The two forces are said to originate in Elfland, which a man by Lewis Carroll may change into Wonderland. The forces have no boundaries. They will kill and fight for as long it takes until they find the Six Impossible Keys.
The wind throws me off balance. I tense my knees and then fall on my stomach, waiting for it to leave me alone. Even flattened on the ground I arch my back a little and keep reading under the slanting weak light of my phone.
The note later mentions the Six Impossible Keys are used to unlock something but not a door, nor is it a box. It unlocks the one thing no man can unlock - whatever that means.
But then it gets weirder – or clearer – I am not sure. The note talks about the Six Impossible Keys being useless without the Looking Glass.
This told of the Looking Glass again. Neither does the note mention the importance of what it is - unless it's simply a mirror and I am only reading too much into things.
Another howl of wind attacks me. Ironically, I can still hear The Pillar struggling with the giant in the distance.
I bite the second note, clinging to it with my teeth, as I am about to finish reading the first one.
Only two paragraphs left.
The next sentences talk about a crucial point in the journey to unlock the Six Keys. One milestone is when a third force, neither black nor white, threatens to end the world before the Wonderland Wars begin. That one is called the Chessmaster, who is almost invincible. He is a monster of pain, created by accident, out of an unholy spell used by two irresponsible Wonderlanders.
I shrug, reading this, trying to put two and two together, but nothing comes to mind. It’s all too vague to comprehend, still.
Only the last two sentences show me what's in store. The first explains that the Chessmaster needs to find a 'missing piece' – I assume it’s the chess pieces we’re collecting now – to protect himself.
Protect himself? The Chessmaster is doing all this to protect himself? How can that be? Protect himself from what?
The revelation comes as shocking in the last sentence.
“The Chessmaster desperately needs the chess piece of a Knight, made from Lewis Carroll's bone, so he can play the last chess game in Mankind's history. A game that will either protect him from a great evil or initiate the apocalypse.”
I am at a loss for words, hardly imagining what kind of chess game the note means. I can accept the idea of a final chess game that will end the world – in a most Wonderlastic nonsensical way, of course. But what does the Chessmaster want to protect himself from?
Between the terrible wind kicking at my arched back and The Pillar’s struggles below, I part my teeth and let the second note fall in my hands. This one tells the story of who the Chessmaster really is.
Chapter 41
Buckingham Palace
The Queen listened to Carolus’ story about what happened to Margaret, and couldn’t fathom what was going on.
“She just fell like Fabiola?” She wondered.
“Yes, my Queen,” Carolus said.
“But if Fabiola dropped because of the appearance of the White Queen’s chess piece, why would Margaret fall after discovering the Rook piece?”
“It’s puzzling,” Carolus said. “We’re not sure our theory is right, but the two women got ill after each piece was discovered.”
“That’s nonsense,” the Queen said. “What is this, witchcraft, where you kill a person by poking needles and pins into a puppet?”
“A chess piece, this time.”
“How could they possibly be connected to a chess piece?” the Queen snarled. “I am not buying this. Are you sure Margaret and Fabiola aren’t faking it?”
“I suppose they’re not. Fabiola is doing pretty badly. A special consultant of doctors are on her case, flying her to the best medical centers across Europe.”
The Queen paced around her chamber, hands behind her back, trying to put reason to this unreasonable world. “Assuming the chess pieces are so powerful, we need to know who the Chessmaster is.”
“We must.” Carolus said. “He is beginning to scare me.”
The Queen’s telephone rang. It was Mr. Jay, so she dismissed Carolus and answered.
“What can I do for you, Mr. Jay?”
“Things are getting complicated.” He said.
“I assume your men failed in catching Alice?”
“True, but it turns out that Alice is least of my worries at the time being.”
“How so?”
“My men discovered the true identity of the Chessmaster.”
“And?” The Queen shrugged.
“It’s not good news.”
“Is he a Wonderland Monster?”
“It’s hard to tell.”
“But you said you know his identity.”
“And that’s the problem. The Chessmaster did something in the past, in Wonderland, that’s too scary to imagine.”
“So he did live in Wonderland, among us?”
“Yes and no.”
“I’m puzzled, Mr. Jay. Who is the Chessmaster?”
“Let me read his story for you.” Mr. Jay said.
“Read his story?”
“It was written by Lewis Carroll’s sister, part of his lost diaries.”
“Why hasn’t Lewis written it himself? I’m so confused.”
“You’ll get it once I finish reading the story. Let me begin with its title.”