Rinkitink in Oz

by L. Frank Baum

  Chapter Fifteen

  The Flight of the Rulers

  Now it seems that when Queen Cor fled from her island to Regos, she hadwit enough, although greatly frightened, to make a stop at the royaldairy, which was near to the bridge, and to drag poor Queen Garee fromthe butter-house and across to Regos with her. The warriors of King Goshad never before seen the terrible Queen Cor frightened, and thereforewhen she came running across the bridge of boats, dragging the Queen ofPingaree after her by one arm, the woman's great fright had the effectof terrifying the waiting warriors.

  "Quick!" cried Cor. "Destroy the bridge, or we are lost."

  While the men were tearing away the bridge of boats the Queen ran up tothe palace of Gos, where she met her husband.

  "That boy is a wizard!" she gasped. "There is no standing against him."

  "Oh, have you discovered his magic at last?" replied Gos, laughing inher face. "Who, now, is the coward?"

  "Don't laugh!" cried Queen Cor. "It is no laughing matter. Both ourislands are as good as conquered, this very minute. What shall we do,Gos?"

  "Come in," he said, growing serious, "and let us talk it over."

  So they went into a room of the palace and talked long and earnestly.

  "The boy intends to liberate his father and mother, and all the peopleof Pingaree, and to take them back to their island," said Cor. "He mayalso destroy our palaces and make us his slaves. I can see but one way,Gos, to prevent him from doing all this, and whatever else he pleasesto do."

  "What way is that?" asked King Gos.

  "We must take the boy's parents away from here as quickly as possible.I have with me the Queen of Pingaree, and you can run up to the minesand get the King. Then we will carry them away in a boat and hide themwhere the boy cannot find them, with all his magic. We will use theKing and Queen of Pingaree as hostages, and send word to the boy wizardthat if he does not go away from our islands and allow us to rule themundisturbed, in our own way, we will put his father and mother todeath. Also we will say that as long as we are let alone his parentswill be safe, although still safely hidden. I believe, Gos, that inthis way we can compel Prince Ingato obey us, for he seems very fond ofhis parents."

  "It isn't a bad idea," said Gos, reflectively; "but where can we hidethe King and Queen, so that the boy cannot find them?"

  "In the country of the Nome King, on the mainland away at the south,"she replied. "The nomes are our friends, and they possess magic powersthat will enable them to protect the prisoners from discovery. If wecan manage to get the King and Queen of Pingaree to the Nome Kingdombefore the boy knows what we are doing, I am sure our plot willsucceed."

  Gos gave the plan considerable thought in the next five minutes, andthe more he thought about it the more clever and reasonable it seemed.So he agreed to do as Queen Cor suggested and at once hurried away tothe mines, where he arrived before Prince Inga did. The next morning hecarried King Kitticut back to Regos.

  While Gos was gone, Queen Cor busied herself in preparing a large andswift boat for the journey. She placed in it several bags of gold andjewels with which to bribe the nomes, and selected forty of thestrongest oarsmen in Regos to row the boat. The instant King Gosreturned with his royal prisoner all was ready for departure. Theyquickly entered the boat with their two important captives and withouta word of explanation to any of their people they commanded the oarsmento start, and were soon out of sight upon the broad expanse of theNonestic Ocean.

  Inga arrived at the city some hours later and was much distressed whenhe learned that his father and mother had been spirited away from theislands.

  "I shall follow them, of course," said the boy to Rinkitink, "and if Icannot overtake them on the ocean I will search the world over until Ifind them. But before I leave here I must arrange to send our peopleback to Pingaree."