Rakta tilted his head, peering down at Club Castle through the spyglass Masuta had given him. Tamsus whistled an upbeat tune that grated against his nerves, but he held his tongue as he watched the armies of the Diamond and Club Decks clash just outside the palace walls. The distance made it all seem very neat, but Rakta could imagine the screams, the blood.

He could practically taste the chaos.

"Why aren't you with your Queen attacking the Spades?" Rakta finally asked, looking at the other Ace where he was cradled comfortably in the low boughs of a sprawling cypress tree.

Tamsus stretched before standing on the branch, balanced precariously. He held his hands out in front of him, bending his knees slightly. Rakta rolled his eyes as Tamsus flung himself backwards, tucking into a tight back flip before landing on the ground.

He gave a small bow and said, "There wouldn't be very much for me to do. I already killed the Spade Ace, remember?" He pursed his lips into a pout. "I'm hoping that the Club proves to be more of a challenge."

Drily, Rakta said, "Maybe you would have had more fun if you hadn't ambushed her."

Tamsus cocked his head, considering this. His eyes narrowed and he nodded sagely. "You're right. I didn't give it enough time. Next time, I'll stretch the hunt out a little bit."

"Next time?" Rakta asked. "After we kill Dynami there won't be any Aces left. Unless you intend to hunt me?"

Tamsus chuckled, giving him a sly grin. "I can't kill the next King of Diamonds."

Rakta just shook his head, forcing his heart to slow down so he wouldn't blush. The slim band of iridescent stone around his right ring finger glittered at him and he said, "The princess always gets what she wants."

Tamsus laughed again and nudged Rakta's shoulder. "You can say her name, you know? You're allowed to do that now."

"Are you allowed?" Rakta asked, his attention still on the turmoil to the north of them. "To call the Queen by her name?"

A thick silence descended around them and Rakta turned to the other Ace, who was watching the battle with a blank expression. Unconsciously, he rubbed the back of his hand across his mouth and said, "Mavros... uses me as she sees fit. In return, I've been granted certain... privileges. Over the years I have come to realize that my Queen and I share the same... tastes about many things."

Rakta decided to let that revelation firmly alone and said, "How much longer do we need to wait?"

His mood changing abruptly, as it always did, Tamsus laughed, grinning wickedly. "So eager to see your princess?"

The innocent question was laced with double meaning and Rakta tried mightily to ignore the memories it brought on. Still, images of Avinos' pale skin and loose hair danced through his mind as he remembered when she had snuck into his quarters the night before the Diamond army had departed.

Tamsus took his silence as an answer and snickered. With an airy sigh, he said, "Fear not Rakta. We'll have you back in the princess' warm bed in no time."

"Please don't make me shoot you before we defeat the Clubs," Rakta said, his voice surly.

This just made the Heart laugh again before he said, "We should probably make our way towards the little Club bitch. And I think I know how we can get into the castle."

"Oh?" Rakta asked, relieved by the subject change.

Tamsus stood behind Rakta, extending his arm right past his face. Trying to ignore the urge to leap away from the Ace, Rakta settled his breathing and lined his sight up with Tamsus' pointed finger. His eyes widened as he followed the route the Heart traced along the almost sheer face of the castle's tower.

Turning slightly, he asked, "Are you insane?"

"Aren't we all?" Tamsus quipped back. "Don't tell me you can't manage a little balancing act."

Rakta muttered some less than complimentary words under his breath but hadn't found any other possible route. Sighing, he crouched down and slid the spyglass back into his pack, then tucked his bag and Tamsus' more firmly into the hollow they'd found in one of the trees around their stakeout spot.

Tamsus rolled his shoulders, his blood crystal eyes over-bright as he asked, "You ready?"

Rakta nodded and they took off running, moving swiftly through the trees that stretched all the way across the valley until they abutted with the castle's dark walls. Easily hurdling brush and ducking low hanging branches, Rakta started to smile, the expression blood hungry and cruel.

He wasn't out of control like he had been that fateful day in the training yard, but he was letting his Ace nature steal away his humanity. In almost no time, they found themselves staring up at the daunting wall that barricaded the castle. With a small sigh, Rakta smiled at Tamsus and said, "How nice of them to leave us a ladder."

