by S. D. Stuart
“Anywhere is better than here.”
Caleb motioned with an open hand toward the door. “The guards aren’t going to just let you wander around the castle.”
Jasper smiled. “They can’t stop me.”
“Even if that were true, what happens when you get caught or they notice you’re missing?”
“I’ll be back before they even know I’m gone. I just need to feel like I have some freedom.”
Jasper ran over and banged on the door. “Guard!”
He stepped back as the door opened up and the bigger of the two guards leaned in. “What do you want?”
Jasper crossed his legs. “I need a chamber pot.”
The guard rolled his eyes. “I hate dealing with commoners. Come with me, we have a flushing toilet.”
Jasper smiled at the guard. “Perfect.”
Jasper followed the guard as they walked down the hallway and around the corner. The guard stopped by a small door and pointed. “It’s in there.”
He smiled at the guard. “I won’t be long.”
The guard frowned. “You better not be.”
Jasper closed the door behind him, but could not find any way to lock it.
It didn’t matter. He didn’t need very much time for what he had planned. He glanced at the ceiling and smiled when he saw the ventilation shaft. If he stood on the edge of the toilet, he could just reach the lip of the open shaft.
In a matter of seconds, he lifted himself completely into the shaft and worked his way on his belly toward the light at the other end of the tunnel.
There were several wrought iron grates spaced evenly along one side of the tunnel. As he passed each grate, he peaked into the room it opened to.
At the third grate, he saw Caleb still sitting in the windowsill. He suppressed the urge to call down to Caleb and gloat that he was wandering around the castle on his own.
As he continued to crawl, he heard voices murmuring up through a vent ahead of him. He shuffled closer and peeked in.
Nero was talking to one of the natives of OZ. The dark-skinned man, adorned with feathers and bones, sat cross-legged on the floor. Rather than looking at Nero while he spoke to him, the native had his eyes closed and rocked back and forth.
Nero watched the native rocking back and forth as he spoke. “She is on her way.”
The native did not even acknowledge Nero was in the room as he replied. “You really think she is the key to conquering OZ?”
“Of that, there is no question. As soon as you kill her and take the star, you will proclaim yourself ruler of OZ. The North will fall instantly under the threat of invasion; your army will be unstoppable.”
“And how am I supposed to deal with her?”
“I have sent a package filled with the venom from a unique and very deadly spider found only here in OZ.”
“I know of it.”
“It will be clean and quick. But not painless.”
Jasper clamped a hand over his own mouth to keep himself from yelling out in surprise.
He had to tell Caleb what he just overheard and warn Dorothy.
He shuffled backward in the shaft until he got to the grate overlooking their room. He pushed with his feet and the grate popped out, clattering loudly to the floor.
Caleb leaped from the windowsill and stared up at him. Jasper dropped down to the floor and looked around the room.
“She’s not back yet?”
Caleb shook his head. “Not yet.”
“We have to warn her.”
“Warn her of what?”
“I just overheard him talking. She’s walking into a trap.”
Caleb gripped him by the shoulders and shook him slightly to refocus his attention. “You’re not making any sense. Who did you hear talking?”
He looked into Caleb’s cat-like eyes. “Nero.”
Caleb’s eyebrows lifted in surprise. “Nero’s here? What did he say exactly?”
“She can’t go. It’s a trap.”
“What did he say?”
“Nero sent some kind of spider poison to the West Marshal. She’s going to kill the East Marshal and start a war against the Northern Territories. We have to warn her. She’s in danger.”
Caleb gripped his shoulders tighter, his claws digging slightly into his skin. “You’re right. She is in danger.”
Dorothy let the guards lead her back to the room were Caleb and Jasper waited.
She hadn’t felt good about lying to the Wizard, but agreeing to his fee was the only way that any of them would leave the castle alive.
She had no intention of killing the West Marshal and bringing back the star for him. She had her emerald heart and could use that to find her father. She didn’t need the Wizard’s help any longer.
When she got to the West Marshal’s compound, she would find her father and together they would escape from OZ.
In addition, she would bring Caleb and Jasper with her out of OZ. After everything they had done for her, she could not leave them here.
That was not something you did to friends.
The door opened and she walked into the room to find Caleb still seated on the windowsill.
He glanced over at her and smiled. He waited for the guards to leave and close the door before he spoke. “Do you think he believed you?”
“He’s providing us an armed escort all the way to the western border. What do you think?”
She looked around the room, but Caleb was the only one there. “Where’s Jasper?”
Caleb shrugged his shoulders. “He left a little while ago to go to the toilet and never came back.”
“How long ago was that?”
“Almost half an hour. He did mention something about sneaking out of the castle. Maybe he escaped and took off.”
“He wouldn’t have just left.”
“I wouldn’t think too much of it.”
Dorothy shook her head. “He wouldn’t have done that without saying goodbye. We had become friends.”
