A Court of Cards

♣Two♣

"See, the Ace can be One or Eleven- the lowest or highest of the cards."

"Three, please."

The Five merchant looked up surprisingly. "Three horses?"

She nodded. "I, erm... I'm travelling heavy."

The merchant curled his lip and rolled his eyes, both movements shockingly rude for someone who was trying to sell ridiculously overpriced horses. Speaking of the devil, he decided to raise the price again. 

"That'll be forty-five Queenies."

She gulped, then withdrew the sum from her inside pocket. "Deal. Now show me the stallions."

The Five merchant's eyes narrowed so much she thought his head might collapse unto itself. Sadly, it was not to be.

The Five recollected himself and stood, extra money showing as it rolled off of his generous stomach. He pulled a large ring of jangling metal keys from his pocket. "Of course." he replied smoothly. "Here they are."

Folllowing the merchant, she found herself in a large wooden room with an extremely high ceiling and a single, dusty and miserable-looking skylight from above. It smelled suffocatingly of manure and hay in the barn, and she fought the urge to cover her mouth and nose as she watched the Five unlock three stalls, then lead out a palomino, a pinto, and a bay. 

"Here you go, boy... now get out of my sight." the merchant snapped. Despite his harsh tone, she felt a wave of triumph that her guise had worked. Shifting her hood, she silently mounted the palomino, noticing its visible ribs through its gaunt pelt. As quiet as a cat, she slipped out of the barn and into open air. 

Outside, the market was bustling with Hearts and Diamonds of all kinds. Staying covered, she lead the horses to a nearby clump of forest, tying them to an alder tree. Hood cloaking her face, she approached another market stall.

"three apples, please. No... twelve. A cheese... baguette, and... flint and steel. That'll be?"

The diamond Three running the stall jerked her head up, her eyes wide and... hungry, the hooded girl noticed with a pang of pity.

"Three Kinglies."

The girl pulled out four Kinglies and handed them to the Three child. "Here," she said simply, taking her food and pushing the extra Kinglie into the little girl's hand. "Go buy yourself some food of your own."

The Three's eyes widened, then her face split in a grin from ear to ear. "Thank you, sir!" she cried.

The hooded girl merely nodded, tucked the food under her arm, and strode back towards the forest.

Upon entering, the girl removed her hood and sat next to the bay horse on a sunny rock. "Here, you starving mongrels," she half-teased, doling out an apple to each awaiting mouth. "Stop looking at me with those oh-so-pitiful stares. You're not begging dogs, you know."

As the sun began to drip off of the horizon, bloody sky slashing through blue, the girl waited. She finished the cheese baguette by the time night had fallen. Wiping her hands on her cloak and standing up, the girl left the horses and the forest to slink out into the night.

Carefully, the girl cloaked herself once more- though the night provided cover enough, she couldn't risk anyone seeing her face. Upon reaching the tall wooden barn where she had bought three starved, mistreated horses on four or so hours ago, the girl opened the barn door quietly and slipped inside.

It still smelled horribly of horse excrement. Pressing a hand to her nose, the girl unlocked the horses' stalls using the key she'd found on a hook. Quickly shoving an apple into each horse's mouth to keep them quiet, she led four horses out into the night. Returning twice to do the same, the girl paused outside the barn door after all the horses had been evacuated and fled into the night. By a stroke of luck, no civilians or kingdom guards had come to inspect the sudden rush of horse hooves clattering on cobblestone, then just as suddenly, nothing.

Should I?

The girl paused, debating.

I should. He overcharged me, anyways.

Withdrawing the earlier bought flint and steel from her pocket, the girl only ran away on the pinto stallion once the barn was ablaze with a hungry fire behind her. Pausing before entering the forest after the escaped horses, the girl noticed a sign taped to a nearby tree, aglow in the firelight. In the framed picture was what seemed like a nineteen or twenty-year-old girl with dark, sun-kissed skin, large almond-shaped golden eyes, a slender heart-shaped face, and a tangled mess of chocolate hair drawn back in a ponytail. The caption above screamed: ACE OF CLUBS MISSING! IF FOUND, RETURN DEAD OR ALIVE TO THE JACK OF SPADES. REWARD: 5,000 KINGLIES.

Curious, the girl thought as she kicked the pinto into motion. 

Here I am, Jack of Spades. Come and get me.

The fire roared behind the Ace of Clubs as she disappeared into the darkness of the night.