-1

The wizard sat in a large red cherry wood armchair behind and equally large red cherry wood desk. Several books and pieces of parchment lay carelessly strewn about on it. He leaned heavily on one arm of his chair. He was biting no his thumbnail. He only did this when he was deep in thought. And deep in thought is what he had been since early this morning when one of the many palaces housekeepers awoke him.

“Your graciousness…” She tugged on his satin sheet.

He was never a heavy sleeper so he was easily stirred by this.

“What- what is it…”

The meek maid cleared her throat and then spoke in a whisper.

“My lord, one of the guards is here to see you he says it is quite urgent.”

The wizard never made it a point to turn anyone away with urgent news. It was what he believed help keep his reign as it was.

“See him to my library. I will be there shortly.” He said rubbing his eyes.

“Yes my lord.” The little maid said before bowing slightly and placing the Wizards robe just at the foot of the bed. She walked out the doors and closed them behind her. The Wizard emerged from his bed half asleep. He grabbed his robe and pulled it over his naked body and made his way to the large bedroom doors. The hall was dimly lit, and the gold clock on the wall read “IV”. He drug himself down the marbled floored hall and into his library. To his surprise the guard was already there and waiting. The guard saluted him and then bowed. The Wizard made his way over to his desk and sat himself down in his chair.

“I am so sorry to disturb you so early your graciousness but I have some information that you must know of.”

“Your name?” The Wizard said.

“Eh…uh…Lombardi my lord…but”

“You’re the one I sent after the dead witch’s body.”

“Yes, my lord.”

The Wizard leaned back into his chair.

“And?”

“I’m sorry my lord…”

“The body, did you get it?”

Lombardi gripped his red hat.

“Yes, my lord.”

The Wizard smiled widely.

“Lombardi my friend, I see a promotion in your future.”

Lombardi smiled as best he could. But what he needed to inform the Wizard of was a bit distracting.

“I left the body with the alchemist as the general instructed me to. But my lord I have learned something of the killer of Nessarose the Wicked.”

The Wizard‘s ears perked.

“Oh?”

“Yes, my lord. It was another witch that killed her.”

The Wizard leaned forward and onto his desk.

“You don’t say, and this Witch, who is she?”

“Her name is Dorothy Gale my Lord, Dorothy Gale the Witch of Kansas.”

“Kansas?”

Lombardi nodded intently. The Wizard hadn’t heard that word in years. And Gale, the name sounded so familiar.

“Where is this Dorothy witch now?”

Lombardi sat himself down in the large chair on the other side of the desk. Sweat had begun to bead on his brow.

“The three Witches of Oz have sent her here.”

“Here? What the hell for?”

Lombardi swallowed hard and clutched his hat.

“…to kill you my lord.”

The Wizard jerked back in his seat.

“They have the gall to send an assassin after me?!”

Lombardi flinched expecting this kind of reaction. The Wizard flew up from his desk.

“Those arrogant whores! I’ll have every one of them killed! Glinda, this is all Glinda’s doing. I’ll have her head!”

Lombardi watched as the Wizard’s face turned bright red. The man was known for his horrible temper. Famous for it actually. The Wizard turned to Lombardi, calming as fast as he had become enraged.

“You have served me very well Lombardi.”

Lombardi nodded timidly.

“I want all troops out looking for this girl. Span out I want her found. Lombardi you are now a general.”

Lombardi turned white.

“I want this girl found, brought back here and executed for crimes against the throne. Anyone who is found with her will be charged as an accomplice and executed as well. I will deal with Glinda and her drones.”

Lombardi stood from his seat. He wanted a promotion but wasn’t sure he could handle being in charge of the entire Emerald army.

“My lord-”

“Lombardi you have served me well, do not fail me.” The Wizard said placing the world on Lombardi’s shoulders.

Lombardi nodded and stepped reluctantly out the large doors leaving the Wizard alone.

