“Did you enjoy your climb, Princess?” Warily, Dinah rolled over and pushed herself into a sitting position. She tried to force her heaving breaths down into her ribs, to appear more in control. Mundoo stood before her, looking resplendent in a full headdress made of blue feathers, wearing nothing more than a feathered loincloth and some sort of wooden sandal that laced up the ankle and calf. The white painted stripes she had seen on him before were gone, now replaced with elaborately illustrated white drawings and symbols that coated his skin. His muscles were lean and hard, his eyes brilliant and blue. He sat calmly on a huge throne of carved golden birds, which much to her surprise, was not unlike the Heart thrones in the Great Hall. In fact, the more she looked at it, the more she realized it was the twin of the thrones in Wonderland Palace. One was carved of hearts and the other of birds, but otherwise they were the same. Carved by the same maker at the same time, no doubt.
Stand up, Dinah told herself, now! You look weak. She forced herself shakily to her feet and raised her head. Mundoo stood and motioned to his guards. “Lu-feryir.” The guards turned and walked toward several open flaps around the bean-shaped tent and out into the open air. Dinah gasped, thinking that Mundoo had ordered them to kill themselves—then realized her foolishness when she saw that the ropes suspending the pods high above the earth were also walkways that led into slim tunnels carved right into the breasts of the stone birds.
“Would you like some water? The ladder climb can be… strenuous for those who aren’t used to it.” Dinah waved his water away. She didn’t want anything from him except for mercy, though her throat longed for liquid.
“The ladder climb was to make me look weak.” She raised her chin. “Your Highness.”
Mundoo gave a small laugh. “You know, you don’t remind me of your father, not much. Your pride and your blatant lack of self-control, perhaps. But otherwise….” He peered into her dark eyes. “I do not see the man in you who has killed so many of my own.”
Dinah lowered her eyes. “My father, the King, murdered my brother in cold blood so that he would not have to share the crown. He tried to kill me, his own daughter, but not until after he murdered his own son by throwing him from a window. He has pursued me through the Twisted Wood, so close I saw his breath and smelled the rage wafting off of his body. I have no love for my father and the fact that you see none of him in me is the greatest compliment I’ve been paid.”
Mundoo smiled and lifted his hand to Dinah’s cheek. She forced herself to stay steady as his tan, weathered hands caressed her jaw line. “And what of Wonderland Palace? Do you have loyalty to them? To the Cards?”
Dinah considered her answer carefully. I am a mouse in an eagle’s nest, she thought, and one wrong move will deliver me straight into his mouth. “I have no loyalty to Wonderland while it remains under the rule of the man who murdered my brother.”
Mundoo’s bright blue eyes sparkled as a smile crept over his face. “Well answered. I see you are adept at the language of ruling and politics. I should not be surprised.” Mundoo stepped back from her and began pacing around his throne. “You must know the history of my people and Wonderland. Our legends say that the Yurkei arrived here hundreds and hundreds of years ago, flown here on the backs of great birds. We lived in peace with the land, and made this place—Hu-Yuhar, the hidden city—our home. We had no need for war, for weapons, other than to hunt. And then one day, strangers came, born by a boat from a distant land, from the ‘Other Worlds’ as you call them. They had many weapons and many great and shiny jewels that impressed our foolish Chief at the time. These men established Wonderland Palace and proceeded to push us back into the mountains, though originally they had agreed to share all of the land. Your father’s father’s father declared war on us, and we have been battling the line of Hearts ever since.
“And for what? We long for nothing more than to live in our lands and have peace. It’s true—when a Wonderland village comes too close to our lands, we will burn it to the ground, because we must fight for each inch of grass. You Wonderlanders take and take and give nothing back. This is a vast country, and yet the Palace feels it must own every inch, from the Western Sea to the edge of the Yurkei Mountains. As our ancestors said, Yu-Fhullei-Ja-Drayden, Ja-Drayden—what cannot be, cannot be. As you are probably well aware, I have spies in Wonderland Palace, and I hear whispers that your father is laying out the groundwork to start his great war. He longs to push us into the sea, the place from where his ancestors came, with their red hearts and taste for blood and tarts. He seeks to find and destroy Hu-Yuhar.”
Mundoo gave a sigh and rested his hand upon the throne as he gazed at her. Dinah could see lines of worry etched across his strong face. “And so we come to you, you who rode so boldly into my territory astride the black devil. What do I do with an exiled princess? Most of the people down there would have you publicly executed. Look down.” Dinah stood still as Mundoo raised a few flaps on the side of the tent. Then he wrapped his hand around her neck and pushed her face toward the light. “Look down Dinah. See them, see the widows out there who lust for your blood to be spilled for their warriors who never returned. You may have been exiled from Wonderland and the King himself may wish you dead, but that matters little to a fatherless child or a woman whose bed will never be warm again.”