, "I just need to know. I'm really worried about him."

"Well," Duxim looked away and bit his lip. "He went to get reenforcements."

Reinforcements? Eryn couldn't think of who was left sane here. "Who?"

"Scorpions."

He had gone to the White Queen's castle alone and with those injuries and outnumbered, was he insane? And wasn't the White Queen consumed by the Jabberwocky? It was like he was presenting himself on a platter asking the Jabberwocky to eat him up. She had seen the beast consume Clue.

Eryn stared out at the battlefield where Hornets fought Hornets. Swords clanked, magic flew about, and she had to look away when a Jabberwocky Hornet sliced through the body of the sane Hornet. She needed to go with Alyce and destroy the Jabberwocky, but she also couldn't get it out of her mind that Ace might be in trouble. What if he got had again?

"We need to go help him."

"He said you might say that." Duxim pouted. "That's why I wasn't supposed to tell you. He said you need to get rid of the Red Queen Jabberwocky. That's the core. If you do, this will all stop. And if bad Hornets are still fighting, Scorpions will be had-not, and we'll be saved."

But her mind was made up. She couldn't lose Ace. Not again when she almost did. "The White Queen's castle is close, right?"

Duxim nodded without looking at her. "Yeah, but—"

"So, we'll just go take a look and come right back," Eryn said, but Duxim hesitated and Rugisque sat down to scratch at the groundsky with his finger.

He pursed his lips. "But he said you should—"

"Eryn," Alyce whispered next to her, "look." A transparent finger pointed up ahead. There was the White Queen's ice castle letting off steam and she caught the distinct red coat of a flying Hornet shooting flames at the structure. A yellow sparking sphere captured him, and he froze in the air.

As he hung above the castle, an ominous black cloud gathered in the sky above and Eryn felt the familiar tingle of the Jabberwocky.

"Ace!" Eryn let go of Duxim's paw and ran off in the direction of the castle, but her legs wobbled, and she fell.