The Wizard re-accounted all of this, he had put on one of his many suits now and the maid had brought him his breakfast which sat untouched on his desk. The troops had long since left and now it was only a matter of time before they found this assassin and she was brought to his justice. There was one thing that he could not get out of his mind though. It was the name of the girl, “Gale”. Where had he heard it before? He had heard so many names in his career before he came to Oz but this one was starting to nag at him. One would think he would have been shocked to find out another slipper like he had come to Oz. But it did not. There had been one before him, a woman who had passed away a few years ago, him and now this girl. But what did get him thinking was where she had come from. Kansas, he himself was from a small town in the northern part of the state but that was all over now, gone, in the past. Oz was his new life and new home. But now he had business to attend to. The Witch’s body was with the alchemists and he must go and over see what was to be done. The Wizard got up from his seat a little dazed and dizzy. He made his way past his desk and to the doors of his library. He reached for the handle and then it hit him.

Gale…Kathrine Gale.

The name echoed in his head. He had almost forgotten. It had been so long since he thought about Kathrine Gale, the woman who he once loved.

4

Dorothy and her friends traveled down the yellow brick road keeping conversation and an eye out for anymore of the Wizards men. Lion, a bit shaky at first, had now begun to warm up to his new friends. The great forest seemed to go on forever. But the trees were beginning to get smaller than and not as dense as before. They had been walking for sometime now and a good part of this time was spent explaining to Lion what it was they intended to do when the reached the emerald city.

“But what of the red coated men? Won’t they be a problem?” Asked the Lion.

“I’m sure they will but what choice do we have? This is why we must devise a battle plan soon. You will come in very handy Lion.” Said Scarecrow.

“I will?” Questioned Lion surprised.

“Yes, Lion you have been in the Emerald city palace.”

Lion thought about this for a moment.

“Nick has been there as well…” He said.

“I have Lion but I have only been within the city walls. You have been inside the Palace, the Wizard’s stronghold.” Said Nick.

Lion nodded and his long brown mane bounced up and down.

“I do not want those men in the coats to get me.” He said in a frightened tone.

“We know Lion and we won’t.” Mia assured rubbing his large Lion head. Lion immediately began to purr.

They continued to walk sometime more and finally Dorothy signaled that they should stop for a rest and a bite to eat. The group of friends chose a place where green grass and a few white flowers were blooming. They all sat down in the grass. Scarecrow leaned himself against a tree and examined his scythe. Scarecrow didn’t need to rest so he was always ready when the time came to move on. He liked it that way. Nick took his axe from its holster and laid it on the grass. Mia and Dorothy unpacked what food they had and set it out where everyone could have a nibble of everything. Dorothy looked at the food they had. They didn’t expect to be picking up two extra mouths; their food was going to go fast. Lion smelled some of the dried apples and decided he was going to munch on some of the green grass they had come to rest on. His stomach had been in knots since the encounter with the Guards. He chewed away at a few green blades making his stomach feel better almost immediately. Mia ran her hand over his head and down his mane as she had done for the better part of their trip together and the Lion enjoyed the attention very much. Dorothy offered Nick a piece of cheese and bread Nick took it gratefully and set on his crossed legs.

“Has anyone else noticed that the presence of the Wizards troops has slowly begun to increase?”

Scarecrow said suddenly.

“I don’t think so.” Answered Mia.

“No, Scarecrow is right. I think the Wizard is on to us.” Nick added.

“It was bound to happen. I’m sure the wizard has been to Munchkinland by now. Think about it. We were off of the road for an entire night. He could have easily passed through without either one of us noticing one another. Not to mention the various other routes of the brick road.”

Dorothy nodded in agreement as she chewed the last bit of the bread that Paulina packed for them.

“I didn’t expect the man to be blind to us this entire time but I had hoped we’d have a little more time before he realized we were after him.” Dorothy said moving bread around in her mouth.

“The Wizard is extremely powerful. What makes you think he doesn’t have someone paid off in Munchkinland? They could have seen you land on Nessarose and wasted no time in reporting back to the Wizard.” Said Nick.

Scarecrow brought himself up from against the tree, “A battle plan is in order then.” He said.

“We cannot risk being caught with our hand in the cookie jar so to speak and not have a strategy.”

“Scarecrow is right Dorothy; so far we’ve only been walking. We know where we’re going but not what we were going to do when we get there.” Said Mia still petting the Lion who had now fallen asleep.

