Wonderoz Chapter Twelve: The King of Hearts

For the longest time he had known what he was and he had accepted it. Hell, he even reveled in it. But now, things were beginning to change for him. And they had been changing for a long time. First of all, the body he was in was not his own. The body, in fact, belonged to the White Knight, King of Wonderoz nee, Nick Chopper. And the reason he was in such a decanter was for the King’s pure beauty. For it is beauty the Queen of Hearts most desires to be and be around. And Nick Chopper had always been one of her favorites.

Now, the body the King of Hearts had been born with was not exactly to the Queen’s liking, even though she had liked Bill very much. But Bill had the displeasure of being born a Lizard. And while he was one of the Queen’s most favorite of loyal subjects, and he was in fact beautiful for a Lizard, the Queen didn’t exactly like Lizards.

Bill, the King of Hearts, was overjoyed when the Queen decided to have him become her King and also receive a fitting new body. The keyword here children is was. Now Bill was beginning to see the downsides of being in a used model. For one, the body held the old memories and feelings of the previous owner. This meant that Bill was frequented by dreams and troubled by feelings and emotions that immobilized him.

Another thing was that the body actually put limitations on Bill. The body put blocks up for him, limited him from doing certain things, seeing certain things, and being certain things. Now, the White Knight had been the best fighter in all of Wonderoz. But the body wouldn’t let Bill hold a sword, let alone actually fight with one. And before so, Bill had been an extremely talented swordsman. The body also forbid Bill from revealing vital information the White Knight held to the Queen of Hearts. Not fair for a body that was suppose to now completely belong to Bill.

Another thing that had Bill bothered had nothing to do with his body. But the body of his beloved Queen. Now as I mentioned earlier, the Queen loved beauty. Especially beautiful men. She lusted after them with a sort of ravaged hunger. She had several lovers that Bill knew of. There was the Gryphon, who Bill knew would be trouble from the start. Then there was that Hare, Snap. Bill hated Snap like most of Wonderoz hated Snap. There was also the crazy Unicorn, whom Bill had considered a good friend until he learned the Unicorn was also being invited into the Queen’s bed.

The Queen of Hearts, she’s such a tart!

Now there was Dorothy and Alice to worry about. Technically they weren’t Bill’s daughters whatsoever. But they were the flesh and blood of his body. This caused Bill the most trouble. For you see, the body made him love Dorothy and Alice as if they were his own. This he had to hide from the Queen because she wanted the girls. But he couldn’t allow that. Those were his children!

No they aren’t!

Oh yes they are.

I have no children.

As long as you stay inside this body you do!

I want nothing to do with them!

You want the world for them.

Bill fought and fought against himself constantly nowadays. Trying to keep the body and himself separate. But he finally lost and he had no other choice than to confront someone about it.

He found the Gryphon alone, checking up on security and making his normal daily rounds.

Bill cleared his throat, catching the Gryphon‘s attention. “Gyan, I need to talk with you for a moment.”

It wasn’t a wonder that Gyan was surprised. The King of Hearts never talked to him. And Gyan knew exactly why. But he still stood in attention and bowed in respect. Gyan felt sorry for the poor King. Having to be married to that witch? Sad.

“Yes, your majesty?” Gyan asked.

“Have you actually found Dorothy and Alice?” Bill whispered.

Gyan stiffened and he felt his feathers stand on end. “Ju-just Alice, sir.” And to further Gyan’s surprise, the King sighed in relief. “Your majesty?” Gyan asked.

“I want you to stop.” Bill urged. “Please, search in false and keep away from those girls!”

Gyan swallowed. “So the rumors were true!” Gyan’s eyes stared more at who the body used to be rather than who it was now.

Bill’s smile slumped. “You know who this belonged to?”

Gyan nodded. “I can’t exactly tell you anything now but I can assure you that those girls will receive no harm from me.”

“Thank you.” Bill said, near tears. “Oh thank you!”

Gyan smiled. “You’re very welcome, your majesty.”

Bill quickly turned and walked away. He had already lost three children, he wouldn’t loose two more.

At least, he had lost three step-children. First were the Queen’s newborn twins who died suddenly after birth. But Bill knew the truth behind that. Then Jack got too smart for his own good and he also disappeared. Bill knew all about that as well.

Jack was always a wonderful boy. But he was unfortunately naïve to his mother’s actions and effects. Then one day Jack got wise to everything. He had always questioned why his newborn baby brothers had died and disappeared. He had never seen them and no one dared talk about them. So, Jack researched and dug deep to find out. He had even gone as far as to buy the information from Snap.

And when Jack received the pearl of knowledge he was horrified with the news. He confronted his mother about it. Not just about the missing twins, but about everything. The Queen was so enraged she actually bashed her own son’s brains in with a flaming torch.

Jack was whisked away in attempts to save his life. It was obvious his brain would never be the same again. But they had to do something. Jack couldn’t die until he knew it was his time. And he couldn’t very well know anything without a brain! So they had to give Jack an artificial brain.

Not long after that Jack disappeared. But not by the Queen’s decision. He simply ran away on his own.

“I have sent the Unicorn after Dorothy.” Bill heard the Queen laugh from the throne room.

