The Quartz Tower (Kingdoms of Oz Book 2)

by Carrie Whitethorne

  Chapter 6

  The morning passed in silence as we trudged through the miserable waste of a forest. Fallon had insisted we stop once, at what I assumed to be noon, to eat. We sat on a fallen tree trunk and I picked at some bread, cheese, and apples, while the lion watched us from a few feet away. Fallon offered him some, I assumed as a peace offering as much as out of hospitality, but he didn’t shift back into human form.

  Fallon had shrugged and returned the food to his pack, and we resumed our journey after allowing the food to settle in our stomachs.

  We’d been walking for a while, with the lion following behind me, when I addressed Fallon, “Do you think I’ll have the same reception when we get to… wherever we’re going?”

  He slowed, allowing me to catch up to him, then stopped. He shrugged in response, then gave me a smile that I took to mean ‘I hope not.’

  “They have no reason to trust me though,” I pondered, voicing my thoughts to the silent man. “It doesn’t really matter what I tell them. I’m just another outsider coming to cause problems. Even if we had Sayer here, another voice on my side to plead my case, it’d be difficult.”

  He cupped my face in his right hand and kissed me gently. I smiled, tucking my hair behind my ear, and glanced to my left. The lion had sat down and was watching us. I couldn’t make out his expression. So far, I’d worked out going to rip my face off and not going to rip my face off, and that was about it.

  Feeling self-conscious from his stare, I turned and started walking again.

  We didn’t stop until nightfall. The forest hadn’t changed at all, but a path had opened up and we followed it without hindrance. It was just miserable. Everything about it was. No grass. No flowers. No wildlife. It made me miss the clear skies and yellow fields surrounding the fortress, and even the lush green of the South. Mostly, though, I began to miss home. I’d managed to put it out of my mind until then, but with nothing to distract me, my thoughts returned to Kansas. To the open landscape. The people who I’d come to love, my acquaintances at work and the dusty old house I was supposed to be fixing up. I’d spent my entire life there, and I’d just become the next generation to take on Gale Farm. That was where I belonged, not here, risking my life for a bunch of people who either didn’t trust me or wanted to kill me on sight.

  With the lion man accompanying us, I thought better of creating somewhere to sleep, and opted for the heavy blankets Fallon had packed and a fire to keep us warm. Soon after eating, Fallon looked tired and I had to assure him it was safe for him to sleep.

  I watched him, focusing on the steady rise and fall of his chest as he slept on his back with one arm behind his head. His sword was held in the other, his bow and quiver beside him, and I sat a few feet away with one of his daggers at my side.

  “Was that all true?” the lion man asked, having changed back to his human form.

  He was sitting at the opposite side of the fire, still wearing nothing but a pair of shorts. The firelight danced in his eyes as he sat, studying me. I studied right back. He was heavy set, and the strength in his shoulders was clear. His legs were muscular, and despite his size, he looked as though he could cover a great distance in very little time.

  His braids hung over his shoulders, deepening the shadows around his face, and intensifying his gaze.

  I pulled in my brows, confused. “Was what true?”

  “The tale you spun. You did well with a man-eating lion in your face, I admit, but it still doesn’t seem entirely likely.”

  I gave a derisive sniff and looked back to Fallon. “Do you think he’d be helping me otherwise?”

  He shrugged and lay on his side, still watching me. “You’re a witch.”

  “Yeah? And what about Sayer? Tatiana? Would one of her Lioneag come to me willingly if I weren’t being truthful?”

  He rolled onto his back and looked up at the gnarled boughs above us. “Sayer. He’s a traitor. He turned his back on us all the second Glinda looked like the safest option. Don’t trust him.”

  I looked away. He’d had to, Tatiana said. He’d done it for them. Hadn’t he?

  I was close to asking why he was protecting Tatiana’s lands if he didn’t trust her judgment, but thought better of it. Her involvement in my plans wasn’t common knowledge and we needed to keep it that way if we hoped to stay ahead of Glinda.

