Change of Plans--A Heart no Kuni no Alice FanFiction

Part 02: Arrival

I landed on the ground after a surprisingly short fall.  I swayed on my feet, trying to regain my equilibrium.  I had touched down in what seemed to be an abandoned courtyard.  I looked around, trying to see if there were any people around I could talk to.  After doing a complete circle on my toes I started the circle again, doing a double take when I saw a person walk into my line of sight.  As he drew closer I felt my stomach tighten slightly--the man didn't have a face.  Well, not exactly.  I mean, all I could see was his mouth, which was gaping in bewilderment at me.

He appeared rather frightened of me, and the feeling was mutual.  Even though he had no eyes, I could tell that he was regarding my weapons with a considerable amount of alarm.  I cleared my throat, making the poor man jump.  "Hello," I called to him, pitching my voice lower than normal.  My voice is already pretty low for a girl, so it didn't take much effort for me to sound like an adolescent boy.  "Could you tell me where I am?  I...uh..."  I rubbed the back of my neck awkwardly, playing up the story I was making up on the spot.  "I'm kind of lost."  Very creative, right?

The man stepped closer tentatively.  "Who are you?" he asked quietly.  "You don't look like one of the Faceless.  Are you an Outsider?"  He took a few more steps closer, appearing to squint at me.  I got a better look at the clothing he was wearing--he appeared to be wearing a page's outfit, but there was something wrong with it.  Finally, I realized that the uniform looked like a playing card.

I frowned slightly.  "I'm looking for someone," I told him, avoiding the question completely.  "I think she was brought here a few months ago.  Her name is Alice, but I don't think--what?  What's wrong?"

Alice's name had produced a strange reaction from the page.  "You are an Outsider!" he gasped.  "You're not a Faceless, or a roleplayer--you must be an Outsider!"  He spun on his heel bowed to me jerkily.  "Please excuse me, sir, but I must tell--oh, never mind!"  He darted off again, this time without stopping to bow to me.  I watched him go for a moment, briefly allowing myself a moment of pride that my boy-disguise had worked before panic set in and I turned and ran in the opposite direction.  I didn't know if the person he was going to was friendly to foreigners--and I didn't want to find out.

My path had taken me into a wooded area I had seen during my first scan of my surroundings.  As I ran I became more and more thankful that I had pulled my hair up.  The branches and twigs that kept scratching at my face would have had me tangled up and swearing in annoyance.  I emerged from the trees into a small clearing.  I doubled over, gasping for breath after my hard run.  I didn't know how far I had gone or how long I had run, but it had completely exhausted me.  I reached out and leaned on a tree trunk, intending to sit down but froze when I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

Someone's watching me--and they're really close.

Trying to slow my breathing, I drew a quarrel from my vest pocket as I slowly brought my crossbow in front of me.  My eyes darted from tree to bush and back again as I loaded it, pivoting slowly in a circle.  I saw a dark shape lurking in one of the trees out of the corner of my eye and I paused to look at it.  I edged forward, raising my weapon up to my eyes.  The sharp 'snap' of the cock echoed through the clearing, somehow managing to silence all noise with that one sound and still any movement in those woods.

"Are you going to shoot me?"

I jumped when I heard the voice--hey, I hadn't expected it!  Well, I had expected it from the place it came from, but hearing the shape speak had startled me.  "Possibly," I replied coolly in my boy's voice, my aim unwavering, "if you don't stop skulking about."

"But where's the fun in that?" the shadow asked, stretching lazily on its perch.  "I think it's more entertaining to sneak around."  In response, I fired off my quarrel where the shadow's head would have been, snatching up another quarrel as soon as I had pulled the trigger.  The shadow went rigid and still and I caught a glimpse of wide golden eyes.