“I had hoped the shoes would have showed me what to do. Like they had done before.”

Dorothy said.

“Dorothy, you have the weight of Oz on your shoulders. The shoes have done their part now you must take the wheel of this ship. You’re our leader.”

Scarecrow said crouching down to where his friends sat.

Dorothy swallowed hard, the words of her straw friend hitting her like a ton of bricks. She was their leader. A sour taste developed in her mouth making her bread taste like wet cardboard.

“Excuse me, I’ll be right back.” Dorothy said getting up nervously. The others stared as Dorothy made her way aimlessly in into the small grove of trees that were starting to become scarce.

Nick and the others looked at one another perplexedly.

Dorothy made her way through the slightly dense grove till she finally came to a clearing. She stood for a moment, hands resting on her hips. Her chest moved up and down as she breathed heavily from her excursion. Scarecrow’s calling her their leader made her head spin. But he was right she was their leader. Tears began to form in her eyes and she wished and prayed that she was back at home in her house with her grandparents. She started to resent the Silver slippers and the task that came with them. Tears were now pouring from her eyes.

“I wanna go home…” She sobbed quietly. She reached her hand out and caught a tree for support as she cried. She wanted to go home. She wanted to be back in her boring school she wanted to see Lucy and most of all she wanted to know if Daniel was alright. Birds chirped in the glen not noticing a girl in a blue and white checked shirt crying in the greenery.

“Dorothy…” a voice said softly.

Dorothy spun around surprised. Nick was standing just a few feet behind her.

“I thought I’d come and see if you were okay. You looked as though you were going to be sick.” He said a little embarrassed for catching her in such a vulnerable state.

Dorothy wiped her face of nervously.

“I’m fine.” she said. Her eyes were red and misty.

“I’m just--you know--things are just starting to catch up to me. But I’m fine.” She said before she broke down again.

Nick rushed over as she fell into his arms weeping.

“I wanna go home. I don’t want to be your leader! I‘m only a kid!” She cried.

“I know…” Nick comforted.

They stood there for sometime and as Dorothy cried. Nick, for the time being, took on the role of temporary leader because as Dorothy said she was only a kid.

They set up a camp in the little glen. Tonight they would only have the treetops for blankets and a small fire which Mia had cast an anti-smoke charm on to keep their presence unknown. Nick decided they should setup camp and let Dorothy calm before they did anything else. Dorothy was obviously grateful but hadn’t said much since her breakdown. Only when night had fallen and the others started unpacking a few things, did Dorothy start feeling better. Scarecrow, Mia, and the Lion were obviously concerned for her and let her know it. Mia brought Dorothy some of the dried apples to eat which Dorothy wrapped back into the napkin they came in and placed them in her pocket. She didn’t have very much of an appetite. Lion later came over and placed his head in Dorothy’s lap. Dorothy stroked his long musky mane as he purred loudly. And Scarecrow tried his best to cheer Dorothy up by telling her the joke she had told him the day she met him. He didn’t get one part of it right which made Dorothy laugh even more than the joke itself. Slowly Dorothy realized that she just wasn’t these people’s leader but she was much more than that. She was their friend whom they loved and cared for. She was glad that night had come. It slowed down the inevitable. Getting to the city and Killing the Wizard. Scarecrow had defiantly been right though. They needed a battle plan. Dorothy had felt extremely stupid thinking that the shoes would do all the work. Like Mia had said; they had done their job now it was Dorothy’s turn. Lion’s big hairy head shifted in Dorothy’s lap. He yawned slightly as cats do and fell right back to sleep. Dorothy looked over to Scarecrow and Nick. Nick had pulled out his axe and the two were comparing edges on their weapons. Mia sat just opposite of them reading her leather bound book. Scarecrow nodded as nick demonstrated what looked to be like a sharpening technique. Nick handed the straw man his sharpening stone and a small silver tin of some kind of solution. Noticing Dorothy looking at them, he patted Scarecrow on the shoulder and made his way over to his friend. He took a seat next to Dorothy and interlaced his fingers in his lap.

