The next morning, the Bandersnatch was saddled, the Dormouse was riding eagerly between his ears (which gave the Bandersnatch a somewhat tense and unsettled aspect: he was quite terrified of her and kept trying to look up and see where her paws and sharp sword were in relation to his much-beleaguered eye), and all of Salazen Grum was out int he street waiting to see the party of the Alice off.

For it was quite a party, in the end. The Dormouse was going, whether Alice pleased or no, for she'd been waiting weeks already to leave - as she never hesitated to remind them all. Alice had the sense that she herself was something of an unnecessary addition to the quest in the Dormouse's eyes, and that the little mouse would much rather have left on her own, had not the Queen enjoined her personally to wait.

Behind her, in a tall hatbox for easy reference, was folded the Frabjous Map. This was a map of Underland as it had stood on the Frabjous Day, commissioned by Mirana shortly after Alice's first departure: and as such it stood as the most recent and comprehensive image of that strange country.

"It will guide you well," the White Queen told her, "Provided the Slithy Wabe hasn't slithered off into into the Mere again - so do be careful. But most geographical quirks have been accounted for. I drew it myself."

"And where did the Hatter go ?" Alice asked. "Can you show me?"

"There - the Outlands," said Mirana, pointing to a very large expanse just a little bit off the map.

"He was looking for something, " said the Dormouse. "He was wandering." And she looked somber, and did an impatient little cartwheel on the Bandersnatch's head, which made him shudder and snort.

"I see well enough where it is," said Alice, "But I don't see any features in the Outlands: and if they stretch all around Underland, how on earth are we to know where to start looking for him?"

"Start - there - " said Mirana. "At the Red Tower, where my sister is. Bring her some tarts, and ask her if she's seen the Hatter. They're in the baggage, all packed - And after that - well, you are the Alice, aren't you? You must find your own way. Tarala! Go off with a song, and come back soon."

Alice opened her mouth to ask Mirana -

"But what on earth was the Hatter looking for?"

But the Dormouse, taking Mirana's farewell as an open invitation, tweaked the ear of the Bandersnatch most suddenly and yelled: "Giddyaaah!" And the poor beast reared up, and all Alice's attention was suddenly focused on clinging to his shaggy shoulders as he bolted out of the silver-hung courtyard at Salazen Grum, faster than a Hound headed home for dinner.

The crowd cheered wildly, and Mirana gave an ethereal wave, and Alice clung on for her life, and exclaimed sharply to the Dormouse as they passed out of the city gates, and out onto the road:

"Don't do that again: you do it again and I'll put you in the Hatbox for the whole trip!"

"Ah, but we never would have left otherwise!" said the Dormouse, but she did retreat to one of hte lower packages, and settled down in a little chair which had been tied down for her on top of Mirana's tea service, for she was too proud to sit on Alice's shoulder and feared she might be blown away by the wind of the Bandersnatch's passage, which was considerably greater than she had expected.

Presently the green fields and hills of Underland began to peter out. The trees became small and straggly, twisted by the wind, and the grass patchy, the crowns of hills balded on their far sides.

This was because a wind was coming in at them, from the Outlands. It was harsh, and dry, a queer wind, that ripped at Alice's hair and tore it loose in sandy hanks from under the riding-cap Mirana had set upon her head.

Alice began to rather wish she had brought goggles, for there was sand in it that got caught in her eyes. She would have asked the Bandersnatch to slow, but for that she didn't want to look timid in front of the Dormouse.

Once we reach the Red Tower, she thought to herself - then we shall stop, and rest. Besides, there's no use letting the tarts get stale. The tea will certainly be cold, but that can't be helped.

She rather wished Mirana had lent her a pair of earmuffs, instead. It did not seem to her that Iracabeth was likely to take well to being interviewed on any subject, let alone the subject of the Hatter, and whether or not he had passed under her window on his way into the Outlands, an indeterminate time ago.

The Red Queen's prison tower teetered and tottered to an enormous height. It sprouted out of a rocky height overhanging the Outlands proper, the last height with even a few straggly bushes left before the stone plunged down into scrag, scree and greyish sand.

Everything beyond looked - not very much-ish at all. The horizon was a drab grey line, blurred by the occasional dust storm and cloud. Hopping off the Bandersnatch as they arrived at the tower's right foot (for it did have feet – great clawed stone buttresses, one clinging to the top of the precipice and the other braced against the edge, and half-eroded away by the wind), Alice paused a moment to look down into the wastes beyond.

The Dormouse hopped onto her shoulder so lightly as she dismounted that she barely noticed her, until she waved her hand in front of Alice's nose.

"That's where he went," she said. "Into there, all alone. Stupid Hatter."

"Whyever would he?" Alice asked.

"You're very stupid, for an Alice," said the Dormouse. She huffed - an all-body motion for her, and poked Alice in the shoulder with her boot.

"I am not stupid," said Alice, laughing a bit, "I know he's a mad Hatter but that - there's nothing out there..."

But the Dormouse had stiffened suddenly where she was perched. "Look!" she cried, pointing up at the tower with her sword.

Alice looked. The tower had only the tiniest of windows, high, high above, and someone was peering down at them. She caught a brief glimpse of a long, narrow, pale face, framed in gloom. Stark brows. Impossible height, and extended limbs. Then he moved back into the darkness, leaving the dark square of the window empty - like a socket missing an eye.

"It's the Knave," said the Dormouse.

"I forgot he'd be there," said Alice, with a shiver of distaste. "I wonder where Iracabeth is."

"Maybe he's finally killed her," said the Dormouse. "I rather think that was what we all hoped would happen after they were sent away: Queen Mirana excepted, she's a soft touch for her sister. It'd be the first good thing he ever did."

"That's a terrible thing to say!" exclaimed Alice.

"It's true," said the Dormouse.

"It is not!" said Alice, with great certainty. "Even if the Queen has escaped, that's better than anyone having killed her."

Alice, whose own sister was dear to her heart, had found nothing strange in Mirana's restraint in the aftermath of the Red Queen's defeat: this was the first time it had occurred to her that any of the denizens of Underland might have had other opinions on the matter.

"It would have been better for the Hatter," said the Dormouse darkly.

Alice frowned. "What do you mean?" she asked, though there was a rippling of unease in the back of her mind which knew quite well what the Dormouse thought she meant. It would have satisfied the Scot, perhaps, thought Alice: but that's not Hatter. That's someone else. Something dark, something great-eyed and terrible. Not my friend.

But the Dormouse only looked at her and snorted, and made no reply.

It was at that point that Alice glanced back up at the window, only to see that the Knave of Hearts had vanished.

"Listen," said Alice, "It's no good standing down here speculating. We've got to figure out a way to get up there and see for ourselves."