“It’s in the next field, over there.” I pointed to the cave, which I could just make out over a dry stone wall, but there was no one there. Perhaps, The Joker was inside as he had been last time.
Journey walked purposefully ahead of me, not letting her high heels slow her down at all, even though there were still patches of snow at this altitude. I quickly ran to catch up to her, not wanting her to be alone when she met The Joker.
She stepped up the large flat rock to the cave mouth and peered in.
“Are you sure this is the right place?” she asked me and then shouted, ”Hello?” into the cave. Her own voice echoed, “Hello,” back to her.
“Shhh,” I whispered loudly. “Yes, it’s the right place. Don’t shout; he’ll hear us.”
“That’s kinda the point!” she replied, making me feel foolish once again. She pulled something out of her pocket and pressed a button. Light flooded the cave.
“Flashlight!” she said by way of an explanation. Such wondrous inventions, the Hearts had.
The cave was not as deep as I thought it would be. In the summer in full daylight, you’d be able to see right to the back without any kind of artificial light at all. There was nobody there, and there was no hint that anybody had been there. Water poured out at the back through a tiny crevice, way too small for someone to hide in. The rest of the cave was uninteresting, just rock walls and a rock floor.
“You came.” A voice came from behind us, and I jumped. I turned to see a tall, good-looking man with violet eyes. He was standing right behind us. He’d not been there before.
We turned to face him, and he took Journey’s hand and kissed it, looking into her eyes the whole time. What a cliché! I looked at Journey, and by the expression on her face, she was lapping it up.
“Pleased to meet you, Mr....”
“I am known as The Joker.”
“Surely you have a name, though? A real name?”
“Once upon a time I had a name. I was known as Ben. No one has called me that in centuries.”
“Well, Ben, I’m very pleased to meet you. Ash here tells me you’ve wanted to meet me for some time.”
“We have already met, many times, my Journey. You just did not know who I was.”
“I’m sure I’d have remembered you if I’d met you before, Ben.”
“That’s not what he looks like. I already told you he can look like anyone,” I said, not liking where this was going. She looked completely enthralled by him.
“What your friend says is true,” replied The Joker. “I’ve met you in many guises, but I know this version of me is your heart’s desire. I can see it in your mind.”
So he was delving into her brain to figure out what type of guy she liked. Judging by how he looked now, I’d say she went for the tall, dark, handsome, and completely uninteresting type. How typical.
“Will you stay with me?”
“Well, I...I don’t even know you,” replied Journey. I could see she was struggling with what she should do.
“She came up here to tell you that she isn’t interested,” I said firmly. “But I’ve fulfilled my part of the bargain, so if you’ll do yours and turn my land’s water back to real water, we’ll be on our way.”
“It is already done, and thank you for keeping your promise. Journey, I will let you go if you want, and you will never see me again. But if you decide to stay with me, I can give you everything you want. You won’t even have to ask because I can already see it in you.”
“I don’t think you can,” she replied stepping off the rock. I silently cheered. She was coming back with me. A quick check of the water, now gleaming and crystal clear, told me that he had, in fact, kept his side of the bargain.
“Katie and Patrick and Billy. They now have a home. A couple will see them on the street this afternoon and formally adopt them. They’ll never go hungry again.”
I didn’t know who Katie, Patrick, and Billy were, but they obviously meant something to Journey. She paused and turned back to him.
“Margaret will wake up tomorrow to find her cancer gone, and her son will call her out of the blue and ask her to live with him. She will no longer have to sleep in the cold.”
Who was Margaret? Who were these people? And then it dawned on me. Katie, Patrick, and Billy were the homeless children I’d seen Journey playing with the night before. Margaret was the old woman who’d taken a bag of leftover food.
I could see Journey deliberating over what he was saying. He was getting to her.
“Journey, come on. We’ve both done what we set out to do. Let’s go.”
“Stay with me, Journey.”
“It’s an act. He doesn’t even really look like that. He’s tricking you.”
“Arthur will now be able to walk again. He can throw his crutches away.”
I had to give it to Journey. I’d have thought her head was full of shoes and clothes, and riches, but it turned out her heart’s desire was to help other people. Well, that and questionably good-looking men.”
“I think I’m going to stay.” She turned to me. You never know. I might like it with him. I have to find out.”
“No, you don’t!” I said.
“I want to, Ash. I want to find out if I could have a life with him. I want to be someone different.”
“But…”
“Please, Ash. I’ll be fine. I can look after myself.”
“It looks like we have a deal,” said The Joker. Is she mine now, Ash?”
What could I say? She wanted to stay with him, and there was nothing I could do. Perhaps she would be ok.
“Yes I guess, but…” He didn’t hear me. I was standing back in my bedroom at home, alone.
“Journey!” I shouted, but she was gone. She was hours away up at the top of a mountain somewhere. That’s if she was even still there. If The Joker could get me back home in a split second, then he could transport himself and Journey anywhere within the same amount of time.
I ran from my room, through the castle, and out the front door, not seeing anyone else in the process. When I got to the river, I could see that the water was crystal clear down here too. It seemed that other people had begun to notice. I heard cheers of the villagers, and as more and more people began to notice, they all came out of their houses. People were shouting and whooping in the street.