Caleb walked up and held her hands in his. “It’s often hard to tell who your friends are here in OZ.”
He leaned forward and gazed deeply into her eyes. “Your friends are the ones who don’t abandon you when you need them the most.”
Chapter 21
Dorothy crossed her arms across her chest and tried very hard to understand what the Commander was telling her. “I was promised an armed escort.”
The Commander gave her a sheepish grin. “I’m sorry. This is as far any of my men are willing to go without native support.”
She glanced sideways at the “native support”. The two dark-skinned men, decorated with feathers and the bones and teeth of dead animals, sat facing each other. Their eyes were open, but they did not see each other. The only sound coming from them was a low rhythmic hum that matched their slight rocking motion.
She looked back at the Commander. “What are they doing?”
“They are trying to contact other natives in the Western Territories. They are checking to see if there is any safe passage for us.”
She looked back at the two chanting men. “They can do that?”
The Commander regarded the two men. “They have no written language and no records showing what they know. But I have seen them do amazing things that can only be classified as witchcraft.”
“They don’t seem like an evil people.”
“They’re not. Unfortunately, witchcraft is the only word we have for what they seem to be able to do.”
The two men suddenly went silent. One of them looked up at the Commander and addressed him in perfect English. “We will go no further.”
The Commander looked back at Dorothy. “That means we turn back here. If you want to keep going, you can do so alone.”
She could barely contain her anger. “You would go against a direct order from the Wizard because of what they said?”
The Commander looked at her without the hint of any emotion on his stolid face. “Even the Wizard would not go ag
ainst native advice.”
Caleb wandered over and stood next to her as they watched the soldiers gather up their belongings and turn around the carriage to begin the long march back to Center City.
The younger of the two natives walked up to her. “Please wait a short while after you’ve lost sight of the soldiers before continuing on your journey. There is someone who will be joining you.”
She looked at the native; her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “Who is joining us?”
He smiled. “A friend.”
“How do you know?”
“He spoke to us.”
She exchanged a quick glance with Caleb.
“Did you just speak with him telepathically?”
The native smiled wider. “No. He told us back in the castle.”
Dorothy and Caleb looked at each other as the native jogged to catch up with the departing soldiers.
They stood by the side of the road and watched them march back toward Center City, leaving her and Caleb all alone in a treacherous land. Earlier, she overheard a couple of the soldiers discuss the possibility they might have to cross over into the Western Territories. One of them remarked that he would rather be dropped in the Eastern Territories naked and wounded than venture into the Western Territories fully armed and with highly trained soldiers.
It did not sound like a place she should go by herself, or even with one other person.
Dorothy shook her head. “Do you think they knew they would be turning back before we got to the border?”
Caleb nodded his head. “I’m sure they knew before they even offered to take us.”
“Then why wouldn’t they let us bring the Woodsman and Scarecrow?”
“There are barely any automatons in the Western Territories. We would stick out like a sore thumb.”
After the soldiers disappeared over the crest of a hill, she looked at Caleb. “What do we do now?”
Caleb sat down and leaned against a tree. “We wait.”
“How long should we wait?”
He looked up at her. “Our cryptic friend implied it wouldn’t take too long.”
“Who do you think it is? Do you think it might be Jasper?”
He looked down the road the soldiers had taken. “I don’t think so.”
“Why not?”
He pointed in the direction he was looking. “For one thing, he’s too short.”
She followed the direction of his finger. The lone traveler noticed her and waved.
She ran down the dusty road to meet him. “Munch! What are you doing here?”
He smiled up at her. “I knew the natives would turn back before the border and the soldiers would follow them. Your predecessor took me with her a few times while visiting her sister, so I know my way around the Western Territories. I thought you might want a guide.”
Caleb eyed Munch suspiciously. “You can get us into the Western Territories?”
Munch practically had to look straight up to meet Caleb’s gaze and did his best to hide the fear in his eyes. “In a manner of speaking.”
Dorothy placed a hand on Caleb’s chest. “Munch is a friend. You said so yourself, friends do not abandon friends when they need them most. And we need to get over that border.”
Munch dropped his pack on the ground and started digging through it. He pulled out two loaves of bread and a round of cheese.
“Eat now. You will not have any chance to eat during the trip.”
When Munch said he knew how to get them over the border by using the phrase “in a manner of speaking” he was not kidding.
They had just finished eating when a horse-drawn cart overloaded with manure pulled to a stop in front of them.
Munch spoke to the driver briefly, handing him two small pouches. He walked back to Dorothy and Caleb.
“I have paid the driver and he will pay the border guard.”
Caleb pointed at the manure-filled cart. “I am not riding in that.”
Munch looked up at him. “Getting into the land in the west is hard. One of the few things that actually crosses over the border on a regular basis is fertilizer. Not only will it get us in but he will take us all the way to the fields just outside the West Marshal’s compound. We should get there just before nightfall and we won’t have to wait long before crossing the lake to the castle.”
