Aelin in Wonderland

Lorcan and the Cheshire Bat

When Lorcan woke up, he thought he must be having a dream. For two reasons.
One, he was next to Elide, and every day with her was a dream. (Cue 'aww's)
Two, there was a bat staring at him. With a creepy smile. Bats can't smile.
The bat was small and had dark brown, fluffy fur. It was grinning, displaying fangs much too large for its body. Creepy.
"Lorcan.. where are we?"
"Um.. I'm not sure."
"That bat is scaring me." Lorcan started staring at the bat, resisting the urge to growl. No one scared his Elide. The dark haired beauty giggled, sheets of hair rippling as she sat up."Lor, you look like you're trying to have a staring contest with it."
Suddenly, there was a flash of light.
And there was no bat sitting on the branch of the tree.
But there was a person.
He had shoulder length brown hair, and a little hat sitting on his head at a jaunty angle.
But his red eyes were not the creepiest part about him.
That was his smile.
It was the bat's smile. Same fangs, same shiny white teeth. Wait. Was that blood dripping off his incisors?
He practically screamed Valg.
"So what brings you two to my forest?"
"This is your forest?" Asked Elide.
"Yep." The smile widened.
"Who might you be, then? And where exactly are we?" Lorcan stayed silent as Elide spoke.
"They call me the Cheshire Bat. But you can call me Vlad! Oh, you're in the Cheshire forest by the way. Most don't know what it is, so I forgive you. Many refer to it as the border around the Joker's land. That's north of here, currently." Elide and Lorcan grew quite confused. What the hell was a joker? Oh my. Perhaps they had switched worlds.
"I blame Aedion." Said Lorcan. "It's always Aedion."
"Don't go blaming this Aedion chap. You could've fallen out of the sky on your own accord." Ok, this guy was starting to piss him off. "Tell you what, I'll take you to my friend Gilbert's place. He's a smart lad, he could answer all your questions." That might actually be a good idea.
     "Uh.. Sure." Replied Lorcan.