“Ash!” Someone threw themselves at me in an almost violent hug. It was my mother. “I knew it was you. I saw you from the window. You did it, and you are home safe!” she pulled me away from herself and looked me up and down to make sure I was home in one piece. The relief on her face was obvious.
“Thank Monsatsu, you are home. I’ve been worried sick. I had word that you were in Cerce. A friend of mine saw you there, and I wasn’t sure if I’d have preferred to know you were up a mountain or in that infernal place after what happened to your sister there.”
“I have to go back.”
She let go of my arms.
“What?”
“I have to go back. He has Journey.”
“Who? You surely don’t mean the Jack of Hearts?” She pursed her lips in distaste. I wondered if she’d found out about Tarragon and Journey and what they had gotten up to in the kitchen on New Year’s Eve. “That woman is trash!” she looked around her to make sure that the villagers weren’t listening. She lowered her voice. “It’s none of your business what that girl is doing, and after what her mother did to Star, I don’t want you having anything to do with that family. Rotten to the core, the lot of them.”
I thought about Journey and those children.
“She’s not rotten to the core, Mother, and I think that’s a sweeping generalization. Just because her mother is a power-hungry tyrant, doesn’t mean she or her siblings are like that.”
“You’ve heard the phrase ‘Never trust a Heart.’ Well, don't.”
“You’ve always taught me not to listen to things like that, that we should value everyone equally.” I reminded her. It was royal train
ing 101.
“Well, I’ve changed my mind.”
“I’m sorry, Mother, but I’ve got to go.” I kissed her cheek and ran back inside the castle grounds and around to the stables where I knew I’d find Star.”
“Ash! You’re back.” She looked behind me from the other side of a gleaming chestnut horse she was brushing. “Where is Midnight?”
Ah, Midnight. I’d forgotten about him.
“He’s at the train station, the one halfway up the mountain by the border with the Heartlands. The stationmaster is looking after him. I’ll get someone to go collect him later, but, now, I need another horse. Another fast one.”
“So, you’re telling me that you’ve lost one horse, and now you want another?” she asked me, disbelief in her voice.
“I didn’t lose Midnight. I told you where he is. Please, it’s urgent!”
“Ok, but I don’t like it. I’ll saddle up this one.”
“Thanks, Star, you’re an angel.”
I waited impatiently for Star to tack up the horse.
“Will you be going up the mountain again because if you are, I’ll have to fetch you another blanket for the horse.”
“No need. I’m going to see Iris in Yelpish.”
I jumped into the saddle and was off before she could question me further.
The decision to go to Yelpish was probably a crazy one, but I didn’t know what else to do. I could have spent a couple of days riding up into the mountains again, but I doubted they would still be there. I could have tried Cerce, but, again, that was hours and hours away if I caught the zeppelin. It would have taken me days on horseback. Yelpish was only a couple of hour’s horse ride away, and it was the place where Mali lived. If anyone in The Club Kingdom knew where The Joker and Journey were, it would be him.
The journey did only take two hours, with me pushing the chestnut as fast as it would go, but still, it was dark before we got there. I’d never been to Yelpish before, despite my sister having lived there for two or three years. I rode over flat farmland with dry stone walls separating the fields, which eventually gave out to unowned scrubland. There were some patches of snow here and there, but most of it had melted, leaving the ground muddy. The chestnut cut through it with ease, and it was only when I saw a copse of trees that I slowed down.
“I thought Yelpish was around here somewhere,” I said to the horse, who was probably just happy to have stopped for a second. I looked all around the desolate landscape. Apart from the dense thicket of trees and the very distant mountains, there was nothing but flat, featureless ground. I mentally kicked myself for not bringing a map. In my haste to leave, I’d completely forgotten to bring one. I was about to turn the horse, so we could ride around the trees when I heard music. It was coming from somewhere in the small woods. There was no way a whole village would fit in the small area filled with trees, but as they were thickly spaced, perhaps, it went back further than I thought. Perhaps, there was a lone musician who would be able to direct me to Yelpish. So far, I’d not seen another soul for miles.
The woods were deeper than I thought. We rode through them slowly for a good fifteen minutes before the trees thinned out. At first, I thought that we’d ridden right through without meeting the musician, but the music was louder here, and I realized we were in a clearing. A clearing much bigger than the copse of trees that surrounded it. Either I was going crazy, it was a trick of the light, or there was magic involved. I hoped for the latter, as the first option was quite a possibility after the last few weeks.
A large wooden sign read, “‘Welcome to Yelpish,” and beyond it, I could see rows and rows of brightly colored but tiny higgledy-piggledy houses. They all looked like they had been designed by a toddler using a set of crayons and built by the same toddler.
In the center of the clearing was a band of minstrels, which explained the music. People were dancing around, all of them, even the men, wearing what looked like dresses, but I suppose could have been classed as robes. I wondered if there was some kind of celebration going on. A wedding perhaps, but I was hard pressed to see anyone who might be a bride or a groom. I also couldn’t see Iris or Mali.