“How are you feeling?” He asked Dorothy.

“Alright…” She replied.

“Do you think I can get you to take back the leader role? I don’t think I’m quite cut out for the task of leading such a powerful army.” He said glancing down to Lion who seemed to be having a dream in which he was running quite fast. His paws twitched over and over. Dorothy burst into laughter making Mia and Scarecrow turn their attention to her.

“I’m sorry.” Dorothy said calming down.

“For?”

“For not being the leader I should be.” she replied.

“Do you see anyone angry with you?”

Dorothy shook her head quietly.

“Well I guess you don’t have a reason to be sorry do you.” Nick smiled making Dorothy feel a little better.

Scarecrow made his way over to the two making sure to keep far enough away from the blazing orange fire.

“Thank you.” He said handing Nick his axe sharpening tools. “The blade is sharper than it ever was. I think I might have damaged one of my fingers testing it. Nothing Mia can’t fix in the morning.”

Scarecrows black paint mouth morphed into a smile.

“Glad I could help my friend.” Nick said.

“I must return the favor. But right now I wish to keep watch.” Scarecrow cheerfully said. He reached his burlap hand down to caress Dorothy’s face.

“Fell better sweet heart.” He said kindly and walked into the woods into the dark.

“He cares a lot for you.” Nick said.

“I think he feels he can never really repay us for rescuing him.” Dorothy said talking about her straw bodyguard.

Nick picked at a splinter stuck in the side of his only flesh hand. The fire reflected off of his tin limbs.

“I don’t think any of us were looking for a leader. Maybe just a friend. Someone who could show us purpose. In case you haven’t noticed, Oz can be a little depressing.”

Dorothy smirked.

“Well if that isn’t the understatement of the year.”

Nick chuckled stirring Lion from his sleep. He picked himself up from where his head lay on Dorothy’s lap and sauntered over to where Mia had fallen asleep. He curled up next her and fell right back into the sleep he was awoken from.

“Thank god…” Dorothy said relieved. Her leg had fallen asleep and was now completely numb.

“Lion is adorable but he weighs a ton…” She stretched her leg out and rubbed her thigh. Pulling it back in, she looked over to Nick who was staring at her softly, beckoning to her. Dorothy licked her lips and scooted over to him. He stretched out his tin arm and brought her in close to him. Dorothy nudged herself close to him and rested her head on his shoulder. Nick wrapped his arm around her and held her close. It felt good to finally hold her as close as he had been wanting to.

“Why did you come with us?” Dorothy asked in a near whisper.

“I wanted to help you.” He replied.

“Back at the cottage you said that you had a personal reason for coming with us. What is it? I mean you don’t have to say-”

“My wife.”

Dorothy froze.

“Your wife…”

Nick nodded.

“Her name was Sarah. She died in the half-breed plagues. She’s buried with my parents just beyond the old cottage.”

“You were married? You’re so young though…”

“Most people in Oz usually marry young.”

Dorothy swallowed hard.

“You didn’t have kids did you?”

Nick smiled.

“No, no children.”

“I’m sorry, I didn‘t mean to pry.”

“It’s fine. Yes, I did love her very much and when she died its like she took my heart with her. But the only thing I can do now is help you and get revenge for what the Wizard did to her and so many other people.”

Dorothy sat in silence thinking.

“Is that why you’re drifting from place to place?”

Nick breathed deeply.

“I suppose. After Sarah died I had nothing left. So I traveled from place to place hoping to join some kind of underground movement against the Wizard. But after Glinda’s father was assassinated it seemed like people lost all hope.”

Dorothy stared into the fire. It crackled and popped as the heat dried the green wood. Nick leaned over and threw a piece of wood into the orange blaze. The orange light bounced off his tin leg catching Dorothy’s eye.

“And the tin limbs?”

Nick exhaled.

“That’s a long story.”

“Does it look like I’m going anywhere?” She chuckled.

Nick glanced over to the dense forestry catching his thoughts.

“Well…” He started.

“When Sarah died, what was left of my life was gone. The depressive state I fell into was inevitable.”

