Queen of Hearts: The Crown (Queen of Hearts Saga #1)(32)

“Don’t touch me!” he barked.

Yoous pointed at Dinah. “Don’t feel sorry for him. In a week’s time you will envy him. The High Treason Tower houses the worst. Losing a few fingers will be nothing compared to what’s in store for you. Now go, I need to take him down.” He yanked Quizzer to his feet. “WALK!” he screamed.

Wardley didn’t need to be told twice. He pulled Dinah’s chain toward the door. “Er, thank you!” he called, unable to hide his good manners. All he heard in reply was a bloodcurdling scream.

Stepping outside the Black Towers was the closest thing to heaven Dinah had ever experienced. The air was crisp and cool on her face, and she could breathe without fear of retching. There was about a two-foot gap between the doorway and the iron walkway. Wardley helped her to step over the space. That was good, thought Dinah, since she surely would fall to her death without his steady arms. Walking upon the Iron Web was just as incredible and terrifying as she had imagined from her bedroom balcony all these years. Curling iron arched away from the tower, leaping and twisting to several different doors on each tower. The walkways went up and down the towers in gently sloping spirals that suddenly shot into open air before returning down to the ground. They never touched them, but soared up and between the towers, a walkway into the sky. Dinah vaguely remembered her childhood lessons about the Iron Web—it was made of one solid piece of iron, balanced perfectly around the towers.

If Dinah squinted, she could see all the way to the first tower. From here she could see that the Iron Web was covered with Clubs in their gray-and-white uniforms, going about their business. They looked like insects, scurrying down and around, moving without fear hundreds of feet in the air. Some carried paperwork, others steaming piles of unappetizing food or chamber pots. All had the same gloomy, focused looks on their faces. Dinah and Wardley watched with fascination at the ease at which they navigated the maze-like twists of the web.

“Come on. We’ve stood here too long. We’re going to attract attention.” Wardley began to lead her carefully down from the tower door. “Hurry,” he said with finality.

Walking as quickly as they could while attached by chain, they stepped out onto a thin iron walkway that arched between all the towers. The ground grew farther and farther away as they followed the twisty path out into the open air between the great black towers, humming like hives in the unflinching winter sun. They climbed in silence. Several Clubs gave them strange looks as they passed. Wardley dripped with a nervous sweat.

Being outside of the towers gave Dinah a chance to truly look at them. The black bark was shiny on the surface; it glimmered in the sunlight. Tiny striations marked each strip as it ascended into the sky, and the outline of thickly tangled roots was barely visible. I can see why the Yurkei would worship these, she thought. They are indeed “a colossal and terrible wonder.” She also had a fantastic view of Wonderland Castle from the walkway and paused to look for her apartments.

“We’re almost there,” breathed Wardley, jerking her back to reality. “We find Faina Baker, get our answers, and then we LEAVE. I’m starting to feel bad about this.”

Dinah attempted a smile. “You always felt bad about this.”

“Don’t smile” he snapped. “I’m not going to end up in here because you can’t keep a smile off your silly face.”

They made their way through the twisted iron until they arrived at the Seventh Tower. They both stopped outside the door: a wide hole in the roots that someone had fitted with steel.

“Take your last breath of clean air,” Dinah whispered.

They inhaled deeply and Wardley pushed the door open. The Seventh Tower did not smell as strong as the Murderers’ Tower, and Dinah was grateful for that. However, there was a completely different feel in this dark spiral—it felt sinister, as if they had stepped into the very depths of evil. The other tower had been filled with screams and blood, whereas this one was completely silent. There was malice in the air, a hopelessness that permeated each breath. They had entered the tower closer to the bottom this time, and once their eyes adjusted to the light, Dinah quickly became aware of a hulking shadow standing behind them. She shrunk behind Wardley as the shadow stepped forward.

“What business have you in the Treason Tower?” he asked, without a hint of humor or pleasantry. Dinah suddenly missed Yoous.

Wardley yanked Dinah forward. “We were sent here by Yoous at the Murderers’ Tower. We have business with the traitor Faina Baker. My prisoner is here to extract information from her.”

The Card stepped into the light. His gray-and-white Club uniform was pristine and clean, a far cry from Yoous’s blackened hands and clothing. This guard wore the pointed helmet of the Clubs, its black points hovering like spikes above his cheeks. There was a monstrous sword strapped to his back. Wardley, lean and muscular, suddenly looked like a scrawny child in his massive shadow.

The Club gave a nod. “You are not the first person to try and extract information from Ms. Baker. There was another one here earlier this week, slimy fellow.”

Wardley cleared his throat. “Yes. That was cleared through Erinsten previously.”

The man gave a grunt and began walking toward the middle of the spiral. He spun around. “You coming? I don’t have all day to ferry around traitors and amateur Cards who don’t know their manners.”