Chapter 26

Marik groaned as he stretched out on one of the lounge chairs on the King's lawn. He'd spent the last four hours since just after breakfeast learning how to properly play croquet, and his muscles were sore. He'd thought the game was a pretty simple thing at first; hit the ball through the hoops and back. Simple. But swap the ball for a hedgehog and the mallet for a flamingo and that was one hell of a strange game with an aweful lot of running around after the animals when they got loose.

Bakura had watched completely amused from the sidelines, content with just slurping whatever drinks where brought to him and nibbling on whatever treats appeared on the plate on the table beside him. Marik occassionally threw a glare over in his direction, and only received a stuck out tongue or a wink and a kiss. None of them saw much of the King that day, so the March Hare took over the reigns and taught the blonde lion everything he knew about the stupid little game. They both cursed and groaned and laughed, having a little bit of fun along the way.

"Awh, is the poor little kitty tired?" The white haired knife thrower teased, handing him a cookie which the lion took gratefully.

"You try chasing after pink birds and spikey balls with legs." Marik threw back, tossing half of the cookie into his mouth and chewing. Bakura just laughed in response before sobering up quite quickly.

"I still can't believe that bastard was caught." He said with a little slump in his seat, his eyes downcast from the bright sky into the shadows of the trees. "He always had some trick up his sleep to escape."

"People usually attack him face to face, though." Marik mused, cocking his head to the side in the way he always did, watching a lone bread-and-butterfly flit around the black and white rose bushes. "This was a sneak attack. He was poisoned. Bitch." He growled at the mere thought of the Queen.

"Wonder what this Queen Bitch looks like." Bakura pondered, considering who he knew who was cruel and annoying enough to be the Queen of Hearts' mirror image.

"Remember that guy who's arm I tore off?" Marik grinned broadly, turning his head towards his companion who relfected that grin on his own face. "Yami, was his name?"

"I don't remember. He was only a temporary replacement for Malik while he got over that food poisoning." The red-eyed man chuckled as he picked up a heart shaped cookie for himself. "But yes, you tore off his arm."

"Thanks to you."

"And Malik."

"Mostly you."

"Ok, fine, mostly me." Bakura pouted a little with his confession, "Totally your fault for going so loopy on catnip though."

"Your fault for spiking my food with the stuff." Marik shot back in good nature with a fond but evil smile.

"Your fault for being a greedy jackass and gulping it all down in one." Bakura stuck his tongue out at him."

"Your fault for-" Marik began but was interrupted by the patio doors banging open, announcing the arrival of the King of Spades.

"What? You're still here?" He raised an eyebrow at the two lazing around. "I sent that hare to come and fetch you. Get moving, we need to go to the city."

"What for?" Bakura asked without thinking, rising from his seat slower than Marik. It seemed a small part of the tanned lion was loyal and obediant to this Akefia too.

"The tournament, idiot." The King stormed out again, leaving the two circus workers to follow him quickly in case they got left behind.

Their trip to the city entailed of a carriage ride with a small stack full of luggage to what Marik could only call the heart of Heartland City. They'd passed a few small villages, and the contents of the carriage all heard an audiable but quiet growl come from the King when they passed a bar called The Poison Rose. Marik could quickly guess why, and found it rather annoying the place was called a poison rose considering his master had been drugged and kidnapped there.

They came to stop in front of a pretty elaborate and fancy looking inn, and the servants of the King of Spades appeared out of no where to help them out of the carriage and unload their bags. It was clear the March Hare and Cheshire Cat were used to this sort of treatment as they followed their King into the main entrance. Bakura and himself hung back a little to watch the strange creatures at work before they realised they'd been left behind and jogged to catch up.

All five of them had seperate rooms, although with a flirtatious smile the Cheshire Cat managed to get a room with a double king size bed (which Marik thought must have been huge) for himself and his two white haired lovers, and a moderately sized room with a simple king size bed for the lion himself plus Bakura. The blonde was a little grateful to his reflection because he didn't like the idea of rooming alone in a strange land and he was pretty sure Bakura wouldn't have been comfortable with the idea either.

"Get settled into your rooms," The King of Spades announced to them once they'd been given their keys (which heart shaped notches, Marik noted), "Nap, fuck, whatever, but be back down here for supper. I need to go and see the Queen."

"What for?" Bakura asked, looking at the almost-clone of his boss.

"It's a formality to inform him of my presence, plus I might get a chance to have a look at Akefia." The white haired male explained to his shorter companion, "I'll come back and tell you about what I saw and hopefully have a little insight as to that bitch's plans."

As the King walked away, black and white cpae billowing dramatically behind him, Marik shared a look with Bakura, and could see that he too was determined to make the bitchy queen pay for what he had done.