Hatter

THE MISSION BEGINS

The real magic in Aether, thought Hatter as the Queen glided past him, wasn't the fancy wizard tricks and illusions his group was skilled at,- no, magic was something else entirely; magic was the way few talented individuals possessed the ability to emanate power and authority to the point that they were able to command an entire audience into submissive silence. The White Queen then, by definition, was the most skilled magician of all- one word uttered in her silky voice would be enough to generate utter reverence and respect in even the most arrogant of men. Like a benevolent but strict ruler, she was known to be fair and just, but also one not to be trifled with.
"Your Majesty," the group chorused, bowing in her presence.
The White Queen gave a small, kind smile. Her eyes settled on Hatter, who entertained himself with a coughing fit. "How did your scouting mission go?"
Hatter opened his mouth to speak but sneezed instead. Cat rolled her eyes once more and took over for him. "Excellently, Your Highness. We made an overview of the surrounding area and got attacked by the Queen of Heart's guard dogs but it's okay 'cause we're still alive and Hatter here's freezing to death because he's a baby except that's nothing new so we're cool on that point-"
The Queen looked concerned. "The wolves didn't follow the two of you back to camp, did they?"
Cat curled up on the mattress. "Have some faith in us, please."
Dormouse sniffed. "I have complete faith in the fact you doomed us all."
"Shut up," Cat replied.
"Till we all die from frostbite anyway."
March Hare studied his nails. "Way to lighten the mood."
"Can we hear Hatter and Cat out without comment?" the Queen said softly. Her smile was light, but everyone knew it was time to keep quiet.
Hatter cleared his throat. "Cat made a plan to infiltrate the castle." He gestured at Cat to elaborate further, and she picked up where he left off.
"Yep," she said brightly. "Fantastic plan. Your Highness, the storm's coming pretty quick. The castle's outer defences are getting weaker; I can feel it. Three days from now, the castle's magical barriers are going to be practically non existent when the storm strikes- as I'm sure you're aware of. Today, we found out that the moat surrounding the castle's completely frozen. It makes for easy access across to the castle if we enter through the forest. The trees, coupled with the winds and blizzard, should hide us from any guards the Queen of Heart has positioned as lookouts, and I can cast an invisibility illusion on everyone too if you like. The only problem left would be hiding our scent from the wolves. It's astonishing how excellent their sense of smell is- I didn't expect they'd be able to smell us all the way from down the hill when we were mapping out the area this afternoon. We'll have to find a way to outmaneuver them."
March Hare tapped his chin thoughtfully. 'If I use my powers to make smoke that might fool them, it would be a major heads up to the Queen of Hearts- it would give our whole plan away." He gestured to the twins next to him. "What about you guys?"
The twins shook their heads, and March Hare let out a defeated sigh.
The illusion Cat had cast had kept them safe from prying eyes, but to keep up her magic for days without drastically depleting her own energy meant that her illusion sapped away everyone else's strength little by little, too. It was fortunate that they had the White Queen to fulfil the role as the healer of the group; even so, sometimes Hatter felt as if there was still a crushing burden on their shoulders sucking away at their spirits. This was one such moment where the entire group fell into a heavy, exhausted silence, perhaps due to the effect of the illusion, perhaps due to the dilemma at hand, or perhaps both.
Hatter's eyes flicked towards Absolem, who stood leaning against one of their tents keeping warm by the blazing fire. His teal irises seemed to almost glow a warm red with the reflection of the embers. Absolem always looked as if he were lost in thought; he always seemed detached from the rest of them. Most of the others didn't particularly care about his existence, and they only remembered him when they had run out of solutions for a problem. Now all eyes were fixated on him.
Dormouse often argued why Absolem was a member of their group if he never made any significant contributions nor took active interest in their affairs. His knack for conjuring up weapons was, Dormouse acknowledged, quite a handy ability, but other than that and providing the occasional answer to an issue he seemed to do nothing else. None of Dormouse's words had any influence on the White Queen, though; she valued Absolem the most out of all of them, and Hatter could see why. Absolem was the reason their group was still intact, despite everyone's differences. He was the voice of logic amidst the chaos of clashing opinions and arguments and squabbles; he was also the only one who had ever dared defy the authority of the White Queen. But that had only been once. Absolem mostly preferred to stay in the shadows minding his own business, rising to the occasion once in a while during the group's expeditions.
"Well?" said March Hare. "Any ideas, Absolem?"
Absolem sighed, shifting his gaze towards the group. He scratched his scruffy chin. "On the day of the storm, the snow is going to help cover our tracks and our scents already, so we'll be at an advantage. The wolves will be the least of our worries."
The atmosphere of the room ought to have grown lighter, but something about his tone made it sink even further.
"Well then. That means everything's sorted," Cat said brightly, feigning cheerfulness and clapping her hands.
Absolem pursed his lips. "We still have no clue where the Queen of Hearts keeps her staff, and that's what we're going in to get."
"White Rabbit will tell us once we're in," March Hare replied.
Dormouse sniffed. "How do we know we can trust him?"
Absolem gave a short barking laugh, crossing his arms. "We don't. We could just be walking to our deaths."
Cat perked up. "Now that sounds fun."
"Why does your idea of fun always involve something morbid?" Hatter frowned.
"Speaking of which," she said, "My plan also happened to involve using Dormouse as bait."
Dormouse let out a short squeak. He jumped slightly, his spiky hair bristling like a hedgehog's. "What?"
"It'll be cool, I promise! We get inside, March Hare gives off his smoke thing, you make sure you don't get caught, all the soldiers rush towards the commotion, we throw off any chance of them ambushing us by ruining their plans, we grab the staff as soon as White Rabbit tells us where it is, someone burns the place down and bingo- we're out."
The White Queen sighed. "No thank you, Cat. We need to attract as little attention as possible."
Absolem cleared his throat and raised his hand. "If you would allow me to speak, Your Highness," he said softly, "I have a plan."