《爱丽丝梦游仙境-1》第9章

Go south to Trotter's Bottom," the Hatter hissed. It took Alice a moment to realize he was talking to her. "The White Queen's castle is just beyond."

She wanted to protest that she wouldn't leave him, but everything was moving too fast. The Hatter swept the hat off his head and bowed in a conciliatory way to the Red Knights. With his face hidden, he muttered, "Hold down tightly."

Perhaps if they didn't find her with him, they'd let him go. Alice did as she was told, leaping onto the hat. The Hatter immediately flung his arms into the air, sending the hat and Alice sailing over the treetops. She shut her eyes tight and clung to the brim of the hat as it flew out of the woods.

Behind her, she heard the Hatter yelling triumphantly. "DOWN WITH THE BLOODY RED QUEEN!" he bellowed. Her heart seized in her chest. She knew what he was doing—distracting the Red Knights. They would never let him go now, even if they had no evidence that he'd been helping her.

The hat landed lightly in the soft grass, far from the scene in the woods. Alice looked back at the forest, then south toward gently rolling hills. Dusk was vanishing into pitch darkness, and strange night sounds were starting to fill the air. Wherever she was going, it would be safer in the day, when she could see. She slipped under the hat and curled up on the grass to sleep.

It was not a very restful sleep, full of Bandersnatch teeth and dark wings and burning top hats and screaming children. Alice was almost relieved when she woke up to the sound of sniffing just outside the hat.

Then she realized who it must be. She sat up as the hat was flipped over and early morning light spilled over the grass around her. A giant wet nose came closer, sniffing her. It was the same bloodhound from the tea party, Bayard. He was alone.

Alice leaped to her feet, furious. "You turncoat!" she shouted, whapping his nose with her hand. "You were supposed to lead them away! The Hatter trusted you!"

Bayard jumped back a step, his long ears flapping. He looked down at her with his sad eyes and sagging face. "They have my wife and pups," he said mournfully.

This didn't make Alice any less angry. She thought of the Hatter's tormented expression as he stared across the blackened place. "What's your name?" she demanded.

"Bayard."

"Sit!" Alice said commandingly.

He cocked his head and looked at her curiously.

"Sit!" she said again, even more forcefully.

Bayard sat, amused if nothing else. Something seemed to occur to him. "Would your name be Alice by any chance?"

"Yes," said Alice, "but I'm not the one that everyone's talking about."

Bayard pawed at the dirt. "The Hatter would not have given himself up for just any Alice."

Alice couldn't handle the pang of guilt this caused her. Why had he done such a foolish thing? What if she wasn't the Alice he believed in so much? She couldn't be—there was no chance she was going to slay a monster anytime soon.

"Where did they take him?" she asked. It was easier to change the subject than to argue about her Alice-ness.

"To the Red Queen's castle at Salazen Grum," said the dog.

The soft grass rippled around Alice as she turned to look at the Hatter's worn old hat, remembering the pain in his eyes. She turned back to the bloodhound, resolute.

"We're going to rescue him."

The bloodhound shook his head. "That is not foretold."

"I don't care!" said Alice. "He wouldn't be there if it weren't for me."

Bayard stood up, his fur standing on end as he shiveredanxiously. "The Frabjous Day is almost upon us. You must prepare to meet the Jabberwocky."

"From the moment I fell down that rabbit hole, I've been told what I must do and who I must be. I've been shrunk, stretched, scratched, and stuffed into a teapot. I've been accused of being Alice and of not being Alice. But this is my dream! I'll decide where it goes from here."

Bayard's claws dug into the ground. "If you diverge from the path—"

"I make the path!" Alice shouted.

She was so commanding, the bloodhound lay down at her tiny feet. Alice grabbed his long ear and climbed up to sit on his shoulders. The wrinkles of skin and short brown fur around his neck prickled against her bare hands.

"Take me to Salazen Grum," she ordered. "And don't forget the hat."

Bayard obediently picked up the hat in his teeth and ran. Alice held onto his black spiked collar. He ran and ran and ran, speeding across strange landscapes like nothing Alice had ever seen before. At one point, his paws sank into a swamp of viscous red mud. He held the hat high to keep it clean as he waded through. The mud stuck to his fur and his paws in gooey clumps that gradually dried and flaked off as he kept running.

They reached a wide red desert, but not so wide that Alice couldn't see the dark castle rising on the far side. Red sand whipped her face as Bayard's paws pounded across the flat surface. She crouched lower, feeling the sun beat down on her back. A roaring reached her ears as they drew closer, and she realized there was an ocean on the far side of the castle. Waves pounded tempestuously against the shore below tall black cliffs.