A shiver went down Bill’s spine and he stopped just short of the door and listened in on the Queen’s conversation with the Hare, Snap.

“Since you have been incompetent in doing anything about her.” The Queen sneered on.

Snap flinch. “I told you there would be difficulties. But you need not worry, I have Alice wrapped around my little finger.”

The Queen wrinkled her nose and huffed. “How so?”

“I have reasons to believe she has fallen in love with me.” Snap said with a grating chuckle in his voice. Bill seized up and gritted his teeth.

He’s using Alice!

Toying with a little girl’s emotions. What a cad!

He better not hurt her!

We need to warn her.

But where is she?

Buy the Hare!

Bill rushed away from the throne room door and waited for Snap near the exit. But he ended up waiting longer than he anticipated. The Queen and the Hare were making tarts together apparently. So he stood at the door and waited impatiently.

“Your majesty, what are you doing?”

Bill turned to see Humpty Dumpty coming towards him. The Queen’s head advisor for reasons Bill couldn’t comprehend. Humpty was a kindly man who had once served Ozma and the White Knight loyally.

Humpty was a big man, tall and wide like a giant egg. His skin was pale and rough like unglazed porcelain. But that was because he was from the Land of China, where the Chinadolls lived. This meant Humpty was very frail. And the King, years ago, had promised that should Humpty ever break he’d use all his resources to put Humpty together again. Bill doubted the Nick Chopper would do this now, considering it was Humpty who had given Nick to the Queen of Hearts in the first place.

“Oh, I’m just catching the breeze.” Bill lied, looking into Humpty’s painted blue eyes.

Humpty smiled. “I see. You’re in poor with the Queen’s favors again.”

No, Bill thought, my body has won the war and it is in poor favors with her. Bill smiled falsely. “Not exactly.” He laughed. “But I am beginning to know when I should and shouldn’t bother Her Majesty.”

Humpty laughed too. “All men learn their wives eventually.” He patted Bill on the back heartily. “That’s why I’m afraid to marry.” He winked. “My wife might turn into a bull!” They shared a laugh, one real, one feigned.

“Smart you are, Humpty.” Bill sighed as Humpty walked off. He then grimaced and turned back to manning the door, preparing himself to face the Hare.

And surely enough, there came the Hare trotting down the hallway, fixing his tie and smoothing back his hair. Bill started to step out towards him but Snap was suddenly pulled aside and out of view.

Bill stood in stupor, wondering what had just happened. Then there was shouting and the sound of fighting. Bill went towards it, finding the noise coming from the Knights’ Lounge.

“I swear to you I don’t know!” Snap roared.

Gyan slammed him against the wall. “How much does it take?” He snarled, his lips curling. “Tell me your price.”

Snap sneered. “You’re too late,” he laughed darkly. “Dorothy has been bought and Alice is mine. I just sold her today.”

Gyan looked as if he were near gagging. “You’re sick.”

Snap sighed. “I suppose it’s my fault that I built this horrible reputation for myself. I can’t keep a secret for myself anymore.”

Gyan slammed him back against the glass wall again. “I heard you with the Queen. I heard your plans for Alice and what she said about you.”

Snap slid down into his collar and turned his head slightly. “What? Are you jealous? Do you like the little poppet yourself?” He laid his cheek against the glass and laughed.

“How dare you?” Gyan seethed.

“I have no soul.” Snap laughed loudly. “Everybody knows that!”

Gyan threw Snap onto the floor and kicked him.

“Wait!” Bill flung himself into the ring and grabbed Gyan’s wrist. “Don’t disable him just yet.”

“Your majesty?” Gyan breathed.

Snap laughed. “His Majesty!” He held his ribs. “This is getting so much fun!”

“Quiet!” Bill roared. “Dorothy and Alice are my body’s flesh and blood! And I won’t have you hurting them.”

Snap’s smile vanished and he shrunk back into the floor. “Oh shit.” He grinned from ear to ear then. “So that’s who you are!” He braced himself up on his elbows and heaved. “But who is inside?”

Bill grabbed Snap by his tie. “How much to keep you away from my Alice and Dorothy?” He growled.

Snap shook his head. “Too late. Both girls have already been sold.”

“The Queen?” Bill asked.

Snap shrugged. “Not even close, Your Majesty.” He sneered venomously. “Although, I have another product to sell that you may take a great interest in.”

“And what would that be?” Bill tightened Snap’s tie, making the Hare cough and gag for a moment.

Snap cleared his throat and caught a raspy breath. “Treat me like that again and I’ll sell it to someone else.” He pushed at Bill. “Now get off me! I can’t rightly make a sell while I’m on my back.” He chuckled. “Not to a fella anyways.”

Bill backed off but Gyan stood to smack Snap against the wall should he try, or say, anything else offending.

Snap stood and dusted himself of. “Alright now.” He sighed and met their glares with a smirk. “I can sell you the information on who has my pearls of knowledge.”

Gyan stiffened. “But isn’t that breaching your contract with your buyers?”

Snap simply shrugged. “There was nothing said I couldn’t tell who bought them. My only obligation is that if my buyer is unsatisfied he can crush the pearl.”

“So?” Bill urged. “Who? Who bought Dorothy and Alice?”

Snap laughed. “The Mad Wizard.”