Ruby’s Pride

by Romy Lockhart

  “That should do it,” I tell them, gaining a smile from Ax and a nod from Corwin.

  Warner seems preoccupied. He cocks his head before darting off to the right of the path before us, behind a partially destroyed building. Yeah, this field isn’t really a field after all. It’s more of a destroyed town on the outskirts of a forest. Much bigger than it seemed from the other side of the illusion. Suddenly, I can see why this journey is going to take so damn long.

  “What’s he...” I trail off as Warner hauls a strange-looking creature out from behind the stack of rubble and throws him to the ground in front of us.

  A man made of straw. A scarecrow.

  “Holy shit,” I whisper, taking a step forward.

  Ransom grabs my wrist and I narrow my eyes at him.

  “Hey, don’t you think we have enough problems, asshole?”

  He refuses to let go, nodding his head toward the scarecrow without breaking from my gaze.

  “They are all around us, Ruby,” he tells me in a soft voice. “And they mean to harm us.”

  Corwin steps forward, partially in front of me as my gaze drifts around the landscape and I catch sight of many more of the scarecrows. Shit. Ransom’s right. They’re surrounding us. I shiver as the one Warner hauled out staggers to stand up though he doesn’t actually have feet.

  “What are your orders?” Corwin asks the golem.

  The thing doesn’t have a face, just an approximation of a mouth and holes where his eyes should be.

  It makes a cackling sound and shivers course over my body. Then, it actually fucking talks.

  “Kill the witch.” His grainy voice echoes across the valley, his brothers all around us murmuring the same three little words until it becomes a deafening chant.

  I swear, if I wasn’t already dressed in white, the color would have straight up drained from everything I’m wearing as well as from my skin the moment that first thing spoke. These creepy-ass mother-fuckers want me dead, and there are so many of them I don’t think they’ll have too much trouble achieving their goal. Even if it does mean taking four bad-ass lions down at the same time.

  Warner pulls the thing’s head off and tosses it away, apparently breaking whatever magic was animating the creature as its body crashes to the ground and the straw falls apart, only partly held together by the clothes the hay was stuffed into.

  “Stay between us, Ruby,” Ax murmurs. “We will keep you safe.”

  I snap out of my shock and shake my head vehemently. I’m a witch. I can make shit happen with the power of my mind. And these are the golems who hurt my guys when they stepped into this territory the first time. These bastards are so going down.

  I stare at the immobile pile of straw and the dinner jacket it was wearing. Fire is the first thing that comes to mind, but I discard the idea quickly. The last thing we need is burning golems rushing us. These things are mindless. They don’t think, they don’t feel. What I need is to pull their dumb heads off, just like Warner did.

  I look around. “Come and get me then. What are you waiting for?”

  They start to move forward, some with arrows, some with rocks. I watch each of them for a split second and then I make them explode, all at once. The resulting hay storm makes me sneeze viciously, but its way better than the alternative. Being stoned to death by an army of scarecrows. Shudder.

  “And that’s how this witch rolls,” I tell my guys, who seem shell-shocked as they survey the damage.

  Warner grins at me before he moves forward at a fast pace.

  I start to move and realize I can’t. There’s a clump of hay covering my feet and I move to kick it away, and find myself stumbling. I’m trapped! What the hell? The guys don’t seem to notice. They’re already following Warner who’s all but vanished into the distance. I try to speak but my voice has abandoned me. All I can hear is a whispering version of the golems’ chant. Kill the witch.

  My heart sinks into my stomach as the first tendril of smoke rises from the hay I’m trapped in like quicksand. They’re going to burn me alive? No. Remember, Ruby. You’re a witch. You can do anything. You’re not going to die here. Not like this.

  I close my eyes and concentrate, seeing myself transport to where the guys are. Just up ahead. When I open my eyes, the only thing that’s changed is how much smoke is rising from the hay. Shit. The second there’s a spark, I’m screwed. I try yelling again, but my voice is gone.

