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The Cartomancer's Last Hand

fantasy◐ Teen
5 contributors · 3 paragraphs deep

Mireille studies the Queen instead of the cards. 'You're not death,' she says slowly. 'You're trapped. Someone painted you into that card, and you can't get out unless you win.' The Queen's smile freezes. 'Clever girl,' she hisses. 'Too clever to last the night.'

Mireille digs through her bag and finds the cracked card the Queen came from. 'Trapped right here,' she says, tapping it. 'So if I burn this, what happens to you?' The Queen lunges across the table, desperate now to stop her.

↔ version 1 of 2 of this paragraph — hover its sides to flip. The card below is what happens next.

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A possible continuation

Mireille holds the card over her little lantern flame. 'Last hand,' she says. 'Leave, or burn.' The Queen freezes, then sinks back into the river without a word. Mireille keeps the card unburnt, a warning, and never deals her own death again.

BD
Bram de Vries
6 votes · future 1 of 1