“I am ready,” I say.
“No, you’re not, but here it is: what was the color of the cover of the 1965 version of Alice in Wonderland’s book, published by McMillan at the time?”
“What kind of question is that?”
“The kind that kills,” he says. “Lewis Carroll insisted on that color, even though his publishers thought it would scare kids away.”
I glance at The Pillar who looks like he knows the answer, but if he tells me the woman dies. I myself have no idea. A color that Lewis Carroll insisted on two centuries ago? Why would his book’s color matter? Should I just make a guess?
“I don’t know the answer,” I tell the Chessmaster.
“Then the woman will die. Thank you very much.”
We all watch the man with the sword about to chop off her head when an old man calls out from the crowd. “Stop!”
The man with the sword actually stops, and even the Chessmaster seems to be interested in the old man from his screen.
“Stop! Don’t kill my wife.” The old man steps ahead with both hands in the air. “I will tell you what you want to know?” He is speaking to the Chessmaster.”
The Pillar and I exchange glances.
“Do tell,” the Chessmaster says. “Before it’s too late.”
“I will tell you how to get Carroll’s Knight,” the old man says, now hugging his wife, who was about to get her head chopped off.
“So this is what it’s about?” The Pillar says. “This whole game was a threat to make whoever knew the secret about that Carroll’s Knight speak up before his loved one dies. This was never about Alice and me or the puzzles.”
“Genius, isn’t it?” The Chessmaster winks.
“Sick,” I retort.
“I had my doubts if it were the first woman or the second,” the Chessmaster elaborates. “Since no one came to save the first woman, it wasn’t her. But the second is. And her husband knows the whereabouts of Carroll’s Knight. The book’s cover was red, by the way,” he mocks me. “The color of the Red Queen, but that’s a whole other story. Now let’s hear it from this old man who knows the secret to Carroll’s Knight.”
Chapter 17
The man’s name is Father Williams, which is a name The Pillar squints at, and I don’t know why.
I am surprised the man isn’t Italian. In fact, he comes from a family of English noblemen who have been instructed to live in Marostica all those years, as keepers of the secret of Carroll’s Knight.
“What secret?” I ask him.
“I will show you,” says Father Williams, gripping a torch and guiding us into the hallways of the high castle, Castello Superiore. “Follow me.”
The Chessmaster isn’t watching us at this point. He orders his man with the sword and a few snipers to follow us, until we get him Carroll’s Knight and bring it back to him. I am most curious about what’s really going on here.
“So your family was instructed to keep a secret in this town?” I ask Father Williams. “Why? Who instructed you?”
“Lewis Carroll,” Father Williams says reluctantly. “It’s his Knight you’re looking for.”
“You mean what the Chessmaster is looking for,” The Pillar says. “And by ‘Knight’ you mean what exactly?”
“I don’t know.” Father Williams says. “I only know of the place and have been denied looking upon the tomb where it is by my father.”
“Tomb?” I shrug, the shadows from the torch reflecting on the wall and worrying me.
“It’s where the Knight is kept,” Father Williams says.
“So it’s a person,” The Pillar says.
“Like I said, I don’t know.”
“Do you at least know why Lewis hid it here?” I ask.
Father Williams stops and stares into my eyes. “I am told it holds great evil.”
“Oh, please,” The Pillar rolls his eyes. “Great evil in a tomb. Is that some Hollywood movie again?”
“I can tell you’re scared,” Father Williams tells The Pillar.
“I’m not scared,” The Pillar says, though I think he is. Maybe he is claustrophobic. The Castle’s hallways are a bit too narrow and slightly suffocating. “I just hate this whole thing about an item that holds evil and will unleash it onto the world if you reopen it. I mean, if Lewis knew it was so evil, why not destroy it?”
“Plausible.” I nod at Father Williams.
“Funny, coming from people interested in a book where a girl gets taller when she eats a cake and shorter when she drinks a drink,” Father Williams logic starts to amuse me. “Do you want the Knight or not? I’d prefer to go spend time with my wife than with you.”
“Please forgive us,” The Pillar apologizes, then whispers something in his ears.
Father Williams looks sympathetically at me and says. “I pray for you.”
I pinch The Pillar immediately, but then the door to the tomb opens before us. The words ‘Carroll’s Knight’ are carved on the wall behind it.
Chapter 18