The walls of the castle seemed to get higher and steeper and more foreboding as they ran toward it. Bayard slowed down as they approached the moat, a stinking circle of water with no bridge across it at the moment. Large, round, lumpish objects floated in the water, pale and bloated. Alice stared at them for a second, then realized they were the heads of the executed. She closed her eyes and shuddered.

"There's only one way across," the bloodhound said, pausing on the edge of the moat. He looked sadly down at the clutter of floating heads.

Alice followed his gaze to the grim moat, then took a deep breath for courage.

"Lost my muchness, have I?" she muttered. She swung down from Bayard's shoulder and steeled herself. She crouched and leaped onto the first head, landing with an unsettlingly squishy thud. Quickly she jumped to the next head, then the next, and as fast as she could, she made it across the moat, leaping from head to head. They bobbed and smushed sickeningly under her feet and she was horribly certain she'd stepped on someone's eye as she ran.

Finally she stumbled onto the grass on the far side and fell to her knees. This nightmare was far worse than the one she usually had.

At length she pushed herself upright and stared up at the impossibly high wall. It would be hard enough for a normal-size girl to climb it, let alone one who was only six inches tall.

Then again …

Alice looked down at the base of the wall. After a moment of searching, she found what she wanted—a crack just big enough for a six-inch girl to squeeze through. She turned and called back to the bloodhound.

"Bayard! The hat!"

Bayard picked up the hat in his teeth. Turning in circles like a discus thrower, he released the hat, and it and the hat sailed high across the moat and over the wall.

Alice wriggled through the crack in the wall. For a moment she was afraid she'd get stuck—yet another unpleasant way to die—but at last she tumbled out on the other side and found herself in a garden. It was neater and better-tended than the first garden she'd been in, and the flowers looked less likely to criticize her, given that they had no faces or opinions at all.

Alice crouched in the bushes and peered out onto a great lawn, wide and green and smooth. It reminded her a little of Lady Ascot's great lawn, in fact … not least because there were people playing croquet on it.

But these were not ordinary people. Alice could guess right away which one was the Red Queen. A tiny crown sat atop her gigantic head, and her face was red with glee as she whacked away with her mallet. The three courtiers she played with were no less peculiar looking. One of the women had the largest nose Alice had ever seen, while the other had ears that hung down nearly to her waist. The third was a man with a huge protruding belly, so large that Alice couldn't believe he could even see over it to hit the ball.

WHACK!

A small cry of pain followed the loud thwacking sound. The three courtiers cheered and applauded. The Queen sniffed and moved forward, swinging her mallet again. Once more Alice heard a tiny cry of pain after the mallet hit. She glanced around for the source, but it wasn't until the ball rolled closer to her that she realized what was happening.

The ball wasn't a ball at all. It was a tiny hedgehog with its four feet tied together. Its spikes were matted and filthy, and it rolled to a stop with its face buried in the grass. Alice could hear it panting and gasping for air. It was the saddest little creature she'd ever seen.

THWACK! The Queen hit the hedgehog again, and now Alice realized that the mallet was not an ordinary mallet either. Instead, it was a miserable flamingo with its legs bound together and clutched in the Queen's hands. Each time its beak hit the hedgehog, both creatures flinched in agony.

The last thwack sent the hedgehog ball rolling right into the bushes at Alice's feet. She crouched immediately and started to untie it. The hedgehog yelped with fear.

"Splendid shot!" shouted one of the Queen's guards.

"Shh," Alice said to the Hedgehog. "I want to help you." Her hands shook with anger as she worked the tight knots. What kind of monster could do this to an innocent animal?

"Where's my ball!" the Red Queen bellowed. "PAGE!"

The last rope slipped free, and the hedgehog stumbled to its paws. It gave Alice a mute, bewildered look for a moment, then staggered away into the foliage. Alice was about to follow it when a pair of furry white feet suddenly appeared in front of her.

She looked up and up and up into the face of the White Rabbit. To her surprise, he was now dressed as a court page. Did he work for the Red Queen? But then why would he have brought Alice to this world?

"Well!" he said, apparently as surprised as she was. "If it isn't the wrong Alice. What brings you here?"

"I've come to rescue the Hatter," said Alice.

The White Rabbit practically laughed in her face. "You're not rescuing anyone, being the size of a gerbil."

That was probably true. Alice thought for a moment. "Well, do you have any of that cake that made me grow before?"

"Upelkuchen?" said the Rabbit. He patted his pockets. "Actually, I might have some left." His paws dug through his clothes until he unearthed a piece of cake. Alice seized it and shoved it in her mouth.

