She watched as Derwin rounded the south side of the castle and got into position. He raced across the stables and above the towering iron gates, which were now swarming with Yurkei. Without stopping, Derwin sent arrows into the skulls of two invaders who tried to stop him. Dinah closed her eyes. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, but he has a part to play. Her men screamed as they fell to their deaths, her men. The line of betrayal was so fine in war, it was practically made of sand.
Dinah watched carefully now as Derwin took a wide stance, two fellow archers slumped over the wall beside him. She took a deep breath and looked away as Derwin took aim. There were shouts from all around her as the Spades sprinted toward their fake queen, sitting on her horse far from anyone’s reach on the hill outside the palace. The remaining Yurkei were running too, their wild screams attracting the attention of the cluster of Heart Cards on the south side of the palace. From underneath her crusted brown hood, Dinah watched as Derwin Fergal loaded his longbow with a specially designed arrow, one created for speed and distance—and looked over the tower to the Rebel Queen’s army. The Heart Cards were moving slowly toward the Yurkei girl now, their eyes on Derwin, praying and hoping that this boy would do what no one else could. The archer stopped moving. Dinah looked back at Napayshi, sitting there atop her black steed, the crown of red upon her head, regal, beautiful, and a symbol of her people. Ready to die. The fake queen was yelling orders at the men in a good impression of Dinah’s proud and haughty voice as she started galloping closer to the palace, drawing the Cards near her. Dinah exhaled and let all the air rush out of her lungs. One shot.
Sir Gorrann and Wardley stepped in front of Dinah, just in case, always protective of their queen. Dinah raised herself up on the tips of her toes to see over their shoulders, letting everything fall away from her—the battle, the palace, the king—and let her vision tunnel onto only the Yurkei woman. There was only Derwin and the girl everyone thought was the queen. He aimed the arrow right at her beating heart. Dinah stopped for a moment to look at the palace, black hair falling across her cheeks. He could not fail.
Derwin released his arrow. It darted past his cheek, flying straight and true. It sailed steadily past the palace walls, unyielding as a hawk as it barreled down upon the Yurkei girl. The arrow struck with such force that it propelled her backward off the horse and onto the ground. She let out a loud scream as her body was punched into the ground, the terrible sound echoing in Dinah’s ears, a memory she knew was marring her heart like a scar. She grimaced as the world went silent. The red glass heart shimmered in the light from where it pierced her chest. The girl sat propped up like a rag doll, the arrow stuck far out of her back, a blossom of dark blood seeping from her chest. Napayshi was dead before she hit the ground.
Dinah felt like she was going to be sick. Wardley swallowed beside her, his face pale. “Well, that was about as horrible as I thought it was going to be.”
Dinah pushed back her bile. “No. It was worse.”
Joyful screams rang out below. The Heart Cards guarding the south side of the palace sprinted toward Napayshi’s body. Cards everywhere were shouting in glee, dropping their weapons, hugging each other.
“The Rebel Queen is dead!”
Dinah was shoved forward as a crowd surged and gathered around the body.
“It’s the queen! The Rebel Queen!” shouted Wardley, his voice disguised. “She’s dead! The war is won!”
Dinah, Cheshire, Wardley, Ki-ershan, Sir Gorrann, and Bah-kan picked up the girl’s body and began carrying it on their shoulders toward the palace. Dinah felt the girl’s weight roll across her back, and red blood dripped from the girl’s chest onto Dinah’s cheek, making its way slowly down her face. Napayshi’s blood was still warm. The Heart Cards clustered around her.
“Is it the queen? Is she dead?”
Sir Gorrann’s voice was clipped. “Yes, sirs, I did see this queen felled by an arrow only a moment ago.”
“Yes, we all saw it,” snapped one, a higher-ranking Heart Card whose name escaped Dinah.
“Why are you touching her, you filthy maggots? This body needs to be brought to the king, immediately.”
Dinah and her men put the body down carefully, her heart thudding so loud that she swore the Cards could hear it. One wrong move, and these men would kill her whole party.
“Bring her inside the gates, quickly!”
The Heart Cards grabbed Napayshi’s corpse and hauled it away from the false peasants, heading toward the palace.
Dinah and her men stepped back before weaving away from the Heart Cards, making their way to the south side of the palace. On the hill, the pounding of drums rang out over the battlefield, and the wailing of both Yurkei and Spade filled the air. Dinah ducked as a flurry of arrows began showering around the Heart Cards as they ran with the body past the gate and into the courtyard, on their way to the king.
Dinah could see inside the palace walls as Napayshi’s body began to jerk and spasm, reacting to the massive amounts of blue smoke that were about to be released. As her blood cooled, the liquid form of the Caterpillar’s drug of choice would hit the air and vaporize.
“What the hells? What is that?”
It was starting.
She heard alarmed shouts from behind her as both Heart Cards and villagers grew confused. Blue smoke began vaporizing out of the dead queen’s nose and mouth. The Heart Cards were bent over and coughing as the blue smoke entered their lungs. She knew from experience that soon they would pass into a pleasant haze, unaware of what was happening.
As she watched, the courtyard below quickly filled with the hazy blue smoke that now poured from Napayshi’s body in great waves. Chaos ensued as people scrambled to get away from the sneaking tendrils; but they were too late. Dinah watched with growing happiness as the stampeding peasants and Cards slowed. They stopped yelling, stopped moving. Contented smiles crept across their faces, and they started murmuring happily to themselves. In minutes, an angry horde of citizens and Cards ready to defend their palace was turned into a courtyard full of simpletons, happy hallucinations playing out in front of their eyes.
With the drug, Dinah’s army had neutralized the violence on her side of the palace and distracted the Heart Cards. Now their job was to get to the king, who would be in the keep.
“Quit dallying,” muttered Sir Gorrann. “She’s dead. Let’s go.”
Dinah’s party ran for the small clump of wildflowers about half a mile outside the main wall, with another group of Spades following far behind. Dinah looked up onto the turrets and saw a fleeting flash of silver as Derwin climbed down from the turrets. She saluted briefly, and an arrow hit the ground beside her with a thump, an acknowledgment that Derwin Fergal had done his duty. His name would grace the lips of his children’s children, and he would forever be etched into the history books as either the man who killed the Rebel Queen or the man who helped a queen stage a coup. Either way, Derwin Fergal would come out on top.