  “Look,” he began, turning onto his side and propping his head in his hand. “If you were in her position, would you go and collect the girl yourself or send a pretty boy to lure her?”

  “I wasn’t lured,” I replied quietly.

  “No?”

  I was kidnapped, I thought to myself. Sayer hadn’t given me a choice, but I knew now he hadn’t had one either. I didn’t blame him. This was all on her. “No.”

  “So you’re here by choice?” he pressed.

  “Right now, I’m choosing to try and prevent any more cities from being burned to the ground,” I countered, locking eyes with him. “By choice. And if you can’t help with that, I see no point in you being here.”

  “I have people to protect,” he argued.

  “I appreciate that, but going around slaughtering anyone who steps into the forest won’t help you keep your family safe.”

  He looked away and I mentally chastised myself. His family was probably dead, along with however many millions that got caught up in that ridiculous war.

  “I’m sorry,” I said quietly. “I didn’t think…”

  He sighed. “There are very few of us left. She tricked my people into peace talks, then set her traitorous steward to work. We were never a large race, never reaching more than a few hundred in number, and she got them all together in one place and destroyed them. But—”

  “He tried to save people, and he’s branded a traitor?” I snapped, cutting him off.

  He huffed a small laugh. “Is that what he told you? Far be it for me to tell you otherwise, if that’s what he has you believing.”

  I looked at him and he looked at me. His expression wasn’t hostile, more apologetic. As though he wasn’t happy to be delivering more unpleasant versions of events.

  “But, as I was saying,” he continued after a moment’s pause, “I refused to go. I’m all that’s left, and I joined the other species who went into hiding. We worked to hide others, saving as many as we could. Slaughtering anyone who steps into the forest does keep them safe.”

  I understood how they’d drawn that conclusion, but if he had killed me and Fallon, he would have condemned them all to an eternity of living in hiding. “I really am trying to help,” I promised, staring into the flames. “My great grandmother was brought here in a tornado. She was only a girl. The house she was in at the time landed on the Witch of the East, killing her. The witch’s shoes transferred to her along with the power she possessed, but Dorothy had no idea. Then out of nowhere, a beautiful princess arrived in a bubble and told her she was Glinda the Good. Of course, a young girl in a strange place who’d just accidentally killed someone would believe she was helping her. Of course, she’d do everything she said. The things she saw, the things she did here, tortured her all her life. It made her so ill she was branded insane and locked away. When she finally managed to convince them she was sane, she returned home only to be marginalized. She raised a daughter alone on her family’s farm and wrote down what happened in a book.

  “Years later, I was born and the stories were told to me, and one night I was brought here to the Opal Palace and told I’m the key to this place’s salvation.

  “I expect Glinda thought she would get the same Dorothy back. The difference in time saw two generations in before she managed to get her little soldier back. Only I’m not what she thought she was getting. I’m not an impressionable young girl and I don’t trust just anyone. I can usually tell when someone is being deceitful. I can tell when someone is fake. Not long after I arrived here, someone went to great and dangerous lengths to reveal to me what’s really going on here, or some of it at least, and earn
ed that trust. I took the power I was asked to claim. I defended the West when it was under attack. I’ve forged alliances and promised to do my best to help the people here because I’ve grown up learning all about the person who caused this. I don’t blame the people here for being dubious, since the last member of my family to come here was brought to carry out a killing spree, but I’m determined to earn their trust. I intend to deserve it, even if I’m killed for trying.”

  He lay quietly for a few minutes then got to his feet. “I want to show you something,” he informed me, waiting for me to stand.

  I frowned before looking at Fallon. He was in a deep sleep and had turned onto his side, still gripping the hilt of his sword. “Is this the part where I follow you a little way into the trees and you slit my throat?”

  His mouth twitched with the hint of a smile, but he shook his head. “Nah. Killing you won’t help anyone.”