  Damn it. Why are the guys just marching on ahead like that? Someone look back! Help my about-to-be-flaming ass. Come on. Ransom, you have to be itching to drag me forward. It has to be about that time of the hour when Ax wants to be stealing glances at my chest in this killer cat suit.

  Seeing the first spark makes my mouth dry up. Tears fill my eyes. I’m so fucking screwed. I close my eyes again and try to make my magic work. Don’t let me die like this. Please. I don’t want to never see my friends again. I have to see them. I need to tell them I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry. I was such a bitch to everyone. I was a bad friend to Pearl.

  “I’m so sorry, Pearl.” I gasp in shock as my voice returns.

  My friend appears directly in front of me. In that incredible green dress of hers, which still looks amazing but is now also kind of tattered. Her skin looks like it’s been dipped in glitter and she isn’t wearing shoes. The shock on her face mirrors my own.

  “Ruby?”

  “Pearl, I’m so glad to see you,” I sob, as the flames start to burn my ankles. It hurts so freaking bad!

  I try to magic the hay away but it won’t fuck off. The pain makes me sob even harder.

  “Ruby, you’re on fire!” She rushes around me and a weird sprinkling of glitter takes the place of the smoke. She breathes out a relieved sigh, her gaze more curious now as she glances down the yellow brick road. “Is this Oz?”

  I get as far away from the hay as I can now that I’m no longer on fire. I get ready to heal my skin but it seems the burning I felt was superficial, or Pearl already healed me. Kind of a relief considering my magic has a tendency to wear off later in the day. I wipe at my eyes and nod.

  “Kind of fucked up, huh?”

  She nods. “All kinds of fucked up. And I just came from Neverland which is no cake-walk either.”

  “Neverland?” Well, shit. She does kind of look like Tinkerbell right now. A dark-skinned Tinkerbell with a real woman’s bust and definitely human-sized, but Tink all the same.

  “I guess that night club was a whole lot more than we bargained for?” She shrugs, and gives me a half-smile half-wince.

  “Yeah, I guess so,” I tell her, feeling twisty and awful inside.

  “My bad,” she murmurs, flinching slightly as if she expects me to rage at her for it.

  “Look, Pearl, I’m sorry if I ever made you feel like you couldn’t talk to me. About anything.”

  She stares at me, like she’s more shocked than when I was on fire. Damn. Am I that much of a bitch? I don’t think I really want the answer, and that’s probably all good considering Pearl seems to be lost for words right now.

  I clear my throat and glance at the road ahead. Panic seizes me when I realize I can’t see my guys anymore. Shit. They’re completely gone from sight. How far did those bastards walk on without checking I was still with them? Those damn assholes.

  “Sorry, Pearl, I have to find my guys.”

  She follows when I start to walk away. “Ruby, I don’t know how I got here.”

  I rush down the path, and still can’t see them. A bad feeling sweeps through me. Where the hell did they go? How could they have just left me behind? I was on fire and they didn’t notice for fuck’s sake!

  “I have to get back,” Pearl says, louder now and in the voice she usually only uses when she’s freaking the hell out about something like the sudden appearance of a big spider.

  “Pearl, I have to go.”

  “You have to send me back!” She sounds pissed now. There’s fire in her eyes.

  It stalls me. I’ve never s
een her like this before. No way.

  “I didn’t bring you here.” Wait. Didn’t I? She appeared when I thought of her, when I said her name, and that bunny-girl told me that was what those drinks were meant to do. No wait. They were meant to let me speak to her or let me see her. Not this. Then again, I guess I did kind of break bunny-girl’s rules and drink them both.

  “I didn’t get here on my own,” she tells me. “You called to me, and it was so strong I was pulled here before I could...”

  “Before you could what?”

  She bites down on her lip and shakes her head. “Never mind.”

  “Look, Pearl, we’ll figure out how to get you back there, but right now I have to find my guys.”

  “Your guys?”

  Oh, yeah. She doesn’t know anything. “There are four lion shifters who insist I’m mated to them. Long story.”

  “Holy shit.” She stares at me. “Four?”