Tamsus wore a smile identical to Rakta's and he looked up at the maple trees that had been stripped of their branches save the ones more than forty feet from the ground. He laughed, the sound delighted and said, "Kings first."

He stood at the base of a tree whose branches extended over the castle wall and laced his fingers together, holding them a little out as he bent his knees. Rakta backed up a count of fifteen paces and inhaled, waiting until everything grew still around him. He picked the branch he wanted, pointed it out to Tamsus who nodded, then sprinted full tilt at the other Ace.

He stepped into the cradle of Tamsus' hands, who heaved him up. Rakta waited until Tamsus' hands came to their apex, then uncoiled the springs in his muscles and launched upwards, arms above his head in a diver's pose.

Rakta effortlessly caught the branch he had been aiming for, using his waning momentum to swing himself around the branch twice. When he'd gathered enough speed, he let go, flinging himself once more into the air. He tucked into a tight ball and flipped around, his feet landing solidly on the branch.

It bobbed precariously under his weight and Rakta held his arms out to his sides. When he was confident in his balance, he leaned over and grinned down at Tamsus. The other Ace made a rude gesture at him before softly calling, "Show off!"

Rakta shook with silent laughter before he slipped out of the length of rope that had been in a coil around his torso. Tying it securely to the branch, he watched as it spiraled down to Tamsus who grabbed it and began hauling himself up, relying on nothing but his upper body strength.

When he joined Rakta on the branch, he had barely broken a sweat and his breathing wasn't labored at all. Rolling his eyes, Rakta asked, "Now who's the show off?"

Tamsus just shrugged, his expression smug. "If you have something worth showing off..." he sing-songed.

His feet light on the branch, Rakta walked along it until he could hop down onto the top of the wall that was about ten feet below them. All levity vanished as he looked down into the castle yard and found something that made him groan in dismay. Tamsus joined him and cursed under his breath.

The castle's grounds were huge and now Rakta understood why the wall wasn't heavily guarded. Extending all the way around the castle, which was about a half mile away from the wall itself, was a huge, twisted hedge maze.

Tamsus sighed and muttered, "Maybe we should have left earlier."

The distant sounds of war reached Rakta's ears and he said, "We need to hurry. The longer we take to kill the King, the more of my people die."

"Well then," Tamsus said. "What are we waiting for?"

With that, he dropped lightly off the thirty foot wall, landing easily on the ground before tucking into a roll that carried him down the first corridor of the maze. Rakta let one last image of Avinos float through his mind before he followed the Ace of Heart, the wind whipping in his ears as he plummeted to the ground.

When he was on his feet again, he jog forward until he joined Tamsus. The Heart's Ace was frowning at a divergence in the path. The right-hand one was comprised of rose bushes, the petals of the flowers a midnight black even in the bright southern sun. The left-hand passage was made of thorny brambles.

Murmuring, Rakta said, "Should we each choose a path and hope to meet up again?"

Tamsus slowly shook his head. "We should take the left one."

"What makes you say that?" Rakta asked crossly, his hands tightening around the hilts of the two knives Avinos had gifted him before he left.

They were daggers, perfectly balanced for throwing and felt like air in his hands. The metal had been infused with her blood, a tradition that had stretched back for ages. It was supposed to protect him. The idea was that if she shed blood for him willingly, his would not need to spill during battle.

His debt to the entity of War had already been paid by his beloved princess.

Tamsus grinned and said, "It's best to go where you fit in."

Rakta laughed at the madness of this statement but nodded and they took off running again.

Time seemed to stretch oddly in the maze, the brambles seeming to reach out and catch at them, tearing their clothes and skin without any discrimination. Rakta was just beginning to think they were helplessly lost when it finally happened.

Tamsus turned right, Rakta following and they both stumbled to a stop, panting slightly as they burst from the maze, staring up at the mirror-like black stone of Club Castle.

They grinned at each other before Rakta remembered that he had agreed to a more than slightly insane plan.

But they never got that far.

A sultry laugh rang across the bare lawn and both of the Aces whipped around to find a cloaked woman behind them. Tamsus' gun practically leapt into his hand, but he paused, cocking his head at the woman. Almost crooning, he said, "I like to see the faces of the people I kill Dynami. Why don't you take that silly hood off."