"Not all of it!" cried the White Rabbit, but it was too late. Alice shot upward. Buttons flew off her torn garments; the makeshift outfit the Hatter had given her split right down the seams instantly.

"Oh, no, stop!" the Rabbit cried, wringing his paws. "No, no, don't—don't do that!"

"PAGE!" the Red Queen screamed.

"Oh, dear," said the White Rabbit.

Alice burst right through the shreds of her clothes and popped out of the bushes.

Alice looked down at the Red Queen and her courtiers, who were gaping at this strange naked girl who had suddenly grown out of the foliage. Luckily the tall bushes hid all but her head and shoulders, but Alice still felt quite embarrassed. She wished she was wearing anything, even a corset, right now. Poor Mother would have died of shock.

The Red Queen's eyebrows came down into a menacing scowl. Everyone's gaze went from Alice to the Queen as she pointed a long, shaking finger at Alice's towering head.

"And WHAT is this?"

“往南走到托乐山下，白皇后的城堡就在前面。”疯帽子低声说。过了好一会儿爱丽丝才意识到他在同自己讲话。

她想反驳说自己不会抛弃他，但一切都来得太快了。他揭下帽子，摆出愿意和解的姿态朝红骑士鞠了一躬。弯腰时，疯帽子低着头悄声说：“坐稳了。”

也许，如果他们没有发现爱丽丝跟他在一起，就会放他走。爱丽丝照他说的跳到帽子上坐下。他立刻把胳膊一挥，于是爱丽丝和帽子一同飞过树梢去。飞越树林时，爱丽丝双眼紧闭，紧紧地抓着帽檐。

身后，她听到了疯帽子得意扬扬的高呼声。“打倒血腥红皇后！”他大喊。爱丽丝的心紧张得揪成了一团。她知道疯帽子在干什么——引开红骑士。即使无法证明他曾一直帮助爱丽丝，他们现在也绝不可能放他走。

帽子轻轻地落在了一片柔软的草地上，远离了树林里那个危险的地方。爱丽丝回头看了一眼那片树林，然后朝南边起伏平缓的山丘走去。黄昏渐渐消失在漆黑的夜色中。一到夜间，空中便充斥着各种奇怪的声音。无论她去哪儿，在白天可以看清路的情况下，都比夜晚安全得多。她溜进帽子底下，在草地上蜷缩着身子准备睡觉。

她睡得并不安心，梦里全是大毛兽的牙齿、黑色的翅膀、烧着的高顶礼帽和尖叫连连的孩子们。帽子外面鼻孔翕动的窸窣声把她吵醒时，爱丽丝也算是从梦魇中得到了解脱。

醒来的爱丽丝意识到了是谁在外面。她坐起来时，帽子翻转了过来，周围的草地上洒满了清晨的阳光。一只湿漉漉的大鼻子向她靠近，在她身上嗅来嗅去。还是茶话会上的那条猎犬，贝亚德，他现在一个人。

气愤的爱丽丝一跃而起。“叛徒！”她一边吼着，一边朝他的鼻子给了一拳。“你应该把他们引开！疯帽子他那么信任你！”

贝亚德猛地倒退了一步，耷拉着大耳朵站在那里。他苦着一张脸，低下头悲伤地看着爱丽丝。“我妻子和孩子都在他们 手上。” 他悲切地说。

这丝毫没让爱丽丝消气。她想起疯帽子目不转睛地看着焦黑的树林时脸上痛苦的表情。“你叫什么名字？”她威严地问。

“贝亚德。”

“坐下！”爱丽丝命令道。

他抬起头，纳闷地看着爱丽丝。

“坐下！”她又说了一遍，语气更加强硬。

贝亚德坐下来，好像没事儿似的反被她逗笑了。他好像又想起了什么。“你碰巧只是和爱丽丝同名同姓吗？”

爱丽丝说：“是的，但我不是大家谈论的那个爱丽丝。”

贝亚德用爪子刨着土，嘀咕道：“疯帽子可不会奋不顾身地去保护一个假爱丽丝。”

爱丽丝无法消除心中的内疚感。为什么他要做这么愚蠢的事呢？如果自己不是那个他深信不疑的爱丽丝怎么办？不可能是她——她绝不可能在不久的将来去斩杀一只怪物。

“他们把他抓到哪儿去了？”爱丽丝问。转换话题比争论真假爱丽丝要容易得多。

“红皇后的阴霾城堡。”猎犬回答。

爱丽丝转过头看着疯帽子那顶破旧的帽子，想起了他痛苦的眼神。此时，周围柔软的草地轻轻地摇摆。她回过身，神情坚定地看着猎犬。

“我们要去救他。”