  I shrug. “I guess I’m too much woman for one man.”

  She clears her throat. “Me too, I guess.”

  I stare. “What?”

  She shrugs. “I have three tigers and a crocodile. Long story.”

  “A crocodile?” And I thought my situation was strange. I shake it off. “We can catch up later, Pearl. I need to find my lions.”

  I transport to the furthest point I can see on the road ahead. My guys are still nowhere in sight. I stand there spinning in place, ready to scream my frustration out when a clanking sound turns my attention to a figure coming out of the woods. He’s built like a tank and he even looks like he’s made of metal. Shit. I thought Ransom said this guy was rusted up to death? Clearly, he was misinformed.

  “Ruby, I really need to get back...” Pearl tells me, as she appears at my side.

  “Pearl, I couldn’t agree more.” I turn to her and she fades out in front of me. I’m relieved, in all honesty. It looks like things are about to get seriously dicey. I wouldn’t want her to get hurt.

  “You should not be in this place,” The metal man tells me, his voice gruff and unforgiving.

  “I was just leaving,” I tell him. “As soon as I find my friends.”

  My gaze drops to the axe in his hand. It’s the biggest double-headed axe I’ve ever seen, and there’s blood dripping from the blade.

  “You will leave now.”

  I swallow. Where the hell are the guys? Whose blood is on that axe? My gaze hardens as I lock my gaze on the metal-man’s face. There’s a slit where his eyes should be. It’s dark.

  “No,” I tell him. “You will tell me where my friends are, and I will let you live.”

  A deep rumbling shakes the ground under my feet, making me stagger. The laughter that flows from him is thundering so hard my head aches at the sound. I can barely stand it another second when it cuts out sharply.

  “You will die as your friends did. These woods belong to me and now you do too.”

  Chapter 21

  How do you kill a thing that’s made of metal? The question stumps me even as he takes another step toward me, and brings me closer to being within swinging distance of that huge-ass axe.

  You’re being dumb, Ruby. The ten year old version of me is shaking her head right now, making her plaits bounce. Whose territory is this anyway?

  The smirk that flows onto my face is probably premature. I don’t care. I just realized who this is. And more importantly what he is.

  The Woodcutter, or the tin-man, is a cursed man who lost his true love and became this monstrous thing I see before me now. Okay, so I’ve got him figured out. Now how the hell do I use that to take him down?

  I doubt this creature has any desire for a heart. Besides the one he takes from my chest with his deadly axe, I mean. But there is probably something I can help him with.

  “I’m a witch,” I tell him.

  “You believe I do not know this?” He sounds mad. “You destroyed my golems. If I had any doubt that you were one of those wretched creatures I would have known when you used your magic to unmake those who serve my will.”

  “So, not a fan of witches then?” I take a step back as he swings that axe forward. Misses me by an inch, I shit you not. “Even the kind who can reverse curses?”

  He stills and I hold my breath. I don’t even know if I’m bluffing or not. Somehow, I doubt being less than certain about it will enamor him to the idea more. Fuck. I’m playing with fire here. Too bad that won’t get me out of this. Maybe water? I’m not sure how much it would take to rust him up enough to make it impossible to move, but I’m willing to give it a shot as a back-up plan.

  “My curse can never be removed,” he tells me. “It is eternal.”

  I really hope that’s not true. “Nothing is eternal.”

  “Then remove it, witch. Prove me wrong. I will let you live if you speak the truth.”

  “I want to know that my friends are safe first.” Tell me that blood on your axe doesn’t belong to any of them. Show me where the hell they are. Give me something. Anything. I stare at him, my body beginning to tremble at the long pause before he answers.

  “These are not friends you speak of. They are lovers.” I can’t tell if it’s disgust or grief in his voice, but either way my blood is beginning to boil. “Why would you offer to break my curse?”

  I bite back the knee-jerk response that I want to avoid meeting the business end of his axe. I can tell he wants more from me here. My fear doesn’t matter. It’s nothing. Showing my heart is what he really needs. It’s the only way he’ll trust me.