The woman laughed again before undoing the clasp at her throat. Rakta blinked as he took in the Club Ace.

She was beautiful, her black eyes luminous over cheekbones that appeared to be carved from marble. The perfect sweeping line of her aquiline nose led his gaze to her luscious pink lips which in turn led his gaze to the graceful line of her jaw, down the pale column of her throat.

She was clad in very little aside from tight black breeches and an assortment of black leather straps which barely allowed her any modesty. Her raven hair was tied back into a high ponytail and the hilt of a sword rose above her bare left shoulder.

"Dynami," Tamsus greeted, smiling at the fierce glare she sent his way.

Crossing her arms, she said, "I'm glad you're here Tamsus. I'd like to repay what you did to Vita."

"You don't have the time to repay me for what I did to her." Tamsus grinned. "Plus, I don't think you have quite the imagination to make it equal."

Dynami paled at his words, as did Rakta. The news of the Spade's mutilated body being found in the Dark Forest had quickly made it's way across Wonderland. When Avinos had heard it, she'd immediately run into his arms, not caring to listen to the rest of what the news-bringer had to say.

Rakta, however, had listened intently to every ghastly detail, vowing in that moment to never underestimate the Heart's Ace.

With a leonine growl, the Club Ace drew her sword, the blade dancing a sinister pattern through the air in front of her. Tamsus pursed his lips and tucked his gun back into its holster. Withdrawing two blades the length of a forearm, he grinned at Rakta. "Ready when you are."

Rakta snorted. "I went first last time."

As soon as the words left his lips, a stinging pain bloomed along his shoulder. Looking down, he found a throwing star in his left shoulder and jerked it out with a vicious snarl before he chucked it back at Dynami, who batted it away with her sword easily, the clang distant and tinny in his ears.

He traded another glance with the Ace of Hearts whose expression had suddenly turned feral. With a nasty hiss, he bolted forward and for just a moment, Rakta watched in entertainment as the other Aces darted around one another so quickly, their colors appeared to blend together.

Blood fighting ink.

Shaking himself free of ridiculous notions, Rakta darted in, weaving effortlessly around Tamsus to slash his right blade along Dynami's exposed forearm as she blocked a particularly vicious attack from the Heart.

He was almost surprised to find her blood was just as red as his as it splashed down to the grass under their feet. She snarled and swung at him, just for Tamsus to lay open another gash around her now unprotected shoulder.

They circled the bleeding Club, who stood quietly in the middle, watching them with an admirable patience, her grip on the sword never faltering even as her blood dripped down her skin. Rakta danced forward, but couldn't entice her into taking a shot at him, so he made a bolder move.

He reversed his grip on his left knife, ignoring the scream in his wounded shoulder as he raised his arm and threw his knife with deadly intent. Dynami's dark eyes widened in shock and she tried desperately to get out of the way but wasn't fast enough. A breath escaped her, the only sigh of her pain as the dagger buried itself firmly into her ribcage just above her heart.

Rakta grimaced when Dynami left the dagger in, which prevented her from bleeding as hard as he had wanted her too.

Tamsus took the opportunity and swooped onto the Club's unprotected back and Rakta saw it too late. The warning had barely formed on his lips when Dynami reversed the direction of her sword, the blade pressed right against her side as she thrust backwards.

The Heart stopped dead, the color draining immediately from his face. With a low, throaty chuckle, Dynami turned and placed her hand tenderly against Tamsus' cheek. Rakta stood frozen as the Club pulled Tamsus into her, not quite understanding why he made such a horrible choking sound.

She whispered, "I wish I could do more." Then pressed her lips to his, hard.

The shock broke Rakta's paralysis and he flipped his remaining knife in his hand, waiting. Dynami yanked her sword out of Tamsus' chest and turned triumphantly as he fell. The look of victory flickered when she saw Rakta.

It was barely a flicker of movement and a silver blur across the space between them. Then, a nasty thudding sound and the Club Ace was on her knees, hands going to the dagger embedded in her throat. Slowly, Rakta walked over until he was standing over her. He knelt next to her as she reached for him and grabbed her blood soaked hand as he watched the light flicker in her eyes.