猎犬摇头说：“预言里可没有这一段。”

“我才不管！要不是我，他不会被抓走的。”爱丽丝说。

贝亚德站了起来，不安地战栗着，浑身毛发倒立。“辉煌之日马上就要来了，你要准备迎战炸脖龙。”他说。

“从我掉进兔子洞的那一刻起，你们就告诉我我是谁，我要做什么。我一会儿变小，一会儿变大，一会儿被刮伤，一会儿被塞进茶壶。一会儿指责我是爱丽丝，一会儿指责我不是爱丽丝。但这是我的梦境！从现在开始我的梦我做主！”

贝亚德把爪子刨进土里，说：“如果你不按预言行事……”

“我说了算！”爱丽丝高声喝道。

她是如此威严，猎犬只好趴在她的小脚边。爱丽丝抓着他的长耳朵爬上去，坐在他的肩上。贝亚德脖子上的皱纹和短棕色的毛发扎着爱丽丝裸露的小手。

“去阴霾城堡，别忘了那顶帽子。”爱丽丝命令道。

贝亚德顺从地把帽子衔在嘴里准备出发。爱丽丝抓住他那带尖刺的黑色项圈。他不停地跑啊跑，一路上所经之处都是爱丽丝从没见过的奇异风景。突然，他的爪子陷入了一片黏稠的红泥沼泽地。趟过沼泽地时，为了不弄脏帽子，贝亚德把它高高地衔在空中。毛发和爪子上黏糊糊的泥块渐渐变干，在他奔跑时慢慢脱落。

他们来到一片广阔的红色沙漠，但也没有广阔到让爱丽丝看不到矗立在远方的黑色城堡。贝亚德的爪子扑打着平坦的地面的，扬起的红沙抽打着爱丽丝的脸颊。她把身子压低了些，感到太阳炙烤着自己的后背。离城堡越来越近时，她听到了一阵咆哮声，意识到城堡的另一边一定有片海洋。高耸的黑色悬崖下，波涛剧烈地拍打着海岸。

离城堡越近，城墙似乎越高、越陡，不祥的预感也越强烈。靠近护城河时，贝亚德放慢了脚步。因为此时臭气熏天的护城河上没有通向对岸的吊桥。河面上飘着又大又圆的块状物体，颜色苍白、肿胀不堪。爱丽丝定睛一看，才发现他们都是死刑犯的脑袋。爱丽丝吓得双眼紧闭，浑身战栗。

“这是去那儿唯一的路。”猎犬在护城河边停了下来说道。他悲伤地看着河面上杂乱漂浮着的脑袋。

爱丽丝顺着他的目光看了看阴森的护城河，然后深吸一口气给自己壮胆。

“我失去了正义感，是吗?”她咕哝着，然后纵身跃下贝亚德的肩膀，站在地上定了定神。爱丽丝蹲下身子往前一跳，伴随着一种让人不安的、沉闷的嘎吱声落到了第一颗头上。接着她迅速地跳到下一颗头上，再下一颗。她以最快的速度，就这样从一颗头跳到另一颗头，终于穿过了护城河。脚底下的人头在水面上下颠簸着，让人毛骨悚然。而且她确信自己过河时踩到了某个人的眼睛。

她终于跌跌撞撞地走到了另一边的草地上，一下子瘫倒在地。这场噩梦比平常那些可怕多了。

最后，她挺直身体，抬头仰望这堵高得难以想象的城墙。一个正常身高的女孩要攀过这堵墙就已经够难了，更不用说她现在只有六英寸高。

于是……

爱丽丝低头看着墙角。搜索片刻，她找到了自己想要的——一条足够一个六英寸小女孩挤过去的裂缝。她转过身，对着猎犬喊了一声。

“贝亚德！帽子！”

贝亚德把帽子衔在口中，然后像掷铁饼的运动员一样转着圈把帽子抛了出去。帽子高高地从护城河上方掠过，飞过了城墙。

爱丽丝从城墙的裂缝中钻了进去。有那么一下子，她又害怕自己被卡住——另一种难受的死法——但她最终跌跌撞撞地从城墙的另一边挤了出来，发现自己到了一座花园。这比她去过的第一座花园更整洁，打理得更好。这些花儿看上去也不太会对她指指点点，毕竟它们都没有长着像人一样的面孔也根本不会对她评头论足。

