Bargain price

CHAPTER 51

P RINCESS ALYSS Heart was spotted ordering a mug of cider in a brewhouse near the city center. She was seen nibbling a gwynook-kabob in Tyman Street and skulking along the avenue outside the Redd Apartments complex. She was glimpsed entering a tube station at Redd Square, on a safari in Outerwilderbeastia, and at various other locations engaged in a variety of activities. But the Glass Eyes and card soldiers dispatched to destroy these Alysses found nothing because these Alysses were specters, reflections come to life, conjurings from the real princess’ imagination that she had dispersed throughout the queendom to confuse Redd’s all-seeing eye.

While Redd’s forces were occupied with the decoys, Alyss and her companions made it to the outskirts of the Chessboard Desert. The checkered land stretched before them, the promontory of Mount Isolation visible in the middle distance. The white knight and rook were tending to their men, bandaging wounds suffered in the Emerald Drive skirmish, instructing them to double-check all ammunition supplies

and be sure weapons were functioning properly. Dodge kept to himself, studying the sword in his lap as if to ensure that it would be able to do what he’d set his mind to: taking The Cat’s lives. Alyss should have been entirely focused on developing a sound military strategy, but she couldn’t help glancing at Dodge every now and again, her attention divided.

Revenge cannot possibly purge him of hate, but he won’t listen to me, won’t listen to anyone. “Alyss?”

“Yes?”

From the expressions of Bibwit Harte, Hatter Madigan, Homburg Molly, and General Doppelganger, it was clear that she had missed something.

“There is a lot of desert still to cross,” Bibwit said, indicating the distance to the fortress.

“And the problem of storming Mount Isolation, so ideally suited for defense,” added the general. “We’ll need an army greater than Redd’s.”

“Our objective is to remove Redd from power,” Alyss said, loud enough for Dodge to hear. “Our objective is the Heart Crystal, not vengeance.”

Dodge didn’t look up from his sword. He heard me. I know he heard me.

“Where Redd is, that’s where we’ll find the Heart Crystal,” said Bibwit. “She’ll want to remain close to it to maximize her strength.”

“But can you conjure a force of the size we’ll need, Princess?” asked General Doppelganger. “I don’t know.” To conjure several doubles of herself was one thing, but an entire army? “You must try,” Bibwit said.

She looked to the others. Hatter made a silent, respectful bow. Molly nodded, eager. The chessmen watched, waited. Even Dodge was watching. To conjure an army she would need to be extremely focused and precise. The millions of details of dress and weaponry-if a single one weren’t imagined

vividly enough, it would compromise the whole and her imagining would fail. She may have felt stronger than ever, but strong enough for this?

Her scepter, once again whole, showed the intensity of her effort. The white crystal heart at its top glowed brighter and brighter, flashed and zapped as it became a cloud of electrical charges with lightning-like bolts of energy sprouting out of it, encircling Alyss. When these fireworks stopped and

Alyss again focused her sight on her surroundings rather than her internal visions, she beheld an enormous army of Alyssian soldiers standing in formation and fanned out behind her. The soldiers were a short distance off and she couldn’t even see to the end of them, there were so many.

I did it. I-

Someone was laughing. Alyss turned.

“I’m sorry, Princess Alyss,” Homburg Molly said, slapping a hand to her mouth but unable to keep from laughing.

What had come over the girl? Bibwit, never one to take appearances for granted, approached Alyss’

conjured army for a closer inspection. “Ah.”

The army consisted of toy soldiers, figurines no larger than the tutor’s ears.

“The princess is too far from the Heart Crystal,” he said. “She cannot defeat Redd from here.”

General Doppelganger split into the twin figures of General Doppel and General Ganger and the two of them paced, in perfect step with each other.

“Well, we have to get to her somehow!” General Doppel said.

“But without an army of soldiers that are of a more normal size,” said General Ganger, “our cause is lost.”

It was Alyss’ turn to approach the soldiers. To her, they had looked suitable enough. She picked up one of the toy soldiers and imagined it marching back and forth in her hand. “I have an idea,” she said.