A breath rattled wetly in her throat before her chest hitched and he watched her die.

She was his first kill.

The warring factions of his nature twisted together in his mind until he couldn't tell if he was elated or horrified by Dynami Club's death. Gently, he closed her eyes, then pulled his daggers free, cleaning the blades on the cloth of his pants.

A strangled gasping made him turn, his eyes widening when he saw Tamsus struggling to sit up. He coughed and spit blood to the side, his hands scrambling at a wound that was weeping red in the middle of the left side of his chest.

Rakta hurried over, falling to his knees besides Tamsus, letting the other Ace lean back into him. Tamsus spit another sticky glob. "Ugh. She missed my heart."

"I think you have to have one of those before someone can miss it Tam," Rakta tried to joke as he deftly unbuttoned his coat, then his white shirt.

He ripped the other Ace's shirt open, just to stop in shock and horror at the blanket of scars that covered his chest. Tamsus, ignorant of Rakta's surprise shrugged his shirt off, exposing more scars. Rakta saw burn scars, whip marks, purposeful carvings and other marks he had no names for.

Scarcely breathing, he looked up. "Tam?"

Tamsus blinked at him, looking puzzled. "What's wrong? Did she get my heart?"

He didn't sound worried and Rakta swallowed against the bile trying to rise up his throat. More blood welled up and he realized this wasn't the time to worry about past injuries. But the other Ace's nonchalance and what had obviously been torture marks worried Rakta a great deal more than the marks themselves did.

He cut a swath of material from Tamsus' already ruined shirt and  turned it into a pad that Tamsus just snatched away from his hands. Smiling a little weirdly, he said, "You called me Tam."

Rakta blinked. "When?"

"Just now," Tamsus said, shoving the wad of cloth into the wound, still smiling.

He blinked, realizing that he had and shrugged. "Tam," he tried, dragging the word out. "I guess I did."

"Tam," the Heart copied, then laughed and tried to stand. Almost immediately his knees buckled and Rakta caught him, keeping him from hitting the ground.

The other Ace growled and said, "You need to go kill the King."

"What?" Rakta asked blankly, taking Tam's arm over his shoulders. "No. I'm not leaving you out here to die."

"I'm not dying idiot," Tamsus said with a snort, seeming to ignore the blood that spilled over his fingers where he hand was pressed into the wound. "I'm slowing you down."

Rakta sighed as the sensibility of Tamsus' words sunk in. But he wasn't just going to leave the Heart here for any Club foot soldier to find. Scooping up the long knives he'd been using, Rakta all but dragged Tamsus back into the maze where he hid him among the leaves of one of the rose bush corridors.

He handed the weapons to the Ace who gave him a strange look, then said, "Thank you, Rakta."

Rakta just nodded and took off running again, heading straight for the path Tamsus had pointed out. Stopping just at the side of the castle, he tucked his daggers securely into his belt, then jumped up, his fingers barely snagging the edge of the scalloped molding.

He looked straight up, regretted that, then pulled himself up.

Clinging with the very tips of his fingers, as he had practiced millions of times on the castle wall at home, Rakta decided he was going to take a different, less crazy course. He set his sights on a window about sixty feet above his head, then grinned when he saw the same scalloped molding at equal intervals all the way up.

The castle had been built for its aesthetic qualities, the Clubs thinking themselves safe behind their walls and mazes. Rakta let himself dangle down, then yanked himself upwards in an explosive chin-up.

His fingers once again found purchase and he grinned before leapfrogging his way up the rest of the wall until he was standing precariously on the narrow sill of the window. He took a moment to catch his breath, then kicked the window in, sending shattered glass across the black marble inside.

He swung himself inside and grabbed his daggers once more, then he went to find the Club King.

It didn't take long and he showed no mercy as he cut down first the guards, then the Queen.

A single, united scream rose up around the castle as Rakta plunged his dagger into King Cassius' heart.

Blood sprayed as he yanked it out and he tipped his head back, eyes closed as he smiled toward the frescoed ceiling.

————————————————————+

Dynami is Greek for Strength

Vita is Swahili for Battle