Blue Umbrella Official Feb Mar 2019 issue | Page 21

The resulting smoke was so strong
that my mother said I should go outside and
get fresh air. Listening to her advice, I took a
walk around the castle wall. The path around
the wall was my favorite place to stroll
because the guards atop the wall helped me
feel safe alone.
Little did I know that these guards
were not actually able to see all that
happened behind the castle wall. By the
castle gate, there was a large bush in the
shape of a spade. It was a beautiful
decoration for the entrance to the castle, but
if you were clever and hid in just the right
spot, the bush would keep the guards from
seeing you.
Not knowing this, I was walking by the
bush feeling as safe as can be when a card
suddenly leaped out and grabbed me. As if
being attacked was not bad enough, this
card was not from our kingdom. He was a
card of Hearts.
I found out the answer to my question
when the cart arrived at its apparent
destination, the Land of Hearts. The cart
stopped moving and I was brought into a
large, sprawling castle. As I was being taken
to the castle?s throne room, a white rabbit
appeared and greeted me. He told me that
the Queen of Hearts needed a new Knave.
She?d heard stories of the family of Knaves
in the Land of Spades, and she?d also heard
that they had a daughter who was trained
from her youth. This girl was also turning the
right age to take her father?s place.
Eager to get a new Knave, the Queen sent a
crow to spy on me and tell her all that I do.
When she discovered I liked taking walks by
the castle wall, she called her most trusted
kidnapper, the Seven of Hearts, and told him
to fetch me for her.
I struggled to free myself, but his grip
was too strong. I longed to yell for a guard
on the wall, but the hand over my mouth
made that impossible. To make matters even
worse, the bars on the gate were far enough
apart that he was able to drag me straight
through! We arrived at the throne room, where
the Queen of Hearts sat on an elaborately
decorated throne. After studying me for
several minutes, the Queen gave me her
Knave uniform and painted a large heart on
my face. Having to wear the uniform was
bad enough, but having to bear the heart
was worse. Just as it was designed to, it
reminded me each time I looked in the mirror
that I now worked for the Queen.
Why would a card of Hearts want to
kidnap me? I wondered as he shoved me
into a stolen cart and took me away. Since then, I?ve been spending my
free moments trying to find a way that I can
escape to my family.
To be continued in the next issue
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