  He turned and walked away, the darkness swallowing him up.

  I remained where I was, not sure what to do. It wasn’t safe to leave Fallon alone. It wasn’t safe to follow a stranger into the darkness. But if I didn’t show him some trust, could I really hope to receive his?

  I stood up and tucked the dagger into the waistband of my pants.

  “Don’t go anywhere,” I murmured, stepping around him and following our new friend into the shadows.

  He was leaning against the trunk of a tree just a few yards away, and as soon as I reached him, he began to walk.

  “I’m Nox,” he said after a while.

  “Ellana,” I responded in kind, stumbling over a tree root, “but my friends call me Ella.”

  He didn’t acknowledge that he’d heard me, and continued to lead me into the dark woods. I could hardly see in the gloom, and wondered how he remembered his way around the forest. I didn’t say anything else, assuming he was done with pleasantries.

  “Well, away from the trails there are hidden places,” he said after a while, not looking back to make sure I was following. “When the city was destroyed the people fled. Most were caught, but some made it far enough into the woods so her forces lost track and gave up. They don’t stay in one place for long, for obvious reasons, but Tatiana leaves them alone, and those of us who can help keep them fed.”

  I wasn’t sure he was aware that I knew, but he’d walked us around in a semi-circle, and we were heading back west. I allowed him to lead me, wondering just how deep into the woods he planned for us to go. “And you’re telling me this because?”

  He stopped walking and looked back at me, his amber eyes gleaming in the dark. That answered my questions regarding how he knew his way around so well. He could actually see. “Got to earn trust, haven’t we?”

  I frowned and moved to his side. He was almost a foot taller than me, and up close he was scary big, but I looked up and smiled in response, not letting him see any fear.

  “I’m going to have to change,” he told me. “Wait here, I’ll let them know I’ve brought a visitor, and come back. I won’t be long.”

  Before I could respond he ran off between the trees, not making a sound.

  Standing alone in the dark, I chastised myself for being so stupid. Of course he’d left me. He probably set the whole thing up, and some friends of his were waiting to attack Fallon while he lured me into the forest to put a stop to my plans before I could get anywhere near the tower.

  Stupid.

  I’d kept people at arm’s length for years, and when it really mattered how choosy I was with my friends, I’d allowed this to happen.

  I was considering trying to retrace my steps when there was a familiar “pfft” sound behind me, and I turned to see a pair of amber eyes gleaming in the murky black of the forest. He turned and stalked back the way he’d apparently come, and despite the doubts in my mind, I followed.

  We didn’t walk far when I saw a dim light ahead. It quickly grew and I realized it was a small fire.

  The trees thinned and opened into a clearing with a small dirt mound off to my left.

  Nox approached the fire and lay down, while I remained by the last of the trees, watching. There was a small opening in the mound that looked like a large rabbit hole. Nox seemed perfectly at ease by the fire, and after a few moments a small, furry body darted from the hole in the mound and launched itself at his face.

  Nox let out a low rumble and rolled onto his back as another figure, considerably larger than the first, crept from the little den.

  Nox sat up and looked over at me, then looked at the newcomer and dipped his head.

  It appeared to be enough of a sign that I wasn’t a threat, so the figure drew up on his hind legs and walked into the firelight.

  He was around three feet tall and hairy. His ears lay flat against his head as he surveyed me, I assumed calculating the risk.

  The smaller creature continued its assault on Nox, biting at his ears and scrambling over his head.

  “Hello,” I said, taking a tentative step forward. “I’m Ella.”

  The adult creature turned sharply toward Nox, his thick bushy tail flicking behind him.

  “No, wait,” I called, taking another step. “I’m not here to hurt you. I’m trying to help. Nox found me and my friend in the forest, we’re trying to get to the Quartz Tower…”

  “She is a Dorothy,” the Fox man growled. “What were you thinking?”

