The Wonder (Queen of Hearts Saga #2)(59)
“Queen of Hearts, the daughter of two fathers, heed my words. To wear the crown upon your head, you must pierce the heart of one man and cut out the heart of the one you love most. Cat will not keep his promise to crane, and your head shall roll to a rest in the grass.”
Iu-Hora gave a silent gasp and suddenly blue smoke trailed out of his lips. His voice returned to normal and a silly giggle filled the tent as the light also returned to normal.
“Would you like more, my Queen?” Dinah pushed him backward into the pots and scales, which went crashing down under his massive weight. She wasn’t sure what was happening. Blue smoke was pouring out of her mouth, changing colors as she breathed. Red morphed into a fiery orange, which curled into a pale blue, then a misty gray. Coughing, she crawled toward the tent flap.
“Come back!” he cried, laughing. “I have so much more to show you!”
She was running now, away from the tent, smoke pouring from her eyes, ears, and throat. It steamed out of her skin. She stumbled and fell to the ground. His voice returned and whispered in her ear, although she was nowhere near him.
“Keep your temper, Queen of Hearts.”
Morte was beside her now, and she weakly pulled herself up to step upon his hoof, a bone shard giving her a thin cut on her ankle. She flopped over his back, lying face down across him as she continued to choke on the colored smoke pouring from her mouth and nose. Morte began running back to her tent. Dinah’s body began to shudder as if it had forgotten how to function. She was alternately freezing and stifling hot, and her mind was racing, making jumps of illogical means. Was she up or down? Where was she? After what seemed like years, Morte arrived in the Spades’ camp and came to a violent stop in front of her tent. Yur-Jee and Ki-ershan leapt to their feet and gathered a shaking Dinah from his back. They babbled frantically in Yurkei, their voices so loud to Dinah’s ears. She heard pieces of their conversation.
“Iu-Hora! No Wonderlander has ever been in his presence! What did he give her? Witch doctor! Pure evil!”
Wild hallucinations ran through Dinah’s mind, and she heard pieces of Iu-Hora’s words again: “Queen of Hearts, the daughter of two fathers… wear the crown upon your head… pierce the heart of one man… cut out the heart of the one you love most. Cat will not keep his promise to crane… head shall roll to a rest in the grass.”
As the guards babbled in rapid Yurkei, Dinah heard Wardley’s voice ringing above the commotion. “What the hell happened? Give her to me! Bring Cheshire NOW!”
Wardley cradled her against his chest, and she was aware that he was carrying her inside her tent. A thin trail of maroon smoke curled out of her lips and Dinah blew it lovingly at his face. She struggled to stay awake. Wardley leaned his face over hers. “You can close your eyes, Dinah. I’m here.” Sleepiness overtook her, and she was happy to fall asleep in his strong arms, the arms of the one she loved the most.
Chapter Seventeen
It took two days to completely get the smoke out of her system. She slept all of that first day, with the most vivid and bizarre dreams she had ever had. She would wake drenched in a sweat that pushed itself out of her skin in a swirl of vibrant colors, to find Cheshire and Wardley staring down at her, discussing things that she could barely understand.
“When will she be fully aware?”
“Hopefully the tea will draw out the hallucinatory effects of the smoke.”
“Did they find him?”
“The Yurkei are guarding him day and night. We will not strike. Actually, I think he might be of great use to us.”
“Has Mundoo been notified of what his witch doctor did to the Queen?”
“We sent two riders this morning with the message. They also carried our finalized plans for the battle. God help us if they are caught.”
“They won’t be. They’re Yurkei.”
Dinah would listen for what could have been hours or seconds before drifting back into her dazzling sleep. The next day, she woke to a cool cloth being pressed against her forehead.
“Your Highness?” She looked up, expecting to see Sir Gorrann, but instead found herself uncomfortably close to Cheshire’s face. “How are you feeling?”
Alarmed, Dinah pushed herself up faster than she should have and was rewarded with a bout of nausea. “Oh. Oh.” She allowed herself to sink back into the cot. “What happened?”
Cheshire resumed lightly patting her head with the cloth. “What do you remember?”
“I was out walking, because I couldn’t sleep… and I found Iu-Hora’s tent.” She frowned. “And then… then….” She should have remembered, but there was a gaping hole in her memory; it was puzzling and unnerving. She could see bits and pieces, but the knowledge of what had happened was missing. “I’m sorry…,” she sputtered. “I don’t really remember. There was smoke and light and….”
Cheshire made a disgusted sound, yet his face showed a certain delight and fascination. “The Yurkei witch doctor has more powers than Wonderland has ever bothered to fathom. I highly doubt that you wandered there entirely on your own accord. He’s been known to call those to him when he feels the need, whether by injury or trance. There is evil in that tent that might be of use to us yet. He has a mastery of alchemy that Wonderland has yet to discover.” He stroked Dinah’s head softly, attempting to soothe her. It made her uncomfortable. “We almost lost you to the fever. If you had died, Iu-Hora’s head would have been sucked down into the shadow ponds by now. You have caused a great stir, daughter.”