(5)

All the cards gathered around the King of Clubs. The other kings shook his hand. Then they gathered around a big table. The kings, queens and jacks sat down. The aces took place beside their king and every other card gathered around them. “We have to do something.”, the King of Clubs began again. They all nodded. “But what can we do? We are as big as a human hand. That is far too small to get out in the world and look for our fellow cards.”, said the Queen of Hearts.
“I know, but we need to do something! We can’t just sit around while our fellow members may be tortured by that person!”
“I agree. We can’t sit around like this.”, said the King of Hearts.
“But what will we do?”, asked the Queen of Diamonds.
“Well why don’t we send out the sevens?”, suggested the Ace of Spades.
“But that is too dangerous!”, exclaimed the Queen of Clubs.
“Actually it isn’t. The sevens have teleportation magic. None of us will be as quick as they are. And they’ll teleport as quick as they can when they are in danger.”
“Still, it’s risky.”, said the King of Clubs.
“We need to do something?”
“True, let’s just send out the sevens.”, said the King of Hearts.
“Sevens come forth.”, said the King of Clubs while standing up. The sevens approached and bowed for the king. They said: “We are prepared.” The King of Hearts stood up: “We should wait for further details in the premonitions of our wives though. We shouldn’t send out the sevens blindly.”
“That is true. It involves further waiting and that’s what we are afraid for.”
“We can’t do anything else. I don’t want to send the sevens on a suicide mission.”
“Fair enough.”, the King of Clubs dismissed the sevens.
“Queens, if you would be so kind to…”
“We are prepared.”, they uttered and stood up to separate themselves from the others.

The queens sat in a circle and placed their fingers against their head, silently breathing as they tried to become as calm as they could. When they were calm they began to see images. They pressed their eyes to see the image better. Out of the dark they could see the same clothed person. They could see a lot of drawers and bookshelves, paper was lying everywhere. There was a desk with a feather and an inkpot. In another room were a lot of books and an altar. On this altar were cages, all kinds of cages. In every cage there was a deck of cards. Seven cages with one of them empty. They saw a red and dark hallway with a decayed black wooden door. There wasn’t a path to the house. And it was surrounded by trees, a wood. Behind it were mountains. On one of them was a tree, a white one blooming. Then the eyes of the four queens opened at the same time. They looked at each other and nodded. They stood up and went back to the gathering. The kings were busy arguing about what to do. The jacks shook their heads. They tried to keep the kings down, but it hadn’t worked at all. When a king saw that the queens arrived, he urged for silence. The queens took place beside their husbands. All the kings sat down again. The queens looked around and everyone was gawking at them. They looked at each other and nodded. The Ace of Clubs became inpatient and uttered: “What have you seen?” The Queen of Hearts spoke: “Again we have seen the clothed person. We saw it working behind its desk and again the papers were laying everywhere and books as far as the eyes reach.”
“In another room were cages and these cages are for the magical decks of cards. One cage was empty. That one is probably for us.”, the Queen of Diamonds said.
“There isn’t a trail to the house, but we can locate the house.”, said the Queen of Spades.
“You can?”, asked the King of Diamonds surprised.
“Yes, it’s located in Artium.”, answered the Queen of Clubs. They all looked at each other. The sevens were asked to come forth again. The Kings stood up and took the sevens aside. Each symbol talked to its own seven. They gave them instructions and told them to prepare bags with enough things to keep them safe. The jacks asked the queen for information on what they had seen. They began to draw maps that copied what the queens had seen. They drew very good and really clear so the sevens would understand. After drawing the maps they putted their own symbol on it. Then the jacks waited for the return of the sevens. The sevens had asked the aces for supplies. They got a compass and a clock from the twos. When they returned to the table the jacks stood up and gave them the maps. They studied the maps and putted them away. Every card shook the sevens hands and wished them good luck and a productive journey. The sevens separated from the others and snapped their fingers which made them disappear. Now the book of cards isn’t complete anymore and every card will be worried until they’ll come back. It was almost time for them to slide themselves in the box.