CHAPTER 17

CHAPTER 17

 

Heara woke up in the dungeon and shot up to her feet.

“Oh my goodness!” she said. “I know what to do!”
James and his brother slooked at her like she was crazy. Heara ignored them and rattled the bars.

“Hey, guard!” she shouted. “I need to speak with you!”

The brothers seemed to be pondering in which direction to run.

The grumpy guard got close to the bars and glared at her.

“What do you want?” he barked.

“I request an audience with the queen.”

“What?” the guard raised his eyebrows with a dumb look on his face.

“What you heard.” Heara answered.

She was about to ge tinto a heated argument with the guard, when the porter poked his head through the door.

“What’s going on?”

“This girl wants to see the queen.”

The determined look on Heara’s face seemed to give the porter a glimmer of hope.

“Well then, let her out of her cell. This will probably be her last wish.” he said nonchalantly.

The porter cuffed Heara and led her to the throne room. On the way, he told a maid to go warn her Majesty, so Caro was already there when they arrived. Her outfit had a lot less red than on the night before, and her hair was loose. She had a puzzled look on her face.

Heara noticed the man from the vision standing next to her. If she hadn’t known better, she would not have seen him.

Heara stood proudly before Caro, shoulders back, as the porter explained her presence.

“Queen Caro, I challenge you to a Game of Cards!”

The effect those words had was amazing. The minister panicked, the porter’s eyes lit up and Caro put a hand to her mouth. Everyone in the room, the maids, the butlers, were staring at her.

Evenutally, the queen said carefully: “Many would find you very insolent for such a request.”

The room was silent.

“But I don’t see why not!” she said in a very Caro voice.

“But, your Majesty…” the minister tried desperately to interfere.

”It’s not like she can beat me!” Caro said in a proud manner.

She got up from her throne.

“Set up a table in the big square. And set her hands free.” she ordered.

 

* * *

 

Caro and Heara were walking together down the white hallways, guards front and back. Caro kept casting side glances at Heara.

Then she whispered, so that none of the guards could hear: “Do you know what you’re doing?”

They made eyecontact, and Heara nodded.

“They’ll never let you win.” Caro warned her.

“Then I might need your help.” Heara responded, looking forward.

Caro looked at her, then down, thinking about what Heara had said.

Then they reached the carriage that would lead them to the big square. The guards started pushing Heara to the back, but Caro grabbed her arm and pulled her in the front. The ride was silent.  But when the square came into view, Caro broke the silence.

“I’m scared.” she whispered.

“I’m scared too.” Heara whispered back. “But then we’ll have to be brave together.”

They got out of the carriage to find a curious murmuring crowd surrounding a stage with a white table and two chairs on it. The girls climbed on the stage and sat opposite each other. The minister entered the stage and set two packets of cards on the table. Heara suspected they were rigged, but she had no proof. One look at Caro told her she suspected the same thing.

“Here are the rules. Both packs will be set on the table, one card at a time, the one with the least points at the end wins.”

“Actually, I want to change the rules.” Caro interrupted. “Being Queen, I think the winner shold be the one with the most points.”

“What?” the minister said as he went pale.

“What I said. Let’s play!” Caro said cheerfully.

“B-but now with the new rules, we have to mix the cards again…” he stammered, reaching for the packs. But Caro stopped him.

“There’s nothing wrong with these, is there?” she asked and looked him daringly in the eye.

After a few tense moments, he gave up and said: “No, of course not, Your Majesty.”

For him, the game was over.

After he left, Caro looked at Heara and smiled. Heara smiled back.

The old gamekeeper called out their cards.

“Seven-Two

  Eight-Five

  Three-Six

  Nine-Two

   Ace”  The croud started whispering. “Four

   Four  -Three…”

And one deck later, the counting began. The tension in the crowd was great. The gamekeeper muttered under his breath as he counted the scores. Everyone was looking at him in anticipation. He finally finished, nodded at his work and adressed the people:

“Heara and Caro of Cards. You have decided to adress your problems before the people and solve them within the ancient Game of Cards. As a trained gamekeeper, I have counted the points and have come to a conclusion. Without further ado, it is my pleasure to announce that the winner of this royal Card Tournament is…”

Heara of Cards!”

Screams of joy. Everyone, including Caro, jumped up and started cheering for the winner. The sound was so loud it even reached the castle dungeons, so that James, Joey and Jack ran to the window.

“What did she do?” James asked.

“Maybe she dumped a bucket of snails on the queen’s head.” Joey suggested.

“But where’d she get the snails?” Jack argued.

“True.” Joey agreed, a bit dissappointed.

James looked puzzled towards the town.

In the big square, the cheers had toned down a bit, so Heara turned to the minister, who had his head in his hands, and said:

“I don’t need to tell you that you’re fired, do I?”

The minister left the stage grumbling under his breath.

Heara looked back to Caro and saw that she was rubbing her arm nervously. She took a deep breath.

“I’m very sorry, Heara. I know I’ve done some horrible and inexcusable things, and I’m so, so sorry, I…”

“I forgive you.”

The whole crowd stared at her in shock.

“W-what?” Caro stammered.

“I forgive you.” Heara repeated. “I know it’s not entirely your fault.” Caro looked like she was about to cry. “I really think we should be friends. Our mothers would have wanted that.” Then she hugged Caro.

A few people in the crwod started clapping. Then more joined in. Soon the whole crowd was clapping and cheering for their new queen.