Queen of Hearts

Chapter 33: mint coloured tigers | Evan

Justina appeared to be in a comatose state. She hadn't woken ever since the Dorlae twins Kim and Nam had managed to heal her most serious wounds, and had been lying in the infirmary for almost a week. Liam and Lincoln had rarely left her side, and even Joey the leopard had taken to sleeping on the infirmary floor by her bed.

I hoped she would wake soon. But surviving an attack from the Queen of Diamonds wasn't a small matter, and I admired her for being so strong.

Linny had joined Kameron and I when we trained with Hamish. I practiced my electrokinesis by attempting to blast parts of Linny's jewelled ice into pieces as she lobbed them at me. During our training sessions, I was the most talkative, to my surprise. Kameron had become secluded ever since we had returned from the palace with the fifty or so Dorlae. When I had asked her what was wrong, she had brushed it off and assured me that she was fine.

Gloria had been overjoyed to see so many of her kin and immediately gave them rooms to stay in at Ullanyth HQ. Apart from exchanging a few words with Gloria, majority of the Dorlae preferred to keep to themselves, except for the twins Kim and Nam.

Kim and Rin had developed a weird friendship between them. Despite most of the Dorlae giving Rin sideways glares because the Dorlae and the witches had never gotten along, Kim had been interested in getting to know Rin better. Often they disagreed and would have short, controlled arguments that sounded more like a furious debate than a fight. But they seemed to have a calm acceptance of each other's overbearing presence. They mostly got along as they faked imitations of Queen Jennifer together.

However, Rin had not forgotten the deal. Tonight, she had gone to confront Gloria about when her people could be saved. Gloria had been slightly offended that Rin had not paused to consider that they might have put the situation on hold because of what had happened to Justina, but she had agreed that the rebels would assist the witch as soon as possible.

"Tomorrow," Rin's cobalt eyes flashed. "I will accept no other day."

Gloria was hesitant, but she eventually caved in and made an announcement in the cafeteria about the new mission, asking for anyone to help the witch. Josie, Sarah, Sabkan, Gatlee, Angeline, Samidha, Linny, Kameron and I volunteered. Penny was eager to help, but Brendan talked her out of it by saying that she was nowhere near prepared.

Since the weaponry master was coming along, Hamish decided he would replace her as combat trainer for the day while she was gone. He forbid Linny from going, saying that he wanted her to stay to improve her training - because if Justina did not recover, Linny would be the only Elementalist left, and her powers were useful. Linny's face darkened in fury, but since Hamish was the leader of the rebels, she did not argue.

She did, however, throw an enormous tantrum in our room as we retired for the night, causing Kameron to bury herself under the blankets to attempt to block out the noise of the grey and purple haired girl screaming in rage.

Samidha became the leader of our group when we set off the next morning, explaining that all we had to do was drive the legions of the Queen's guards out of the village. Her plan was nowhere near as precise and detailed as Liam's, which made Rin doubtful that we would succeed, but Samidha seemed confident.

We didn't have the option of sneaking in, for Liam was not present, so Samidha had decided upon a sudden attack, since we held the element of surprise. No one had bothered the village in so long that surely by now the guards must have slacked on their duties, believing that no one would fight them for the sake of the witches - the most disliked race in the land, since witches didn't belong to any clan.

We would attack from all directions in pairs. The twins would be together, then Josie and Kameron, Samidha and Angeline, and lastly Sarah and I. Since the village was also on the far outskirts of the land, it didn't take long for us to arrive.