Untold Alice: The King of Spades

The Power of a Pocketwatch

"You know what? I think this one could be quite useful actually."

I opened my eyes to two shabby haired men who look about 40, with faces covered in grease and dirt. One of them had a scarlet head scarf.

"I dunno Dan, she looks too spindly to me." said the one with the headscarf.

"Well, let's get 'er up and see if she fights or not."

The one called Dan held out his hand. I have to admit I wasn't thinking straight at that moment because, well, I had just fallen through some sort of rabbit hole and was now lying on my back on what looked like a pier or a dock. I let him help me up. Looking around I saw I had definitely landed in a shipping port somewhere I can only assume was the other end of the rabbit hole. My head was spinning and it took me a moment to stand straight. The two men and I were stood on a precarious wooden pier that led back onto a pebble beach. The water was calm and bluer than I had ever seen the sea. But I don't think this was the sea I was used to. 

"Well then Missy? You got a name?" The way Dan said 'missy' made me uncomfortable. 

"Uh.." I kept looking around trying to tell where I was exactly "Amber Fairlor"

"Well then, Amber. Mind explaining to us how in Oldar's name you got here?" 

"I don't think I can. You see, I'm not entirely sure...who's Oldar?" They both gave me quizzical looks.

Dan took a step closer to me. As he did so, his features became more clearer. He had a little bit of stubble around his jaw, and a scar about 2 inches long from his temple down to his cheekbone. He smelt strongly of salt, oil and alcohol. Dan stood there for a moment, just staring at me. 

Okay, I think it's nearly time to leave  said the slightly panicked voice in my head.

Dan turned around and looked at his friend. The headscarf man smiled slyly and nodded.  Uh oh, I think that was a lets-kidnap-her kinda nod.. and unsurprisingly, it was. Dan pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and thrust it over my mouth and nose. Within a few seconds, I blacked out and fell to the floor. 

I woke up in new surroundings for the second time that day, but this time, I was sat against a wooden crate with my hands bound behind my back. If they meant to take me to somewhere secret where I wouldn't know where I was, they failed. I was very clearly in the hull of an out of use ship. I don't how far away I was from the pier though.  I hadn't noticed it before, but the sun was high in the sky and was making its way through holes in the rusted metal of the decking. Did I go forwards in time? Maybe I went backwards? I'm sure it was like 10 o'clock when I went down that hole. Did I actually go down it though? I don't remember falling..

There were so many questions I wanted to ask, but I didn't dare ask Dan or any other of his mates, because I knew it would probably get me in deeper trouble. Speaking of his mates, three men, with the same greasy faces and dirty clothes as Dan, climbed down the ladder in the corner and approached me.  The smaller blonde one of them stood at the front and the other two bulky ones flanked him. The whole set-up reminded me of a Harry Potter book. But instead of saying anything about his father, the smaller man said:

"Listen here, Missy. You're gonna do a job for us."

"Why should I?" I replied bitterly.

"You see, lady.." He pulled out a cutlass from the back of his belt and ran his hands up and down the blade, staring at it with pride. He looked down at me and continued. "I don't want to have to, but if you start arguing with me, I will, with no hesitation, use this. Do you understand me?"

"Yes." I said, trying hard to cover up the tremble in my voice.

"Good. Now get up!" And with that, the two guys behind him grabbed my arms, released my hands, and yanked me off the ground. Both of them had small knives in sheaths on their belts. They guided me (more like dragged me) towards the ladder, which the blonde man was now climbing up. The man to my left pushed me towards it, but I was wearing a skirt. It was a warm day when I went to work that morning, so I didn't put on a pair of shorts. 

"Ladies first, hurry up." the man on the right said.

"I don't think so. Not with this skirt I'm not." I paused, staring at them determindly. "It's not happening, so don't even try."

They looked at each other. One of them shrugged. 

"Fine. Just don't try do anythin' stupid, got it?"

"I won't." I said as innocently as possible.

They climbed up the ladder quickly so they could make sure I was coming up. I thought about escaping for a moment, but when I couldn't come up with a plan that wouldn't get me killed, I gave up and started climbing. 

By the time I got there, the deck was completely empty. No signs of the three guys anywhere. I thought I had some sort of grasp on what was going on, but now my head was swimming again. The flash of something emerald green in the corner of my eye brought me back down to Earth (if this was even Earth). I spun around as quickly as I could to see the rabbit-man dive behind a large crate. But why would he hide? I asked myself. I began walking slowly towards the crate, mainly because I didn't want to fall through the iron decking. 

"Hello? I know you're there. Listen, you dropped something before on the bridge, I thought you might want it back." 

He stood up slowly, still wearing the same green attire, and turned to face me. He looked a little bit older than me, but I never thought to ask. He look scared, only for a moment, before his face brightened up immensely when he recognised me. His circular glasses enlarged his eyes much more in the sunlight than they had done when I first met him.

"You're the one I bumped into on the bridge aren't you?" he said.

"Yes, um, you dropped this." I fumbled about in my cardigan pocket, pulled out the pocket watch and handed it to him.

"I say! I was hoping you would bring it back to me. Thank you very much." He smiled.

"What do you mean 'you hoped I would bring it back'? How did you know I would?" I said rather frantically.

"I didn't, I just hoped you would."

I opened my mouth to say something, but closed it again, deciding his reply wasn't going to get any less cryptic.

"Sorry, what was your name?" I said after he put the watch back in his coat pocket.

"Arthur Goodwyn, but most people just refer to me as the White Rabbit."

"Okay, well, erm, I have a couple of questions..maybe you could answer them?"

"I can certainly try." he smiled again. He seemed to do that after every sentence.

"Right. First things first, where am I?" I said, deciding that this was the best question to ask at that point.

"Why, you're in Wonderland of course!"

"And where exactly is Wonderland?" 

"Ah, you see..sorry, I didn't catch your name. Miss..?"

"Oh, Amber. Amber Fairlor." 

"Well, Amber.." he continued "Lets just say you won't find Wonderland on any maps of yours, unless of course you lot have been able to map different dimensions, which I very much doubt."

I think my jaw must have dropped open, because the next thing he said was:

"Of course you're confused. Why wouldn't you be? Why don't we head back to my house for some tea, and I will explain everything on the way there. How does that sound? It's just through the forest, not too far."

I nodded, and followed the Rabbit, praying this time I wouldn't find another portal. I'd had enough today as it was.