Caleb shook his head. “There’s no way I’m crawling around in any of that.”
Dorothy placed a hand on his shoulder. “Is it the only way we can get across the border and travel safely through the West?”
Munch nodded. “Yes. There is a standing order to kill the East Marshal on sight. We have to keep her hidden.”
She smiled. “It won’t be that bad. After a couple of washings you will be as good as new.”
Caleb looked at her. “You don’t have to wash yourself with your tongue.”
She was about to respond with a witty retort when Munch interrupted their pending argument as he yanked three large burlap sacks from his pack.
“Nobody is going to have to wash anything. We will be inside of these.”
The driver called over to them from the manure cart. “I have a schedule. If you’re not coming, I don’t offer refunds.”
Caleb stared long and hard at her until finally she grinned and raised her hands in a “what can you do?” gesture.
Twenty minutes later, all three of them were enclosed in burlap sacks and buried deep in the manure.
The cart started back up on its journey to the border and beyond. It jostled and wobbled for a few moments before it finally settled into the ruts on the road.
After the first fifteen minutes, Dorothy hardly noticed the smell. After nearly two hours, she had become quite comfortable and dozed off to sleep.
Every now and then, when the wheel closest to her hit a rock, it would jolt her awake. But the womb-like embrace of the manure, and the gentle rocking of the carriage, would lull her back to sleep.
She was asleep when the cart jerked to a stop.
The sudden lack of movement woke her up.
The sound of voices getting closer brought her fully awake.
She could just make out the muffled voices of the driver and someone who sounded like a border guard.
“We thank you for your generous contribution to the border guard’s Christmas ball. But I have a job to do.”
The cart rocked as someone stepped up on to the back and scrambled over the pile of manure. She lay perfectly still and felt the pressure of the manure on her legs increase as someone walked over her. The driver’s voice raised an octave as he tried to coax the border guard down. “As you can see, all I have is a shipment of fertilizer for the Marshal’s fields.”
“Then it wouldn’t bother you if I did this.” Dorothy nearly cried out when the blade of a saber pierced the only thing between her and the manure, and sliced through the air, half an inch in front of her nose. The blade retreated and bits of manure dropped through the new hole in the sack. The pressure on her legs shifted and the cart rocked again as the guard jumped down to the ground. “This one is clear. Open the gate.”
Within moments, the cart lurched forward and they passed over the border into the Western Territories.
Chapter 22
A loud ripping sound startled Dorothy.
The cart had stopped sometime before and the only thing she heard was muffled voices and the slight rocking of the cart as people moved around on the pile of manure above her.
Dorothy blinked her eyes open just as the burlap sack split apart to let the afternoon sun wash over her. She raised a hand to shield her eyes.
Munch appeared in her line of sight and held out a small stack of clothes to her. “Put these on.”
She blinked a few more times to get her eyes used to the blinding sunlight.
She took the clothes and inspected them. They were some kind of uniform. Munch held up a second stack of clothing tied together with string. “As soon as the uniform is on, wear this over it.”
<
br /> She took the second bundle of clothing and looked at Munch. “What are these?”
“As soon as we are inside the compound we will need to look like we belong there.”
She looked up and saw that Munch was already wearing his uniform and behind him, Caleb held a jumpsuit up against himself. They looked to be a couple of sizes too small.
She untied the string on the second bundle and unfolded it to reveal a jumpsuit just like the one Caleb was putting on. Embroidered on the back where the words “Agricultural Volunteer”.
She held it up to inspect it. “What about this?”
“As long as we are outside the compound, we need to look like we belong here.”
She glanced around and saw they were on the edge of a massive field. Workers, all wearing the same jumpsuits Munch handed her, were bent over harvesting crops by hand.
“Are all of these people volunteers?”
Munch looked around him and then back at her. “It sure beats volunteering in the mines,” he said.
Caleb had finished wriggling into his jumpsuit and walked up to them. He inspected the bits of fur that poked out through the stretched seams. “It’s a bit tight.”
Munch frowned. “I didn’t really know your size.”
Caleb looked over at Dorothy just as she finished donning her own jumpsuit over the uniform. “Hers fits perfectly.”
Munch shrugged his shoulders. “I’m the East Marshal’s personal tailor.”
Dorothy realized that she and Munch had uniforms, but he only handed Caleb a jumpsuit. “What about a uniform for Caleb?”
Munch grimaced. “There’s no way he could pull off looking like a guard. Not with that face. He will have to be our prisoner as we make our way through the compound.”
As she looked around her at the workers in the fields, she noticed something was missing. “Where are all the guards?”
“Everyone works here based on the ‘on your’ system.”
“Don’t you mean the honor system?”
“Nope. It is definitely an ‘on your’ system. If you do not pull your own weight out here in the fields then you are ‘on your’ way to the mines. The mines are where you’ll find the guards.”