  “I love them. I’d do anything to have them back at my side. Just as you would for your lost lady.”

  “I cannot bring her back,” he tells me, confirming that she’s dead.

  My heart sinks. I’m not sure the reversal can work without someone to put his pieces back together. This brutal metal exterior is the only thing holding him together right now. I’ll have to pull something out of my ass. Damn it to hell.

  “Maybe not,” I say quietly. “But she would not wish for you to be broken like this.”

  “I am strong,” he barks. “I am mighty.”

  “You are nothing but a machine.”

  He drops the axe and I move forward. Instinct takes over as he falls to his knees in front of me. I touch his shoulder and close my eyes.

  “I lift this curse from you, woodcutter. Your heart is no longer dark.”

  I visualize his return to flesh and blood, surprised by his stature when I open my eyes and find him looking a lot more human than transformer now. He’s about four-foot-tall and has round eyes of piercing amber, and a kind of doughy body. Oh, and he’s nude. Because that seems to be how things go around here. I quickly imagine him into a T-shirt and shorts.

  He looks down, blinking as he stares at his now clothed body. “You did it.”

  “I told you I could.” I look at the bloody axe on the ground. “I need to know where my friends are.”

  Please tell me he didn’t kill them before I got here.

  He nods slowly, seeming dazed. “This way.”

  I come off of the yellow brick road reluctantly, following him into the woods. He moves quickly in this small form and I have a little trouble keeping up, even when I imagine my heels into sneakers again. By the time he stops, I’m kind of worried about picking my way back out to the path. Should have left a trail of breadcrumbs. I don’t think I’m going to wind up at a gingerbread house here, but you never know.

  “Here,” he says, pointing upwards.

  There’s a net hanging from a tree with three sleeping lions enclosed inside. Nice, guys. Asleep on the job? Thanks very much. “Are they knocked out?”

  “These nets are enchanted and contain seeds from the poppy fields to send their captives to sleep.” The woodcutter tells me. “It should not work on lions but this enchantment works on all.”

  “I have four friends. One of them is still missing.” I try to see if I can tell who’s missing, but it’s hard to get a good look from so far away and while the
y’re all in lion form.

  “I only see three,” he says with a shrug. “None of my other traps have been sprung.”

  “What was that blood on your axe?” I ask, frowning at him.

  He sighs. “Look over there.”

  “I’m not falling for that... Oh. Is that tree bleeding?”

  “It was part of the curse.” He shrugs again. “All I have ever been is a woodcutter. Since I was cursed every cut of my axe made more armor grow and drained more of the blood and bone and flesh from my body into the forest.”

  “That’s horrible.” I shiver.

  “It is no longer. Thanks to you.”

  “Then why is the tree bleeding?”

  He smiles sadly. “I will always bleed for my lost love. I spent years trying to cut that tree down, thinking it would cut her from my memory to end my suffering. Now I know that is not a solution.”

  I don’t know what to say, so I keep my mouth shut. He gazes at the tree as if he’s just seeing it for the first time. I clear my throat after a few minutes, more than ready to get the hell out of this creepy place.

  “Can you get them down from there?” I ask, hoping I’m not going to have to do any climbing. I suppose I could do it magically, but honestly, I feel a little drained after I took that curse from The Woodcutter. Maybe I should take it easy for the rest of the day. I feel like that removal kind of wiped me out. It definitely wasn’t anything like the other stuff I’ve done. Even if it felt incredibly easy at the time.

  He nods after a moment and disappears. Seriously, he’s so fast he actually vanishes. Then he’s back with the axe. And about three seconds later my guys are tumbling to the forest floor, and waking up cranky as hell.

  Ax growls, staying in lion form, while Ransom and Corwin shift and are quick to check me over.

  “Ruby, are you okay?” Corwin asks as Ransom grabs my hand and scrutinizes me as if he’s checking for physical injuries.

  “I’m fine,” I tell them, pulling my hand back from Ransom. “Where’s Warner?”