I come to a stop in a large wooded clearing. Above the trees I can make out the turrets of a castle. No doubt another Lewis Carroll tribute. Ignoring it, I draw much needed air into my lungs. My thighs are burning and the thought that I really need to hit the gym more slaps me.

Putting that to one side I grit my teeth and start to move the fingers of my good arm through the patterns of the sending spell. That's not why I'm gritting my teeth. I'm gritting my teeth because I'm forcing the fingers my other hand through a complicate series of gestures. Then I whisper the incantation and hope that this worked. For most people casting one spell is impossible. Given the way I feel, trying to do two at the same time may be my ego getting in the way. Tough. No one said mages were simpering wall flowers.

The first spell, the more important one to me, goes off first and I can feel the power racing through my arm. I hadn't counted on the sharp pain that produces. Something like the pins and needles feeling you get when you foot goes to sleep, only twenty times worse. I almost lose the sending, but squeak out the final words and watch as a bubble of blue light takes off.

That's about the time my legs give way and I land on my butt on the grass. The pins and needles have reached my shoulder bringing tears to

 

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my eyes.

Then as quickly as they came, it's over. Screwing up my face I move my hand. Then my arm, and finally I rotate my shoulder. The smile that follows is predatorial. Now Nightmare is in for a fight.

Pushing myself to my feet I start towards the castle. Then common sense takes over and I stop. Why am I running in the direction he wants me to? The sending spell got through this time, so it makes sense that I try opening a portal so that I can get home too. I've passed through the first gesture of the spell when a scream from the other side of the clearing splits the air.

"Orf wiv 'er 'ead!"

I look to see a bunch of cards with arms, legs and heads charging towards me. Yeah, he's sent the Red Queen and her deck. I know they'll be on me before I can complete the portal, so I stop that spell and start another. They're half way across the clearing when yellow sparks dance out of my fingers and fill the air in front of them. The pile up, as the cards try to stop, is comical. Perhaps that's what they mean by a fifty two card shuffle? Okay, so it not the best humor in the world, but I've had a bad day. Or two. I grin, turn on my heel and sprint towards the castle again.

The Queen is howling obscenities at her troops behind me. Not

 

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anything Carroll would have put in his books. In a few minutes I'm out of the trees and the castle stands in front of me. Looks like something out of a faerie tale - although a warped and twisted one. This is more like what I'd expect out of Nightmare.

Two choices. One: hope I got enough of a lead and try the portal here. Two: get inside the castle, find an empty room and cast the spell there. I give up on number one as I can here the Queen cursing her deck - it's hard to call them a troop or squad or army when they're playing cards - pushing them after me. The castle it is. I'm sure there's more of Nightmare's welcoming party inside and I'd rather not go in there, but I don't have much choice. I'm almost to the door - do they call them doors in a castle? - when it opens and the welcoming party comes out to meet me.

They're an ugly bunch. There are four of them and they patterned after the darker creatures of faerie. There's one with the head of a pumpkin, complete with candle inside. Another is all fur and claws and teeth. I think the third is a woman, although with all the steel armor it's hard to tell for certain. It's burnished red as is the sword she's carrying. I try not to think about the spikes that cover her. The final member of the quartet is the strangest of all. He's a shape-shifter and his form keeps switching.

 

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One minute he's a full blown demon complete with horns and spiked tail. The next he's an old man with a monkey hanging off his back. Then he becomes the monkey. Don't know what Nightmare's been smoking, but its some weird stuff.

They charge towards me, hooting and hollering and waving. They look like they're trying to get my attention. Well, they have it, but I don't want any of theirs. So I take off to the right, circling around the castle. I've just made it around the corner when the strangest sight yet hits me. Not twenty feet away is the table from the Mad Hatter's tea party. But it's no longer set for tea. The Mad Hatter is tied to the table and Alice is sitting on his chest with a bread knife in her hand. The White Rabbit and the Door Mouse are both shrieking at her. As I watch the Rabbit jumps onto the table, grabs Alice's hand - the one with the knife - and slams it into the Hatter. Right through his heart.

I let out a scream. I've had it with this place. The anger is coursing through me, and I can feel the magic leaping behind it. I let it loose in the form of two bolts. One for the Rabbit, the other for the Mouse. They're both knocked flying, and like the Hatter they disappeared - just like everything else I've hit since I've been here. Alice is left sitting on the table and the way she looks down at the bloody knife in her hand

 

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rips at me. I've covered the twenty feet in a flash and I reach out for Alice. She looks up at me with big, wide eyes. Tears are leaking out of the corners and I feel ones drip down my face to match them.

That's when time slows and things change. Alice's eyes narrowed and a huge grin - all teeth - broke out and she lunged for me. I realized that I'd fallen for Nightmare's sucker punch even as the knife plunged for my chest. I pushed myself away but not fast enough to avoid the blow. Red hot pain burned through me as the knife glanced off sternum. I was on my backside again looking up at Alice. She had crawled to the edge of the table and had pulled her legs underneath her. She sprang like a cat. The blue bolt hit her in mid air. In the center of her chest. She flew backwards and smacked against the table, coming to a rest in a crumpled heap. Her arms were curled around her and her head was thrown back.

I sucked at the air, not realizing I'd stopped breathing. I took my eyes off her long enough to look down at my own chest. The wound was shallow but hurt like crazy. When I looked back up, she was still there. That struck me as odd but I couldn't immediately work out why. Then it hit me. They'd always disappeared after I'd hit them. I crawled over to her, very aware that she might be trying to sucker me in again. She

 

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wasn't. The magic bolt had hit her and driven the knife through her. There was blood everywhere. Her eyes flickered open and she said in a tiny voice, "Mommy?"

That's when the illusion disappeared. The castle. The Queen and her deck. The table. The forest. Everything. The only things left where me, "Alice", and four of the Seekers - Marc, Johnny, Dan and Amanda. We were on a black plain, over which hung a dark red sky. I scrambled, trying to force the words of the healing spell out. When the Seekers got to me I was cradling the little girl, rocking her back and forth. I'd been too slow. She was dead.

---

Far away, Nightmare, Lord of the Nightmare Dimension, slouched on his granite chair. He wore his human guise and one leg was sprawled over the arm. A cigarette dangling from two long fingers and a grin of enormous proportions seemed to split his face in two.

As the Seekers collected their missing companion and the dead girl he watched. He did not interfere as Magick opened a portal back to their base. As it closed after them he said, "And it is of such things as nightmares are made."

 

 

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Note: This is my final issue on the title. This one worked out much better than I had thought it would - at least in my mind. I've learnt a lot writting Seekers, not least of which is that horror is not for me. I just can't get my mind into the set that's needed for it. That said, I hope you enjoyed the changes made to the characters, and hope that Nightmare came across well.

 

The End

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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