  “No, no, I’m not. I mean, I kind of am—” I responded quickly, trying to reassure him, but I was clearly making it worse. I took a deep breath. “I’m not here to hurt anyone. Please…”

  With my attention firmly on the fox, I was hardly aware of movement to my right. I glanced over and noticed Nox had shifted back to his human form, holding the small fox tightly in the crook of his arm, scrabbling to get free.

  With his free hand, he smoothed the fur on the cub’s back and set it on the ground. “Hear her out, Bartlett.”

  Another fox crept from the mound, this one slighter in build and wearing a plain blue dress. She, too, rose onto her hind legs and sniffed the air.

  “Sosha,” Nox greeted, nodding his head.

  She looked directly at me, her ears erect and twitching, then turned and scurried back below ground.

  I sighed. “Nox, this is a bad idea. I appreciate the gesture, but I don’t want these people to be afraid in their own home. I’ll head back, find Fallon, and move as far east as I can tomorrow. Hopefully, we can find another way to the fortress when we’re done.”

  I turned toward the trees when a small voice said, “Wait.”

  I glanced back to see the cub running toward me and turned, crouching to be closer to its level and hopefully less of a threat.

  He was cute, apparently not afraid of me at all, but that wasn’t surprising given he’d just been chewing on a lion.

  “Are you a Dorothy?” he asked, his little tail swishing behind him.

  I swallowed and looked to Nox. He remained still, giving me no indication of how to proceed.

  “Dorothy was my great grandma,” I answered, “and the stories about her aren’t exactly true. She was blamed for things that weren’t her fault and I’ve come here to help put things right.”

  “Momma!” the little guy exclaimed, his tail wagging excitedly. “Momma, she isn’t a Dorothy.”

  The female reemerged, standing behind her partner, and looking at me.

  “Let her explain,” Nox suggested. “She won’t hurt you. She helped me out when she could easily have harmed me,” he informed them, indicating the healing wound on his shoulder. “Just hear what she has to say and I’ll escort her back. You can draw your own conclusions.”

  The cub raced back to his parents and as they sat beside the fire, I saw Nox pat the ground beside him.

  I rose and walked slowly toward them, sitting a couple of feet away from him.

  “Did you land in a house too?” the little guy questioned, gazing at me from between his parents.

  I smiled. “No, I was brought here by someone Glinda sent
to find me.”

  The two larger foxes flinched at the mention of Glinda, so I quickly added, “But I don’t serve her, I’m friends with lots of people in the West.”

  Nox raised a hand. “Please.”

  I looked to him for reassurance and he smiled, then nodded and encouraged, “Go ahead. Tell them everything you told me.”

  Walking back through the forest, I waited until the den was well behind us before I asked, “Why did you do that?”

  Nox shrugged. “I figured people need to make up their own minds before the story is twisted. If you really are who you say you are, you’re going to need some support. Best to lay the foundations now.”

  “So you believe me?”

  He nodded his head once. “Things have to change. The way I see it, people can’t keep living like this. We have to make a choice sometime, and I figure choosing to live in peace, freely, is a good way to go.”

  I was about to thank him when an arrow whistled past my ear.

  “She’s fine, Fallon,” Nox called in an exasperated voice. “But you knew that since she’s walking back to your camp.”

  He stepped out from behind a tree and stalked toward me, slinging his bow over his shoulder.

  When he reached me, he took my face in both hands and pressed his forehead against mine.

  “I’m fine, really. I’m sorry we left you, but Nox had something, someone, he wanted me to see. They were scared. If we all went they’d have hidden.”

  He pulled back, frowning in confusion.

  “A family of foxes,” I explained. “Fox people. They’ve lived here in hiding for years. They have kids. There are hundreds of families all waiting for a safer time. All waiting for something to happen that makes their lives better. Nox thought—”

  “That if she got her side of the story over first, then they’d be more likely to rally behind her than hide here and hear whatever Wyrm shit Glinda spreads.”