Untold Alice: The King of Spades

Mad as a Hatter

We took a shortcut through the trees and onto another much smaller path. The Rabbit sped up, eagre to get to wherever this Hatter's house was. Within a few moments we approached an old looking cottage situated in the middle pristine lawn. Red rose bushes surrounded the perimetre in the shadows of huge monkey puzzle trees. The cottage had two windows on either side of the wooden door, and another much smaller window poking out of the thatched roof. 

"I have always been jealous of Hatter's house, if I'm being honest." said the Rabbit, pushing his glasses back onto the bridge of his nose. 

"It is a really lovely spot." I said admiringly. It looked really small to me. 

We headed towards the entrance, the knocker of which was in the shape of a teacup. 5 knocks later, the door was answered by a very small man with short brown hair wearing leather gloves and a pair of goggles around his neck. He wore an apron around his waist and big brown lace-up boots. 

"Morning Griffin! Is Hatter in?" the Rabbit said cheerily.

The man called Griffin looked at me and then back to the Rabbit. There was no trace emotion on his face.

"Last I saw he was in the library." said Griffin, walking back into the house.

 He went down a corridor to the left, leaving me and the Rabbit stood in what I can only assume was the hallway. The house was huge. It took ages for the man called Griffin to disappear out of sight. Doors decorated the walls, each of them a different colour. I peeped into the closest one. Coats and hats and scarves and any kind of garment you could think of littered the floor. The walls were coated in out of use hooks, and hat stands hung from the ceiling. 

"Sorry about him, he's not a people person." I jumped out of my skin at the sound of this voice behind me. 

"Ah! Hatter! Just the person I wanted to see." the Rabbit said to the newly emerged man stood in the opposite doorway. It was as if he appeared out of thin air.

"Arty, good to see you! And a guest I see? Good, good, good. Now, are you two coming in or not?" said Hatter. He gestured to us to follow him into the room. We didn't hesitate to comply. 

A long dining table stood in the middle of the room, piled with teacups, saucers, doilies, cake stands,teapots and mugs. This is a serious tea party  I thought, taking a seat near the end next to the Rabbit. The Hatter sat opposite. He had flaming red hair that curled in just about every direction. His eyes were different colours, one blue and one bright yellow. He had a striped shirt and a polka dot bow tie. The sun from the window behind me lit up his face in the strangest way. His green sequinned shorts acted like a disco ball.

"Tea?" he offered, his voice going startlingly high. 

"Oh yes please, Eros." said the Rabbit. "I've not even introduced you two, have I? Eros, this is Amber Fairlor. Amber, this is the Hatter."

"Eros Riddlequill, at your tea service." He reached over the table and shook my hand vigorously.

"I take it you like tea then?"I asked sarcastically. 

"Oh I don't just like it my dear, I positively live off it."

"We think he actually lives off it"said the Rabbit quietly, cautious so Hatter wouldn't hear.

Hatter passed me a tray of biscuits. I just couldn't resist.

"Are you another one Arthur here has 'accidentally' brought into Wonderland?" Hatter asked.

"Another one? What- how many have there been?"I asked, turning to the Rabbit immediately. 

"Well..three or four maybe.." The Rabbit looked down at his hands.

"So this is a hobby, is it?" I said, raising my voice slightly. 

"No! Listen, just let me explain. The first time, it was a complete accident. Alice, she was called. She was only 10 years old, but the most curious person I ever met. Not like that though, she was curious about everything, is what I mean. The second was Heath, but I guess that was on purpose."

"Hold on, King of Spades Heath?" I asked.

"Yes. He was adopted by the last King of Spades." the Rabbit continued. "The third was another young girl called Madeleine. And you make four."

"They all got home right? Except Heath, of course." I asked politely

"Yes, don't worry, you will be back home in a month or two."

"A month or two?! Where the heck am I going to stay for a month or two?"

Before the Rabbit could answer, the sound of voices and footsteps came increasingly louder from the end of the hall. I recognised Griffins voice, but not the other one. Hatter got up and stuck his head round the door. 

"Will you two keep it down? You know we have guests!" said Hatter, rather angrily.

A faint voice said something about 'unwanted guests'.  I guessed that was probably Griffin. 

The other voice however said "Oh! Apologies Hatter. Do I know these guests of yours?"

"It's just the White Rabbit, Heath. Oh and, uh...." Hatter turned and looked at me dubiously. "Ah! Amber, that's it. Yes, Amber Fair- something or other."  

"Arty found another one did he? Lets meet her then, Hatter." said the new mans voice. 

Griffin muttered something in protest, but followed him into the dining room. Hatter shuffled himself back to his seat and poured himself another cup of tea. Then Heath walked in. 

He was a tall, very handsome man, with pitch-black hair and a jawline you could have used as a guillotine. His eyes were dark brown and his skin had a tanned look to it. His hair was shaggy but his clothes were the embodiment of precise. The black war-type trench coat, the immaculate white shirt, the creaseless black trousers and the leather combat boots made his impression on the room sharp and powerful. The cuffs and edges of his coat were all banded with royal blue, and the buttons engraved with the symbol of a spade. The same spade used to separate the suits in a pack of cards. 

He smiled and held out his hand to me. "The name's Heath. King of Spades."

"Amber Fairlor." I said, smiling back. I took his hand, but instead of shaking it, he bent and planted a kiss on the back of it. I may have blushed, I'm not sure. He let go and turned to greet the Rabbit. 

"She's nicer than that last one you brought back, I'll give you that Arthur." Heath said, giving the Rabbit a look that I'm pretty certain could be translated as 'Arty you need to stop doing this'. "Anyway, how have you been? I haven't seen you since the winter solstice."

"I've been very well, thank you. I have been on the surface a lot recently, with that new clinic about to open up in Whispley and all. You and Favian haven't had any secret confrontations while I've been gone, have you?" replied the Rabbit, retaking his seat. Heath copied, sitting besides Hatter, who was happily munching on a teacake. Griffin stood in the corner cleaning his goggles. 

"Well.." began Heath, helping himself to a bourbon biscuit "Not exactly."

The Rabbit sighed. "What happened this time?"

"Nothing to worry about, Arty. I'm pretty sure Favian sent Ace to follow me, that's all. But I sorted him out."

"Uh, sorry, kind of new here" I said, chiming in innocently. "You weren't joking about the cold war were you?"

Heath became angry very quickly.