Dorothy embraced Nick a little tighter knowing exactly what he felt.

“Soon after the Wizard declared that all the forests of Oz were to be cleared of all civilians, forcing most of the logging folk to move to the Emerald city. The forests and all found in them were property of the Wizard and hunting and gathering timber was punishable by death.”

Dorothy shook her head and listened on.

“So after I was forced from the only home I knew I felt I had nothing left to lose and I tried to commit suicide.”

Dorothy sat up in shock. Nick met her eyes, shame washed over his face.

“I traveled to the Northern Mountains where Sarah and I planned to visit one day and I…well…”

Nick swallowed hard and continued.

“The fall didn’t kill me but it did leave me half dead and mangled and the bottom of a very deep ravine. I don’t know how I survived but I did. I remember lying there just thinking that finally it would all be over and that I might get to see Sarah again. Then the blackness took over me. A few days later I woke up in a bed bandaged and rebuilt.”

“Rebuilt?” Dorothy asked.

“A tin smith who lived in the mountains had found me and took me back to his cottage where he replaced my limbs and most of the damaged parts of my body with tin. I stayed with him while I recuperated and soon after I left to travel Oz. I don’t know what ever became of that old man but I never really thanked him for what he did.”

A look of guilt grew on Nick’s face as he stared into the fire.

“How old are you? Really Nick?”

Nick drew his attention from the fire.

“I’m twenty two.”

“And you’ve gone through more than most people have in their entire lifetimes.”

“I hope I haven’t made you uncomfortable.” He said to Dorothy.

“No, you haven’t. I’m just glad you trust me enough to tell me all of that.” She replied.

“Good because I’d hate to regret what I’m about to do.”

Dorothy looked up to him.

“What?”

With that Nick leaned in and kissed Dorothy.

5

Harsh cold air filled her lungs. She rolled over on her side and violently vomited thick black coagulated blood. A loud scream burst from between her cold lips, blood had already begun to rush back into them chasing away the deathly purple color. Her Scream echoed in the darkness. She coughed violently and spat more thick blood. She realized she was naked and the only thing that clung to her was a thin linen sheet. She was laying on something firm and cold. She groped her feet out of habit.

Gone…

Her lungs pumped vigorously. It had been dark before. Very dark. What was the last thing she could remember? She had been walking to some place, she knew that much but after that it was all black and for the most part missing. She looked around in confusion the darkness only intensifying it.

She eyed a blue glowing in the corner and made an attempt at it. Her legs, numb and useless hung over the side of the cold metal slab as she lunged forward and fell miserably to the floor. A loud groan of pain and frustration escaped her. The loud thumping of footsteps fell onto her ears. They stopped and suddenly a loud clicking noise echoed through the room. As suddenly as it was unlocked a large steel door slid open and a large beam of light spilled into the room. Several silhouettes stood at the doorway. She looked up into the blinding light and squinted hard. The light burned her retinas and her head began to throb. Two of the silhouettes entered the room and a third walked in slowly. His heels clicked hard on the cold stone floor. She let out a pitiful groan and laid her head back down on the floor.

“I must say, I knew the sciences would be more advanced here considering they are part magic. What science can’t accomplish magic will.” The now looming figure said.

She coughed violently and curled up into a ball.

“Her vitals should be normal soon if we can get her off of this cold floor and back onto the examining table your graciousness.” One of the figures said.

The tall figure rubbed his hands and popped them into his pockets.

“What did it feel like? I’m quiet curious to know. Hopefully we can have a little chit chat after you regain your senses and color.” A smirk broke out on his face hidden by the darkness. He turned to leave the cold dark room.

“Put her back on the table and get her up and walking around soon. I have many questions and I want answers to them.” He walked over to the doorway where two other figures stood. Long coat outlines hung from their bodies.

“You are only a shell of who you were before. But anyway, welcome back to the world of the living Nessarose the Wicked.” He walked out of the door and disappeared.

Nessarose lay on the cold floor still curled into a ball. Her stomach twisted and she jolted in pain. She screamed once again. The next few hours would be the most agonizing time she would ever endure. Because when you have been dead, retuning to life is a painful transition.