爱丽丝蹲在灌木丛里，朝外窥探着那片青翠、平坦又宽阔的大草坪。这隐约让她想起了阿斯科特夫人家的那片大草坪，事实上……部分原因是有一群人在草坪上打槌球。

但这些可不是普通人。爱丽丝立马能猜出谁是红皇后。她巨大的脑袋上戴着一顶娇小的皇冠。当球棍把球击出去时，她高兴得脸都红了。陪她打球的三位侍臣也长得怪模怪样。其中一位女士长着爱丽丝见过的最大的鼻子，另外一位女士的耳朵几乎垂到了腰部。第三位先生腆着一个圆鼓鼓的大肚子，大得以至于爱丽丝不敢相信他竟然能看到球并把它击出去。

击球！

伴随着猛烈的挥杆声传来了一阵痛苦又微弱的哭泣声。那三位侍臣拍手称好，红皇后对此却嗤之以鼻。她继续往前走，接着又挥了一杆。球棍击球时，爱丽丝又听到那阵微弱的叫声。她环视四周，寻找声音的来源。直到球滚到她身边时，她才知道这是怎么回事。

原来这颗槌球根本不是球。它是一只被绑住四肢的小刺猬，身上的毛刺暗淡又肮脏。它终于停了下来，脸埋在草丛里。爱丽丝甚至能听见它呼哧呼哧地喘着粗气。这是她见过的最可怜的小动物。

啪！红皇后再次击中小刺猬，而此刻爱丽丝还发现球棍竟然也不是普通的球棍，而是一只可怜的被绑住双腿的火烈鸟，被红皇后握在手中。每当鸟嘴戳到刺猬的身体时，两只小动物都痛苦地畏缩起身体。

最后一击正好让小刺猬滚到了爱丽丝脚旁的灌木丛里。她立即蹲下给它松绑。刺猬恐惧地嗷叫起来。

“打得漂亮！”红皇后的一个护卫叫道。

“嘘，我想帮你。”爱丽丝小声对小刺猬说。她尽力解开那个牢固的绳结，双手因愤怒而颤抖。什么样的坏蛋才会对无辜的小动物干出这种事？

“我的球呢！来人！”红皇后大声咆哮。

最后一根绳子终于被解开了，小刺猬颤巍巍地站起来，用困惑的眼神默默地看了爱丽丝一会儿，然后摇摇晃晃地走进灌木丛。爱丽丝正准备跟上去时，跟前却突然出现两条毛茸茸的白腿。

她抬起头，向上 ，向上，再向上，终于看到了白兔子的脸。令她大吃一惊的是，白兔子现在打扮成了一名宫廷的侍从。难道他替红皇后卖命？那他为什么要把爱丽丝带到地下世界来呢？

“天啊！”他叫道，显然跟爱丽丝一样吃惊，“这不就是那个冒牌爱丽丝嘛，什么风把你吹来了？”

“我是来救疯帽子的。”爱丽丝回答。

白兔子当着她的面差点笑了出来。“小得跟沙鼠一样，现在你谁都救不了！”

也许他说的有道理。爱丽丝思考了一会儿说：“好吧，那你还有以前那种能让我变大的蛋糕吗？”

“神奇蛋糕？”白兔子问。他拍拍口袋说：“事实上，可能还剩一点儿。”接着他把爪子伸进口袋，直到掏出一块蛋糕来。爱丽丝一把夺过蛋糕塞进了嘴里。

“不要全吃掉！”白兔子大喊，但已经太迟了。吃完蛋糕的爱丽丝飞快地往上蹿。扣子从被撑破的衣服上唰唰地往下落，疯帽子给她做的那件临时衣服也迅速从衣缝处撕裂开来。

“噢，不，停！”白兔子紧握着爪子大叫。“不，不，别——别这样！”

“来人！”红皇后歇斯底里地吼着。

“噢，天啊！”白兔子惊讶地叫道。

爱丽丝径直冲出被撑破的衣服，从灌木丛中冒了出来。

爱丽丝低头看着红皇后和她的侍臣们，她们用奇怪的眼神，目瞪口呆地望着这个突然从灌木丛里冒出来的、没穿衣服的女孩。幸运的是，高高的灌木丛遮住了她脑袋和肩膀以下的身体，但爱丽丝依然感到很尴尬。此时，她真希望身上穿了点什么，哪怕是件束胸衣。可怜的母亲看到她这样一定会吓死。

红皇后眉头紧皱，气势汹汹地看着爱丽丝。当她颤抖着伸出细长的手指指着爱丽丝高耸的脑袋时，所有人的目光都从爱丽丝的身上转向红皇后。

“这是什么东西？