Hatter's Revenge (rewriting - read at own risk)

Ch. 19: The Lost Traveler

When Mad was finally awake, the sun had been up a long time. He sat up and put on his hat, then tugged on his boots, thinking about Killian and his mission to kill the Queen.

Mad pinched the bridge of his nose and shrugged gingerly into his shoulder holster, checking his guns before shoving them in place. He was still recovering and was tired and sore, in spite of the hours of sleep.

"Are you awake yet?" Alice's voice came from the front of the tent. Mad squinted when the sun shone right into his eyes, momentarily blinding him.

He waited for his eyes to adjust and nodded, standing up, stretching and rolling the kinks out of his shoulders. Alice stood in front of him, arms crossed. "I'm coming with you."

"I know," Mad answered.

Alice continued, "I need to go. I know you don't believe in that prophecy but I do. I'm going Madison Hatter and you can't stop me." Then, she stopped, frowning. "Wait. What did you say?"

Mad laughed and tugged at her braid as he walked past. "I said, hurry up. Now I'm waiting on you."

He stepped into the cooling early evening air and frowned. He hadn't realized he'd slept for so long. He wasn't surprised when he found Killian sitting cross-legged on the ground, cleaning a rifle. Mad crouched down and warmed his hands over the fire, yawning.

Alice stood across from him and Mad finally noticed the revolver on her hip. "We're going to the Dark Forest first."

"For Maris?" Mad asked, raising an eyebrow at Killian.

Killian just scowled and said, "You try arguing with her once. I already told her it was a bad idea. Maybe she'll believe you."

Mad glanced up, tipping his hat back a little to find Alice glaring at him, her hands on her hips. He shook his head at Killian. "No thanks."

"Then I guess we're going to the Dark Forest." Killian stood up, slipping the rifle into a sheath on his back. Alice smiled brightly at him and Killian tried to fight down an answering smile. Mad sighed and rolled his eyes.

He looked up when Dinah and Chesh joined them. Dinah looked at Killian and said, "They're waiting for you."

Killian blanched but nodded and followed Chesh into the camp.

Mad stood up and looked at Alice. "Who's waiting for him?"

Alice's eyes followed Killian and were tight with worry. She tried to smile and said, "His people."

She grabbed Mad's hand and pulled him with her, following the path Cheshire and Killian had taken.

"How's Adira?" Mad asked quietly as they skirted around the crowd forming in the center of the camp.

Alice's fingers tightened on his and she looked over her shoulder at him. "She's sleeping mostly. Healer Sieben says that's normal but Adira's having to stay with her so that Sieben can keep an eye on her."

Mad nodded, relieved. This was going to be hard on Killian anyway. The last thing he needed was to be distracted worrying about Adira. Distractions would get him killed.

Alice paused just at the edge of the crowd, watching as Killian walked up a small incline until he was head and shoulders above everyone else.

He stood with his hands on his hips, looking at the ground thoughtfully for a moment. The crowd stood with bated breath, waiting for their King to speak. Killian looked up, his eyes scanning over the crowd before finally lighting on Alice.

Killian took a deep breath and said, "I'm not asking you to go to war. I can't."

He paused, waiting for the murmurs to die.