The Melancholy of Wonderland

The Final Battle

The plan was for their forces to engage the Queen of Heart's army at the front of the palace. They didn't have to win, only stall for time. As long as they could hold their own, they would be fine. No one had to die. They just had to endure. If it came down to it, then they'd divide and conquer, taking on one section of the queen's army at a time. Anya also made sure she had plenty of people on standby. More people had come in within just a few days, so they were observing for any fallen comrades to replace.

Anya and Raven would then use all the fighting as cover to slip into the palace and locate the Queen of Hearts. It was highly improbable that she'd be near all the violence. The queen was the type of person to observe her schemes from a distance. They'd capture or subdue her using a few gifts from Taylor and Ruth, then proceed to force her to un-sync her soul with Wonderland. They were expecting quite a brawl so they had prepared for every worst-case scenario Anya could think of. It wasn't going to be easy and the queen wasn't going to go down without a fight. The final step was for Anya to use some cold, hard reasoning to force the queen to surrender. After that, it would be their win. Hopefully.

Things didn't go as planned, obviously.

For one, the soldiers were using hit-and-run attacks instead of being in a solid formation. Second, the Queen of Hearts was on the battlefield. Fighting. She was flying around, blasting energy beams from the tip of her scepter. Spears and other projectiles weren't getting anywhere near her, bouncing off of an invisible forcefield. The queen had put up a protection spell of some sort. Furthermore, it seemed as though she was everywhere but nowhere. And she was pretty high up in the sky, well over twenty feet. It was going to be very difficult for Raven and Anya to reach her. But one way or another, they needed to confront the Queen of Hearts and force her to grovel at their feet.

"So I guess she's being a little surprising herself, huh?" Anya said through gritted teeth.

"We'll have to improvise." Raven frowned. "Any ideas?"

"Tell the guys managing the catapults to launch this," Anya took out a small sphere from her pocket, "at the queen. Then barrage her with all sorts of crap and make her plummet down to earth. We'll get her there."

The sphere was an anti-magic orb from Taylor and Ruth. It could negate any spell without fail or even dispel an entire room.

"Let's get Alex to launch it in his ship's cannons, they're more accurate," Raven said, pushing the orb back into Anya's hands.

"Right you are. I'll go to Alex, you tell the catapult people when to fire after the queen's shield has been broken."

"Be careful!"

"I should be the one saying that to you!" They shared a quick smile as they disappeared into the battle in opposite directions.

Anya dodged flying weapons, bodies, energy beams, and all the like as she headed to the river. She didn't make it out unscathed, of course, so when she finally got to the river she was battered, bruised, exhausted, and all cut up. Warships to small vessels, all of their marine personnel were stationed there at the river. They extra provided long-range support in case the catapults failed and the occasional morale boost if necessary. Those sailors really knew how to party it up. Anya grabbed a rope off the side of the Kraken and swung on deck, waving over the captain.

"Yo, Alex! I need a little assistance here," she yelled.

"Yeah, I do not think any of us were expecting the queen to actually be fighting. Oh, you are hurt!"

Alex placed a concerned hand on Anya's shoulder but she brushed it off. A knife had somehow gotten her calf and it was now bleeding heavily. There were scratches all over her torso and her lower right arm was covered in blood. Luckily, the only major injuries were her arm and leg. It would have been really bad if her old shoulder wound somehow got reopened.