“What are you doing? Get back. Don’t touch me!” She thought the words, but for some reason could not make her mouth form the sounds. Slowly, his fingers reached inside her tunic, and then he spun her around. For a moment Dinah was afraid of what was happening, but then she felt the hot caress of his fingers against the scar on her shoulder.
“This was my work. A scar left on a queen by a chief. Something that she will never forget, but a sting that healed quickly.” Something was seeping through her skin from his fingers. She could feel it alternating hot and cold, tingling against her shoulder. It was inside of her, whatever it was, passing through her skin like water. Iu-Hora spun her back around and suddenly Dinah felt like she was floating with him, up and up, up through the tent into the stars that looked down on dead Charles. They were flying through the sky now, over the Darklands, over the fields; they flew up, up, and away until they hovered above Wonderland Palace. The Black Towers shimmered with wickedness below. She blinked. No. She wasn’t in the sky. Was she? She was in the tent, and his blurry face was inches from her own, his hands on her face. Iu-Hora’s voice changed as he leaned forward as if to kiss her, and she felt the thick smoke from his mouth wash over her face. All the smoke was suddenly sucked out of the circular tent and there was nothing but darkness, nothing but the heat of his forehead against hers and the sharp blue of his eyes. A low, terrible voice boomed out from the blackness. It belonged to Iu-Hora, but it didn’t sound like him. Dinah found herself very afraid, more afraid than she had ever been.
“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?”