I jumped down off the chestnut and tied it to the nearest tree, not wanting just to ride unannounced into the middle of a party. My plan was to try to attract the attention of someone and ask them if they knew where Iris lived. She would know where Mali was and it was Mali I needed right now. However, when I walked up to the partygoers, the music stopped, the dancing stopped, and the chatter stopped. In fact, everything stopped, and everyone looked at me, wide-eyed. I suddenly felt as though I was an actor on a stage and now I’d forgotten my lines. The people were a funny-looking bunch. Sometimes, our race of people looked… well, they had a tendency to be pale and some of them even had pale green skin. It was rare, especially in the towns and cities, but you occasionally met someone of verdant complexion. Here, though, the majority had a greenish hue about them. The women wore flowers in their hair and the men even had flowers in their beards. I don’t know why I was surprised. Iris always dressed a little eccentrically, and now I could see where she got it.
“Can we help you?” one of the besmocked men asked me. At least, I think it was a man. He had a beard, but he was also wearing a dress covered in flowers.
“I’m here to see Iris. Do you know where I might find her?”
“There is no Iris in Yelpish.”
“Iris Club? I’m her brother.” I was beginning to wonder if I was in the right place when another of them, this time beardless and even more flowery came up to the first.
“He means Sunny Morning Buttercup. She is known as Iris out there.”
Sunny Morning Buttercup?
“Ah,” replied the first. “Why didn’t you say so? Our Divine Goddess of Summer is in the temple with Mali, the highest one. You will find it over there on the edge of the clearing. The large building with the steeple.” He pointed to a larger version of the ramshackle houses, this one painted a bright yellow. It did indeed have a steeple if you could call pointed bits of yellow painted wood stuck on top, a steeple.
“Thank you,” I said, turning toward the building.
“Can we offer you a beverage?” he asked to which I politely declined. These people were loonies. I’d hate to think what might be in their tea.
The temple wasn’t any grander on the inside than it was on the outside. In fact, it didn’t even have a proper floor, just a carpet of grass, with daisies growing in patches here and there, surrounded by four wooden walls. There were an altar and lectern at the front, but there were no pews as there would be in a church dedicated to Monsatsu, the Club God. Brightly colored cushions were dispersed liberally around the floor, which is what I assumed the congregation would sit on for services or whatever they did here. Thankfully, I could also see Iris and Mali, deep in prayer at the front. At least, they were both sitting cross-legged with their eyes closed, so I assumed that’s what they were doing. A strong incense smell filled the air.
“Iris,” I whispered, not sure of the protocol for disturbing prayers to whatever they were worshiping.
“Ash!” she jumped up and ran to give me a hug.
“Or should I call you Supreme Divine Sunny Buttercup of the Sun.”
“Oh stop it!” she playfully swiped my arm. “Iris is fine. I guess you met some of the villagers then?”
“I think I met all of them. Is it someone’s birthday because there seems to be a party going on?”
“We don’t celebrate birthdays in Yelpish. We celebrate nature and the wonder of being. There’s always a party going on. It’s what we do. Why are you here? Did you see The Joker? What was he like?”
“He was…”
“Ash, my good fellow.” Mali had joined us. He shook my hand with his and then retracted it back into his billowing robes. He was still wearing the strange yellow hat he’d worn when I’d first met him. “Did the amulet work?”
“It did, thank you. Mali I need your help. I need to
find The Joker.”
“I’m confused Young Ash. Didn’t you find him?”
“I did, but I need to find him again. He’s got Journey.”
“Sorry? He’s going on a journey? I don’t follow.”
“Not going on a journey. He’s got Journey. Journey is the Jack of Hearts. That’s her name. You know what the Hearts are like, calling their kids ridiculous names.”
“Hang on a minute. You are telling me he has a girl? Please tell me you didn’t give the girl to him?”
“Of course, I didn’t give her to him. I just took her up the mountain and…”
“Oh! This is bad!” Mali cried out and threw his hands up in the air. “Bad, bad, bad!”
“I know it’s bad. Why is it bad?” I knew why it was bad, but I wanted to know why Mali thought it was bad.”
“Oh, dear. Oh, deary, deary me,” muttered Mali
“What did you do Ash?” asked Iris, obviously alarmed at the reaction of Mali to my news.
“I didn’t do anything. He wanted to marry Journey, so I asked her to come and talk some sense into him. I didn’t force her to come. In the end, she practically forced me to take her.” I replied lamely. I was defending myself, but I wasn’t sure why.
“I think we’d all better sit down,” said Mali indicating the cushions on the floor.
“Shall I get us some tea?” asked Iris, not sitting down.
“My dear, I think we are way past tea. You’d better bring the whiskey.”
Mali sat on the floor, and I joined him. Iris disappeared through a door I’d not previously seen and returned moments later with a decanter of amber fluid and three crystal glasses, all of which looked out of place in the rickety old temple. She poured the whiskey into the glasses and passed them out. Mali took his and drank the whole thing down in one go before indicating that Iris should fill his glass again. I held on to mine, eager to know what Mali had to say.
Five of Clubs (War and Suits Book 4) Page 8