Page 21 of Knot My Wonderland: Part Two
"Exactly." Heart's ruby eyes blazed with determination as he cut down another golem. "Which means we need to make this look convincing without actually reaching the inner sanctum before Seth's team."
Martha appeared at our side, her face streaked with blood both hers and not. "The eastern corridor is clear, but they're funneling us toward the central chamber. It's too coordinate I could see it now too—the way the card soldiers and blood golems were strategically falling back, creating an illusion of progress while actually herding us along a predetermined path. The Queen wasn't trying to stop us; she was channeling us exactly where she wanted us to go.
"Clever," I muttered, my form flickering as I sensed a surge of corrupted magic ahead. "She's laid a trap at the corridor junction. Blood magic wards keyed specifically to our signatures."
Heart nodded grimly. "Time to adjust the plan. Martha," he called to the veteran fighter, "take half the team and create a diversion at the western approach. Make it look like we're splitting up to find alternate routes."
"And the rest of us?" I asked, already suspecting his answer.
"We spring the trap," Heart said, his ruby eyes gleaming with dangerous determination. "But on our terms." His voice dropped lower, meant only for me. "Seth and the Tweedles need more time. We have to make the Queen believe her plan is working."
I nodded, understanding exactly what he meant. We would walk into her trap deliberately, but with full awareness of what we were doing. Martha signaled to half our fighters, leading them toward the western corridor in a convincing display of tactical repositioning.
"How much time do they need?" I asked, my form solidifying as I prepared for what was coming.
Heart's expression was grim. "Long enough for them to reach Alice and remove the collar. After that..." He left the implication hanging between us.
After that, we'd either escape together or die trying. No more diversions, no more strategy. Just survival.
We pressed forward with the remaining fighters, the corridor ahead narrowing into a bottleneck lined with obsidian pillars that pulsed with crimson light. The magical trap was almost visible to my heightened senses—a web of blood magic suspended between the pillars, waiting to ensnare anyone with our specific magical signatures.
"It's designed to incapacitate, not kill," I observed, my tail lashing nervously as we approached. "She wants us alive."
"Of course she does," Heart replied, his golden blades gleaming in the crimson light. "Dead captives make poor audience members for her triumph."
The remaining fighters formed a protective phalanx around us, though we all knew it was largely symbolic. The Queen's trap would target Heart and me specifically, keyed to the unique magical signatures that linked us to Alice. No amount of protection could shield us from magic designed explicitly for our capture.
"On my mark," Heart said, his voice steady despite the pain evident in his tightened features. Through our shared connection, I felt his resolve crystallize into something hard and unbreakable. "Three... two... one."
We charged forward into the trap.
The blood magic hit us like a crimson tide, wrapping around our bodies with tendrils that pulsed with the Queen's corrupted power. I felt my reality-phasing abilities lock down immediately, my form forced into solid matter as the enchantments boundme. Heart's golden patterns flared in resistance before dimming under the magical suppression.
Our fighters pressed forward despite our capture, engaging the card soldiers that emerged from hidden alcoves. The sound of battle echoed through the corridor—steel on steel, the crystalline crack of shattering golem cores, the wet sounds of blood hitting stone.
"Perfect," Heart muttered through gritted teeth as the crimson bonds tightened around us. "Let her think she's won."
The trap lifted us from the floor, suspending us in crimson coils that pulsed with the Queen's heartbeat. The remaining fighters battled desperately below us, but I could see the futility in their movements—they were outnumbered ten to one, and more card soldiers poured from hidden passages with each passing second.
"Heart! Chi!" Martha's voice cut through the chaos as she drove her blade through a golem's core. "We'll find another way?—"
"No," Heart called back, his voice carrying absolute authority despite his bound state. "Protect the others. Pull back and wait just out of the castle grounds."
The crimson bonds carried us deeper into the palace, through corridors that shifted and flowed like living tissue. I caught glimpses of our reflection in obsidian walls—two prisoners wrapped in the Queen's magic, exactly as she'd planned. But I could also see something else in Heart's ruby eyes: satisfaction. The trap had worked exactly as she'd intended, which meant Seth's infiltration team had the distraction they needed.
Through our weakened bond, I felt Alice's consciousness flicker with sudden alarm—she could sense our capture, could feel the triumph radiating from the Red Queen as her plan unfolded. But beneath her fear, I caught somethingelse: determination. Alice was fighting back against whatever drugs coursed through her system, clinging to awareness with desperate strength.
The crimson bonds deposited us in the central throne room, a cavernous space dominated by crystalline formations that pulsed with captured starlight. The Red Queen sat upon her obsidian throne, draped in burgundy silk that pooled around her like spilled blood. Her ruby eyes gleamed with satisfaction as she observed her prisoners.
"My son," she purred, rising with fluid grace. "How predictable you've become. Did you truly believe your pathetic rescue attempt would succeed?”
Heart managed a smile despite the crimson bonds cutting into his flesh. "Hello, Mother. Still playing with your toys, I see."
The Red Queen descended from her throne, each step deliberate as her gown whispered across the crystalline floor. "Toys? Is that what you call the most sophisticated blood magic Wonderland has ever witnessed?" She circled us slowly, her perfect features arranged in an expression of mock disappointment. "I expected more appreciation from my own son."
I tested the bonds subtly, searching for weaknesses in the enchantment. The magic responded immediately, tightening until breathing became difficult. Through our weakening bond, I felt Alice's consciousness surge with protective fury—she could sense our predicament, and was fighting against whatever sedatives clouded her system.
"Where is she?" Heart demanded, his voice steady despite the pain evident in his tightened features as he played the role of prince coming for his princess.
